One skillet chicken and rice. Super easy to make, but most importantly very very delicious! Pan-seared chicken drumsticks with cajun seasoning, cooked together with rice and bell pepper for an all-in-one dinner. A shockingly simple way to impress everyone at your table.
One-pot chicken and rice recipe
This weeknight-friendly chicken and rice dinner cooks all in one skillet, making cleanup a breeze. It’s also extremely adaptable based on what’s in your pantry. This recipe is incredibly forgiving if you want to make a few swaps based on what you have. Instead of red onion, use yellow onion. Add green pepper instead of red, or use them both. To put your own twist on this dish, use your favorite spice blend or add thyme instead of oregano.
Recipe walk-through
Everything starts with the chicken drumsticks, which are seasoned with cajun seasoning and yogurt. We sear them with oil and butter for a nice crispy outer layer and to render out the fat. Once the chicken has been seared, we cook the garlic, onion and pepper. Next add in the spices and tomato paste.
When that’s done, we stir in the rice, any type of rice will do. Add chicken broth, bring everything to a boil and allow the rice to simmer before adding the chicken and transferring the entire skillet to the oven to finish cooking.
Let me guide you through the recipe with this step-by-step VIDEO.
What’s great about this one skillet chicken and rice dinner is that it incorporates a variety of flavors and textures. Yet it’s all made simply in one skillet, using a lot of pantry staples. This is one of those ‘back-pocket-recipes’, I promise! Just add a big side salad for a real crowd pleasing dinner.
Ingredients you’ll need to make this one skillet chicken & rice
This recipe is designed to make use of whatever’s in your pantry!
- Chicken drumsticks: You can swap them for bone-in/skin-on chicken thighs, wings, or a mix of bone-in chicken parts (cut breasts in half so that they’re roughly the same size as thighs).
- Cajun seasoning: The spice blend for the chicken, made with common spices you may already have! You can buy it, but I prefer to make my own to get the right flavor balance. You can find my favorite blend in the recipe notes.
- Yogurt: Adds a delicious tang to the chicken and helps to keep it tender and juicy. You can use full fat yogurt, Greek yogurt or unsweetened coconut yogurt.
- Olive oil and butter: To create a deliciously crispy golden brown skin and render out the fat. This wouldn’t be possible if we’d use only olive oil, and butter alone would burn.
- Red onion: They add a milder onion flavor to dishes when cooked, but you can swap it for yellow onion, shallots, scallions or the white part of a leek.
- Garlic: Our flavor base.
- Bell pepper: Use your favorite, green, red or yellow. And you can always add more than one.
- Tomato paste: For a nice flavor touch, but you can omit it.
- Seasonings: salt, black pepper, sweet paprika, chili flakes and oregano. you can leave out the chili flakes, swap sweet paprika for smoked paprika and use thyme, Italian seasoning or herbs de Provence instead of oregano.
- Rice: Use any type of rice except for sticky rice.
- Chicken broth: To take this dish up a notch, the flavors would never be the same if we’d use water and salt.
Helpful tips
- Serve with a big leafy salad drizzled with caesar dressing.
- Make your own Cajun spices: 2 tbsp smoked paprika, 2 tsp each onion powder + garlic powder, 1 tsp each dried thyme + dried oregano + salt + black pepper + cayenne pepper + chili powder + ground cumin
- Allow the chicken to reach room temperature! First season the chicken drumsticks, then allow to sit outside the fridge for about 20 minutes.
Can I make this chicken and rice recipe beforehand?
You can marinate the drumsticks the night before and store them in the refrigerator, just take them out 20-30 minutes before you start to cook. Allowing the chicken thighs to come closer to room temperature will make them tender and juicy.
How to store chicken with rice
- Leftovers will keep for 2 days in the fridge.
- To freeze, cool completely, then freeze in airtight containers for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat, preferably on the stove, adding a splash of water.
More one-pot recipes to try
One Skillet Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 8 chicken drumsticks
- 2 tbsp Cajun seasoning
- 3 tbsp yogurt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 large red bell pepper chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp chili flakes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup white rice
- 3.5 cups chicken broth
Instructions
- In a big bowl, combine Cajun seasoning with yogurt. Add drumsticks and massage the chicken with the yogurt mixture. Set aside.
- In the meantime, deseed and chop the bell pepper, finely chop the red onion and mince the garlic.
- Heat oil and butter in a large ovenproof skillet or pot over medium. Add drumsticks and cook 5 minutes per side, until golden brown. Remove from skillet onto a clean plate.
- Add onion, garlic and pepper, cook for 3 minutes. Add salt, pepper, paprika, oregano and chili flakes. Stir in tomato paste, then add rice and stir until incorporated.
- Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to the lowest, cover and simmer for 8 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed by the rice. Add more broth if needed.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C.
- Nestle chicken drumsticks into the rice, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid, transfer the skillet to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
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