Dinner doesn’t get easier, and tastier (!) than this. This is the chicken and rice dinner you will make on repeat. And repeat again.
And, bonus, it takes about 5 minutes to prepare (although you will need ample oven time, so plan accordingly!).
If you are looking for a basic dinner that is delicious and satisfying, we have it here. You will find yourself sneaking around the pan looking for the crusty rice pieces.
Recently, we posted a story on how to cook sushi rice in the oven (it always comes out amazing!). Reader Goldie Raitport responded with another rice-in-the-oven dish that’s a favorite in her house.
She told us, “Even the pickiest eaters will devour this dish and that’s saying a lot. Easy, simple prep and easy clean up. Winner dinner.”
We are a community. Not just a website. And we help one another. Sometimes we provide the recipes, but the inspiration comes time and again from you, our readers. And this time, it was Goldie, with a completely tried and true recipe.
We tried it out (husbands and kids being the testers, of course, who else?!) and it passed the test.
To quote one of our kids: “This is gonna go viral.”
Guess they know the lingo by now.
It’s so easy! Pour the rice into a 9×13 pan, and place the chicken on top.
You’ll see, this is the best way to enjoy rice! The chicken flavor melts into it, making it super flavorful.
In a bowl, mix the boiling water together with the oil, honey, soy, garlic, orange juice and spices
Pour all the liquids over chicken and rice.
There you go. We’re almost done.
Cover the pan with a wet, wrung out piece of parchment paper and it’s ready to bake!
Bake this covered for 50 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 20-25 minutes
to get some great color.
Ok, we are making this for dinner tonight. Again.
9×13 Classic Chicken with Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice (Persian /Jasmine / Basmati) We used basmati
- 4 chicken legs cut in half
- 3 cups hot water
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp honey
- 5 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 crushed garlic cloves
- 4 tbsp orange juice
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉.
- Wash and rinse the rice.
- Pour the rice into a pan, and place the chicken on top.
- In a bowl, mix the boiling water together with the oil, honey, soy, garlic, orange juice and spices.
- Pour all the liquids over the chicken and rice.
- Cover the pan with a wet, wrung out piece of parchment paper and put in the oven to bake for 50 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
Do you cover it with another piece of tinfoil and then remove the tinfoil but leave the baking paper? Or were you covering it with the banking paper, and then removing it and leaving it totally uncovered?
Looks absolutely delicious
It gets covered with foil over the parchment paper. And when it says to uncover, take both the tinfoil and the parchment off.
Doesn’t say that in the instructions
Instructions should be updated
Can I use regular long grain rice?
Looks delicious! Does the chicken absorb the flavor with the skin on? And does the chicken get soft or is it more like broiled chicken?
The chicken is very flavorful. And it’s somewhere in between, soft but not crunchy like broiled.
Made this tonight. The flavors were delicious but the chicken was very underdone. Any tips? I followed the instructions exactly.
will this cook the same in a 9×13 pyrex?
Yes. It will probably need to cook a bit less. Keep an eye on it.
Can you make this with skinless, boneless chicken if you adjust the baking time?
We are sure you can but haven’t tried it yet. It would need less cooking time. And might dry out. Let us know if you tried and how it turned out.
I wouldnt uncover if using boneless skinless. Or maybe just for like 10 min (dont know if that will make a diff). Dark chicken would prob do better than white, but that could be ok too. If you make it, please post back 🙂
Made this tonight with chicken finger cuts (store cut them, not me) and jasmine rice because that’s just what I had to work with. Baked it on 350 for about an hour, didn’t change any ingredient amounts, but left it covered with the parchment and foil the entire time. Came out amazing, not dried out at all and rice perfectly cooked!
I tried following this for an hour in the oven and the rice didn’t absorb at all. Any advice on what you did with the chicken strips and rice?
It’s possible your oven works at a different temperature level than mine, if you open it and still see water try keeping it in the oven a little until the water is absorbed. I’ve found sometimes that the water gets absorbed in a matter of minutes, could have needed even maybe just ten more minutes or so.
Can this be made with regular white rice (only kind some will eat…)? Thanks
Pls respond to the above questions too-this looks like a great recipe that I want to try, and I wasn’t clear on those issues either.
Yes, absolutely
So I finally made this last night, with white rice. I also had too much liquid, but since it was ready early, I covered it with tinfoil, lowered heat to 300 for about 35 min. We found that the rice grew more than it does when we make it in the microwave. It a very big hit! Thanks! (Especially for answering the questionns with regard to cooking instructions.)
I make chicken sort of like this, just covering with foil. What does the wet parchment add?
It keeps the moisture locked in. This is how the author instructed to do, and we take all instructions very seriously :]
This looks delicious! How much water should I do if I’m using basmati brown rice?
Not sure, since we didn’t test it with brown basmati. Maybe check halfway thru and add water if necessary?
I made this tonight it was delicious!! All ages enjoyed! I added almost a cup of water was perfect 🙂
Thanks for another great, easy supper recipe!
whahooo! love this can’t wait to try!!
can I remove the skin?
I find the skin gets all the flavor and everyone removes it before eating….
I made it without skin- delicious!
After 50 min, it was very watery. Is that normal? If so, does it need more time covered in the oven before uncovering to get color?
Same question
Same. I ended adding another whole cup of rice and basically started the process from the beginning. Then it turned out delicious!
DELICIOUS! You were right, everyone loved it!
Thanks so much!
Can I half the rice and other ingredients?
Would the cooking time change?
if anyone makes this recipe with boneless thighs, please report how it goes and any adjustments you made. this sounds delicious but we need to cater to the picky eaters in our family as well 😉
I made with dark cutlets came out amazing….
Would anything in the recipe change if I’m using 6-8 chicken legs not cut in half?
Definitely a longer bake time
made this last night and it came out delicious! a step up from the original BCP chicken and rice recipe but still easy enough to throw together quickly
If I am using chicken legs (full pieces) how should I adjust the liquid for the rice?
Same question ….hope they can reply….
I made this recipe with dark cutlets came out delicious!!! Moist and crispy! Tx for another great recipe!
Also, for meal prep , while making the sauce ingredients I made another container to put in the fridge & I can just pour over chicken & rice next week…
Made this tonight it was amazing!
I baked it a little longer covered and then uncovered for 20 minutes. Delicious!!!
Amazing recipe; got thumbs up from picky eater- especially the flavorful rice! Can I make this just as rice as a rice casserole? Or does it need the chicken to flavor it?
wondering if anyone made it with half the amount of rice and what measurements you used for the other ingredients.
can I leave out the orange juice?