This was such a delicious dinner and pretty easy to put together. I used skinless -boneless chicken thighs . Chicken Thighs are pretty forgiving in the baking dept. because they don’t dry out. I find white meat to dry out easily.  The chicken baked on top of the the rice in one baking pan! My kind of meal. Serve a salad or a green veggie alongside and it’s just perfect.

This recipe should serve 4 depending on the size of the thighs you use. 2 cups of rice is a lot of rice so that won’t be a problem. I would cut in 1/2 if doing for 2 people because it’s a lot of rice for 2. I used 1 1/2 lbs of chicken, 1 cup rice and 1 pint of mushrooms.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Chicken:

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 1/2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

6 nice size skinless boneless chicken thighs –app. 2 lbs.

Rice:

1 large onion chopped small

4 cloves garlic–minced

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 cups chicken broth or chicken stock

1 1/2 cups hot water

2 cups long grain rice– Basmati Rice or Jasmine rice can also be used

Mushrooms:

3 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter

2 cloves garlic

2 pints of button mushrooms ( or cremini) cut into quarters

Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a bowl , combine the olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, thyme, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and coat each piece evenly with the seasonings. Set aside, allow the chicken to sit while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Spray a large oven-proof baking dish (10 x 15 at least) with a non stick cooking spray . Add the onion, garlic, oil, salt , pepper, broth or stock, and water into the dish. Stir well to combine. Then add the rice.

Arrange chicken in the water over the rice, cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Make sure you add the chicken over the rice towards the middle of the baking dish, this will insure the rice gets cooked properly.

After 40 minutes uncover and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes , until the chicken is cooked. Change oven setting to broil and broil for app. 3 minutes to brown the chicken and crisp the rice.

Towards the end of cooking the chicken I prepared mushrooms. Heat butter in a small saute pan over medium heat. Saute the garlic in the butter and add the mushrooms; cook until softened , season with some salt and pepper. Then once they were cooked I let them sit on the stove with the heat turned off till the chicken was done. Once chicken is done you can add a low heat and while chicken is sitting heat up the mushrooms again.

When chicken and rice is finished cooking, allow it to sit for app. 5 minutes to set all the flavors.

I removed the chicken and fluffed up the rice and added the mushrooms into the rice. Arrange chicken on top of the rice when you plate it up. If you’d like you can sprinkle some chopped fresh parsley for color and added flavor!