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The easiest One Pan Lemon Pepper Yogurt Chicken and Rice. Trust me, this is going to become your new go-to chicken and rice dinner. Chicken breasts or thighs marinated with olive oil, garlic, yogurt, lemon, pepper, oregano, thyme, and paprika. All tossed together with dry basmati rice and broccoli. This juicy marinated chicken and rice is all made in one pan without even having to cook the rice separately. Simply mix, bake, eat, and enjoy! You’re going to LOVE this.
I couldn’t think of a better Monday night dinner. I can’t even begin to express to you how simple this is, but even more importantly, how delicious!
We all know the story. When I grew up our dinners consisted of beef tacos, pasta with red sauce, maybe a takeout pizza here and there, or on very special nights, BW3s. And then, of course, there was chicken and rice. So much chicken and rice. Aside from tacos, chicken and rice was the staple meal. And it was on rotation once, twice, sometimes even three nights a week.
We ate a lot of chicken and rice growing up. It was either mom’s Sunday roasted chicken with boxed rice pilaf, dad’s grilled chicken (and rice), or my brother’s favorite, potato chip chicken (and rice). Again, so much chicken and rice.
You’d think it would be a dinner that I would not want to repeat as an adult. Shockingly, I’ll revert back to our staple family meal once or twice a month. I guess it’s just my comfort food.
For the longest time, I tried to recreate the Monday night dinner my mom would often make. Roasted chicken (whole chicken or just tenders) with a boxed rice or roni-style mix. I’ve never come close, but then I made this – and this is it.
You need just one baking dish with the most minimal ingredients and almost zero prep time.
The secret to this recipe, and all the flavor, is actually the reason the recipe is so SIMPLE – cooking the rice and chicken slowly together. This creates the most flavorful, juicy, pull-apart, tender chicken, and the tastiest rice.
Sounds too good to be true, but this is one of those recipes that just works so wonderfully well.
Details
Start with the chicken. Marinate it in olive oil and yogurt with lemon zest, pepper, and garlic. Then add dried oregano, thyme, paprika, and a nice helping of salt and chili flakes (if desired).
If time allows, you can marinate the chicken for 30 minutes or overnight. If you’re in a time crunch, just start cooking. I’ve now made this both ways and there’s not a huge difference.
Start off by grabbing a baking dish. Use something around the size of a 9×13-inch pan. Add the dry rice, I love to use basmati, and then add broccoli. Pour water overtop and then add a couple of salted pats of butter.
Place the chicken directly over the rice, then bake. I don’t even cover the pan or anything. This cooks up beautifully in just about 30 minutes. But the timing will depend on the size of your chicken and the size of your baking dish.
Top with any fresh herbs you enjoy most, then serve and enjoy.
As the chicken roasts, the juices drip down into the rice creating a REAL chicken-flavored rice situation. It’s so delicious!
And the chicken doesn’t dry out since it’s roasted over a bit of water. As the water cooks into the rice, the chicken slowly and beautifully roasts and gets perfectly crisp.
It’s honestly just the best. I might not go back to cooking chicken and rice any other way! Just add some 5 ingredient beer bread to really complete the Gerard family staple. A comfort meal at its best!
Looking for other easy chicken and rice dinners? Here are my favorites:
One Skillet Louisiana Style Chicken and Rice
Broccoli Cheddar Chicken and Rice Casserole
Cheesy Zucchini Chicken and Rice Bake
Slow Cooker Herbed Chicken and Rice Pilaf
Spicy Sesame Chicken and Ginger Rice
Lastly, if you make this One Pan Lemon Pepper Yogurt Chicken and Rice, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
One Pan Lemon Pepper Yogurt Chicken and Rice
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 593 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs or breasts (skin on or off)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2-4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1- teaspoons black pepper, using more to your taste
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- kosher salt and chili flakes
- 1 3/4 cups dry basmati rice
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 cups roughly chopped broccoli
Instructions
- 1. In a bowl, toss together the chicken, olive oil, yogurt, lemon zest, garlic, pepper, oregano, thyme, paprika, onion powder, and a good pinch of salt and chili flakes (if desired). If time allows, marinate for 30 minutes or overnight.2. Preheat the oven to 400°. 3. Pour the rice and broccoli into a 9×13-inch baking dish. Pour over 2 cups of water. Add the butter. Arrange the chicken over the rice and broccoli. Add lemon wedges, if desired. Bake 30-40 minutes, until the rice is fluffy and the chicken is cooked through. If the rice is hard, add 1/3 cup water and cook for an additional 10 minutes. 4. Severe the chicken, rice, and broccoli topped with fresh basil and or thyme. And enjoy!
After reading the comments I doubled the spices for the chicken and used broth and the same spices on the chicken for the rice. It took close to an hour of cooking to get the chicken breasts to temp (they were huge). My family loved, had tons of flavor. Will definitely be making again.
