One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice

4
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice is a quick weeknight meal with garlic, lemon, and super flavorful seasoned rice pilaf.

One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice with roasted lemon halves is a quick weeknight meal with garlic, lemon, and super flavorful seasoned rice pilaf.One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice is an easy dish you can make for an easy weeknight meal or guests coming over for dinner.

This One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice dish was the product of a mix of two recipes I love.

I’d been craving the dish and meant to pull out my rice cooker but I had literally no idea where my husband put it away (that drives me nuts by the way).

Want to make with Greek Chicken with white meat?

From a reader, Bryce, who made the recipe with boneless chicken breasts:

Just FYI for anyone in the future who was wondering if you could make this with boneless Chicken Breast–You absolutely can and it is deeeelicious! I followed the pan searing directions for the chicken but after removing them, I set them aside until 25 minutes into cooking the rice portion in the oven. After 25 minutes I added the chicken breast on top and continued cooking it for another 25 minutes. I made it for my neighbors in need, but also made it for us. We loved it and they did too! Thank you!

One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice is an easy dish you can make for an easy weeknight meal or guests coming over for dinner. So I figured I would make a hybrid of the recipe with my Baked Chicken Brown Rice Vegetable Casserole, kind of like my Spanish Olives Chicken and Rice (One Pan!). So a quick series of adjustments and dinner was on the table in no time. Absolutely LOVED it.

With such an easy method, I plan on making a few different flavor variations of this recipe as we go into the fall season:

  • One Pot Italian Chicken and Rice with tomato wedges, garlic, parmesan and basil.
  • One Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice with snow peas and carrots.
  • One Pot Jerk Chicken with Dirty Beans and Rice

One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice with AMAZING crispy and creamy lemony rice!Tools Used in the making of this One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice Recipe:
Better Than Bouillon: I almost never buy boxes of broth because I keep the beef, chicken and vegetable version of this Better Than Bouillon.
Cast Iron Skillet: This is my most used pan in my kitchen, heavy, keeps heat well and gives the BEST sear ever.
Chef’s Knife: This knife is one of the three most used tools in my kitchen (tongs and my pig tail flipper are the other two). I love it, I’ve had it for almost 10 years and it is as sharp today as the day I got it. (left column, second from the top). Mind you I love it this much even though I have a ridiculously expense knife set as well.

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One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice

One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice with roasted lemon halves is a quick weeknight meal with garlic, lemon, and super flavorful seasoned rice pilaf.
Yield 4
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Greek
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 4-6 chicken thighs , bone in and skin on
  • Kosher salt and pepper , to taste
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion , diced
  • 1 cups white rice , uncooked
  • 1 tablespoon garlic , minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 lemons , zested and juiced
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • parsley , minced for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  • Heat the cast iron skillet on high heat.
  • Season your chicken to taste with Kosher salt and black pepper.
  • Add the chicken, skin side down and cook until browned, 4-5 minutes.
  • Flip and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.
  • Push the chicken to the side (or onto a plate).
  • Add the olive oil to your cast iron skillet and heat on medium-high.
  • Add in the onions and start to cook for 3-4 minutes.
  • Once the onions are mostly melted add in the lemon zest and garlic cloves. Cook for 30 seconds while stirring.
  • Add in the uncooked rice and cook for a minute.
  • Pour in the chicken stock and lemon juice, add in the oregano and put the chicken back in skin side up.
  • Bake covered with foil for 45-50 minutes.
  • Serve with additional lemons on the side in case people want more lemon flavor.

Nutrition

Calories: 439kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 111mg | Sodium: 277mg | Potassium: 571mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 25IU | Vitamin C: 31.5mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 2.1mg
Keyword: greek, mediterranean food, One Pot Greek Mediterranean Chicken and Rice

1 pot greek chicken & rice collage

One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice with roasted lemon halves is a quick weeknight meal with garlic, lemon, and super flavorful seasoned rice pilaf.
One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice with AMAZING crispy and creamy lemony rice!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Hi Sabrina,

    I was wondering, can you use a regular pan for this dish, or does it have to be a cast iron skillet???

    It sounds delicious and all your recipes I’ve tried to make have turned out amazing!

    Thank you

    1. You just need to use something that can be used on both the stovetop and in the oven if you want to only use one pot. Enjoy!

  2. Great flavor and easy to make. I have made this for my family first then for a few guests we had for dinner. It was a major hit

  3. I love the flavor in this recipe but my rice is gooey every time! Should I add less liquid or just add the rice to the chicken closer to end of cooking time?

  4. Thanks for this awesome recipe, my husband and I really enjoyed it!! I’ve printed the recipe and I will be making it often…easy always on hand ingredients, simple technique with the bonus of only using one pot. I made a change by using the zest and juice of only one lemon and a heaping teaspoon of oregano. Used 4 chicken thighs and cooked it in my 10 inch cast iron skillet (I agree, they are the best). Thanks for the info about making it with chicken breast. Cheers, I’ll be trying your other one pot recipes very soon.

