Lemon Chicken Rice Bake

5 from 7 votes

Lemony garlic rice and juicy chicken thighs baked together in the same pan, creating an easy and flavorful weeknight dinner.

Course Dinner

Cuisine American

Keyword baked chicken and rice, baked chicken and rice recipe, Chicken Recipes, one pot meals

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Resting Time 10

Total Time 1 20

Servings people

Calories 580

Author Erren Hart

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs
Salt and pepper To taste.
2 lemons
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium white onion diced
6 tablespoons garlic cloves minced
¼ cup dry white wine
5 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon oregano
2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
2 cups long grain white rice

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Prepare the lemons for juicing by rolling them under your palm on the counter a few times. Then zest the lemon enough to produce 2 tablespoons of zest. Then juice the lemons. Set the zest and juice aside until needed and cut the remnants into quarters.
In an oven safe skillet, melt the butter with the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until trandsulent. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
Add the wine, stock, oregano, parsley, lemon zest, lemon wedges, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
Add the chicken to the pan. Bake covered for 30 minutes. If your pan doesn’t have a lid, carefully cover it with foil.
Carefully remove the pan from the oven and add the rice and spread it evenly around the pan.
Cover with the pan lid (or foil) and bake another 20 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven, and check the chicken and the rice for doneness. If the chicken is cooked (with an internal temperature of 170 to 175°F/ 76 to 79°C), but the rice, is still too hard, remove it and let it rest while the rice finishes cooking. If they both need to longer return to the oven and check again after 5 minutes.
Let it rest for 5-10 minutes to cool. Remove the chicken and lemon wedges from the pan. Taste for seasoning, add salt as needed and drizzle 1 tablespoon of the fresh lemon juice. Fluff the rice, mixing in the lemon. Taste to see if you want to add the rest of the lemon and add more as needed.
Add the chicken back to the pan to serve.

Notes

Chicken: As you can see in the photos, I made this with the skin on, which worked, but I did have to place it under the broiler after cooking to crisp the skin enough to look good in the photos. If you don’t want to have to crisp the skin, I suggest removing it first. But if you want to use it follow the steps in the How to Use Different Cuts of Chicken section for detailed instructions.

Rice: I recommend using parboiled long-grain white rice for this dish as it tends to stay firm longer, but any long-grain white rice that has a cook time on the package of 15 to 20 minutes will work. See the How To Use Different Types of Rice section on how to alter the recipe for the rice you want to use.

Tips:

Chicken thighs come in many different sizes so cooking times may vary. Use a meat thermometer and check after 25 minutes. If the chicken cooks faster than the rice, just remove it from the pan and let it rest while the rice finishes cooking.
Be sure to bring the stock to a boil before baking, this ensures the rice cooks evenly and completely in the oven.
Be sure to save the lemon juice until the end. Lemon juice can become bitter when cooked.

Nutrition