Baked Chicken and Broccoli Risoni
Golden brown parmesan cheese, lightly charred broccoli and juicy chicken breasts. Perfectly paired with some creamy and super flavourful risoni/orzo. This one-pan baked chicken and broccoli risoni is a fantastic, simple weeknight dinner that can be put together quickly.
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Servings: 4 people
Calories: 497kcal
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts about 600g/21oz
- 1 head broccoli about 3 cups
- 1 cup risoni/orzo pasta substitute: arborio (risotto rice) (note 1)
- 1 onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups hot chicken stock or veggie stock
- ½ cup heavy/thickened cream
- ¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (note 2)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F.
- Generously season chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
- Add olive oil to an ovenproof skillet/pan or pot and sear chicken breasts on high heat until both sides are golden. Only flipping once, about 2 minutes per side.
- Remove chicken from the pan and set aside. In the same pan, add onions and reduce heat down to low and sweat onions for about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook for a further 1 minute.
- Increase heat up to high and add chicken stock, bring it up to boil then add risoni and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Reduce heat down to low then add heavy cream, mix well then add the chicken back into the pan and scatter broccoli florets. Lightly season broccoli with salt and pepper.
- Shave parmesan cheese all over and transfer pan to the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Notes
Note 1. Substituting risoni/orzo with arborio. Follow all the steps outlined above until at the last step, cover the pan with a lid (or tightly wrap with aluminium foil, with oven mitts on of course) before transferring the pan into the oven. After 20 minutes, transfer pan to top shelf of oven and grill/broil at high until parmesan cheese turns golden and broccoli lightly charred. About 5 minutes.
Note 2. Grate your own parmesan cheese It's a good general practice to grate your own cheese as opposed to buying pre-shredded cheeses. Shredded cheeses from supermarkets contain anti-caking agent which means the cheeses won't melt as well and has a gritty texture. Aside from it being a more economical option, grating your own cheese tastes sooo much better and creamier. If you ask me, quality over convenience any day!
Note 3. If you don't have an ovenproof pan/pot. Place your casserole dish in the oven at step one as you turn the oven on to preheat it. At step #6, bring the cream up to a simmer then pour the contents of the pan into the hot casserole dish (carefully!). Make sure to take the casserole dish out of the oven before you do this, with oven mitts on. Then add chicken breasts, broccoli, season then parmesan cheese. Bake for 20min. Warming up the casserole dish will help keep the baking time to 20min. Otherwise, pouring into a cold casserole dish will cool down its contents which will take longer for the dish to cook. Plus the chicken will have a higher chance of drying out if left in the oven for longer than 20min.
Note 4. Leftovers/freezing. Keeps well in the fridge for up to 4 days in an airtight container. Lasts up to 6 months in the freezer.
Tried this recipe?Mention @Casuallypeckish or tag #casuallypeckish!
Nutrition
Calories: 497kcal | Carbohydrates: 50.5g | Protein: 44.7g | Fat: 13.5g | Saturated Fat: 5.6g | Cholesterol: 111mg | Potassium: 416mg | Fiber: 4.4g | Sugar: 4.8g | Calcium: 110mg | Iron: 4mg