  5. Each time I’ve made this recipe the skin on the chicken doesnt stay crispy after I cover it with foil and put it in the oven, and also my rice comes out a little soupy or sticky, it doesnt turn out fluffy and separated like it looks in the picture for this recipe.. I follow all the directions in the recipe I was wondering if you had any additional tips or could maybe tell me what I could be doing wrong?

    Thank you!!

    1. So sorry I missed this question! It sounds like you have too much liquid going on. This is usually from using frozen chicken or chicken pumped with a lot of saline.

  6. My kids LOVE this!!!!! My youngest would eat this every night of the week if she could. We are making this right now (it literally just went into the oven) and she is standing at the oven door waiting for it to come out.

  7. Hey something is missing in these directions, there is nothing about the roasted lemon halves, even though the title/intro implies that this is part of the recipe. The actual recipe just calls for zest and juice. Please fix!

    1. I should edit the intro, when I roasted the lemons it made the juice a bit bitter so I took the step out of the directions. Sorry for the confusion.

  8. I made with brown rice. I made rice on stove with half chicken broth and water ratio for 40 min. Then added with chicken and put in oven for 30 min with rest of the chicken broth. Family loved it. My daughter asked me to send the link to her so she could do calorie. I used all skinless chicken boneless breast and one thigh and a leg piece.

  9. Made this several times but used coarse bulger wheat (#4) instead of rice. Ok, I also added broccoli during the cooking and kalamata and green olives at the end. I just can’t leave a good thing alone.

  10. what can I do to reduce the fat in this recipe? Acid reflux doesn’t appreciate high fat meals. Maybe cook the rice separately in a rice cooker with low fat broth? And roast the thighs on a rack to reduce the fat??

  11. I must be missing something. My recipe says 2 lemons, juiced and zested. I see from some of the comments that they used 3 lemons and sliced one and put in the rice?

  12. I’m making this for the first time tomorrow. Do you think I could use a baking tray with foil or best to use a deeper casserole dish? Mine isn’t very big and means the chicken will be stacked on top of each other verses useing the baking tray where they’ll be spread out. Also if I add more rice should I double herbs, lemon and stock? Thank you can’t wait to taste it!

    1. I’m sorry but I don’t think it’ll work on a baking try. You really need a deeper casserole dish. As far as the doubling the rice, I wouldn’t recommend it. If you’d like more, just make a batch of rice on the side. I hope you enjoy it!!

      1. I made this once and doubled the broth and the rice (2 cups of rice and 4 cups of broth) We loved it. In fact it is in the oven now again but using bone in chicken breast. Just not sure how well it will work yet. I am hoping the chicken does not over cook. I use extra lemon juice because I love lemon. I am not much of a rice eater but love this rice.

    1. The reason I use a cast iron skillet is because it can go directly in the oven, so it’s easier clean up only using one pan. Since you don’t have one, I would suggest using a regular cooking pan for the stovetop portion and then once you get to step 11, put everything into a casserole dish to finish it off in the oven. Hope this was helpful!

    1. It might but orzo doesn’t hold up as well as the rice would so you might want to watch the timing and not cook it as long.

  13. This looks delicious. I’d like to take this to a buffet pot luck party to serve a crowd. If I used the bs thighs, could I cut them up after cooking to facilitate eating and feeding a crowd? I was thinking that if I cut the thighs up in small pieces prior to cooking they would dry out too much. Another possibility would be to add them in later, but I was afraid the shortened cooking time would result in less flavor.
    What are your thoughts?

    1. The easiest way would be to just cut them up after cooking and then you won’t have to worry about losing any of the flavors during the cooking process. Enjoy!

    1. I usually don’t recommend breasts because they tend to dry out but a reader used them and if you follow his recommendation which I added above in the post (highlighted in green), it should be no problem. I hope you enjoy!

  14. This sounds delicious and easy! Was wondering if I use brown or basmati rice if it would cook the same as white. Thank you!

    1. Thank you so much! You can substitute with any rice to your tasting. If using brown rice, you’ll want to follow the instructions on the box of rice as to the liquid and timing as it will need to be increased. Basmati rice should be an even swap for this recipe. Enjoy!

    1. I’d be careful as bone in breasts can be HUGE. I mean I’ve seen some close to 3/4 of a pound for each piece. If you find it is a big piece, perhaps cut them in half so it is more the size of thighs. Then I’d say do it following those instructions.

  15. Great recipe!  I made it last night and my family loved it.   I now can play with the recipe and get creative in the kitchen.  Really yummy .. thanks for sharing it!

