Stuffed Chicken Thighs & Cauliflower (One-Pan Meal)
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
These baked cheesy rice stuffed chicken thighs are so flavorful, tender and frankly just a great chicken recipe!! The number one search on my blog is?… You guessed it, CHICKEN!! It’s no wonder this recipe so popular!
This chicken recipe really delivers. The ingredients are simple and what a fun way to put dinner on the table – a balanced meal baked together on 1 sheet pan. It’s fancy enough for company and simple enough for a weeknight meal. You can absolutely prep this meal a day ahead then pop it in the oven for dinner!
My aunt Tamara shared this recipe with me and it is so yummy! She texted me a photo and I knew it would be an instant hit. Sure enough, it was! Everyone in our house loved it. Thank you Toma for sharing this with me!! It was so good, I made it 2 days in a row! By the way, these reheat really well the next day. Think: work lunch!
Ingredients for Stuffed Chicken Thighs:
1 cup dry jasmine rice (un-rinsed)
1 3/4 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil, plus more to drizzle chicken
2 Tbsp butter
3 medium carrots, grated on the large holes
1 medium onion, finely diced
4 oz medium cheddar cheese, grated on large holes
salt and black pepper
6 to 8 medium boneless skinless chicken thighs*
1 large head cauliflower, cut into large florets**
*We made 6 thighs but there is enough rice mixture to make 8 stuffed thighs if you want to make the bigger batch. Baking time would remain the same.
**Carrot sticks or thick rings of carrot would also work, but I found that broccoli shrivels with these baking times.
Make Ahead Tip:
Make the entire recipe and without baking, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350˚F and bake 45-50 minutes (it will take a few minutes longer than usual if your are starting with a chilled pan and chicken).
How to Make Rice Stuffed Chicken Thighs:
Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment or Silpat. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
1. Start by cooking rice: In a medium saucepan, bring 1 3/4 cups water to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 cup rice. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover with tight fitting lid and simmer 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and and keep covered with lid.
2. While rice is cooking, place large sauté pan over medium heat and add 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add grated carrots and diced onion, season with 1/2 tsp salt and sauté 8-9 minutes or until soft and golden.
3. Stir grated cheese into the hot rice then stir in the sautéed carrots and onions. Set aside to cool slightly while prepping chicken.
4. Trim chicken thighs of excess fat and arrange on a cutting board between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Pound chicken thighs as much as you can without breaking through the meat (about 1/8 thick). Season both sides of thighs lightly with salt and pepper. If you don’t have a flat meat mallet, you can use the base of a heavy saucepan.
5. Lay thighs smooth-side down. Make a ball of rice with your hands and place over chicken thighs. Wrap meat around rice and secure each thigh with 2 toothpicks. It doesn’t have to be perfectly covered.
6. Place cauliflower on baking sheet, drizzle lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper and toss to combine. Push cauliflower to borders of baking sheet. Place stuffed chicken thighs in the center of the baking dish, drizzle chicken lightly with olive oil and bake in the center of the oven at 350˚F for 45 minutes.
Stuffed Chicken Thighs and Cauliflower (One-Pan Meal)
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry jasmine rice, un-rinsed
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, plus more to drizzle chicken
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 medium carrots, grated on the large holes
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 4 oz medium cheddar cheese, grated on large holes
- salt and black pepper
- 6 to 8 medium boneless skinless chicken thighs*
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into large florets**
Instructions
Prep:
-
Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment or Silpat. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
How to Make Rice Stuffed Chicken Thighs:
-
Start by cooking rice: In a medium saucepan, bring 1 3/4 cups water to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1 cup rice. Reduce heat to simmer, cover with tight fitting lid and simmer 15 min or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and and keep covered.
-
While rice is cooking, place large sauté pan over medium heat and add 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add grated carrots and diced onion, season with 1/2 tsp salt and sauté 8-9 min or until soft and golden.
-
Stir grated cheese into the hot rice then stir in the sautéed carrots & onions. Set aside to cool slightly while prepping chicken.
-
Trim chicken of excess fat and arrange on cutting board between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Pound chicken until about 1/8 thick. Season both sides of thighs lightly with salt and pepper.
-
Lay thighs smooth-side down. Make a ball of rice with your hands and place over chicken thighs. Wrap meat around rice and secure each thigh with 2 toothpicks.
-
Place cauliflower on baking sheet, drizzle lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper and toss to combine. Push cauliflower to borders of baking sheet. Place stuffed chicken thighs in the center of the baking dish, drizzle chicken lightly with olive oil and bake in the center of the oven at 350˚F for 45 minutes.
Recipe Notes
*We made 6 thighs but there is enough rice mixture to make 8 stuffed thighs if you want to make the bigger batch. Baking time would remain the same.
**Carrot sticks or thick rings of carrot would also work, but I found that broccoli shrivels with these baking times.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Serve stuffed chicken thighs with a sides of roasted cauliflower (If you’re curious that pretty blue platter is by Fiesta). Wholesome, delicious and healthy dinner! And it tastes just as good as dining out, except it’s way less expensive and comes with an extra side of feelin’ good that you made something from scratch for the people you love. Oh and p.s. leftover stuffed chicken thighs taste just as good reheated. SCORE!!
