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This Chicken and Rice dish is so satisfying – a must try! It has all of the heartiness of plov and creamy deliciousness of a risotto. The chicken turns out tender and so flavorful. It’s one of those meals that you’ll make and your family members will be convinced you’re the best cook there is.
My husband and son sent all kinds of compliments my way. My son ended his meal by saying “Mama your food is the best.” Yes, it’s that good! I even called Mom and shared it with her just as soon as I finished my bowl of creamy goodness.
(P.S. Don’t be afraid of the white wine; it is still family friendly! You boil out the alcohol and keep all of the amazing flavor).
Watch How to Make this Chicken and Rice:
It’s also a one-pot wonder. Less dishes is huge for me because most of my cooking sprees tend to make the kitchen look like it’s been hit by twin tornados (as evidenced here). This creamy rice casserole also also reheats really well.
Ingredients for Creamy Chicken and Rice:
1/4 cup olive oil
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1 med onion, finely diced
2 large carrots, grated or cut into matchsticks
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1″ pieces
2 tsp salt (we used sea salt), divided
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 bay leaves, optional
1 cup dry white wine such as Chardonnay
5 cups hot low sodium chicken broth
2 cups medium grain rice such as Jasmine rice (un-rinsed)**
1 head garlic
1/3 cup fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
** A note on using brown rice instead of Jasmine rice. 2 of my readers both tried brown rice and both said they had great results but it took 45 minutes too cook rather than 15 minutes. Another reader said she tried instant brown rice and it took the same amount of time to cook as Jasmine rice.
How to Make the Best Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole:
1. Using a dutch oven or heavy bottom pot with tight fitting lid, over medium/high heat, add 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 Tbsp unsalted butter. Once butter is melted and hot, stir in diced onion, grated carrots and 1 tsp salt. Sautee until soft and golden (8-10 min).
2. Add trimmed, chopped chicken thighs, 2 bay leaves, another 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Saute, stirring occasionally until chicken is golden on all sides (5 mins).
3. Increase the heat to high and add 1 cup white wine. Boil down the wine, scraping the bottom until most of the wine has evaporated.
4. Add the hot chicken broth, then stir in the rice.
5. Without separating the cloves (leaving the root end intact), slice the end off a whole head of garlic to expose the garlic cloves. Set the whole head into the center of your rice, sliced side down. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until rice is fully cooked (15 mins).
6. Turn off the heat, remove garlic head (you can either push the cloves of garlic out into the rice and eat it or discard it) and quickly stir in remaining 2 Tbsp butter until fully incorporated. Finally, stir in chopped parsley and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. It should be creamy. Serve right away or leave the lid on to keep it warm until serving.
Garnish with fresh parsley to serve.
Credits: This chicken and rice recipe was inspired by my Beef Plov recipe and Lidia Matticchio’s Traditional Rice & Chicken
Creamy Chicken and Rice Recipe (a one-pot meal)
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 1 med onion, finely diced
- 2 large carrots, grated or cut into matchsticks
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
- 2 tsp salt, we used sea salt, divided
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 bay leaves, optional
- 1 cup dry white wine , such as Chardonnay
- 5 cups low sodium chicken broth, hot
- 2 cups medium grain rice, or Jasmine rice, un-rinsed**
- 1 head garlic
- 1/3 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded, plus more for serving
Instructions
- Using a dutch oven or heavy bottom pot with tight fitting lid, over medium/high heat, add 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 Tbsp unsalted butter. Once butter is melted and hot, stir in diced onion, grated carrots and 1 tsp salt. Sautee until soft and golden (8-10 min).
- Add trimmed, chopped chicken thighs, 2 bay leaves, another 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Saute, stirring occasionally until chicken is golden on all sides (5 mins).
- Increase the heat to high and add 1 cup white wine. Boil down the wine, scraping the bottom until most of the wine has evaporated.
- Add the hot chicken broth, then stir in the rice.
- Without separating the cloves (leaving the root end intact), slice the end off a whole head of garlic to expose the garlic cloves. Set the whole head into the center of your rice, sliced side down. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until rice is fully cooked (15 mins).
- Turn off the heat, remove garlic head (you can either push the cloves of garlic out into the rice and eat it or discard it) and quickly stir in remaining 2 Tbsp butter until fully incorporated. Finally, stir in chopped parsley and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. It should be creamy. Serve right away or leave the lid on to keep it warm until serving. Garnish with more fresh parsley to serve.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
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My teen sons lost their minds over how good this was. Make it again! Best meal ever! So I guess I will be making this super easy dish the rest of my life. It really is that good and easy.
What a fantastic review! Thank you so much Heather 🙂
This was so good. I used a medium grain rice and had some serious doubts about the liquid to rice ratio but I shouldn’t have worried! It works and comes out so creamy and delicious. I added in some chopped spinach to get in more veggies. I think part of what worked really well was using my homemade chicken stock. I didn’t need the butter in the end as it was already so flavorful. This will be in the regular rotation and I think it’s so easy to customize with what you have on hand. Thanks!
This would be amazing with homemade chicken stock! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It sounds like you’ve found a new favorite if it’s going into the rotation! Yay!! 🙂
Sounds yummy. Wondering if it could be made with quinoa as an alternative to rice? Also, would Marsala wine be to strong for it? I like the idea of one dish cooking…that’s my kind of simple.
