The easiest one pan chicken dinner. This meal is comfort food for me and all the flavors I grew up with. There’s nothing better than a 30 minute chicken skillet dinner that will feed and satisfy the whole family. This recipe is my go-to weekday recipe if I am in a pinch. It is so quick, delicious, and budget friendly as well. Please read all of my notes below for any substitutions, and I hope you enjoy.
The Best Weekday Meal
There’s simply nothing better than a 30 minute chicken skillet dinner that will feed and satisfy the whole family.
Ingredients
- 8 small thighs bone in, skin on
- 2-3 tablespoons avocado oil or any oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ tablespoon italian seasoning
- 1 whole finely diced onion
- 4 finely diced garlic cloves
- splash of white wine or broth
- 1.5 cups jasmine rice or long grain
- 2.5 cups unsalted vegetable broth
- splash of cooking cream 1/4 cup approximately
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a skillet with high sides, add the oil, let it heat up on the stove. Add the chicken thighs skin side down, season with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
- Sear the chicken for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, once one side is golden, flip it over and season the other side too. Make sure the heat is on medium so that it doesn't burn in the pan.
- Once the chicken has color on both sides, remove it from the pan, and discard most of the oil that rendered from the skin. Add the onions and sauté them for about a minute. Add the garlic, and stir.
- Add a splash of white wine and let it cook off fully. Add the rice and stir. Place the chicken back on top and pour in the veggie broth.
- Add a splash of cooking cream or coconut milk from a can, give it a mix and let it come to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook it covered for 25 minutes. Garnish with parsley and enjoy.
Notes
I used bone in skin on chicken thighs but you can use any cut of chicken you enjoy.
If you use bone-in chicken breast don’t adjust the cooking time. If you use skinless- boneless, sear it a few minutes on each side and cook it covered for 20 minutes. Chicken breast cooks a lot faster than thighs so keep that in mind.
I used 1/3 cup white wine but you can use as much as you like — if you don’t like wine, you can substitute for unsalted veggie or chicken broth instead.
To make this recipe vegetarian, leave out the chicken and proceed the same way. Mushrooms would be absolutely delicious in this dish.
If you are dairy-free, you can sub out the cream and add cashew cream or coconut milk instead. Alternatively, you can also leave it out completely too.
If you don’t have Italian seasoning, you can use any you enjoy.
My followers that are dairy-free have also said that plant-based cream works great! Silk and Country Crock are ones you recommend.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
19 Responses
Love this recipe! Just like my moms Bulgarian recipe she makes! so delicious and so easy!
Makes me so happy Elena ❤️
So happy to hear that Elena. Thank you for sharing that with me
I’m going to make this for dinner… do you ever add any veggies to this? Green beans or peas & carrots?
You absolutely can 🙂
Ciao! I am following all the steps and watched the video, but I still have a question. Do you add at the end parsley or basil? You say parsley, but I think I see basil leaves. Greetings from Holland!
Hi lovely , yes I added parsley. Basil is there for presentation but you can add anything you personally like ( even fresh dill would work or cilantro if you like it ) ❤️
I absolutely love all of your recipes and so does my family!
Everything is so flavorful, healthy and straightforward to make.
Thank you!
Aw thanks Brigid! Means a lot to me.
What size dutch oven did you use?
I have to double check on that. It’s also linked in my Amazon store if you want to take a look 🙂
This was soooo good and quick to make but it tasted like it took all day! Thanks for another amazing recipe!!
Happy you loved it Laur 🙂
My family loved this dish. I didn’t have jasmine or long grain rice so I used Botan rice (Japanese). It turned out creamy and delicious. This will be a regular on my dinner recipe box.
So happy Linda 🙂
Excited to make this but have a question. If I’m using boneless skinless thighs do I have to cook covered for 20 minutes before doing the rest of the steps with the onion, etc. Or do you mean 20 minutes total including with the onions and rice?
Hi Mel, the cooking time is 20 minutes TOTAL.
The chicken thighs only get seared on each side for about 5minutes total or until they have a bit of color.
I really wanted to love this recipe. I was making this for dinner just now and it turned out horrible. All of the rice and stock soaked up the seasonings I had put on the chicken, leaving both the rice and chicken super bland. I left the chicken in holes in the pan like in the video, but this just lead to uneven cooking of the rice. I don’t really know how to make this recipe work, and I followed all the instructions.
Hi Steph,
so sorry that this recipe didn’t work for you. If the dish was BLAND that means you didn’t add enough salt. Salt will bring out the flavor of everything in this dish. Depending on the size of the meat you may have needed more liquid. If I was there, I would be able to tell but please try again. I would try with skinless boneless chicken thighs next time and seasoning it more.