Chicken And Rice Tray Bake

🤍 Recipe Highlights

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

• Simple ingredients: everything we need to make the recipe are year round available ingredients from the grocery store. This will make them easy to get your hands on!
• Family friendly: this chicken and rice combination is one that the whole family can enjoy together. There is no 'too hot' or 'too spicy' flavors. So it is perfect when you don't want to make multiple meals to please everyone at the same time.
• One pan: whilst we do use a bowl to marinade the chicken everything ends up going into the one baking dish. This one pan chicken and rice dish cooks a complete meal that needs only a sprinkle of garnish for a pop of colour before plating.
• Meal prep: if you want to meal prep this and then portion and freeze that works! This is an excellent recipe to make a big batch of in advance. It keeps exceptionally well in both the fridge or freezer and reheats quickly and easily.
• Taste and texture: the chicken juices drip into the rice. The marinade becomes a sauce to make sticky rice. The combination needs only minimal effort but rewards with sweet, sticky and succulent flavors.

🥗 Ingredients

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

As you can see the chicken rice tray bake calls for:

• Salt and pepper: for seasoning.
• Garlic: you can use fresh garlic cloves or save time and use chunky chopped garlic which is my go to for convenience.
• Ginger: a lovely complement to the garlic in the flavor profile.
• Sesame oil: commonly used in Asian recipes. It is aromatic and fresh. A must have ingredient in the flavor profile of the chicken.
• Soy sauce: regular soy sauce not dark soy. You can have some extra for serving if you want a drizzle on top.
• Sweet chilli sauce: thick and jelly like in texture. This sauce is sweet and not hot.
• Worcestershire sauce: my favourite way to boost flavour!
• Honey: we create a honey sauce chicken for the marinade. It is sweet and sticky. The honey gives us a little of both.
• Onion: we dice 1 large onion and combine it with the rice in the base if the casserole dish. This helps to give the rice a depth of texture.
• Boiling water: we use a combination of water and chicken stock to cook the rice.
• Chicken stock: chicken stock or chicken broth depending on where you live. We want to ensure that we have heated this before adding it to the dish so that the rice gets consistently cooked in under 1 hour.
• Chicken: we want to use skinless boneless chicken thighs or skinless bone in chicken thighs. Each type takes the same amount of time to cook so they come our perfectly cooked together.

🍳 Instructions

Here are the step by step instructions to make the easy oven baked chicken. We start by making the marinade for the chicken. I like to use a glass jug and mini whisk or spoon.

• Gather the marinade ingredients (Photo 1)
• Whisk to combine (Photo 2)
• Cover and marinate the chicken (Photo 3)
• Add onion to baking dish (Photo 4)

👩‍🍳 How to Make Chicken And Rice Tray Bake

To make the chicken and rice tray bake 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 and use a mini whisk to consistently combine.

Next add the chicken thighs to the bowl and use a pair of tongs to toss these ensuring that they are thoroughly coated in the sweet sticky sauce.

Once done spray a large baking dish with cooking oil.

Next spread the diced onion across the base of the baking dish as shown in the photos above.

• Add the rice (Photo 5)
• Pour in the hot chicken stock (Photo 6)
• Pour over the boiling water (Photo 7)
• Add the chicken thighs (Photo 8)

Then when ready add the rice. Now we want to heat the chicken broth and water. I do this in the microwave. Both go in and I use high heat for 3 minutes.

Then pour these hot liquids directly on top of the rice. Once done use a pair of tong to place the marinated chicken pieces on top like you see in the photo above.

• Cover and cook (Photo 9)

Pull a layer of tin foil over the top and place the baking dish into the oven.

Bake the chicken covered for 30 minutes.

When the 30 minutes is up, use oven mitts to remove the dish from the oven and place it onto a heatproof surface.

Then remove and discard the foil.

Use a basting brush to coat each chicken thigh in the reserved marinade and then put the baking dish back into the oven for a further 30 minutes.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

When it comes to serving your chicken and rice recipe you will find that as all of the hard work is done you don't need a lot else to complete the dish.

I like to garnish with some sliced green onions and red chilli as I think the pops of color make the dish look pretty.

It is an easy combination that needs only minimal effort, yet we are rewarded with a flavor combination that sings.

If you are still interested in sides for the dish you can try some Tortilla Garlic Bread, Garlic Ciabatta, Turkish Garlic Bread or Garlic Pizza Bread.

Or if you have this in mind for a family gathering and want to have a few dishes that work well together, try the Creamy Garlic Potatoes, Potato And Broccoli Bake, Potato And Onion Bake or the Potato And Sweet Potato Bake.

The Crumbed Mushrooms or Breaded Mushrooms fit the theme or you can make a side salad like the Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad, Healthy Panzanella Salad or the Fresh Herb Salad.

👍 How to Guide

How to Store

Once the dish has cooled you can portion it out into an air tight container (or multiple) and stack in the fridge. Leftovers need to be reheated prior to being consumed.

How to Freeze

To freeze the dish, simply portion into air tight containers as above. Once portioned stack these in the freezer. The frozen portions can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months.

How to Reheat

For refrigerated leftovers these can be transferred to a plate and covered with cling wrap. Then use the microwave to reheat for 2-3 minutes until warmed through.

For frozen portions of the dish remove these and let them thaw. Then use the step above to reheat in the microwave. I find that frozen portions of the dish tend to need an extra 1-2 minutes as they are colder to start with. So check to ensure they are fully warmed through before sitting down to eat.

😉 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:

• We want to use white rice and a long grain style. I like to use basmati. Jasmine rice or regular white rice will also work.
• Instead of using olive oil as an alternative to the sesame oil use peanut oil.
• Whilst we use sweet chilli sauce the chilli factor is very mild.
• You will see that I like to garnish the dish with sliced green onions and red chilli pieces. These are for pops of colour. If you are serving little ones and want to leave the chilli off this will be fine.
• Skinless chicken thighs be they boneless or bone-in chicken thighs are recommended. Skin on chicken thighs add additional moisture to the rice which throws out the cook time.
• If you want to use chicken drumsticks you can.

💡 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:

• We do want to grease the baking dish that we are using with cooking oil so that nothing sticks to the pan.
• The marinade time for the chicken is up to you. We can simply coat the chicken in the marinade or leave it in the fridge for a few hours to overnight. Choose the option that suits your schedule the best.
• As much as we are using 6 chicken thighs I think the recipe is best as a 4 person with some leftovers recipe. This ensures that everyone gets plenty of rice withe enough chicken to go around.
• After the total 1 hour cook time is up we want to use tongs to remove the chicken thighs and fluff the rice. Whilst there will be no liquid in the base of the baking dish this still helps to deliver the best texture to the rice.
• If chicken is your favorite protein to cook then try the Slow Cooker Chicken Drumsticks And Potatoes, Chicken Corn Noodle Soup, Air Fryer Chicken Meatballs, Shrimp And Chicken Fried Rice or the Air Fryer Roast Chicken.
• Or if all in one pan dishes are what's calling your name try the Salmon Potato Salad or Tuna And Rice Casserole.

🤓 Frequently Asked Questions

😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes

If 'What's for dinner?' is the most commonly asked question you hear all day then you need plenty of ideas up your sleeve to whip out variety with every shout of 'dinner is ready!' Here are some more ideas that I hope you try:

• Savoury Mince Pasta
• Air Fryer Pork Roast
• Slow Cooker French Onion Pork Chops
• Beef Pesto Pasta
• Slow Cooker Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
• Chicken Yaki Udon
• Chorizo Pasta Bake
• Crumbed Lamb Cutlets
• Dumpling Noodle Soup

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

Adrianne

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