Easy Oven Baked Chicken And Rice With Garlic Butter Mushrooms mixed through is winner of a chicken dinner!
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 PLUS I’m giving you the option to add in plump garlic butter mushrooms! Mmmm, Mushroom Rice!
Chicken And Rice Recipe
I mean, who doesn’t love Baked Chicken? While I’m at it, who doesn’t love fluffy rice with crispy edges.
Oven Baked Chicken and Rice all cooked together in one dish is possibly one of the MOST loved family favourite dinners on the planet. I know in my heart of hearts this will become your new favourite.
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 (like our popular Spanish Chicken And Rice or this One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken & Rice), or to fry onion and garlic first before adding in rice. With this 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), rubbed in an incredible flavoured rub. You can use any additional seasonings you like! Dried basil or oregano, rosemary, onion powder, whatever you have on hand!
Tips To Make Perfect 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 juicy chicken pieces without drying out. There’s nothing worse than dry chicken!
- Skin-OFF thighs work so much better when compared to 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 gets cooked. Leaving the middle uncovered resulted in a few crunchy grains.
Rice
Long grain rice is the best rice to use and cooks evenly. Basmati rice or Jasmine rice can be substituted with the same liquid ratio and cooking time. Please do not use short grain rice, medium grain rice, risotto, paella or minute rice.
Once your chicken and rice is cooked, I ask you to broil it for an extra 2-3 minutes just to get your chicken golden and browned with crisp edges, and an amazing buttery, crunchy crust on the top of your rice!
Mushroom Rice
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, being careful of the mouthwatering smells that are going to smack you right in the face.
During testing we added the mushrooms at the start of baking and didn’t enjoy them at all. They need that buttery garlic pan fried cooked flavour mixed through the rice for the best rice you’ve ever eaten.
The rice is SO GOOD. Buttery, garlicky, soft and tender (not smushy, gluggy or sticky), with ALL the chicken flavours being baked right in!
An easy and complete dinner!
Oven Baked Chicken And Rice Recipe on Video!
Love One Pan Meals? Try These!
One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken & Rice
One Pan Spanish Chicken and Rice
One Pot Italian Chicken and Rice
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 3/4 cups boiling water and mix in 3 teaspoons chicken bouillon or stock powder.
Oven Baked Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
For Chicken
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar, (OPTIONAL. FOR KETO use a brown sugar substitute)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or dried parsley)
- 1 teaspoon mild sweet paprika (or hot)
- 1 teaspoon each garlic powder and onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Cracked black pepper, to taste
- 6 skinless chicken thighs, bone in or out
For Rice
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups hot chicken broth (or stock)
- 1 1/4 cups hot water
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
For Mushrooms (OPTIONAL)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 14 ounces (400g) button mushrooms, quartered
- 1/4 cup chives (or green onions), divided
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- In a shallow bowl, mix together the olive oil, sugar, oregano, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and coat each piece evenly with the seasoning. Set aside, allowing the flavours to absorb into the meat. If time allows, marinade overnight for a deeper flavour.
- Spray a large baking dish (10-inch x 15-inch OR 25 x 35 cm) with nonstick cooking oil spray. Add the onion, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, HOT boiled broth, hot water and butter into the dish. Mix well to melt the butter and combine. Stir in the rice.
- Arrange thighs in the dish over the rice, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, spray chicken with oil and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked right through to the bone and rice is soft. Change oven setting to broil to brown the chicken and crisp rice (only needs 3-5 minutes).
- Remove chicken thighs, mix the rice through, then arrange the chicken back on top of the rice. Cover and allow it to rest for 10 minutes to set all of the flavours in the hot dish. The rice will finish off cooking while resting.
- While chicken is resting, prepare mushrooms (OPTIONAL):Heat butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Sauté garlic until fragrant (30 seconds) and add mushrooms; cook until softened. Stir in 2 tablespoons of chives and season with salt and pepper.
- Transfer chicken onto a plate; fluff rice with forks, then mix the mushrooms through the rice. Arrange chicken back onto the rice in the dish, garnish with remaining chives and chopped parsley. SERVE and enjoy!
