Last week, I got home late after a long day and was too tired to cook anything extravagant. I had been in the mood for some home cooked comfort food all week. I wanted something that would warm my belly, was not too heavy and would also help me to have a good night’s rest. Since I was so tired, it also had to be easy to make. I also DEFINITELY did not want to have to do a lot of dishes.
With that in mind, I decided to make one of my favorites: My One-Pot Lemon Herb Chicken and Rice. What I love about this dish is that it is pretty hands-off. Other than the initial task of searing the chicken, it is the oven that pretty much does most of the work. This was great for me since I could set my oven timer and kick back with my dog while watching a TV show.
Growing up, chicken and rice was my favorite dinner meal. Now, as an adult, I love the added tang, zest and culmination of seasonings that turn a basic chicken and rice dish into something even more delicious.
One-Pot Lemon Herb Chicken and Rice
Course: MainDifficulty: Easy4
servings5
minutes30
minutesIngredients
4 4 boneless skinless chicken breast
2 tablespoons 2 unsalted butter
1 teaspoon 1 garlic powder
1 tablespoon 1 lemon pepper
1 tablespoon 1 Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 crushed red pepper (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
- Rice
1 cup 1 uncooked rice (white or brown)
2 1/2 cups 2 1/2 chicken broth
juice of 1 small lemon
1 tablespoon 1 Italian seasoning
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350˚ F (176 ˚C).
- Season both sides of each chicken breast with garlic powder, lemon pepper, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper.
- In a large oven proof pot, heat butter on medium high heat. Place chicken in pot and cook for 5-minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pot and set aside. (The chicken will not be fully cooked at this point, but it will finish cooking in the oven.)
- While chicken rests, add the uncooked rice to the pot along with the chicken broth, lemon juice and Italian seasoning. Turn burner up to high. Bring pot up to rolling boil.
- Add the chicken back to the pot with the rice. Cover. Cook in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Serve plated with a lemon wedge and sage or parsley for garnish.
Notes
- A cast iron skillet or Dutch oven are great for this dish.
- If using a pot with a lid, cook in oven with the lid on for 15 minutes and uncover the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
- In addition to the chicken broth, the rice also gets the pan juice flavor from the chicken breasts.
- Long-Grain rice is best for this recipe since minute rice will get too mushy.
There is lemon juice in this but, if you are a lemon lover, you are more than welcome to add lemon zest. This would give the dish a much stronger lemon flavoring. This night, I definitely did not want anything too overpowering. My wish was just for every ingredient to work together in perfect harmony and I am pleased to say it did!
The most important part of this recipe is to season your chicken really well, since this is how this dish builds its flavor. The rice gets to swim in all of the seasoned chicken juices and each grain of rice gets a thin coating of flavor as soon as it is added to the pot.
Now, let us get more into the flavors in this rice. I prefer to use brown rice for this dish because I like how it stays a little firmer when it cooks and the texture works really well once plated with the chicken. This rice alone will have you wanting a whole bowl of it. When I take a bite from my fork, I can seriously taste everything from the garlic powder straight to the chicken broth. You could also omit the chicken breast and chicken broth and use vegetable broth instead, if you want the dish to be vegetarian or have someone in your life who is vegetarian. I am sure they would love this dish made in a way to accommodate their needs!
Speaking of accommodations, if you prefer dark meat to white meat, then do what your heart desires. Skin on chicken thighs would be extremely tasty with this dish!
Lastly, it really is hard to go wrong with this one. Just make sure your chicken is cooked thoroughly and I am sure your belly will be as happy as mine was when I finished my first…(ok, second!) plate after such a long work day. With that, enjoy your plate(s)!
I left a one star rating because it was impossible to leave a zero star rating. If you think the rice will be cooked in the oven in 20 minutes at 350 degrees you are wrong. I had to add 40 minutes to cooking the rice which of course meant i had to set the chicken aside and delay my dinner by at least 40 minutes.
Hi John, I’m so very sorry the recipe didn’t work out for you. I’m sure that was very frustrating. I added some further explanation to steps four and five to try to clarify. The pot should be brought to a boil in step four, then in step five should be covered after the chicken is added and before it goes in the oven. I hope your night got better after you cooked.
Sorry, I didn’t finish venting about how unhappy I was with this recipe. Extra work and extra time. No Guidance on whether to use a lid. (I ended up doing both, with lid and without). Regardless, I had to finish the rice on the stove top and I had to use twice as much butter as the recipe called for.
Not a bad set of ingredients, but the instructions are unrealistic
i TRIED THIS RECIPE LAST NIGHT AND IT WAS DELICIOUS. THE WHOLE FAMILY ENJOYED IT. tHE ONLY (OBVIOUS) THING TO NOTE IS THAT THE RED PEPPER, WHICH IS NOTED AS OPTIONAL, MAY BE SPICY FOR YOUNG KIDS. bUT IT WAS DELICIOUS. i DIDN’T HAVE ANY ISSUE WITH COOKING TIME, WE PUT THE POT IN THE OVEN FOR 25 MINUTES AND THE RICE WAS PERFECTLY COOKED. wE USED bASMATI RICE. tHANK YOU!
I make This once a week and everyone ask for seconds . Never had trouble with rice cooking in the allote with lid time. I use a cast iron dutch oveN.
I used pesto SEASONING on the cHickeN and made it on the stove following the recipe for The rice broTh and lemon juice Wonderful. I also added a bit of olive oIl to the unsalted butter for browning the chIcken
Inedible! It all looked great –chicken, rice etc. until we tasted it. the red pepper flakes made it way too spicy, drowning out any lemon flavor…and I only added half of what the recipe called for. I ended up throwing it out.
I made thIS dish for dinner last night, AND IT WAS DELICIOUS! I did add a little bit, about 2 tablespoons of Grape seed oil to the butter in the pan and cooked the chicken per the instructions. Followed the rest of the recipe and really enjoyed it!
I Really liked the tecipe. So did my huSband, which important:)
Two things: i only used two chicken Breasts as We are emp nesters. Spices were halved except for rice. I added some onion Powder too. The ruce did not cook in 25 minutes. I REMOVED the chicken and cooked for 25 more minutes. I had time. When I cook for guests i will Know to plan fOr longer cooking time in my Oven, no worries. I will also serve with a greeN veggie, brussel sprouts, asparagus, …
Thanks for sharing
Pardon all caps, could not figure out how to turn off!