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!

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 freshy freshness from the herbs.

Oh and this is totally a one pot dinner recipe aka easy clean up recipe aka minimum prep time recipe.

Win. Win. And Win.

And speaking of winning, Saturday night we were out with some friends for dinner (burgers guys, burgers!) when my phone started blowing up with a billion retweets and I was all like, huh? I mean, i’m all for social media but i’ve never really been big on Twitter you know?

So what’s the deal with all these tweets, you ask? LEANN RIMES made this recipe of mine. I guess she likes one pot (or pan) dinner recipes too! ? Holy cow! I think I read the tweet at least 8 times before I told my husband (more like screamed it at him, really) and i’m pretty sure even as I was telling him, my brain had not fully comprehended what had just happened.

Obvi, like a little giddy school girl I tweeted her to thank her and just kept hoping she liked it. My second shock of the evening came when she tweeted me back and said, and I quote here, ‘it was delicious!!’

**Simultaneously jumping up and down while pinching myself to make sure i’m not dreaming.** ????

Moving along.

Honestly, i’m still on cloud 9 two days later. And by now I think I should just rename the blog “The One Pot Dinner Lady” because these one pot (or pan) dinners are my absolute favorite things to make. Not only is the clean-up a breeze, the prep time is minimum but the final dish is absolutely delicious too. Got company coming over? Well what are ya waiting for? Make this simple Greek chicken and herby rice pilaf. They won’t even know you made it all in one pan and that it took you under 45 minutes to get it on the table.

Bring on those picky eaters too we’re serving up a Greek Chicken and Rice recipe that is truly ah-mazing and it comes with easy clean-up and happy bellies.

Double thumbs up.

Up until now i’ve done a ton of one skillet chicken recipes and a few one sheet pan dinners. This is taking it to a new level. I’m making a side and the main entree all in one pan. Talk about the perfect spring/summer comfort food. It’s been non-stop rain in Houston and all i’ve been wanting in comfort food all up in my face while I’m trapped indoors and catch up (aka binge watch) old t.v. shows. And this totally hits the nail on the head for mealtime. I think exactly zero people have the will power to say no to a bowl of warm and cozy lemon scented rice.

It all starts with a simple Greek marinade for the chicken. It’s basic pantry ingredients, I promise. We’re using a little olive oil, red wine vinegar, and lemon juice as the base. For the seasonings it’s just minced garlic, red pepper flakes and oregano. I used fresh oregano from my garden, which has been thriving because of all the rains, but you could use dried oregano as well, just use 1/2 the quantity listed. Pantry staple dinners are perfect for when you don’t have time/won’t make time to get to the store.

I’m totally lazy when I make one pot dinners and i’m telling you, I made the marinade in a zip-top bag and tossed in my chicken breasts, zipped it and gave it a good shake. Thats it! Let it hang out for 15 minutes and if you’ve got time, let it sit for up to an hour for more flavor.

And That lemon herby rice pilaf! Once you have the chicken breasts cooked and ready to go, just let them sit on a plate and keep them warm, We’re making the rice in the same skillet.

For the rice pilaf i’m using a tablespoon of butter and we’re toasting the rice before boiling it. This adds such a nice little nutty note and I love the way it tastes. I’m boiling the rice in chicken broth and lemon juice to give it lots of flavor. You could use water if you’d like but the lemon juice combined with chicken broth gives everything a more amplified flavor.

Keep in mind that I use parboiled rice for this recipe. Parboiled rice is rice that’s been partially boiled before so it makes the cooking process a lot quicker! Make sure to give the rice a good rinse before cooking it to get rid of all that extra starch. This along with the toasting helps produce perfectly separated grains of rice. No mushy rice here thankyouverymuch.

My Greek chicken and rice pilaf is perfect for those nights when you want dinner to come out of one pot, be absolutely delicious, and filling! The prep work requires a quick 15 minutes. And the whole thing is on the table in under 1 hour!

Delicious dinners, happy bellies, and minimum cleaning.

One pot dinners make me weak at the knees. ?

 

Continue to Content

Yield: 4 servings

One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice Pilaf

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

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!

Print

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
• 3 tablespoons EACH olive oil AND lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• ½ teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more!)
• 4 teaspoons fresh oregano (or 2 tsp dried)

Rice Pilaf:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 ¼ cup long grain [b]parboiled rice[/b]
• 2 ½ cup chicken broth
• 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice (see notes)
• zest of 1 lemon / sliced lemons (if desired)
• ¼ cup chopped parsley

Instructions

1. CHICKEN: 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.
2. 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.
3. RICE PILAF: Rinse the rice in a fine mesh strainer under cold running water for 2 minutes, use your fingers to rub the rice, set aside. 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. 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

1. 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.
2. I have only made this recipe with parboiled rice. For best results, I suggest following the recipe exactly as written.

Have you made this recipe?

I’d LOVE it if you could take a second to rate this recipe and leave a comment below. You can also share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #LITTLESPICEJAR 🙂

*Please note: the nutritional facts calculated are an estimate based on the ingredients i’ve used. If you’d like a more accurate count, please calculate them using the ingredients/brands you’ve used to prepare the recipe. The NFs are for 1/4th of the recipe. Please note that nutritional facts account for a portion of the marinade ingredients as most of the marinade will be discarded.*

We are a participant in both the RewardStyle and Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, which are affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com and through RewardStyle.