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Light and delicious summer dinners are the best! And this one pot Greek chicken and rice pilaf dish is exactly that! It’s easy enough to pull together on a weeknight and has the most delicious lemony fresh taste!
In my world the simplest dinner recipes are truly the best. ❤️
And you can bet that this Greek Chicken and Rice dish truly is. Marinated chicken, perfectly cooked rice pilaf with a zing of lemon and tons of freshness from the herbs. All you need is a little zucchini and corn saute or a greek salad on the side to serve this with.
Oh and this is totally a one pot dinner recipe, which means, easy cleanup recipe and it also happens to be a minimum prep time recipe.
It also happens to be great to meal prep, because you’re making both the chicken and rice in one pan.
Win. Win. And Win.
Review goes Made the one pot Greek chicken with rice pilaf tonight and I rate it at 5 stars. No picture to share as the hungry horde fell upon the pan without waiting for the chopped parsley
Ingredients for Greek Chicken and Rice
- Chicken: You can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts or skinless boneless chicken thighs for this recipe.
- Olive Oil: You’ll need a little to cook the chicken in and then some for the rice pilaf.
- Seasonings: You’ll need kosher salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and fresh or dried oregano.
- Garlic: We’ll use some fresh minced cloves garlic to marinate the chicken with.
- Lemon Juice and Red Wine Vinegar: Both acids that will give the chicken breasts plenty of flavor. We’ll also do a little lemonjuice for the rice.
- Butter: Saute the rice in a little butter to give it plenty of flavor. Butter is the best choice for the rice, but you can swap it with more olive oil if you prefer.
- Rice: I like to use parboiled rice for this recipe. It does not mean that the rice has been previously cooked. It’s a type of rice like jasmine rice, brown rice, white rice, or basmati. You can use long-grain rice if you like here instead.
- Chicken Broth or Stock: is the cooking liquid for the rice. It amps up the flavor in the lemon rice. We’ll use this instead of water to give the rice some much needed flavor. The liquid to rice ratio for this recipe is 2:1. So you’ll need two times the amount of liquid as the rice. Vegetable stock makes a good substitute if you needed have chicken stock or broth on hand.
- Parsley: Just adds a little color to the top of the dish, skip this if you don’t have any on hand.
Making Greek Chicken and Rice Recipe
- Marinate the chicken. Start by adding 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, the garlic, red wine vinegar, and all of the seasonings. Let the chicken soak in that marinade for as long as you can allow.
- Sear the chicken. In a large saute pan or a cast iron skillet, heat the remaining olive oil. Add the chicken and cook them until the protein is done. Remove to a plate and keep it warm while you make the rice.
- Rinse the rice. Add the rice to a bowl or a mesh strainer. Rinse the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear.
- Cook the rice. Saute and stir the rice in the butter until the rice starts to pop.Then add the liquid and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low and let the rice cook until fluffy. Use foil if you used a cast iron pan.
- Storing leftovers. Pop the leftovers in an airtight container and keep it in fridge. Just zap in the microwave when you’re ready to serve.
If you like this recipe you might also like:
- Cart-Style Halal Chicken Rice Bowls
- One Pot Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Rice
- Honey Harissa Chicken Bowls with Feta Cheese Sauce
- Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Creamy Chicken Paprika Pasta
One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice Pilaf
Light and delicious summer dinners are the best! And this one pot Greek chicken and rice pilaf dish is exactly that! It's easy enough to pull together on a weeknight and has the most delicious lemony fresh taste!
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade:
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes or more!
- 4 teaspoons fresh oregano or 2 tsp dried
Rice Pilaf:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1¼ cup parboiled rice or long grain
- 2½ cup chicken broth
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice see notes
- zest of 1 lemon plus sliced lemons, if desired
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
Instructions
- MARINATE: Combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and oregano in a zip top bag. Add the chicken breasts, zip the bag and give it a good shake until the chicken breasts are evenly covered in the marinade. Allow the chicken to marinate for 15 minutes and up to 1 hour.
- COOK: In a large sauté pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat. Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade and discard marinade. Cook the chicken breasts for 4-6 minutes per side or until the chicken is all the way cooked through and registers 165ºF on a thermometer. Remove the chicken to a plate. Cover loosely with a piece of foil and keep warm.
- RINSE: Rinse the rice in a fine mesh strainer under cold running water for 2 minutes, use your fingers to rub the rice, set aside.
- SAUTE: Place the butter in the same sauté pan and allow it to melt over medium high heat. Add the rinsed rice and allow to toast for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently so the rice doesn't burn. Add the chicken broth and lemon juice to the pot and allow it to come to a boil. Stir just once to break up any lump.
- RICE PILAF: Cover, reduce heat to low and let the rice cook for 8 minutes. At the 8 minute mark, remove the cover, the rice won't be cooked through yet, add the lemon zest and lemon slices to the rice and top with the cooked chicken breasts. Cover and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes or until the liquid dried up and the rice cooked through. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before topping with parsley and serving.
Notes
- The lemon juice can be adjusted according to preference for the rice. We wanted the rice pilaf with that lemony zing so we prefer it with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. If you prefer a lighter lemon flavor, use 2 tablespoons.
- I have only made this recipe with parboiled rice. For best results, I suggest following the recipe exactly as written.
Nutrition
Calories: 515kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 18g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
Made the one pot Greek chicken with rice pilaf tonight and I rate it at 5 stars.
No picture to share as the hungry horde fell upon the pan without waiting for the chopped parsley
Want to make this chicken. I have Sucess brand rice. It’s in a pouch. Is that what you use??
Delicious and easy ! Moist and flavorful ..I used thighs , will try breast next time .. loved all the wonderful flavors and the lemon ..yum ..thank you sir sharingv
The flavors are spot on. I didn’t really alter the ingredients other than leave out the red pepper flake and my whole family loved it. I didn’t have parboiled rice so I cooked it separately using the broth/lemon juice/toast the rice in butter method. We also had some roasted broccoli and it was wonderful.