  16. Just FYI for anyone in the future who was wondering if you could make this with boneless Chicken Breast–You absolutely can and it is deeeelicious! I followed the pan searing directions for the chicken but after removing them, I set them aside until 25 minutes into cooking the rice portion in the oven. After 25 minutes I added the chicken breast on top and continued cooking it for another 25 minutes. I made it for my neighbors in need, but also made it for us. We loved it and they did too! Thank you!

  17. I am going to make this today for my neighbors. Would I be able to make this with Bone-in Chicken breast instead of thighs? My neighbor doesn’t eat dark meat. Thank you so much!!

  18. This meal was absolutely delicious. I have been bombing all my meals this past week so this was a refresher. My husband and our boys ranging from ages 12-45 ate every grain off the plate. The lemon and oregano create a party and flavor full taste in your mouth. I followed every instruction. Thank you for this recipe.

    1. I haven’t tested it that way yet, so I couldn’t tell you the right timing on it, but I do have it on my short list of things to do.

  19. I made this, and liked it. It’s a good one pan main dish. I’ll make it again sometime. I’m going to pin it.

    1. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Sorry I don’t have the nutritional facts/calorie count for recipes on the site but I know there are a lot of free resources on the internet from when I’ve cooked for clients with low calorie diets.

  20. August 24, 2017. I followed this recipe with no changes, using a 12″ frying pan. I really liked it. The chicken was super moist, and the rice was of risotto consistency and scrumptious. Well I did add 2 TBSP of dry white wine (Oak Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon, $2.95 for a 750ml bottle at Walmart) to the 2 cups of chicken stock.

    Next time I’ll modify this recipe a tad: stay with the five chicken thighs, but triple the rice amount to 3 cups, and double the stock to 4 cups. Also instead of halving 3 each lemons, I’ll slice one lemon into 6 each 1/2″ thick slices and place them on top of the rice, next to the chicken thighs, for the 45 minute bake.

    Thanks you for posting this great recipe!

  21. I made this last night and my husband and I both enjoyed it. I didn’t see in the recipe when to add the oregano so I mixed it with the stock.  When do you add it? I used boneless skinless thighs since that is what I had and they were very good. Next time I might try with brown rice since we love your oven baked brow rice recipe. 

    1. My apologies, it can certainly go in with the stock. I’ll update the recipe to reflect it. I’m glad you enjoyed it! It would be delicious with brown rice too, the chicken brown rice casserole is a favorite in our house too!

  22. This looks delicious, and I can’t wait to try it! What changes to liquids or cooking time would you recommend if I were using wild rice instead of white rice?

    1. I would follow the instructions on the wild rice box as to the liquid and timing because it will be quite different from white rice.

  23. I need more one pot dinner ideas! They are such time savers! This Greek chicken and rice sounds perfect!

  24. I love lemon and chicken flavor combination! And I need to try this one pot chicken and rice!

  25. Just found you about 30 minutes ago. I was looking for a slow cooker pork recipe and found your recipe and it is cooking right now. Your recipes look so delicious and I can’t wait to try more of them. 

  26. This looks so delicious! I love skillet/one-pot dishes, too! I don’t cook with chicken thighs much, but really need to start!

  27. how much garlic all together 2 T minced and/or 1 T? Is it added only with
    the onion? Thanks, this looks sooo good.

    connie

    1. I used 1 Tablespoon of garlic, minced for this recipe and added it in after the onion. You could definitely add more if it’s to your liking. I hope you enjoy!

    1. Thank you so much for catching that! I was up late and it looks like I accidentally deleted a line. I just edited it 🙂

    1. You guys are so awesome for catching this! I just edited it but you want to use 2 cups of broth for this recipe.

    1. So sorry about that, but thank you for catching this. I did edit but you’ll want to use 2 cups of stock. Thank you so much!

  28. I am planning to make this recipe for dinner but I can’t find any mention of the lemons in the directions, wondering when you add them in? Thank you, sounds delicious! Can’t wait to make it?

    1. Haha, I guess getting this post ready late at night didn’t really pay off….need more coffee! Thank you so much for catching this and wanting to try this dish. I did edit the instructions but you’ll want to add them in with the chicken.

      1. Mine came out pretty bitter with the 3 lemons! Maybe just the lemons I used, or perhaps cutting it down to 2 would have helped. Will have to experiment. Otherwise great!

  29. This looks delicious! I’m always looking for new quick and easy chicken recipes. When you say pour in the chicken stock do you mean some chicken broth made from bouillon? And if so how much? Thanks for sharing!

    1. Thank you so much!! I’m so sorry about that part getting originally deleted. You’ll want to use 2 cups chicken stock for this recipe. Enjoy!

    2. This is a great recipe. Made it for dinner tonight. Hubby loved it! It was a bit sour for me, and I love lemon. Next time I might use a bit less. Will absolutely make this again! Will become part of our repertoire!  
      Thanks for sharing it.