Baked Chicken Drumsticks And Rice

🤍 Recipe Highlights

I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:

• Simple ingredients: you can get everything you need to make the recipe at your local grocery store. They are each year round available ingredients that will be easy to get your hands on.
• Minimal effort: we make the marinade, add the chicken legs and then layer everything in a casserole dish. It really doesn't take a lot of effort to bring this complete dinner together!
• One pan: there is a reason why one pan recipes are called 'one pan wonders'. They make make a complete meal the whole family will love without having to have multiple elements going on at the same time.

🥗 Ingredients

The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.

As you can see the recipe calls for:

• Salt and pepper: salt and black pepper for seasoning.
• Garlic: chunky chopped (as you see in the photo above). 2 fresh garlic cloves chopped or minced garlic.
• Ginger: jarred, minced.
• Sesame oil: adds a lovely aromatic flavor.
• Soy sauce: this helps give us a honey soy chicken flavor profile.
• Sweet chilli sauce: adds thickness and texture to the marinade.
• Worcestershire sauce: for an extra depth of flavor.
• Honey: this is the primary ingredient in the marinade.
• Onion: we want to peel and dice one onion. The texture of this is a great contrast with the fluffy rice and they go together well!
• Hot water: this helps to cook the rice.
• Basmati rice: no need to rinse!
• Hot chicken stock: for the rice.
• Chicken drumsticks: we use 6 whole chicken legs for the recipe. The dish will serve 4 so there is enough for everyone to have one with a 2nd one for the extra hungry!

👩‍🍳 How to Make Baked Chicken Drumsticks And Rice

Here are the step by step instructions to make the oven-baked chicken recipe. We start by making the marinade.

• Gather the marinade ingredients (Photo 1)
• Whisk to combine (Photo 2)
• Reserve a little (Photo 3)
• Marinate the chicken legs (Photo 4)

🍗 Instructions Marinate The Chicken

To make the baked chicken legs and rice we start by making the marinade.

To do this add the honey, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper to a glass jug and whisk to combine.

Next pour a small amount of this (around ¼ cup) into a seperate bowl.

Then use tongs to add the chicken legs to a large mixing bowl and pour the marinade over the top.

Toss to coat and cover them with cling wrap if you wish to marinate in the fridge. Or simply skip the marinate time like I do and continue with the steps as listed.

• Add the chopped onions and rice (Photo 5)
• Pour in hot chicken stock (Photo 6)
• Pour in hot water (Photo 7)
• Add the chicken legs (Photo 8)

👌 Combine The Chicken And Rice

Next we spray the baking dish with cooking oil and spread the diced onion across the base. Then sprinkle the uncooked rice over the top.

Microwave both the chicken broth and water (3 minutes on high) and then pour these hot liquids into the pan (on top of the rice).

Next use a pair of tongs and transfer the marinated chicken legs into the dish and nestle them into the rice.

• Cover and cook (Photo 9)

🍖 Oven Baked Chicken And Rice

Next pull a layer of aluminum foil over the top of the baking dish and place the chicken into a preheated oven (middle shelf) for 30 minutes.

Once this initial cook time is up use oven mitts to remove the baking dish and discard the foil.

Then use a basting brush and coat each of the chicken legs with the reserved marinade.

• Remove foil, baste (Photo 10)

Now return the baking dish to the oven (uncovered) and bake the chicken for a further 30 minutes.

When the 2nd cook time is up (the total cooking time is 1 hour) use oven mitts and remove the baking dish. Place it on a heatproof surface and use a digital thermometer to chicken the temperature of the chicken ensuring it is cooked through.

You should also see the juices running clear (not pink) from where you stuck the probe in. Next use tongs to remove the chicken legs, place them on a clean, dry chopping board and use a wooden spoon to fluff the rice.

• Remove the chicken legs and fluff the rice (Photo 11)

Once done you can give the dish a garnish and let everyone know that 'dinner is ready!'.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

You will see from the photos and video in the post that I like to keep things very simple for this recipe! Greens aka fresh spinach leaves on the side and dinner is done.

👍 How to Guide

How to Store

Once the dish has cooked and cooled you can transfer leftovers into a sealed, airtight container. These can be kept in the fridge for 3 days and need to be reheated before being consumed.

How to Freeze

Or do the above and portion into a few different containers. These can then be stacked in the freezer for up to 3 months.

How to Reheat

For refrigerated leftovers, transfer to a bowl and cover with cling wrap. These can then be microwaved on high for 2-3 minutes until warmed through.

😉 Substitutions and Variations

Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:

• Rice: you can use regular long grain rice if you wish to or brown rice basmati. These will both cook in the same time as specified in the recipe card.
• Chicken: you can make this recipe with skinless chicken thighs if you wish to. See the Chicken And Rice Tray Bake to see how to do that.
• Alternative protein: or you can make the recipe with fish. See the Salmon Rice Bake for instructions.
• Stock: you can use vegetable stock in place of the chicken broth if you wish to.
• Garnish: you can use cherry tomatoes or mini roma tomatoes where I have used the red chilli if you wish too. Or use fresh parsley where I have used the sliced spring onions. We want pops of colour but if you want to omit the heat this is a way to do it.

💡 Tasty Tips

Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:

• Marinade: you can either skip a marinade time OR marinate the chicken for a few hours up to overnight (cover with cling wrap and refrigerate). I find that you don't need to marinate it and would prefer to get dinner sorted, but it is an option if you want to try it.
• Reserved marinade: the reason why we reserve some of the marinade is to baste the chicken at a later date. We don't want to use the marinade that we marinated the chicken in as this might have some raw chicken bits floating it in that we don't want to brush over the half cooked chicken.
• Baking dish: we do want to spray the casserole dish with cooking oil. Even though we have both wet and dry ingredients the rice will fill up the sides of the dish as it cooks and we don't want it to stick.
• Rotation: you will see that I don't rotate the chicken legs when I take them out of the oven to baste them. This is because I don't want uncooked bits of rice sitting on the top of them.
• Baking dish: you will need a large baking dish for the recipe. This ensures that you will get it into the oven without any spillage after adding the liquids. The casserole dish that I use for the recipe measures 23 x 30 cm which is 9 x 12 inches.

🤓 Frequently Asked Questions

😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes

If you love getting inspiration for dinner time then I have some more ideas for you to try:

• More chicken: Chicken Yaki Udon, Shrimp And Chicken Fried Rice.
• Chicken with a different carb: Grilled Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Pesto Linguine, Garlic Chicken Parmesan Pasta,
• Chicken without the carbs: Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs, Chicken Ribs.
• One pan dinners: Slow Cooker Beef Massaman Curry, Slow Cooker French Onion Chicken, Slow Cooker French Onion Pork Chops, Slow Cooker French Onion Beef, Chorizo Pasta Bake, Mince Potato Bake, Savoury Mince Pasta, Mince Pasta Bake.
• Family friendly slow cooker recipes: Slow Cooker Pork Belly, Slow Cooker Massaman Lamb Shanks, Slow Cooker Chicken And Corn Soup or the Slow Cooker Chicken Barley Soup.

It is time get get our chicken drumsticks and rice on my friend. You can also find all of my chicken recipes or dinner recipes in the one spot.

Adrianne

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