This one-pot chicken and rice is the kind of meal you want on a bad day, a cold day, or a Tuesday. Chicken legs and fluffy, schmaltzy rice cook together in a Dutch oven—and the result feels like a warm hug.
No need to preheat the oven; this simple one-pot meal comes together entirely on the stovetop. We use chicken legs here, but any bone-in cut (like chicken thighs) will work. Just avoid boneless cuts like skinless, boneless chicken breasts, which won’t produce enough schmaltz to coat the rice.
First you’ll sear the chicken until golden brown, then sauté the aromatics and toast the rice in the pan drippings. Add the vinegar and chicken broth, then return the seared chicken to the pot (skin side up) and let it simmer. The chicken legs will cook through gently as the rice steams, imbuing the grains with tons of flavor. Finish this one-pot meal with a few spoonfuls of bright, herbaceous green olive gremolata; keep the rest on the side for everyone to garnish their plates to their liking.
This one-pot chicken and rice recipe delivers simple, satisfying comfort food any night of the week. Stash any leftovers in the fridge and reheat for a quick weeknight dinner the whole family will love.
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What you’ll need
Dutch Oven
$80 At Amazon
Tongs
$20 At Amazon
Microplane
$17 At Amazon
Fine Mesh Strainer With Arms
$29 $17 At Amazon
Recipe information
Total Time
1 hour 10 minutes
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Season 4 chicken legs (thigh and drumstick; about 2½ lb. total), patted dry, generously all over with kosher salt. Heat 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high. Cook 2 chicken legs, skin side down, until golden brown and crisp underneath, about 5 minutes. Turn over and cook until golden brown on the other side, 2–3 minutes. Transfer chicken to a large plate. Repeat with remaining 2 legs, adjusting heat as needed to keep chicken from scorching (pot will be much hotter at this point and second batch will brown faster).
Step 2
Remove pot from heat and pour off all but ¼ cup fat; discard. Add 1 large onion, finely chopped, and 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, to pot and return to medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle in 1 Tbsp. plus 1½ tsp. smoked paprika and 1 Tbsp. ground cumin and cook, stirring often, until spices are evenly distributed and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add 1½ cups basmati or other long-grain rice, rinsed until water runs almost clear, and 2¼ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1½ tsp. Morton kosher salt; cook, stirring often, until rice is toasted, about 1 minute. Add 3 Tbsp. sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar; cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits stuck to bottom of pot often, until liquid is absorbed, about 30 seconds.
Step 3
Stir in 1¾ cups low-sodium chicken broth, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Nestle chicken legs, skin side up, into rice. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until chicken is tender and rice is cooked through, 22–27 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes (resist peeking here). Uncover and fluff rice with a fork.
Step 4
Meanwhile, toss 1½ cups green olives, pitted, coarsely chopped, ⅓ cup finely chopped parsley, 1 garlic clove, finely grated, remaining ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, and remaining 3 Tbsp. sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar in a small bowl to combine; season olive gremolata with salt.
Step 5
Spoon some olive gremolata over chicken in pot, then serve chicken with remaining olive gremolata alongside.
How would you rate One-Pot Chicken and Rice With Olive Gremolata?
Leave a Review
Reviews (13)
Back to TopGreat flavors, but this recipe needs some work. I consider myself a fairly good cook, but I had some issues with this, some of which were my issues and some of which were with the recipe. I didn't realize I didn't have Basmati rice when I started, so I substituted whole-grain rice based on research on the Internet that said they were interchangeable. Listening to the others below about there not being enough liquid, I used 2c of chicken stock and the dish ended up very watery, like a soup. The chicken skin did not stay crispy, which as a big disappointment. And the chicken cooked considerably faster than the rice, so leaving the lid on at the end was impossible since I had to remove the chicken to keep cooking the rice. I had issues with the Gremolata too - again, it was delicious, but it also seemed like it was too oily, not like a chutney. I would make this again, but next time I'll use skinless chicken breasts, probably 1 1/2c of chicken stock, and 1/3 less oil and vinegar for the Gremolata. I found the spice amount perfect though and loved how all the flavors came together at the end, hence the three stars.
Anonymous
Washington, DC
4/3/2024
This recipe did not work for me. The flavors were all there, especially the olive gremolata. However, the chicken took forever to cook. The rice on up was undercooked while the rice on the bottom was mush. There didn't seem to be enough cooking liquid. I'm glad to worked for others. Not sure what I did wrong.
Anonymous
1/21/2024
Smoked paprika takes over everything , chicken is nice and tender but skin loses any crisp, gremolata the best part
Anonymous
5/29/2024
Very tasty but as others have said recipe needs a tweak. Chicken cooks faster than the rice which ended up being a bit overdone, also the liquid to rice ration was off, needed about 1/2 - 1 cup more. For the green olive sauce I added half the amount of olives and double the amount of parsley, I liked a thicker dressing with lots of fresh flavours
Emma F
Sydney
5/20/2024
Delicious. I added a tin of chickpeas and wilted spinach at the end to up the veges without using a second pot.
Rosie
Auckland, nz
5/5/2024
This was a great family meal, flavors were wonderful and everyone enjoyed. Followed the recipe exactly and had no issues with dry rice or too much spice.
EarleyGirl
Wheaton, IL
2/4/2024
We made this two nights ago and it was absolutely stellar. Delicious in every bite and we’ll probably keep this one on regular rotation—especially for when we have guests as it is really impressive how flavorful it is. One thing we did was add a little more broth than what it called for. We cooked for about 12min extra and then did the 10min steam technique off the heat right before fluffing and mixing with the olives and serving. We used chicken breasts instead of thighs because that’s what had in the fridge and they were tender and flavorful. Also makes for wonderful leftovers.
Jenn B
Chicago, IL
1/28/2024
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