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I have not made this as yet. My husband is waiting patiently for me to make it. I have all the ingredients so will be making it soon. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Karen! That’s great. I hope you love it. Would love to hear your feedback.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was amazing!! Everything was gone right away thank you for sharing ❤️
I’m happy to hear that, Tanya. Thank you for the review and good feedback!
So I was looking for a recipe for things I had on hand and this looks amazing. I have bone in thighs so I’m thinking I could just stuff the rice under the skin. Do you think that would work? Do you think i need to pan fry first or will the skin crisp up while it cooks?
Thanks
Hi Kerry, I haven’t tried stuffing these bone-in. I imagine it will take longer to cook, and you may need to alter the steps a bit. We used (purchased) Boneless chicken thighs, and that spread the process up quite a bit.
Hi, I’ve made this recipe before and it was delicious! I was hoping to make a double batch and freezing half and wondered if you’d ever tried that and when is best to freeze? Before or after baking the chicken? Thanks in advance!
Hi Natasha, thanks for your great feedback. I have only tried making this ahead and refrigerating it but freezing should work well too. Make the entire recipe and without baking, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350˚F and bake 45-50 minutes (it will take a few minutes longer than usual if your are starting with a chilled pan and chicken).
I found this easy and quite yummy. Straight to the Natasha Favourite folder 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I love your recipe’s I’ve tried so far, but this one fell flat. I used deboned thighs and it still took me over an hour to get this dish in the oven. There was really no flavor with this dish either. Maybe seasoning the chicken with garlic salt or adding garlic to the rice may have helped. I won’t make this one again because of how long it takes, but I’ve been trying a lot of others and they are great!
Hi Marcella, these normally have a lot of flavor – I wonder if the seasoning was missed at any point in the recipe?
Made this recipe tonight. Honestly, after de-boning and then pounding and stuffing the chicken thighs, this all turned out to be quite a chore for what would’ve been just as good if the rice had been served on the side. Everything tasted great, but in the future I’ll likely deconstruct this recipe and serve it that way instead.
Hi Byenia! Yes, if you add deboning into the process that is quite the chore. We used (purchased) Boneless chicken thighs and that spread the process up quite a bit.
Hallo , Natasha !
I’m Irina. Greetings from Netherlands . Compliments voor what are you doing . I’ m in your funclub.
Please , put Metric options by every recept’ list, it safe time .
Best wishes ,
Irina
Hi Irina, We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes but it is taking some time as we have to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help
Can we make this without an oven? Maybe just pan-sear it
By the way when did you start cooking? When did you find your passion? How did u learn? Do you take cooking classes? Thanks
Hi Matt, I think that would work but you might need to keep it partially covered for a time and double-check the internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer. My Mom was trained in the culinary arts and we grew up eating really well and I wanted to do the same for my family. I was not formally trained, mostly self-learned through cookbooks, practice and instruction from my Mother and Mother-in-law as I learned the old family recipes.
I made it yesterday and it was absolutely delicious. Very quick and easy to make. I had extra rice left so I just put it on top of the chiken, it worked perfectly!!!
Thank you <3
Thank you for sharing that with me, Natalya!!
Easy and delicious. However, the rice filling made ALOT. I had 8 thighs and could have filled 4 more!
Hi Liz! I’m happy you enjoyed this recipe! You could sauté the rice up and enjoy it as a side. I haven’t tried this but it might be interesting to add an egg and sauté as rice patties (I’m giving myself ideas here!) 🙂
this looks delicious can I use a substitute for cheese. thank you
Hi Judith, I haven’t experimented with anything else so I’m not sure what else would help to hold the rice together the same way. If anyone else has experimented, please let us know and thank you! 🙂
Very labor intensive recipe. Pounding thin the chicken thighs was not easy because it falls apart. Having to trim the fat was a lot of work. The rice stuffing was absolutely delcious. The cauliflower came out kind of dry. I followed recipe exactly. Too much work to make it again. I will definitely make the rice by itself.
Hi Eleni, I am glad you enjoyed the rice filling 🙂
Can you use mozzarella instead of cheddar?
Hi Helen, yes that should work well 🙂
Hello 🙂
Would these be considered as Solomons Goluptsi?
Hi Jenna, I’ve never heard that name given to goluptsi. Interesting!
They’re made in the same way, with the same ingredients! I imagine your recipe is just as delicious as the one I’ve tried! 🙂
Hi Natasha. I made the first time this dish and I have about 2 cups extra rice mixture. Any idea how I can use this rice .
Thanks
Hi Tanya, you could sauté it up and enjoy it as a side. I haven’t tried this but it might be interesting to add an egg and sauté as rice patties (I’m giving myself ideas here!) 🙂
This was very good and even my very picky son liked it so it’s a winner in my book!
Awesome! I’m glad to hear this recipe is “picky-eater” approved! Thanks for sharing Candice! 🙂
This turned out to be delicious! I had some stuffing left over so I just served it as a side dish and even my kids ate it.
Thank you so much!
You’re welcome Polina! I’m glad to hear how much everyone enjoys the recipe! Thanks for sharing your great review!
