HEARTY CHICKEN & RICE (GF & DF OPTIONS)

Any time I my grown kids are coming for dinner, I ask what they would like, chicken and rice is usually one of the first dishes requested. It’s a hearty, home-style meal but I’ve found several hacks to make it far more nutrient dense (plus, mine is the tastiest I’ve ever had).

Here are some of the things I do to make it as healthy as possible:

• Use chicken broth instead of water. Of course, all of my chicken broth is homemade and from the chickens we grow so that’s a huge boost right there!
• Don’t bread the chicken before searing it, just season it and brown it up good right in the pan without any flour. When you sear it in a cast iron pan on a hot setting, it gets every bit as crispy as if you’d breaded it!
• I use local chickens (actually, I use ones we grow) so that I know what chemicals and fillers ARE NOT in the meal.
• Almond or coconut milk (or a mix which is what I prefer) are perfect substitutes for cow milk if you have issues with dairy.

I serve this with either some fermented veggies or a nice fresh salad. I hope your family enjoys this meal as much as we do!

One thing I LOVE to do with this recipe is to actually double it and make two pans. Then if we have leftovers, we simply warm them up OR I will take the chicken off the bone and make a chicken and rice soup by putting the rice, chunked up chicken, and some more broth in a stock pot and warm it up on the wood stove. This meal can feed us for several days and it’s sooo tasty!

Our Family Favorite Chicken & Rice Dinner

I'm not the most fabulous cook but I do make a few dishes that are pretty darned good and this is one of them! It's so simple and it's hearty for a crowd, too!

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Ingredients

  

• 8-10 Chicken Thighs, bone in Can use a mixture of legs and thighs.
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• 1 Tbsp Avocado Oil
• 2 C. Jasmine Rice
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Seasoning Salt
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 1/4 C. Milk
• 2 1/2 C. Chicken Broth or Water I recommend chicken broth - it adds so much to the flavor!
• 1/4 C. Butter

Instructions

 

• Heat your frying pan and add 1 Tbsp of butter and the avocado oil. Once the pan is warm, add chicken and sear until browned on both sides. I like to also add salt to the chicken at this point - just a sprinkle or two to each piece.
• While the chicken is searing, put rice, all seasonings, milk, remaining butter, and water in a greased 9X13 pan. Stir well.
• Once the chicken is fully seared, add to the top of the rice mixture and bake at 350 for 1 hour.