I know sometimes, from Halloween on, it might be hard to dig ourselves out of our holiday brains to think about getting dinner on the table. When really all I want is to bake cookies and sip hot chocolate, I turn to easy, healthy dinner recipes like this Chicken and Rice Bake to keep us fed. It has just 7 ingredients, and one of them is salt so that doesn’t even really count, right? It has tons of flavor thanks to pre-mixed spice blends, which also makes this chicken rice bake ridiculously easy to customize. Simply add whatever blends your family loves and stick it in the oven! The brains behind this beauty of a chicken rice casserole is my friend Julia of the web site Imagelicious — I first met her at a conference a couple years back and am so glad I did! Her recipes are practical and delicious, and her photography is beautiful. Her cookbook, The Ultimate One-Pan Oven Cookbook, came out a couple months ago and I just got my copy in the mail! I had a hard time deciding on something to share with you, as we are all about easy, one pan meals here at TRR. Ultimately, I let you decide! It was a toss up between the Ricotta Cheesecake Pancakes (oven baked so no flipping!) and this One-Pan Chicken and Rice with Peas, and you decided on dinner. I’m not mad about it, because this is one easy Chicken and Rice bake that I want to keep in my back pocket!
Tips for making this Chicken and Rice Bake:
There are times to improvise, and times to follow the recipe. Basmati rice and bone-in chicken thighs are called for in this recipe because the cook times line up well and keep the recipe as simple as possible. Because we’re going to broil the chicken at the end of the bake time, we get to skip any searing before we bake. I’m all for this as it saves me having another pan to wash! Be sure to spread the rice and peas out evenly in the pan for consistent cooking.
Tools you’ll need for this recipe:
Use a deep, 9×13″ baking dish for this recipe, as it will be easier to maneuver if it’s not overfull. Aside from a good quality baking dish, you really don’t need any other tools, which means Julia is brilliant and making our lives easier one one-pan recipe at a time 😉
Variations of this easy Chicken and Rice Bake:
In the cookbook, Julia mentions she has made this with drumsticks, skinless thighs and chicken breasts as well, but prefers bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. So other forms of chicken may work, but the results may not be quite as good (especially since the rice requires a long bake time). Julia also mentions that you can sub out the peas for other frozen vegetables. If you prefer, you can also leave out the vegetables and serve with a salad or additional vegetables on the side. Feel free to get crazy with the seasoning — try Cajun, Italian, or other varieties and blends! Because the recipe is simple and straightforward, you can mix up the seasoning without worrying about conflicting flavors. If you’re not a fan of mayo, try mixing the last 2 teaspoons of seasoning with some melted butter and brushing onto the chicken thighs before baking.
More chicken and rice dishes you’ll love:
Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken & Rice One Pot Teriyaki Chicken, Rice and Vegetables
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