Hey Jennifer,
Love to hear this! Thanks a lot for making this recipe and your comment! Have a great day:)
Made recipe exactly as written.
Chicken had nice flavor, but the rice and broccoli were so bland. The marinade doesn’t flavor anything but the chicken, so the rest was not eaten by anyone in my family.
Tried again using broth instead of water, and covering the pan with foil for the first part of cooking as other reviewers suggested. Alas, same issues remained.
I want to like it because of the ease of cooking, but the unappetizing rice and veggies just don’t taste interesting and could use some sauce and flavor.
Hi Kate,
Thanks so much for making this dish and sharing your feedback. So sorry to hear the rice and veggies were not enjoyed. You could certainly add more seasonings to your liking next time, that might help! xx
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I made this for dinner and my kids absolutely loved it. They even asked when we’re going to have it again – which is very rare!
I followed the recipe as written with two small substitutions – I used a short-grain rice because I didn’t have basmati handy; and I used chicken broth instead of water. The flavour was amazing.
Hey Heather,
Happy Monday!! Thanks a lot for making this dish and your comment! I love to hear that it turned out well for you! Xx
Sadly this was a miss. Chicken was cooked perfectly, but was VERY bland and the rice had little to know flavor.
Needed more salt and butter and possibly cook rice in chicken broth with onion??
I love all your recipes, but this one was a flop for me. 🙁
Hi Kathleen,
Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback! I’m so sorry to hear it was not enjoyed! xx
Pretty disappointed with this recipe. Used the correct type of rice and it was still hard and raw under the chicken after cooking it for an extended amount of time to try to get it to finish cooking. I tried covering it and adding more liquid but no dice it just wouldn’t fully cook. Maybe the recipe needs some tweaking based on everyone else’s comments.
Hi Emily,
Thanks for trying this recipe and your comment. I’m so sorry to hear that this recipe was not enjoyed. I’ve had quite a bit of readers enjoy it so I’m not sure why it isn’t turning out for others. Again, my apologies! xx
The recipe is incorrect. Rice is hard and bland. The chicken was good, but the proportions are also off…too much rice for the dish. Had to add more chicken and stock and time, covered the dish, but still rice was hard.
Hi Chrissy,
Thanks for trying this dish and sharing your feedback, I’m sorry to hear you felt the recipe was incorrect. What kind of rice did you use? Let me know how I can help! xT
First off, I ignored the negative reviews. This is a solid and yummy recipe. My adjustments were to use skin-on thighs and added some chicken broth.
Tiegan, keep on keeping on…you have taught me many new ways to use different ingredients and I greatly appreciate your knowledge sharing.
Hey Sue,
Thanks so much for trying this dish and sharing the adjustments that you made:) So glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
I ended up reading comments right before I made this and it was a success! I used 2 1/2 cups chicken broth for the rice, baked at 400 for 35 minutes Covered with foil and baked another 30 minutes uncovered and it all came together great with good flavors (I was heavy on the seasoning as I didn’t measure, just eyeballed). I gave 4 stars only because this recipe does need to be updated on the site.
Hi Suzanne,
I appreciate you trying this dish and sharing your feedback, I’m so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
Tieghan,
I adore you and have enjoyed following you for a long time. I agree with previous posts; this needs to be reworked. I looked at many comments and added more spice, time and broth; still bland.
Thank you for all the content and recipes you offer. All the best to you!
❤️
Hi Karen,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! xx
I read the comments before putting this recipe together. I was apprehensive about cooking a rice dish uncovered, so I took the advice of the others and cooked the dish covered in foil for 40 minutes, then uncovered for 5 minutes. It worked perfectly! The only thing I’d change is to use less dried thyme ( I’m not super fond of that flavor), and add more salt. With these modifications, this dish is a keeper! Thank you!
Hey Catherine,
Awesome! Thanks so much for trying this recipe and your feedback, so glad it turned out well! Xx
The flavours were great, but the rice didn’t cook all the way, despite the extra water and time. I’ll make this again, but cover it in foil for the first 20 mins to try and steam the top layers of rice so they get cooked.
Hi Amy,
I appreciate you trying this dish and your comment! Glad to hear your enjoyed the flavors, I definitely think covering the dish will help:) xx
Well, I liked it! I didn’t go by the exact measurements in the recipe. You have to play around with it. I definitely added extra kosher salt. I prefer chicken stock over water, but if you ran out (like me!), then use the water and sprinkle poultry seasoning over it for extra razzle dazzle. I used the extra marinade in the bowl and smeared it on the thighs. My family really enjoyed this meal.
Hey Katie,
Thanks so much for giving this dish a try and sharing what worked well for you:) I’m so glad it was enjoyed! xT