One Pot 30 Minute Meal- Greek Lemon Chicken With Rice Recipe

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This one pot, 30 minute meal is sure to be a hit for the whole family! Made with deboned chicken thighs, this Greek lemon chicken with rice recipe is a favorite with adults and kids alike! It cooks up in about 20 minutes giving you extra time to put together a delicious side dish. Uses all simple recipes you probably have at home!

Years ago, when my husband and I first got together, he used to make a lemon chicken with rice recipe that made my mouth water. It was a casserole that was made in the oven. It took FOREVER to make. I don’t recall him having an official recipe for his signature dish, it may have come from his head. What I do remember is that we never knew quite when it would be done. We’d let it bake for an hour and then every 15 minutes or so we would open the oven, take a small spoonful of rice and see if it was still crunchy. We’d do this over and over and over again until the rice was soft and tender, then we’d scoop up big bowls and enjoy our lemon chicken rice while gazing into each other’s eyes, and talking about our days– the way newlyweds do. 

Now we’re the parents of a toddler and a school aged child, and let me tell you- nobody has time to wait 2 hours for a meal to be done, much less to check the rice every 15 minutes to see if it’s cooked! 

I was recently craving that “newlywed dinner” and decided to make a quick and easy, family friendly version of it. Made in one pan (I love using our cast iron frying pans for this, but any frying pan will do) you can easily whip up this recipe in 20 minutes. Take an extra 10 minutes to steam some broccoli, make a salad or assemble a crudite plate and you have a perfect meal! In my humble opinion, this recipe is even better than The Hubs’ version, but don’t tell him that. 😉

The secret behind why this recipe is so quick and easy to make is two part. 

1. I debone my chicken thighs before cooking them. This is simple to do, here are some YouTube videos that will help you along. I would suggest deboning your chicken thighs all at one time when you buy them, before packaging up your chicken and freezing it. I keep all of the bones in a ziplock bag in my freezer to add to my Crockpot Bone Broth Recipe. 

With the bone removed from the chicken thigh, your chicken will cook in just a few minutes. As a bonus, I find the boneless chicken easier for my kiddos to eat. Some of you might be asking why I don’t just buy the boneless skinless chicken thighs. I personally like the extra flavor that the chicken gets from being cooked with the skin, plus it’s less expensive to buy bone in chicken and I use the bones for broth. 

2. I use Basmati Minute Rice® for this recipe. You could use any minute rice of your choice (white, brown, basmati, jasmine, etc). Being the health conscious mama that I am, I originally questioned using a Minute Rice®, wondering if it had extra additives that made it cook faster. The truth is, the only difference between Minute Rice® and other rice is that the rice has been pre-cooked and then dried to make cooking faster! If you look at the ingredient list, there is one ingredient- rice. There are no additives or preservatives which makes this mama very happy! 

Having rice that cooks up so quickly makes getting dinner on the table a breeze, which is something I know all busy parents can appreciate. 

Read on for my One Pot 30 Minute Meal- Greek Lemon Chicken With Rice Recipe!

 This one pot, 30 minute meal is sure to be a hit for the whole family! Made with deboned chicken thighs, this Greek lemon chicken with rice recipe is a favorite with adults and kids alike! It cooks up in about 20 minutes giving you extra time to put together a delicious side dish. Uses all simple recipes you probably have at home!

One Pot 30 Minute Meal- Greek Lemon Chicken With Rice Recipe

Ingredients: 

-6 to 8 chicken thighs with skin, deboned
-2 tablespoons of avocado oil or your favorite cooking oil
-1/2 onion, diced
-1 bell pepper, diced
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/4 cup slivered almonds
-2 pouches of Minute Rice® Basmati Rice (each box comes with 4 pouches) 
-1 teaspoon oregano
-1 teaspoon basil
-Juice from 1 lemon (plus extra to squeeze on top before serving)
-2 cups chicken broth (we use our homemade chicken bone broth)
-1/2 cup of white wine (substitute with extra chicken broth if you don’t have white wine)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Heat a frying pan (we like our cast iron frying pans but you can use any oven proof frying pan) over high heat. Add your avocado oil (or other cooking oil) and brown your chicken thighs on both sides. Approximately 2 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and set on a plate leaving chicken juices and oil in pan.

