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    Home » Chicken

    Oven baked chicken and rice

    Published: Sep 22, 2020 · Modified: May 7, 2021 by Genevieve

    Jump to Recipe

    This oven baked chicken and rice is my absolute favourite dish right now! It's so easy to make and the result is scrumptious, juicy, tender chicken and flavoursome rice! The cayenne pepper brings a bit of heat into the rice and chicken, elevating the dish to the next level.

    A pot of freshly baked chicken and rice

    Perfect budget-friendly, one-pot dish to serve a family otherwise great leftovers for lunch the next day.

    I think what makes this dish even more special is the use of chicken stock. It adds so much flavour into the rice. And of course, you've got the natural juices from the marinaded skin-on, bone-in chicken pieces.

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • Step by step cooking instructions
    • The secret to fluffy rice
    • Reheating instructions
    • Other easy and delicious recipes you might like
    • 📖 Recipe

    Ingredients

    Ingredients for this recipe, labeled
    • Chicken drumsticks/thigh mix I like to use a mix of both chicken thighs and drumsticks, however, you can easily use one or the other. The most important thing is to make sure you use chicken pieces with skins on and bones in. Both the skins and bones will give lots of flavour into the dish!
    • Lemon thyme you can swap this for normal thyme if you don't have any lemon thyme handy. As the name suggests, lemon thymes have a lemony aroma which works great with chicken, fish and other vegetable dishes. If you're using dried thyme, add a little less as dried herbs are stronger than fresh.
    • Cayenne pepper is moderately hot and I've only added ½ teaspoon into this entire pot of chicken and rice. For me, this is the perfect amount of heat. Of course, add more if you like things on the hot side 🙂
    • Sweet paprika is a little sweet and adds flavour and colour to the dish. It is nowhere near as hot as cayenne pepper. If you're new to using paprika and cayenne pepper, have a little tiny taste of it before adding, you'll know what I mean.
    • Lemon juice not only does it flavour the chicken, it also help tenderise the chicken.

    Step by step cooking instructions

    STEP 1 Rub the chicken with lemon juice, sweet paprika, cayenne pepper, lemon thyme leaves, salt and pepper.

    STEP 2 Pan sear the chicken on a medium/hot pan. This process will render the fat of the chicken skin as well as adding flavour and colour to the dish. When the chicken is lovely golden and coloured (like image #3 below), remove from the pan.

    If you're only using chicken thighs then you'll find quite a lot of chicken fat will be left on the pan after searing. Discard the rendered fat (by using scrunched up kitchen paper towels). You might think 'wait! chicken fat adds flavour to my rice!'. Don't worry, even after searing, there is still more fat left in the chicken which will be the perfect amount to flavour your rice as it oozes out when baking in the oven.

    STEP 3 In the same pan, saute onion and garlic until soft. About 3 minutes.

    STEP 4 Add chicken stock, water, uncooked rice, couple of fresh lemon thyme sprigs, freshly cracked pepper and a little salt (be mindful of the amount of salt you add as most store-bought chicken stocks are salted). Bring it up to boil and scatter chicken pieces all around the pan evenly. Like image #6 above.

    STEP 5 Put a lid on the pan, pop it into a preheated oven at 180°C/360°F fan-forced for 30 minutes then take the lid off and bake for an additional 5 minutes. The last 5 minutes will help crisp up the chicken skin, making it irresistable 😉

    Close up of half eaten chicken drumstick showing how juicy it is and tender

    LOOK AT HOW JUICY THE CHICKEN IS!! The meat is tender, flavoursome and my mouth is honestly watering as I type this. YUMMMM.

    A plate of baked rice with a piece of baked drumstick and a piece of baked thigh

    Look at that yummy, fluffy rice! It was not mushy at all. Since we've used chicken stock PLUS chicken's natural juices going into the rice as it cooks, the rice is just unbelievably tasty. Let's not forget the little heat from the cayenne pepper!

    The secret to fluffy rice

    ALWAYS RINSE YOUR UNCOOKED RICE BEFORE COOKING under the tap. Washing rice removes the surface starch and is the key to fluffy rice.

    Reheating instructions

    This one-pot, oven baked chicken and rice is as delicious the next day. When reheating, I've found there was no need to add any water to the rice even if reheating on the stovetop. Simply spread the rice and chicken out evenly across the pan, put a lid on and reheat on medium heat. If reheating in a microwave, loosely cover. You may need to drizzle a little water on the rice to prevent it from drying out. 