Is it ok to use basmati rice?
Hi Marina, I think that would work fine.
Had a hard time wrapping it. I just rolled it and added the rice on top. My toddler, husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you. Rice was dynamite. I didn’t have cheddar, substituted with Gouda.
Definitely gonna make it again!
So great to hear that your family enjoyed it! I hope you love every recipe that you try.
I made this on my husbands birthday for the in laws and everyone loved it, thank you as always all your receipes are amazing!
Hi Alex, I’m so glad you all loved the recipe! Thank you so much for the wonderful review! 🙂
We loved this dish!!! The chicken came out juicy, I was afraid it would be dry but my husband LOVED IT!!!
I’m happy to hear you both loved the recipe! Thanks for sharing Olga 🙂
Hi Natasha, just plopped this dish in the oven and am very excited for the outcome. Hubby will love this and I’m sure leftovers will be amazing for lunch. The filling is incredibly tasty in and of itself. Thank you for this marvelous and surprisingly easy week night recipe.
Oh awesome!! I hope you both have a lovely dinner tonight! These do reheat really well so they are perfect as leftovers for lunch!
Oh my goodness, these are soooo delicious!!! I was eating the cheesy rice with a spoon!! And I love that it’s a complete meal all on one pan – super easy!
I’m glad to hear you loved the recipe! Thank you for sharing your awesome review! 🙂
Hi Natasha. I noticed you mentioned broccoli instead of cauliflower. Could that we an alternative to cauliflower when I don’t have that on hand? I’m gonna try it this week.looks very yummy with just the chicken and rice inside. Thank you for your hard work.
Hi Marina, thank you for your encouraging words! Roasted broccoli is great but the lengthy cooking time in this recipe really dries it out which is why I wrote that broccoli doesn’t work well. You might try some thick-sliced carrots or bell peppers instead. Let me know if you experiment with anything else 🙂
S I made it with butternut squash instead of cauliflower. I must say it turned out really good. thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome Marina! I’m glad you enjoy the recipe!!
i will make this soon.thank you for some thin new.
Let me know how it turns out Tanya!
Everyone in my family loved it! I used chicken breast instead cause I always have that on hand. I have cut it in half in the middle and then in half again and added a little mayo to it. Definitely will be making this again!❤
That’s a great alternative! So glad your family enjoys the recipe as much as mine does Julia! 🙂
What an amazing and easy recipe to make! It was very delicious and went fast! I will definently be making it again, thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it Lana! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!! 🙂
I love that there’s a make-ahead option which is awesome for a nice dinner for my family at the end of a long day. Thank you! These tasted really good and the couple that were leftover reheated well the next day.
I completely agree! I love make-ahead dinners!!
OK this was pretty good. But it tastes just like the chicken and rice recipe on this website. My family loves that recipe and were confused as to why it was presented this way. Lol. This recipe was too much work. I won’t be making it again.
Hi Stacy, I’m glad you liked it, but did you make the chicken and rice recipe for this recipe? This rice is considerably faster and easier than the one you’re referring to. It’s a fun way of getting dinner on one pan and a new way to serve chicken 🙂
Hi Natasha, first off I wanted to say that I love your site and all the step by step delicious recipes! Maybe the biggest reason why I thought this recipe was a lot of work was because I accidentally bought bone-in skinless thighs instead of boneless. So, after deboning them and then pounding them, I was like, this is a lot of work. Sorry, it was my fault for grabbing the wrong chicken. Then, I wrote the review after a long day. Please do not get me wrong! They were tasty. They just reminded me of the chicken and rice recipe which I make frequently. Take care!
Oh no worries at all! I completely agree that deboning chicken is a real pain! I’m so glad you enoy the chicken and rice recipe! I think it’s my sister’s all-time favorite recipe based on how often she makes it :). Thank you for reporting back and I hope your day got better 🙂
Will it be ok to use different kind of cheese like montrey jack?
Yes that would work fine 🙂
Yum! Totally making this sometime this week.
It is amazing! Let me know what you think! 🙂
What an awesome idea for stuffing, we do chicken thighs stuffed with mushrooms and instead of the toothpick we wrap a bacon strip to keep it together. .. Love the idea of rice, since not everyone likes mushrooms.. Will make this asap. Thank you so much for all the recipes. Absolutely love your site..
You’re welcome Tanya! Let me know what you think of the recipe please. 🙂
This looks delicious!
It certainly is!
Thank you for sharing! does it have to be specific jasmine rice, or I can use any other kind of rice say long grain brown rice or white rice?
Absolutely, you can use whatever rice you prefer, except minute rice. Just make sure to cook it according to the package instructions since various rice varieties take different amounts of time and water to cook.
Would love to try this recipe, unfortunately I don’t like chicken thighs!! Do you think chicken breast would work just as well??
I think you could make it work but you’ll probably have to add some kind of sauce to keep the chicken breasts from drying out. This is why I think chicken thighs work best and it’s what I would recommend for this recipe. Chicken thighs are much more forgiving and less prone to drying out. If I were to test it with chicken breast, I might try spreading with a thin layer of mayo to keep the moisture in.