Spanish chicken and rice is an easy one pot meal your whole family will love! Smokey seasoned chicken thighs are cooked with Spanish style rice in a Dutch oven in this easy to make meal.
You know that I'm all about delicious yet easy to make meals. Lately, I've been obsessed with chicken and rice bakes. They're very easy to throw together and the chicken and rice cook at the same time in one pot. Just add a veggie or quick side salad and you're ready to go.
This Spanish chicken and rice bake came together when I had some chicken thighs to make for dinner and not much else going on in the fridge. I seasoned and seared the chicken, flavoured the rice with olives, onion and red pepper and then let it all bake. Dinner was a huge hit that night, so here we are!
This is not entirely an authentic Spanish chicken and rice recipe. Most of the flavours are traditionally Spanish (paprika, olives, red pepper) but the turmeric here is not something that is usually used in Spanish cuisine. I don't regularly keep saffron around and I find that turmeric is a great substitute and gives the same beautiful yellow colour that you get from saffron, so here we are.
The Perfect Easy Chicken Dinner
Once you taste this Spanish chicken and rice I know you're going to be as hooked as we are, but if you need some more convincing let me tell you all the other reasons you're going to love this dish!
- All the cooking happens in one pot. Perfect for minimal cleanup after dinner!
- The ingredients are likely in your pantry already.
- 5 minutes of prep time then off to the oven to bake - no stirring or watching required.
- The recipe is super flexible. Trade the roasted red peppers for fresh, or leave them out entirely. Swap the black olives for green.
How to make it
Preheat your oven to 350℉ and heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat on your stovetop then add a bit of oil to it.
As the pot heats up, chop up your onion, roasted red pepper and olives then season your chicken thighs with the paprika, cumin and turmeric as well as a good dose of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Flatten out the chicken thighs then place the thighs in. Brown the first side for about 2 minutes, then flip the chicken over and brown the second side.
When the chicken is browned, remove it from the pot and reduce the heat a bit to medium.
Add the onion and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes then add the squeezed lemon juice. Use a wooden spoon or another utensil to lift the browned bits from the bottom of the pan as you stir the onions.
Add the red pepper and olives and saute for a minute or two.
Pour in the canned tomatoes, chicken stock, and rice and then give it all a good stir to mix before placing the browned chicken thighs on top of it all.
Place the lid on the pot and transfer it to the oven and let it bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and serve.
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One Pot Spanish Chicken and Rice
Equipment
Ingredients:
- 8 chicken thighs - boneless and skinless
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- sea salt and pepper
- 2 cloves garlic - crushed
- 1 onion - diced
- 1⁄2 lemon - juice of
- 1 roasted red pepper - diced
- 1.5 cups white rice - jasmine or basmati
- 1 can Rotel - or diced tomaotes
- 1.5 cups chicken stock
- ¼ cup chopped black olives
Instructions
- Season the chicken thighs with the paprika, turmeric and cumin as well as sea salt and ground pepper.
- Add olive oil to a dutch oven and heat to medium heat. Sear both sides of the chicken thighs then remove from the pan.
- Add the onions and garlic then saute until tender.
- Squeeze the lemon juice into the skillet and deglaze the pan.
- Add the rice, stock, roasted red pepper, tomatoes and olives then stir well to combine.
- Place the chicken thighs on top of the rice then place the lid on the dutch oven.
- Bake in the oven at 350℉ for 30 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
* nutritional information is calculated by online tools and may not be 100% accurate.
David Feldt says
This looks so good and so simple. I'm going to try it this week!
Courtney says
It's so good, and so easy too! I hope you enjoy it!
julez says
Tried it to the letter. The rice didn't come out done. I used vigo spanish rice in a bag for this recipe. 30 minutes was too stiff. Used covered lodge dutch oven with lid in oven for 30 minutes at preheated 350. Even 10 minutes more was too stiff and then went to overcooked after. Edible and good flavor but still...
Courtney says
hi Julez! Thanks for your feedback. I was unfamiliar with the rice you used so I did some research and I believe it is short grain rice which would cook differently. In the recipe, I just called for rice and I realize that was unclear so I've updated it to reflect that you should use jasmine or basmati for this dish. Sorry for any trouble!