Chicken And Rice Tray Bake

Fork being pushed into chicken on white plate with rice.

5 from 6 votes

Chicken And Rice Tray Bake is an easy family recipe. Juicy marinated chicken. Fluffy rice. Oven baked. Freezer friendly. Dinner made simple.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1

Total Time1 10

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: chicken and rice bake

Servings:

Calories: 683kcal

Author: Adrianne

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade

½ cup/125ml honey Note 1
⅓ cup/ soy sauce
¼ sweet chilli sauce Note 2
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon garlic Note 3
1 tablespoon ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Chicken

6 chicken thighs Note 4

Rice

1 large brown onion skin peeled and diced
1 ½ cups basmati rice
2 cups/500 ml hot chicken stock
½ cup/125 ml boiling water

Garnish (optional)

green onions green bits only, finely sliced
red chilli finely sliced

Instructions

Preheat the oven: preheat the oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5.
Marinade: add the honey, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, salt and pepper to a glass jug and whisk till consistently combined. Reserve approximately ¼ cup of the marinade in s seperate bowl.
Chicken thighs: place the chicken thighs into a large mixing bowl, pour the marinade over the top and then use a pair of tongs to toss. over and marinate in the fridge (1 hour to overnight - optional).
Combine: spray a large baking dish with cooking oil. Spread the diced onion across the base of the dish, then sprinkle the uncooked rice over the top. Microwave the chicken stock and water for 3 minutes on high then pour these over the top of the rice. Discard the plastic wrap and use a pair of tongs to transfer each marinated chicken thigh into the baking dish on top of the rice. Cover and transfer the dish to the middle shelf of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.
Baste: after 30 minutes use a pair of oven mitts to remove the baking dish from the oven, place it onto a heatproof surface and discard the foil. Next use a basting brush to coat each of the chicken thighs with the reserved marinade. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for a further 30 minutes.
To serve: let the chicken rest for 5 minutes once the cook time is up. Then garnish with sliced green onions and red chilli (optional). Portion the chicken and rice onto plates and provide forks and knifes for serving.

Video

Notes

Note 1 - Honey: use a spoon to help transfer this from the measuring cup into the jug when making the marinade. It is so sticky and thick that a lot of it stays in the cup otherwise.
Note 2- Sweet chilli sauce: despite this being a 'chilli sauce' it is very mild not hot in flavor. This means the chicken can be served to all ages without the worry that it will be 'too hot' or 'too spicy'.
Note 3 - Garlic: I like to use store bought chunky chopped garlic from a jar. I have this in the fridge at all times. It is easy, convenient and needs only be measured and thrown into the dish. An alternative is to use 2-3 fresh garlic cloves and finely dice them.
Note 4- Ginger: I use minced ginger from a jar. (Also kept in the fridge as to have on hand as needed).
Note 5 - Chicken thighs: we want to use skinless boneless or bone in chicken thighs. We don't want to use skin on chicken thighs. This is because we want the rice to cook in the liquids that we have measured without having extra fat from the skin drip into the rice. If you have purchased skin on chicken thighs, you can remove the skin prior to marinading the chicken.

Nutrition