- Today, I've got a one-pan
chicken and rice recipe that is the perfect weeknight meal, and it ticks all of the boxes for easy, healthy and delicious. The chicken thighs are marinated in the sun-drenched flavors
of the Mediterranean, including lemon, garlic,
oregano and thyme, and the marinade then does double duty to help brighten up the rice, along with a few additional ingredients, like onions and spinach. I love skillet dinners because
they are quick and easy to put together, and quick
and easy to clean up. And this cozy family meal
is also budget friendly with a combination of pantry
staples and fresh ingredients. So, let me show you how to make it. The first thing we'll
make is the marinade, and it's a slight variation of my popular Greek salad
dressing, but we're swapping the red wine vinegar for more lemon juice. So give two lemons a good
wash, then zest and juice them. You always want to zest before juicing because, if you try to do
it the other way around, it's not very easy. And, once you have the zest
and juice from those lemons, just add them to a small mixing bowl. To that, you'll add two
teaspoons of Dijon mustard, three minced garlic cloves,
one teaspoon of dried oregano, one teaspoon of dried thyme,
half a teaspoon of salt, a quarter teaspoon of black pepper and one tablespoon of olive oil. Then give that a stir so it's
all mixed up and emulsified. You guys know I have a
thing for chicken thighs as the meat is always so juicy and tender, and you can get such
flavorful, crispy skin. So add five chicken thighs to a bowl, and then pour your marinade on top. You want to make sure that
the chicken is well coated, so dig in with your
hands and toss it around. Then marinate the chicken in the fridge for at least 30 minutes,
but the longer the better. While the chicken is marinating, you can prep your other ingredients, and that includes dicing one medium onion. Normally, I use a yellow onion, but, if you saw my Instagram
stories a week ago, when I was filming this recipe, the supermarket was surprisingly
all out of yellow onions, so I'm using a sweet white onion. But either works just fine. My onion is also a bit
on the larger side today, so my rice will be extra oniony, but that's okay because I do love onion. And you can dice it as chunky
or as fine as you'd like. Once that's done, transfer it to a bowl. Because this is a one-pan meal, I really wanted to sneak
in some more greens, so it wasn't just chicken and rice. And it's always easy to
do that with spinach. In fact, you've seen me do this before on my stuffed peppers recipe. And here you'll just
take two cups of spinach and give it a rough chop. Then, when it wilts down while cooking, no one will even know there's
spinach in the recipe. Another ingredient that we'll add to the rice here in a bit is more garlic. So, I'll get those ready
now by just giving them a good smash and removing the outer skin. Then they'll be quick and easy to mince. And, with those three items prepped, I'll move them over to the stove. Preheat your oven to
350 degrees Fahrenheit, and then add a couple
tablespoons of olive oil or avocado oil to an oven-safe
pan on medium high heat. This stove cast iron pan
is one of my favorites, but, whatever you use,
just give it a swish around to make sure that the
bottom is fully coated. Once the pan has come to temperature, add the chicken thighs skin side down. And you may get a little bit of splatter when the first couple
of pieces hit the pan, so just watch out for that. And don't throw away the marinade after you've added the chicken to the pan as we'll add it back to
the rice here shortly. Cook the chicken thighs
for about five minutes or until the skin has
turned beautifully golden. Then give them a flip and
cook them on the other side for another five minutes. And once that's done,
remove them to a plate. (upbeat music) Now we want to soak up some of that fat and grease from the
pan, but not all of it, as we'll use it to saute the onions, and it's loaded with flavor. So the easiest thing to do is to bunch up a couple of paper towels
and use your tongs to soak up just a bit, leaving enough to lightly coat the bottom. Add the diced onion to the pan and stir for one to two minutes, or until the onion starts
to become translucent. You'll also notice that, as
the onion releases moisture, the darkened bits from the
bottom of the pan will release and mixed with the onion,
and that's what you want. To the onions you'll
add the chopped spinach, three minced garlic cloves and a bit more seasoning for the rice. That includes one
teaspoon of dried oregano, half a teaspoon of salt, a
quarter teaspoon of black pepper and the leftover marinade
that's full of lemony goodness. Give that a stir for about a minute or until the spinach
just starts to wilt down, then add one cup of rice
and stir again to make sure that the rice is nicely
coated in oil and flavor. Add two cups of chicken
broth, give it one last stir and bring this to a simmer. Once it's simmering,
add the chicken thighs back to the pan, and you can
just space them out on top. Then, once that's done, add a lid and transfer the pan to the oven. (upbeat music) You'll cook the chicken and rice for about 35 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and
cook for another 10 minutes. This allows any extra moisture
to evaporate from the rice. And you can always test
if your rice is done by fluffing it up with a fork. The rice will look really dark when you first remove it from the oven, and that's because the spinach and onions rise to the surface when cooking. But, as soon as you
fluff it up with a fork, you'll see the golden
colored rice underneath, and you'll smell this
amazing aroma of lemon and oregano and garlic,
which is just divine. Before serving, you can
garnish with lemon zest or grilled lemon slices and
a sprinkle of chopped parsley for a pop of bright green. This one-pan chicken and rice recipe is incredibly flavorful, and,
if you're a family of four, you might have to arm wrestle to decide who gets that last fifth piece. I'm fortunate that I get to enjoy this entire pan all by myself. I just put the leftovers
in storage containers and enjoyed it all week long. (upbeat music) If you'd like to see more one-pan recipes, make sure to give this video a thumbs up, share it with your family and friends, and I'll see you again next
week with a tasty new recipe. (upbeat music)
