The other day my husband asked for chicken and rice for dinner. So I’m thinking it needs to be a one dish wonder, not roasted chicken and a separate pile of rice. This dish turned out fantastic, and was super easy. For convenience I used a big cast iron skillet to saute the vegetables and then pop the whole thing into the oven. If you prefer, saute the vegetables and rice and then transfer to a baking dish.

I had skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs in the freezer. I removed the skin so the dish wouldn’t become too fatty from the skin, but left in the bone since bones add more flavor. Every other ingredient was something I normally have in my pantry as well. Bone in breasts would work, though the cooking time may be different, and the white meat will cook faster and dry out quicker than dark thigh meat.

The chicken needs to rest in the rub mix, so plan to start it earlier in the day, or even the day before. The longer it can marinate the more flavor the chicken will have.

For rice, I choose basmati over plain long grain rice. Long grain white rice would be perfectly fine, as would brown rice or jasmine rice. Whatever you have. Chicken stock and white wine add more flavor to the rice too. I buy a four pack of the small bottle of white wine (pino grigio today) specifically for cooking. I don’t drink much white wine, so if I open a liter bottle it will probably go to waste. The little bottles are perfect, and I get a few sips of what’s left over.

The rice you can flavor with any spices or vegetables you like. I seasoned with my own blend of seasoned salt. Today I used some small sweet peppers, and a mix of mushrooms I had in the fridge. Any kind of vegetable would work, as long as you can cut it fairly small or thin. Broccoli, carrots, or peas would all work great. It really comes out almost like a pilaf.