I think Marsala would be too strong and it would discolor the dish. One of my readers, Miranda left a comment below that she used quinoa instead of rice and it cooked in 15-20 minutes and tasted great. I hope that helps 🙂
This was really tasty. That being said, I did find that I had to cook the brown rice I used as a substitute for the jasmine for a bit longer than the recommended 45 minutes-I think I let my rice cook for about 55 to an hr with the stovetop set to low. However, I very much enjoyed the meal-and was able to impress my date as well.
I’ll be making this again!
That’s so fun that you impressed your date with this dish! Thanks for sharing your modifications with the jasmine rice. I do like that rice but I agree it tastes better with a little more cooking :). Thanks for a great review 🙂
Hi Natasha!
I would love to make this as I cook a lot for my parents. Do you think this would freeze well?
Thank you!
Kristen berry
To be honest I haven’t tried freezing it, but I think it would freeze ok.
Made this tonight with what I had on hand. Chicken breasts, instead of thighs, and extra broth and a little rice vinegar because I didn’t have the wine. Also added some broccoli. It was so look DELISH, thanks 🙂
I’m so happy you liked it 🙂 thanks for sharing your modifications! Folks always have questions about substitutions and this is so helpful.
Wow!!! Superb! So easy to make and so mouthwatering and creamy! My whole family loved it and requested that I make it at least once a week! I served it with grape tomato and parsley salad with garlic and vinegar and olive oil dressing 🙂
Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes, Natasha!
You’re so welcome and thank YOU for a great review! 🙂
I just made this and it sooo yummy!!! Thank you, will definitely be making again 😀
I’m so happy you enjoyed it 🙂
I found your site yesterday looking for a chicken and rice dish, this was AMAZING! I cook a lot, have to feed my family of eight somehow, and this worked on so many levels, easy, one pot, so good, I could go on. Thank you for sharing! I’m eager to try more of your recipes.
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you so much! 🙂
This recipe looks delicious and I want to try it but I cannot eat garlic and I only have white cooking wine. Will this make a huge difference in the taste?
I would ease up on the wine if it’s not a good one. It might ruin the flavor. Some of my readers have had good results with chicken broth instead of the wine. You might read through the comments and see what others are trying. You can leave out the garlic. It will still taste good, but it won’t have the same depth of flavor.
Made this last night and even threw in some fresh broccoli, it was delish and even my teenager said it was a keeper. Only change I would make would be to definitely use the low-sodium chicken base next time. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad you liked it and the fresh broccoli sounds like a tasty add-in! The low sodium broth will affect how salty it is. I like using it in my recipes because I can always add more salt later if needed but it’s hard to take it out 🙂
I just made this for dinner tonight, and it was wonderful! My husband and toddler ate it right up, too. I switched out the carrots for chopped broccoli since that’s what I had on hand, and it was very good with it. Yum!
It’s great to know that it works well with broccoli! I’m so happy to hear your husband and toddler loved it! 🙂
this dish looks amazing.
well today is my wify’s 25th birthday, and I want to do something special. now she is a great cook, but i’m going to try this dish with a few minor changes and i’ll show her who too can throw down,
Lol. Happy birthday to your wife 🙂 I’m sure she’ll be ultra impressed with your master chef skills. 😉
Made this today and it was delicious! I realized last minute that I didn’t have wine on hand so I used chicken broth instead. I also added those frozen bag of veggies for extra veggies and it was so good! Love this recipe and plan to make it more often!
I’m so glad you liked it 🙂 You can’t go wrong with extra veggies! 🙂
I made this and it was delicious but did not look like your picture. Mine was more like a risotto texture. What did I do wrong?
Did you use a different kind of rice?
I used long grain white rice.
That could have made a small difference but it shouldn’t have been a risotto. Anything else different?
Made it tonight for dinner, wow it was so yummy!!!! I skipped the parsley since I didnt have it on hand. Also I didn’t have a whole garlic, I threw in about 8 cloves. Came out so yummy!!!!!! I also added some frozen sweet peas!!!! This recipe is def a keeper and is already shared it with my FB cooking groups!!!!
Great way to improvise Inna, and thank you for the great review :).
Thanks for the great recipe.
I just finished cooking and it’s sooo tasty. 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that you liked it 🙂
I tried this recipe for dinner tonight and it was AMAZING! My kids even loved it, and they are super picky. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome Chrissy, I’m glad everyone loved it :).
This was fabulous! I made this for my family last week for the first time, and they loved it so much, I’m making it again tonight:) It satisfied the tummies of the entire family (including two toddlers)…which is pretty much a miracle. I didn’t have all of the exact ingredients on-hand, but still turned out great. I subbed chicken tenderloins for the thighs, Asiago for Parmesan, and a bag of frozen mixed veg (carrots, lima beans, green beans) for the raw carrot. Great recipe! I will definitely be sharing it with friends and family!
Pleasing toddlers is pretty much a miracle! Lol. I’m so happy you all liked it 🙂
I’ve never had jasmine rice so I don’t know where to buy it! Also, I’m on the lookout for a cast iron oven. There are so many brands out there! What would you recommend if I can’t find the Wolfgang you own?
They vary in price quite a bit. I found mine in TJ Max (it was a present from my Mom :)). Martha stewart ones are nice for something middle of the road. I am getting a LeCreuset one soon, but they are a little spendy, although I imagine I’ll keep it for the rest of my life 🙂
Sounds good thank you! And what about the jasmine rice? Can I find it in Safeway?
Yes it should be widely available in most grocery stores.