A simple and delicious One Pot Chicken and Rice made with a few herbs and spices and a pop of lemon! This dish is prepped and cooked all in one pan in about 30 minutes making it a great midweek, last minute dinner. | Gluten Free + Dairy Free + Low FODMAP option
How to Make this One Pot Chicken and Rice
Altogether this dish is super easy to make. All you need is one large skillet and about 30 minutes of your time and some fairly common ingredients and you’ll be on your way.
Prep the Chicken
Start out by prepping the chicken. Simply place the breasts between two pieces of plastic cling wrap or aluminium foil and pound them down to an even thickness. If you own a meat mallet then go ahead and pull that out. I personally just use my rolling pin to bash the meat down and I find it works just as well. Pounding the chicken will allow it to cook more evenly and make for more tender chicken in the end.
Once flattened, rub two tablespoons of the spice blend over the chicken breast. Moving on, heat your oil in a large skillet and begin cooking your chicken pieces. Cook the chicken on each side for a few minutes to brown. No need to worry about cooking the chicken all the way through because you will add them back to the pan later to finish cooking with the rice. Until then – remove from the pan and set aside on a plate while you make the sauce.
The Rice
After you remove the chicken, lower the heat and add some more oil to the skillet along with the rice and remaining spice blend. Fry the rice for a minute before adding the lemon juice and stock. Give it all a good stir and then add the chicken back to the pan. Cover and let it all simmer and cook about 20 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed. Fluff up the rice and top with freshly chopped herbs and you’re done!
Questions & Tips to Keep in Mind
type of rice
- You can make this dish using brown rice in place of white rice but you will need to increase the cook time from 15 minutes to 35-40 minutes.
- white rice, jasmine, and basmati will all work here
low sodium chicken stock
- This isn’t 100% necessary but I do recommend using a low sodium stock so you can have a little more control over how salty your final dish is. If you don’t have any low sodium stock then just make sure to reduce the amount of added salt at the end.
make it low fodmap
- Use a low fodmap friendly stock (like this Roasted low FODMAP Vegetable Stock) and leave out the garlic powder.
a hot pan
- Make sure to heat up your skillet before adding the chicken so that the chicken will form a nice brown crust.
And that’s it! A 30 minute, one pan dish with minimal clean up and tons of flavour!
More One Pan Chicken Recipes:
- One Pot Low FODMAP Khichdi Chicken and Rice
- Herby One Pan Chicken with Oranges
- Coconut Lime Chicken
- Maple Mustard Chicken with Rosemary
- One Pan Lemon Chicken with Asparagus
One Pot Chicken and Rice
A simple and delicious One Pot Chicken and Rice made with a few herbs and spices and a pop of lemon! This dish is prepped and cooked all in one pan in about 30 minutes making it a great midweek, last minute dinner. | Gluten Free + Dairy Free + Low FODMAP option
Ingredients
Seasoning Blend
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder* leave out if you need to keep this low FODMAP
- 2 tablespoons | 28 grams brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Other Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons | 30 ml olive oil
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in half length wise
- 1 cup | 200 grams white rice, uncooked
- 2 cups | 480 ml low sodium chicken stock (use a FODMAP friendly stock if necessary)
- 2 tablespoons | 30 ml lemon juice
- cilantro or parsley for topping
Instructions
- Add all of the spices to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside two tablespoons of the spice blend for rubbing on the chicken and the remaining spice blend for cooking with the rice.
- Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic cling wrap and pound them down to make them even in thickness. This will help the chicken cook evenly and make for more tender chicken. Once flattened, rub two tablespoons of the spice blend over all sides of the chicken
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over a medium high heat on the stove. Add the chicken breasts and cook each side for 5-7 minutes or until browned on each side. Remove the chicken from a skillet and set aside on a plate. The chicken doesn't need to be fully cooked yet because you'll be returning it to the heat shortly.
- Turn the heat down to medium-low. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan. Stir in the uncooked rice along with the chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and the rest of the spice blend. Cook a minute. Carefully add the chicken back into the skillet, cover with a fitted lid and simmer for 20 minutes until the liquid is almost absorbed.
- Garnish with freshly chopped herbs and serve.
