Chicken And Rice Casserole

Chicken And Rice Casserole

What's Not To Love?  You can never go wrong with a one-pot recipe. The rice is a nice and crunchy rice, tender chicken thighs, juicy and packed with flavor!

It truly is a very easy, convenient and satisfying complete meal for any occasion.

This is a great meal for a family weeknight dinner or weekend and it also works well for guests. There is always great feedback about it followed by what did you put in it? How did you make it? And yes I am always gushing to give the recipe because I am so proud of making something that everyone loves 🙂

If you want good recipes to keep close to you, it's those that work. Sometimes, you follow a recipe to the 'tee' and it doesnt work out. If that happens to you with my recipes, please contact me, leave a comment below the recipe. This crunchy rice and chicken casserole, is not one of them, it will work, any stove, anywhere!

Why We Love This Recipe

Dependable: It works! Doesnt matter what type of stove you have, or pot you use, it may not give you the exact results, but chicken and rice oven baked, works.

Versatile: Use another type of chicken, not only drumsticks. Chicken thighs are delicious in this recipe but seriously, don't remove the skin before cooking. The skin adds fat and fat equals flavor. That and you can crisp the skin up! If you still don't want after, remove it from the plate.

Easy & Delicious: Everyone can cook chicken, right? Okay, yes that makes me happy 🙂 It's chicken and rice, baked to a crispy crunchy state, it's easy and delicious. More importantly, we are going to sear the chicken drumsticks before we oven bake, this way, you know it's going to be good.

How To Make Chicken And Rice Casserole

Here are the ingredients that you will need to make this recipe.

Chicken: Chicken drumsticks, fresh, clean clear and bright. Free range, organic whatever you can buy, just make sure you use fresh chicken.

Cooked rice: You can find a recipe here on how to cook basmati rice. You can also use any rice just be sure to make it fluffy!

Olive oil: We use this extra virign olive oil. You can also use avocado or vegetable oil if that's your preference.

Onion: Regular brown onions. I prefer not using red onions here, just keep it simple with the flavors too.

Garlic: This recipe calls for 2 minced garlic cloves but feel free to use more.

Spices: We used this tasty and clean chicken spice, this garlic & herb seasoning and this salt and pepper blend.

Tomatoes: This canned tomatoes was cherry canned tomateos with lots of juice. You can but those at woolies (South Africa) or check the other supermarkets too. You can use whole tomatoes. I would not suggest crushed tomatoes because they don't have as much tomato sauce as the whole. You don't want to water down this recipe!

White wine: It's to deglaze, so use any wine that you like, it cooks out anyway, most of it. If you do not like the taste of wine, use water or chicken stock.

Instructions

Start with the chicken marinade: It's an 'instant marinade' because we mix and add it to the chicken and cook, no waiting in the fridge. All you do is mix the spices in a small bowl with some of the olive oil into like a paste but not too thick. Rub this onto the chicken, for best results, use your hands. Don't forget to dry the chicken with kitchen towels/tissue paper before you start!

Preheat the oven: Preheat to 200 degrees C / 400 degrees F.

Sear the chicken: Heat a fairly large non stick pan on medium-high heat, (so the drumsticks are not overcrowded) and add the oil to heat. Once it's hot, add the chicken and sear on both sides, turning once over (about 4 minutes each side) When seared set aside.

Aromatics: Same pan, add the onion and garlic and cook for a few seconds. Add both the chicken and garlic & herb spice, mix and cook with the onions & garlic.

Deglaze: Add the wine, mix, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pan, and add the canned tomatoes. Cook for about a minute or two.

Add the chicken: Return the seared chicken, make sure the chicken is well coated into the sauce. Here's why we needed a big pan!

Rice: Add the cooked rice, gently spreading it across the chicken, sprinkle with chicken spice and bake at 190°C / 374°F for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the top rice is crusty on top. You might need to turn your oven to grill but in that case depending on how hot your grill is lower the rack so it doesn't burn and watch it.

Carve and Serve: Once done, let it cool down, add a fresh herb and serve. Enjoy! Miranda xx

You are going to use the chicken drumstick skin and bone the whole lot goes into the pan not only for extra flavor but for extra pan juices in the chicken bone. There is no stock added to this dish. I know that stock has major flavor just like when I made Roast Chicken and Vegetable Roast, or even this Chicken Marinade With Pasta but we are not using it here.

We are not creating a soup or sauce we are creating juicy bone and skin flavor. That and spices. Talk about taste with a difference!

Chicken Recipes

There are always so many types of recipes that you can make with chicken but when you get it tasting absolutely amazing you know that it's a recipe to share because you are so proud of it. This chicken and rice casserole is one of them.

Recipe Notes

Rice
I love basmati rice and honestly speaking I tend to use it on repeat and forget that there are other types of rice that actually do exist. Long grain rice is also wonderful but so is short grain, white rice, brown rice, wild rice, Jasmin and so forth. Point is simply use your regular rice and not risotto unless you're making this Super Simple Risotto Recipe

HOW LONG SHOULD THIS CASSEROLE BAKE?

Roughly 15 minutes on bake and turn the grill on for 5 minutes till the top is beautifully toasted.

Because the rice is precooked it doesn't need a lot of time in the oven. Baking it in the oven is to get the everything to come together with a crispy topping. When it comes out the oven it is almost toasted on top hence the rice on top when we make it with the stove on bake not grill. This dish comes out crispy, roasted, toasted and absolutely addictive! The taste is incredible.

If your casserole is burning on the top (by chance) make sure to cover the pan with a lid or use a sheet of foil. However, if you follow the recipe as is it really should not burn but all our stoves are different so that's just a tip.

Can I make this recipe without spice?

You can make any dish without spice but the spices are one of the elements in getting the maximum flavor.

What spices can I use if I don't have the ones on the recipe?

You can use paprika, thyme, oregano, garlic, onion powder. It won't be the same spice as blend but they still add flavor.

More Chicken Recipes

• Grilled Chicken Salad
• Roasted Sticky Chicken and Veggies
• Roast Chicken and Vegetable Roast, Juicy Tender and Delicious
• Chicken Breast Recipe in an Asian Inspired Sauce
• Crunchy Chicken Stir Fry Recipe

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