Persian Style Chicken with Rice

Why You’ll Love this Chicken and Rice Recipe

This Persian inspired chicken and rice dinner cooks all in one skillet, making this recipe a weeknight-friendly option. It’s made using Persian spices, it’s warming, hearty and a perfect family meal for any night of the week. It’s also extremely adaptable! Add spinach, use chicken thighs or swap basmati rice for wild rice. 

How to Make One-Pot Chicken and Rice

Everything starts with the chicken drumsticks, which are seasoned with a garlicky spice rub and sprinkled with lemon juice. We sear them in oil and butter for a nice crispy outer layer and to render out the fat. Once the chicken has been seared, we sweat the garlic and onion until fragrant. Next add in the spices and stir in the rice.

The spices are what sets this dinner apart while making it especially delicious. Traditionally, Persian dishes involve spices like cinnamon, cumin, turmeric or cardamon. We’re using a blend of sumac, cumin and coriander. Saffron is also typical, I left that out, but if you have some around, go ahead and add a pinch. I’m sure it will be delicious.

When that’s done, we add chicken broth, bring everything to a boil and allow the rice to simmer before adding the chickpeas and chicken to the skillet. We simmer for 5 minutes, then sprinkle almonds on top and transfer the entire skillet to the oven to finish cooking.

Serve sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, cilantro or chives. And that’s it, serve and enjoy!
Let me guide you through the recipe with this step-by-step VIDEO.

What’s Needed to Make this Persian Chicken with Rice

• Chicken drumsticks: You can swap them for bone-in/skin-on chicken thighs, wings, or a mix of bone-in chicken parts. The most important thing is to make sure you use chicken pieces with skin on and bone in. Both, the skin and bones, will give lots of flavor to the dish.
• Seasoning: Salt, black pepper, paprika, cumin, coriander and sumac. The spice blend for the chicken and rice, made with common spices you may already have in your pantry. Sumac is a seasoning that adds a brightness and tartness, similar to lemon juice. If you can’t find it, use lemon zest.
• Lemon juice: Adds a delicious tang to the chicken and helps to keep it tender and juicy. 
• Olive oil and butter: To create a deliciously crispy golden brown skin. This wouldn’t be possible if we’d only use olive oil. And butter alone would burn.
• Garlic and onion: Our flavor base.
• Chickpeas: You can swap them for white beans or green peas.
• Rice: I used Basmati rice, which adds a distinctive nutty flavor and a unique, slightly floral aroma. But you can use any type of rice except for sticky rice.
• Chicken broth: To elevate this dish, the flavors would never be the same if we’d use water and salt.
• Almonds: They’re a must! So delicious! If you don’t have any on hand, use pistachios.

Helpful Tips

• Serve with a big leafy salad drizzled with yogurt dressing or a creamy cucumber salad.
• Add more veggies, like spinach, bell pepper, green peas,… Or swap chickpeas for cannellini beans.
• Delicious when you add raisins, dried apricots or preserved lemons.
• Experiment with spices! Add cardamon, cinnamon, turmeric or saffron.
• Allow the chicken to reach room temperature! First season the chicken drumsticks, then allow them to sit outside the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Storage

• Make ahead: You can also marinate the drumsticks the night before and store them in the refrigerator, just take them out 20 à 30 minutes before you start to cook. Allowing the chicken to come closer to room temperature will make them tender and juicy.
• Leftovers will keep for 2 days in the fridge.
• To freeze: Cool completely, then freeze in airtight containers. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat, preferably on the stove, adding a splash of water.

Try These Next

• Lebanese Baked Chicken with Potatoes
• Beer Braised Chicken
• Creamy Garlic Butter Chicken
• Mexican Rice Bake with Chorizo and Eggs