Notes
- 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 juicy chicken pieces without drying out. There's nothing worse than dry chicken.
- Skin-OFF thighs work so much better when compared to skin-ON thighs. During testing, we found leaving the skin-on resulted in gluggy, sticky, half raw rice. Too much chicken fat seeped into the rice while baking.
- You can use bone-in chicken breasts in this rice casserole. Cook time is the same as chicken breasts are thicker than chicken thighs.
- Chicken drumsticks can be used with skin on or off. Both work well.
- 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 ensure the rice gets cooked. Leaving the middle uncovered resulted in a few raw grains.
- Long grain rice is the best rice to use and cooks evenly. Basmati rice or Jasmine rice can be substituted with the same liquid ratio and cooking time.
- Please do not use short grain rice, medium grain rice, risotto, paella or minute rice.Â
FOR BONELESS CHICKEN THIGHS AND BREASTS
- Add rice into the baking dish WITHOUT chicken. Cover with foil and bake rice in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove pan from oven, uncover and arrange chicken over the top. Return to the oven, uncovered, for a further 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked though and the liquid has absorbed. Rice should be soft. Continue with the recipe.Â
katie casabella says
We’re a family of 7, and the whole family loved this. flavor was great and the chicken was more tender than any baked chicken I’ve made before (very juicy too). I was a bit unsure about the brown sugar but I think it made a valuable contribution to the recipe. My only recommendation would be to either increase each liquid by 1/4 cup, or maybe add a can of cream of chicken or cream of celery if you use Jasmine rice, because our rice came out underdone in some spots. I think a little extra liquid is necessary if you don’t have the recommended rice like the recipe says. We will certainly make this again!
Sayuri says
This is a five star plus recipe. I’ve tried several one pot recipes so far and this is the only one that didn’t turn my rice into a mushy porridge. Perfect amount of water with the right techniques. The smell when this is cook is so amazing. And the taste is wordless. Thank you so much for this fabulous recipe.
Jacknel says
Made this today and my family loved it!! Will be making this again for sure. Thank you!
Lydia says
Another amazing recipe, yet again! I always forget to leave reviews after I’ve tried a recipe. My fiancé is always asking me to make this. It’s so good & full of flavor! Thank you again!
Anne Marie says
This dish was Devine! I didn’t have a correctly sized casserole so used a baking tin. Tin heats more slowly than ceramics so put it in at 200C for the first 10 minutes and then down to 180C. I also cooked it for an extra 10 minutes before doing the broil (saw some comments on rice being a bit crunchy in places. I served it at a BBQ with friends (for the non red-meat eaters). They ended up needing to guard it! Next time I’ll marinate overnight. I also added a few splashes of dry white wine to the mushrooms at the end and simmered until absorbed. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Craig says
Recipe came out lovely but…. I’ve made a few chicken rice one potts and this recipe is missing sliced carrots which add a bit of sweetness. My secret ingredient is to also add about 5 to 8 chopped dates depending on size. Usually I would fry them with the onion, but with this recipe I would stir them into the boiling stock. The oven method is my favourite for a risotto as well. No more stirring for 35 minutes and it comes out perfect.
Jeannie Bass says
Made this dish yesterday. Looked JUST like the picture and was utterly delicious! However, about that total cook time of 1h 20 m,.. By the time i washed wiped and chopped mushrooms, skinned and trimmed fat from the meat, gathered and measured out the other ingredients, and cooking tools, it took 2 1/2- 3 hours. Just so I fidn’t forget something. Family loved it, and I cant wait to try it with pork chops!!
Ralph says
Don’t be daft, woman! Buy sliced mushrooms!
Ari says
I just made this for my family tonight, and it was a hit. I omitted some things to better suit us, and it still turned out perfectly cooked and flavorful. I used bone-in, skinless chicken thighs and jasmine rice. I only used 1 tbsp of butter in the rice, and no brown sugar on the chicken. I doubled the amount of bone-in, skinless thighs, and they completely covered the rice in a 9×13 nonstick baking pan. The rice is seriously addicting, sheesh. The chicken was flavorful and juicy. It definitely helped to broil at the end. Very clever and will now use this technique with other recipes too.