3. Add onions and sauté for 1 minute, add bell peppers and sauté for 1 minute, add garlic, almonds, rice and spices and sauté for 1 minute. Add white wine and sauté for 1 minute. 

4. Add chicken broth and place chicken thighs, skin side up on top of rice. Bring to a simmer on your stovetop then transfer to the oven. 

5. Cook for 12-15 minutes. Remove when the liquid has been absorbed into the rice and the rice is cooked through. 

Serve with a side salad, steamed broccoli, a crudite platter or your favorite veggies! 

Print or save for later: 

One Pot 30 Minute Meal- Greek Lemon Chicken With Rice Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • -6 to 8 chicken thighs with skin deboned
  • -2 tablespoons of avocado oil or your favorite cooking oil
  • -1/2 onion diced
  • -1 bell pepper diced
  • -2 cloves garlic minced
  • -1/4 cup slivered almonds
  • -2 pouches of Minute Rice® Basmati Rice each box comes with 4 pouches
  • -1 teaspoon oregano
  • -1 teaspoon basil
  • -Juice from 1 lemon plus extra to squeeze on top before serving
  • -2 cups chicken broth we use our homemade chicken bone broth
  • -1/2 cup of white wine substitute with extra chicken broth if you don’t have white wine

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400F.
  • Heat a frying pan (we like our cast iron frying pans but you can use any oven proof frying pan) over high heat. Add your avocado oil (or other cooking oil) and brown your chicken thighs on both sides. Approximately 2 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and set on a plate leaving chicken juices and oil in pan.
  • Add onions and sauté for 1 minute, add bell peppers and sauté for 1 minute, add garlic, almonds, rice and spices and sauté for 1 minute. Add white wine and sauté for 1 minute.
  • Add chicken broth and place chicken thighs, skin side up on top of rice. Bring to a simmer on your stovetop then transfer to the oven.
  • Cook for 12-15 minutes. Remove when the liquid has been absorbed into the rice and the rice is cooked through.

Notes

Serve with a side salad, steamed broccoli, a crudite platter or your favorite veggies!
Love this recipe?Follow @hellocreativef for even more fun party ideas!
Dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes! That’s what I call a #WeekdayWin! Want some more recipe ideas that are cooked up in minutes? Visit ThirdOfTheWay.ca!

Tell me… What are your favorite weekday meal recipes?

Disclosure: Thank you to Minute Rice® for working with us on this post. As with every post on Hello Creative Family, all thoughts and opinions are 100% our own!

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11 Comments

  1. kathy downey says:

    Wow,this recipe looks delicious and has ingredients my family love.

  2. The acidity of the lemon and the wine… oh it’s just sounds so bright with flavor!

  3. I love a one-pot meal and with two preschoolers, you know I need it to be easy too 🙂 This looks so good and so flavorful – I bet that rice is just packed with the lemony goodness. And SO good to know about the Minute Rice – I would have assumed it had a bunch of extra additives too. Will definitely keep my eye out for it at the store 🙂

  4. Cynthia Rusincovitch says:

    I love whole30! Not to mention, I love chicken and rice recipes. Totally adding this to my list of recipes for the week! Thanks for linking up with Delicious Dishes Recipe Party!

  5. Any way I can make dinner faster and easier, I am happy about! Thanks for sharing this at Merry Monday!

  6. Victoria Ess says:

    Yum! I have to try this!

  7. I just love one pot meals. This recipe looks incredibly delicious. I’m going to invite some friends over this weekend and give this a try.