Notes
- You can make this dish using brown rice in place of white rice but you will need to increase the cook time from 15 minutes to 35-40 minutes.
Gayle says
Tried out the recipe absolutely delicious
Sarah Nevins says
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it – thanks so much, Gayle!
Becky says
I am trying this recipe and was wondering if I could replace the brown rice with cauliflower rice? How would I go about cooking that?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Becky! So sorry I took a few days to get back to you! Your comment somehow got lost in the shuffle and I only just found it!
As for your question, I would recommend that you cook the chicken and cauliflower rice mostly separate as the cauliflower rice would need very little time to cook and in much less liquid. If let to cook too long, it would end up fairly mushy.
I have’t made it like this myself, but if I were to try this recipe using cauliflower rice I would do it this way:
1. Follow the first three steps in the recipe as written, except you should cook the chicken fully, then remove from the pan and set aside.
2. To cook the cauliflower rice, add the cauliflower, remaining spice mix, 2-3 tablespoons of chicken stock and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Mix well and cook on high about 5 minutes or so. The idea here is to cook on a high heat, draw out the excess moisture of the cauliflower while concentrating the spice/stock flavor into the rice.
3. Turn the heat down low, add the chicken back to the pan, cover with a fitted lid and cook for a minute or two more.
The potential problem I see here is that the amount of spice could be too much for the cauliflower rice. To combat this issue you could always add the remaining spice to the cauliflower rice 1 teaspoon at a time. This way you could taste and add more seasoning as you go. The chicken also won’t be quite quite as juicy since you wouldn’t be cooking it chicken stock, but I do think the trade off of the cauliflower rice would be worth it!
I’m kind of following the method I use to flavor my cilantro lime cauliflower rice recipe. I’ll link you to in case that helps give you an idea of what you’d be trying to do: https://www.asaucykitchen.com/cilantro-lime-cauliflower-rice/#mv-create-recipe
I hope this helps! Sorry again I didn’t get to you sooner!
Ben says
I decided to sauté some white onion before I started the rice (in the chicken pan). Cooked the onion until golden. Continued the recipe as normal. Came out really tasty and was easy to follow along with the instructions.
Sarah Nevins says
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know how it went!
Rebecca says
Excellent
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Rebecca!
Jill says
I love this recipe! I want to double it. Does it cook ok if I do that?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Jill! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed it 🙂
This recipe actually does double up quite easily! Aside from using a bigger pot/pan I just recommend that you wait a little longer before re-adding the chicken back to the pan. So in step four – the original steps ask you to stir together the uncooked rice, chicken stock and lemon juice for a minute before you add the chicken. I recommend that you let the rice simmer for about 5-7 minutes before you add the chicken. With all the added ingredients the rice will take just a little longer to cook. By adding the chicken later you prevent the chicken from overcooking and toughening up.
Hope that helps!
Raeanne Yeh says
Hi! would this recipe work if you used fresh thyme and parsley instead of dried?
Sarah Nevins says
Absolutely! I recommend using about 1 tablespoon chopped parsley and thyme leaves each (or more). Hope you enjoy it!
Colette says
Where to purchase low FODMAP ingredients example Ketchup and
Chicken stock.
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Colette! I have had to buy some low fodmap ingredients online in the past. Case de sante has a low fodmap vegetable stock powder that I have used and really love: https://casadesante.com/products/low-fodmap-vegetable-stock-powder-boullion-broth-seasoning
Back when my husband had to follow a strict low fodmap diet there were a lot less options for buying products so I had to make my own ketchup and low fodmap condiments. The ketchup recipe I used can be found here: https://www.asaucykitchen.com/low-fodmap-ketchup-diy/
You might find my low fodmap category helpful too as I also have a low fodmap ranch recipe and a homemade low fodmap vegetable stock: https://www.asaucykitchen.com/category/gluten-free/low-fodmap/
Vanessa says
Loved this one pot chicken and rice, easy to make and just the right amount of spice
Sarah Nevins says
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Vanessa!
Kayla says
We love this recipe! I use jasmine rice and add a little bit of cayenne pepper for a kick! We eat it at least once a week!
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! So glad you enjoy it! A little extra cayenne is always a good idea in my book!