    A pot of baked chicken and rice with fresh lemon thyme decorated on top

    Definitely give this recipe a go, I am confident you'll love this dish as much as I do. If you do, let me know what you think in the comments section below! I'd love to hear from you 🙂

    Other easy and delicious recipes you might like

    • Greek-style chicken and potato bake - simple, easy and juicy chicken
    • The best Chinese sausage fried rice - budget-friendly, fragrant and a must try!
    • Panko chicken schnitzel - crispy and light, panko breadcrumbs is the secret here

    Thank you for checking out my recipes! Let me know what you think and/or if you have any questions, drop me a note in the comments section below. 🙂

    Happy cooking!

    Gen

    📖 Recipe

    oven baked chicken and rice

    Oven baked chicken and rice

    This oven baked chicken and rice is my absolute favourite dish right now! It's so easy to make and the result is scrumptious, juicy, tasty chicken and flavoursome rice! Oh, and budget friendly too!
    4.79 from 14 votes
    Print Pin Rate Save Saved!
    Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 50 minutes minutes
    Servings: 5 people
    Calories: 554kcal

    Ingredients

    • 1 kg /2.2lbs chicken drumsticks/thigh mix skin on, bone-in
    • 1½ cups uncooked white rice (note 1)
    • 2 cups chicken stock hot
    • 1¼ cups water hot
    • 1 onion finely diced
    • 2 cloves garlic minced
    • 2 sprigs fresh lemon thyme
    • salt & pepper

    Chicken rub

    • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
    • 3 sprigs fresh lemon thyme use leaves only
    • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
    • 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
    • salt & pepper
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 180°C/360°F (fan-forced).
    • Mix chicken with chicken rub ingredients thoroughly.
    • In a medium/hot pan, sear chicken pieces on both sides until golden and fat of chicken thighs rendered. Remove chicken from pan. (see note 2)
    • In the same pan, saute onion and garlic until soft, about 3 minutes.
    • Add water, stock, rice, fresh lemon thyme sprigs and bring to boil. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Add chicken, spread evenly across the pan.
    • Lid on, bake in the oven for 35 minutes. After 30 minutes, take the lid off and bake remainder 5 minutes without the lid to crisp up the chicken skin.

    Notes

    Note 1. Rinse the rice before cooking rising washes away the surface starch of rice and thus ensures rice turns out fluffy every time. 
    Note 2. If using only chicken thighs chicken thighs are fattier than drumsticks thus after searing and rendering the fat of thigh skin you'll find quite a lot of oil left in the pan. Simply wipe majority of it off with scrunched up kitchen paper towels, leaving a little behind to saute onions and garlic. No need to wipe fat off if using a combination of thighs and drumsticks or just drumsticks. 
    Reheating if reheating on a pan, simply spread rice and chicken out evenly across the pan with a lid on for a few minutes. Putting a lid on will ensure the rice stays soft and not dry out. If reheating in a microwave, loosely cover. You may need to drizzle a little water on the rice to prevent it from drying out. 
    Tried this recipe?Mention @Casuallypeckish or tag #casuallypeckish!

    Nutrition

    Calories: 554kcal | Carbohydrates: 47.5g | Protein: 37.1g | Fat: 21.9g | Saturated Fat: 6.4g | Cholesterol: 162mg | Potassium: 124mg | Fiber: 1.4g | Sugar: 1.4g | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 4mg

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Bonnie

      February 15, 2023 at 7:17 am

      I don’t have a convection oven so it would be nice to have the alternate instructions provided.

      Reply
      • Genevieve

        February 16, 2023 at 12:34 pm

        Hi Bonnie, unfortunately I have not tried making this recipe using the stove top only method. However, you could simmer (lid on) at the lowest heat at step #6 on the stove instead of putting it in the oven for about 20 - 30 minutes or until the rice and chicken is fully cooked. Hope this helps!

        Reply
    2. Fan

      June 30, 2022 at 12:51 pm

      5 stars
      This was very good and I will make it again and again am sure of that! I added a little bit more of fresh thyme at the very end as I couldn’t taste the thyme as much as I wanted to. Thanks for a great, easy recipe.

      Reply
      • Genevieve

        July 04, 2022 at 5:52 pm

        Very happy to hear that 🙂 Thank you for your kind words!

        Reply
      • Tatyana Kukuliyeva

        December 09, 2022 at 9:26 am

        Hi,

        How much water, chicken stock and rice did you use?
        I always have trouble finding the perfect liquid to rice ratio.

        Reply
        • Genevieve

          December 12, 2022 at 5:41 pm

          Hi Tatyana, 1.5 cups of rice to 3.25 cups of liquid worked great (see recipe card for stock to water ratio). Note, 1 measuring cup holds 250mls. This recipe works best using a shallow dutch oven (aka the braiser) as you can cook everything in the same pan, bring liquids up to a boil then transfer it straight into the oven.

          Reply

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