We affectionately call One Pot Chicken and Rice “gruel” at my house.
“KIDS!” I’ll yell at dinnertime, “Come get yer gruel!” and they come running. What can I say, it makes me laugh and it’s the little things.
This easy, gluten free recipe was born from Lincoln’s love of Easy Chicken and Rice Soup and Cam’s deep desire to wear his dinner every night. Part risotto (without all the stirring) and part soup, this creamy chicken and rice recipe is simple and comforting, made in one pot, and easy enough for a 2 year old to eat. Lucky for you and me, it tastes nothing like gruel!
One Pot Chicken and Rice
Sliced carrots are sauteed in butter and homemade seasoned salt then simmered with dried minced onions and garlic, white rice, diced chicken, and rich chicken stock until thick and irresistible. THEN it’s finished with a couple pats of butter. Did I mention it’s irresistable? This recipe makes enough to feed a crowd and anything we don’t finish reheats wonderfully, too. It is not an understatement to say that my entire family LOVES this dish!
Recipe Tips
- I’ve been making this recipe regularly for the past year or so but have never measured the ingredients until now so I could share it with you. That said, make any adaptations you like – it’s hard to screw up! Use fresh onions and garlic instead of the dried versions. Add more or less butter to your liking. Throw in some celery or leeks if you please!
- Use good quality rice or you actually WILL end up with mushy gruel. Please no par-boiled or minute rice. I use Lundberg White Jasmine Rice.
- I have not made this recipe with brown rice though if you do, you will need more chicken stock and will also need to increase the cooking time considerably.
- Since this dish has just a few simple ingredients, I like using gluten free chicken STOCK vs broth for maximum flavor.
- This easy chicken and rice (and the soup it’s adapted from) really benefits from being seasoned with my homemade seasoned salt. It’s just 4 ingredients that I can almost guarantee you have in your cupboards right now, and really adds a ton of flavor to each bite.
Oh my gosh, yum. Ok, let’s get this grue-, I mean One Pot Chicken and Rice on the table!
How to Make This Recipe
Start by adding sliced carrots to melted butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Season with homemade seasoned salt and pepper then place a lid on top and saute until the carrots are tender, 5-6 minutes.
Next add good quality long grain white rice, dried minced onion, and dried minced garlic then stir to coat the rice in the butter and saute for one minute.
Again, if you don’t use the right rice you’ll end up with mush, so I recommend using good quality rice like Lundberg.
Add dried parsley and chicken stock to the pot then bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low then simmer for 10 minutes. Next, season chicken breasts that have been chopped into bite-sized pieces with seasoned salt and pepper then add to the soup pot and continue to simmer until the rice is al dente and the chicken is cooked through, 10-15 additional minutes.
Last step is to remove the pot from the heat, place a lid on top, and let sit for 5 minutes. Finally, stir in more butter (follow your heart!) and season with additional seasoned salt and pepper if necessary.
One Pot Chicken and Rice will thicken a bit as it cools – and tastes best warm vs piping hot – so give it a little rest then scoop into bowls and call in your crew. I hope you love this easy and comforting dish as much as we do – enjoy!
Similar Recipes
- Easy Chicken and Rice Soup
- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
- Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Skillet
- Pan Roasted Chicken Thighs and Rice
- Easy Chicken Fried Rice
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One Pot Chicken and Rice
Description
One-Pot Chicken and Rice is part soup, part risotto, and wholly comforting. Your family will ask for this easy yet irresistable gluten free dinner recipe again and again.
Ingredients
- 4 - 6 Tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 heaping cup chopped carrots (from 1 cup baby carrots or 2 large carrots)
- homemade seasoned salt and pepper (see notes)
- 2 scant cups long grain white rice (I like Lundberg White Jasmine Rice)
- 1 Tablespoon dried minced onion
- 1 teaspoon dried minced garlic
- 2 Tablespoons dried parsley flakes
- 8 cups gluten free chicken stock
- 2 small chicken breasts (14oz), cut into bite-sized pieces
Directions
- Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add carrots, season with seasoned salt and pepper, then place a lid on top and cook until carrots are tender, 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add rice, dried onions and dried garlic then stir to coat in butter and saute for 1 minute. Add dried parsley and chicken stock then turn heat up to high to bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to ensure rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot as it comes to a boil.
- Turn heat down to medium-low then simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season chicken with seasoned salt and pepper then add to the pot, turn heat up slightly to bring back up to a bubble, then turn back down to medium-low and continue to simmer until chicken is cooked through and rice is al dente, 12-15 more minutes, stirring occasionally and more frequently near the end.
