Make this Skillet Chicken with Rice and Peas for dinner this week. A great combination of tender chicken pieces, fluffy rice and mixed vegetables makes it a complete one pot dinner.
What’s your go to mid week dinner? We have a lot, but there are always a few of our no fail favourites that I keep cooking on repeat. Everyone loves the Parmesan and Tomato Skillet Chicken serve up with Fluffy Mashed Potatoes. And you can never go wrong with the Creamy Chicken Stroganoff. Have you had a chance to check out either of those dishes yet? If you love hearty family dinners, you’ll be going back for seconds.
And this Skillet Chicken and Rice with Peas ticks all the boxes of a mid week family dinner. All cooked in one dish, easy to make, filling and tasty. What more could you want for your family on a busy weekday evening.
What is This Chicken and Rice Dish Like
- Difficulty – This is a pretty easy dinner to make. It’s all made in one pot and on the stove top and uses straight forward ingredients.
- Taste – A pretty basic but tasty weeknight dinner. This dish uses thyme and rosemary which gives the dish a bit of a “Sunday dinner” feel about it!
- Serving – This dish makes four great sized portions. I would even say, it will serve six, if you are planning something on the side. In the recipe card, you can easily adjust serving sizes.
Ingredients
- Chicken – Chicken breast cut into small pieces.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper is used to season the chicken and enhance the flavour.
- Olive oil – Olive oil is used to cook the dish.
- Butter – I used butter with the olive oil for flavour in the cooking process.
- Vegetables – This dish uses finely diced onions, celery, carrots as well as frozen green peas.
- Garlic – Fresh minced garlic adds a lot of flavour to the rice dish.
- Dried herbs – I used dried thyme and rosemary.
- Rice – Long grain rice works best for this dish.
- Broth – I used carton chicken broth.
- Fresh herbs – The dish is finished off with fresh chopped parsley.
NOTE, The full recipe and instructions can be found at the end of the post in the recipe card.
Instructions
- Season chicken – Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Cook chicken – In a large skillet, set over high heat add one tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of butter. Add the seasoned chicken and give a good stir. Cook the chicken until browned and cooked through, about 5 – 7 minutes. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
- Cook vegetables – In the same skillet add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and butter. Add the onions, celery and carrots. Cook over medium heat for about 5 – 7 minutes until softened. Add the garlic, rosemary and thyme. Give a good stir until fragrant, about one minutes.
- Add rice and broth – Add the uncooked rice to the skillet and stir to incorporate completely into the vegetables. Pour over the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and leave to cook for about 15 minutes.
- Finish dish – When the rice is cooked, add the cooked chicken peas and fresh chopped parsley. Stir well and serve.
Recipe Notes
- Prep ahead – You can prepare all the ingredients for this dish well before cooking time. If you have a busy day ahead and there’s time early on, get the vegetables and chicken prepared and then dinner will be much quicker.
- Cut vegetables evenly – To ensure even cooking, make sure to cut the carrots, celery and onion approximately the same size.
- Frying the rice – In the recipe card you will notice the rice gets added to the vegetables before the broth. By stirring it into the vegetables before adding the broth, you will get a little more flavour into you rice and a better texture at the end.
- Cooking the rice – This rice cooked in exactly 15 minutes after the broth was added. Depending on what brand of rice you are using, it could take a little longer. Keep in mind to keep the rice covered over low heat and don’t stir it as it cooks. When you stir rice it becomes more creamy, like risotto. When the rice is fully cooked, you then fluff with a fork.
Substitutions
- Chicken – I used cubed chicken breast. If you prefer, you could use precooked deli chicken and shred it up. Alternatively, you could use cubed pork or beef. Make it vegetarian and leave out the protein if you like.
- Onion – I used a white onion. You could use yellow or brown onions. If you like, you could use leeks as an alternative.
- Carrots – You can leave the carrots out no problem or substitute for diced bell peppers.
- Celery – You can easily substitute diced zucchini if you prefer.
What To Serve With This Chicken and Rice Dish
This dish is the perfect weekday dinner, is versatile and you can serve it with so many other dishes. You could serve it alongside the Bacon Tomato Salad, the 5 Minute Goat Cheese and Pecan Salad or with some Homemade Garlic Knots on the side.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can easily cook rice in the same pan as chicken. As long as the chicken is properly cooked and hot, there is absolutely no problem.
This dish can be easily frozen. The texture of the rice will change a little bit, but it works great as a freezer meal. Just allow the food to cool completely, then pack it up in freezer friendly containers. Freeze up to one month and allow to defrost completely in the fridge.
Long grain rice is lighter and fluffier. Whereas shorter grain rice is more of a stodgy rice like you could use in Risotto.
Mushroom and Leek Wild Rice
Mexican Rice
Moroccan Chicken & Rice
Skillet Chicken with Rice and Peas
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast cut into small cubes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 tablespoons butter divided
- 1 white onion finely diced
- 3 ribs celery finely diced
- 2 carrots peeled and finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 1/3 cups long grain rice
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 2 2/3 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup green peas
- small bunch fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and set aside.
- In a large skillet, set over high heat add one tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of butter. Add the seasoned chicken and give a good stir. Cook the chicken until browned and cooked through, about 5 – 7 minutes. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
- In the same skillet add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and butter. Add the onions, celery and carrots. Cook over medium heat for about 5 – 7 minutes until softened. Add the garlic, rosemary and thyme. Give a good stir until fragrant, about one minutes.
- Add the uncooked rice to the skillet and stir to incorporate completely into the vegetables. Pour over the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and leave to cook for about 15 minutes.
- When the rice is cooked, add the cooked chicken peas and fresh chopped parsley. Stir well and serve.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
