Crispy chicken bakes over a bed of tomato basil rice in this One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken & Rice. Dinner is ready in 45 minutes!
All made in one pan and so easy to prepare, you won’t believe it when it’s done. No rice cookers and no extra pans needed! Tomato Basil Chicken & Rice has the most popular vote for dinner in my house!
Chicken and Rice
Back up a second. Let me rephrase. Chicken SO crispy on the outside; tender and falling apart on the inside; tomato, basil rice with so much flavour and cooked in so.much.sauce. Chicken broth, tomato juices and chicken flavours, mixed through with chopped tomatoes, fresh basil leaves AND the addition of sun dried tomatoes if you so desire.
- Easy ✔
- Delicious ✔
- One-pan ✔
CHECK.
One Pan Recipe
This Italian inspired recipe comes from this One Pot Italian Chicken and Rice recipe from so long ago. An even BETTER version times a thousand! I have no doubt in my mind you will fall in love with THIS ONE.
How To Make One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken And Rice
- This recipe calls for a skillet, but if you don’t own one you can a normal pan to sear your chicken in over stove top, add the rice and the rest of the ingredients, then transfer everything to a large 9×13-inch baking dish.
- You can use bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts if you don’t like thighs.
- The recipe is the perfect rice to liquid ratio when using white rice. If using brown rice, you will certainly need up your liquid. I have not tried this recipe with brown rice, so I cannot give you any advice.
Chicken thighs are crisp-tender and juicy, cooked WITH the rice in one pan to minimise cleanup! You are SO welcome!
More One Pan Recipes!
Honey Mustard Chicken & Potatoes (One Pan)
One Pan Spanish Chicken and Rice
Oven Baked Chicken Rice
One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken & Rice on VIDEO!
One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs skin on, bone in
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 onion diced
- 1 red bell pepper deseeded and chopped
- ⅓ cup sun dried tomato strips in oil chopped, optional: but adds flavour
- 1 ⅓ cup long grain rice uncooked, rinsed (arborio rice may also be used for a risotto-like consistency)
- 14.5 ounce crushed tomatoes with liquid
- 1 ¾ cups chicken broth or chicken stock
- 1-2 teaspoons salt adjust to your taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper adjust to your taste
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves chopped
- 1 pinch fresh basil extra chopped, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°c | 400°F. Heat the oil in a large, deep ovenproof cast iron skillet/or pan (over 30 cm or 12-inches). Add the chicken, skin side down; sear for 3-4 mins on medium-high heat. Turn each thigh and sear until golden all over. Transfer the chicken onto a warm plate.
- Add the garlic; fry until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add the onion and red peppers / capsicum; fry for about 3 minutes or until and onion is transparent. Stir in the sun dried tomatoes, rice, crushed tomatoes and chicken broth (stock). Season with salt, pepper and dried basil. Bring to a simmer and allow the rice to soak up all the tomato flavours.
- Place chicken thighs, skin side up, over rice. Bring to the boil; rotate the chicken in the tomato sauce to coat; cover with foil; transfer to preheated oven and allow to bake for about 40 minutes, or until the rice has softened and absorbed the liquid and the chicken is cooked through. Stir through an extra ¼ cup of water to the rice ONLY if needed (if rice hasn't cooked fully).
- Remove cover; change oven settings to broil / grill on medium heat for a further 8-10 minutes or until the chicken is crispy and golden.
- Season with extra salt to taste; sprinkle with freshly chopped basil to serve.
Heather Casey says
I typed a search for chicken thighs Basil and sun-dried tomatoes since I had to use these items. I also had alborio rice to use up. What a great combination! I used marinated roasted tomatoes since they also had to be used. This was a delicious way to clean my pantry! Even my husband liked it (he has a pickier palate than I do)! I love that it’s a one dish meal for easier cleanup. And the chicken was nice and crispy!
Diane Atkinson says
love his. Great. Second time I made it. Wonderful especially with fresh crusty Italian bread
Brandon Pawley says
Excellent
Easy to make
I had to modify a bit due to lack of specific ingredients on hand.
I can see that I will try this again with some more modifications, but this is a great base recipe.
Hillary says
Used the ingredients to make tomato sauce, I didn’t want to mix my rice. It has to be one of the best tomato sauces I’ve had and made 😍😍😍 it has a nice balance of sweetness. How are you this good at everything you make?😭😭😭😭
KB says
I added more onion, garlic, spices and it was very good. I baked it for 25 minutes and checked the rice – it was almost done. 10 minutes off the heat finished it perfectly.
A very good, quick dinner.
Kathy Keough says
We love this recipe! I think my husband could eat it at least once a week! Easy and delicious!
Tim Stubbe says
Excellent Recipe!!! Great Flavor, easy to make…
Melanie says
Is the only time you add the fresh basil at the end? Or am I missing a step? Making this tonight and want to make sure I do it correctly.