If you don’t want to spend your evening washing dishes, try this delicious one-pan Chinese chicken and rice dinner that reveals juicy chicken with crispy skin atop extra-flavorful rice. {Gluten-Free adaptable} There are some nights where the task of cooking dinner feels like even more of a burden. If it’s not the prepping and cooking, then it’s the dishes left behind after all that hard work. My Chinese chicken and rice dish cooks up in one pan to give you a delicious and filling meal without a fuss that incorporates those pantry staples for a simple dinner any night. It’s like a traditional Chinese clay pot chicken, but with my recipe, I have simplified the process so you don’t need to brown the chicken. To guarantee maximum flavor, the recipe does call for marinating the chicken for 20 minutes. Rest assured, you can go ahead and prepare the rest of the ingredients and the chicken will be ready to use once the rest of the prep work is done.
What cut of chicken to use
And speaking of chicken, while you can use any kind you like for this Chinese chicken and rice, I recommend bone-in chicken with the skin on because it gives you even more flavor. If you’d prefer to use boneless or skinless (or boneless and skinless), you can of course choose to do so.
Extra flavorful rice
One of the secrets to bringing out the flavor of this dish and adding that authentic Chinese taste is to use Pacific Foods Organic Chicken Bone Broth combined with fresh aromatics. Bone broth goes one step further than regular broth because it adds more richness. It also adds in a nutritional punch of protein and naturally occurring collagen. I enjoy sipping bone broth for these reasons, though I also adore cooking with it because it adds another dimension of flavor. The Pacific brand is a favorite of mine because it’s very fragrant while having a lower sodium content, at only 290 mg, compared to other chicken broth varieties that have 800 mg or more. If you can’t find Pacific’s Organic Chicken Bone Broth, you can use their low sodium chicken broth in this recipe for results that are just as delicious while keeping the sodium to a reasonable level.
What type of rice to use & water ratio
I prefer to use long grain rice, such as jasmine rice or basmati rice, to cook this dish. Long grain rice is less starchy than short grain rice, so it yields fluffy results with nicely separated grains.
Water ratio
One tricky thing about cooking rice is the water ratio. Even if you’re using the same type of rice, the water ratio might vary depending on the brand and how the rice was processed. To make sure you’re using the correct water ratio, check the instructions on the package before starting cooking. If your package doesn’t call for the standard 2:1 water:rice ratio, you need to adjust the recipe accordingly. I’ve included a footnote under the recipe; make sure you follow the guide.
Cooking process
Cooking one-pan Chinese chicken and rice is super easy: While cooking the chicken rice, I usually boil a pot of water to blanch some veggies to add on the side. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, Chinese broccoli, and baby bok choy all work very well. Once you pull the chicken rice out from under the broiler, you’ll see that the chicken skin is perfectly browned and the top layer of rice has crisped up and tastes heavenly. The recipe yields four servings, but I have to confess that I devoured half a pan in one sitting, then I snacked on some more later the same day. It is THAT good. This Chinese chicken and rice dish is sure to become a new family favorite, and if you have any leftovers, you’ll love it for lunch the next day too! Want to learn more about Chinese Cooking? Sign up for my newsletter to receive the 5-Day Chinese Cooking Crash Course and recipe update! If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
More delicious one pan dinner recipes
Yaka Mein (Beef Noodle Soup)Chicken Fried Rice15-Minute Korean Noodle SoupSteamed Salmon in Black Bean SauceEasy Fried Udon (Yaki Udon)
