Mouthwatering baked chicken thighs, coated in a beautiful rub, baked on top of fluffy soft rice, all made in the oven. Dinner doesn’t get any better than this one dish wonder! An oven baked chicken and rice recipe filled with onions, garlic and other goodies. In this oven baked chicken and rice recipe, I’ll also be giving you the option to add in plump garlic butter mushrooms that rival even our famous Garlic Mushrooms recipe!
OVEN BAKED CHICKEN AND RICE
I mean, who doesn’t love perfectly baked chicken and steamy, fluffy rice? Two ingredients that were meant to be together; kind of like Garlic Naan and Butter Chicken or Chocolate and Strawberries. Oven baked chicken and rice all cooked together in one dish is possibly one of the most loved dinners in my home. I know in my heart of heart, this will become your new favourite too!
BAKED CHICKEN
Normally, one pan chicken and rice recipes start on the stove top first to sear chicken and render out the fat to get it ultra crispy, just like our much-loved Spanish Chicken And Rice or our One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken & Rice. Other recipes fry onion and garlic first before adding in rice. With this oven baked chicken and rice recipe, there is no need for any of that! How? You’re going to use skinless chicken thighs (with the bone-in if you can find them for extra juicy chicken pieces), coated in an incredible flavoured rub. You can use any additional seasonings you like: dried basil or oregano, rosemary, onion powder or whatever you have on hand!
HOW TO MAKE OVEN BAKED CHICKEN AND RICE
Bone-in chicken thighs bake in the same time as rice, which makes them the perfect cut of chicken for this recipe. They also guarantee the chicken will not dry out. There’s nothing worse than dry chicken! Skin-off thighs work so much better than skin-on thighs. During testing, we found leaving the skin-on resulted in gluggy, sticky and half raw rice. Too much chicken fat seeped into the rice while baking. Chicken drumsticks can be used with skin on or off. Both work well as the amount of skin/fat on drumsticks is much less than thighs. Taste wise, we preferred skin off drumsticks. If you prefer using boneless chicken breasts or boneless thighs, add them in after the rice has had 20 minutes of baking in the oven (this allows the rice to cook halfway through first as boneless chicken only needs 20-30 minutes baking time). Arrange your chicken over the rice as the image above shows. We found chicken must be placed over the middle section of the rice to make sure the rice completely cooks. Leaving the middle section uncovered resulted in a few crunchy grains.
WHAT RICE TO USE FOR BAKED CHICKEN AND RICE
Long grain rice is the best rice to use and cooks evenly. Basmati rice or jasmine rice can be substituted using the same liquid ratio and cooking time. Please do not use short grain rice, medium grain rice, risotto, paella or minute rice. Once your oven baked chicken and rice is cooked, broil it for an extra 2-3 minutes just to get your chicken golden and browned with crispy edges and a buttery, crunchy crust on the top of your rice!
GARLIC MUSHROOMS
While your rice is broiling, you can get your garlic mushrooms cooking (this is completely optional – BUT SO GOOD to include them). Then, when your mushrooms are done, mix them through the rice, taking in the mouthwatering aromas that are going to smack you right in the face. During testing, we added the mushrooms at the beginning of the baking process and didn’t enjoy them at all. They need that buttery, garlic, pan fried cooked flavour mixed through the rice for the best results. This rice dish is SO darn good with the buttery, garlicky, soft and tender rice, with ALL the chicken flavours baked right in! An easy, low-fuss dinner.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH OVEN BAKED CHICKEN AND RICE
The beauty of this dish is that it is a complete dinner on its own. If you do want a little something extra on the side, try a Soft Dinner Roll or a light side salad like our Balsamic Chickpea Avocado and Feta Salad.
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RECIPE UPDATE FOR BEST RESULTS
We tried and tested this recipe many times since posting, as a few readers are having trouble comprehending the directions. We found adding boiled (hot) chicken broth to the rice allows the cook time to be reduced while giving you perfectly cooked rice. Please pre-boil your broth while preparing the rest of your ingredients, ensuring hot boiling chicken broth is being added in step 3. If you don’t have chicken broth, use 2 ¾ cups boiling water and mix in 3 teaspoons of chicken bouillon or stock powder. … Read More