- Place a lid on top of the pot then remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 2 - 4 Tablespoons butter (however much you like!) then season with additional seasoned salt and pepper if necessary. Scoop into bowls then serve. Note: dish will thicken as it cools.
Notes
- To avoid ending up with mush, use good quality rice - no Minute Rice, please! I use Lundberg California White Jasmine Rice.
- Click here for my 4-ingredient homemade seasoned salt recipe >
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
Video
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I made this for the first time tonight, and it is now in the list of family favorites!! It was delicious! I used fresh onion and garlic because that’s what I had. I also cooked it in the instant pot using the directions from other comments here, and it came out perfectly! Thanks for a great recipe!
Made this tonight and it was so delicious! Really, really loved it!
I made this for my family for lunch today. it looks just like the picture and tastes great! thank you for the recipe :)
Love this recipe!! So quick, easy and delicious. I plan to experiment a bit in the future too, but it was loved just following this recipe as it is. Thank you!
This was delicious. I just used real onion and garlic. Loved the season salt recipe
This One-Pot Chicken and Rice is my favorite dish . This dish is very yummy and tasty. I was made this dish at last night. It was very tasty. your all dishes are really tasty. Thanks for sharing information of this recipe with us. lovely dish
This One-Pot Chicken and Rice is my favorite dish . This dish is very yummy and tasty. I was made this dish at last night. It was very tasty. your all dishes are really tasty. Thanks for sharing information of this recipe with us.
I make this all the time, subbing vegan butter, vegan chicken, and vegetable broth! I end up using about 6 cups broth instead of 8 and it comes out perfectly. Great for a picky vegan as well (my boyfriend LOL)!
I made this last night. It was so easy and tasted fantastic!! My kids loved it.
approx. How much of your seasoning recipe did you use with the carrots?
Can’t wait to try this…yum!
I love collecting one pot recipes like this. It’s such a time saver, and I only need to prepare one dish for a yummy meal. Thanks for sharing. ?
I’ve been eyeing this recipe for months but my husband was hesitant to try it. Finally made it and it was AMAZING (just like I knew it would be) And he loved it of course. So comforting and filling. This will be in heavy rotation this fall & winter. Thanks for all your amazing recipes – I’ve been a big fan for years!
We love this recipe. It is so easy and tasty. I just wondered from your note if you knew that coriander(UK) is the same as cilantro(USA).
Because I live in Hawaii and it is Hurricane season, I stock up on Costco’s canned chicken. My question is how can I convert this recipe using canned chicken?
Not to be a stickler, but it’s important to note that this recipe calls for you to cook the rice for 22-25min, “until [it’s] al dente.” Any white rice in the world is done in 10 min. At 22-25 min, rice isn’t remotely al dente, it’s exploded mush. Maybe some people like it that way, that’s fine, but you’re definitely not getting al dente rice if you cook it that long.
Yes, white rice cooked in a small pot with a lid will cook to al dente in 10 minutes. White rice cooked in a soup style dish without a lid on the pot will cook in 22-25 minutes, as tested and noted in this recipe. Please do not leave comments like this here if you have not made the recipe yourself, as it is inaccurate and can cause confusion for others.
I found that either there was too much broth or too much time to cook the rice. My rice cooked pretty quick and I made sure to get a quality brand jasmine rice.
I tried this recipe for dinner exactly as written and it was delicious! My family gobbled it all up. Even my picky eaters loved this dish. So incredibly easy and the ingredients are all pantry staples in our house. I will definitely add this to our heavy rotation!
I made a few changes and loved the outcome. I used a Ninja Foodi (similar to Instant Pot). I sauteed some mushrooms with the carrots and used fresh onion and jarred minced garlic. I sauteed the chicken until it was about half cooked, as I wanted to do only a short cycle on pressure cooking. I used 2 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of rice (parboiled – it was all I had on hand – bought a giant box in bulk at the beginning of the pandemic). Pressure cooked for 4 minutes, did a 10 minute natural release, then quick released the rest. I forgot to add more butter or the parsley. It tasted a lot like Rice-A-Roni (I think – haven’t had that since college). The rice was not mushy at all – I actually think it was less creamy than the Kristin’s pics and more like a regular rice dish. Will definitely make again, but may add a bit more broth to get closer to the semi-risotto texture in the pictures. It was so quick, including the prep, and definitely tasty.
Hello, can you use frozen cauliflower rice instead?
Next time I will halve this recipe. It made way too much for our family of 4. Also, I used mahatma jasmine rice and it came out a bit mush. I will try lundberg as suggested.