I want to say the star of this dish is the chicken. But that would be lying. Because this, my friends, is all about the RICE! People have said this One Pot Greek Chicken and Lemon Rice is the best chicken and rice recipe they’ve ever had (their words not mine!). I hope you feel the same when you try it!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Chicken and rice – elevated!
What makes this lemon rice so special, you might ask? Well, it’s like cooking the rice in triple strength chicken stock because the chicken is cooked ON TOP of the rice. So it gets the full benefit of all the juices from the chicken seeping into it while it cooks. Add the fresh flavours of lemon and boom! You will knock the socks off anyone you serve this too!
Big promises I know….but I have third party validation of this. Someone who always tells me the truth about my dishes. Especially “inventions” which I often pass on because I know I’ll get truthful feedback. I do love my friends dearly, but honestly, not everything I make them can be “OMG, this is so delicious!!” (Seriously, I love my friends, love them to bits!)
So in this particular case, her family raved about the rice so I’m just passing on that message. 🙂 (PS She was quick to point out that the chicken was lovely too, she just said that the STAR of the dish was the rice! I’m totally cool with that! 🙂 )
This is not an authentic Greek Chicken recipe (as far as I know!) but it is made using classic Greek ingredients. It uses the same technique I use for my One Pot Mexican Chicken and Rice. There’s nothing tricky or ground breaking, it’s just about getting the liquid to rice ratio right. Rice baked in the oven requires a lot more water than when it’s cooked on the stove. And when you plop chicken on top of the rice, it drops liquid so you need to take that into account.
To make this Greek Chicken recipe in one pot (well, pan – why do I keep writing “pot”??!), the chicken is seared in the pan first, then the rice is added, the chicken placed back on top then it’s popped in the oven. The magic happens while it’s baking. As the chicken cooks, all the juices seep into the rice which are soaked up by the rice and add incredible flavour. INCREDIBLE flavour. It honestly is like triple strength chicken stock.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I can’t hold back any longer. I need some lunch! – Nagi
More dinner in one pot!
Cheeseburger Casserole (Homemade Hamburger Helper)
Asian Beef and Ramen Noodles – made in one skillet in 15 minutes!
Browse all One Pot recipes
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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One Pot Greek Chicken and Lemon Rice
Ingredients
Chicken and Marinade
- 5 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in (about 1 kg / 2 lb) (Note 1)
- 1 – 2 lemons, use the zest + 4 tbsp lemon juice (Note 7)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
Rice
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, separated
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 cup (180g) long grain rice , uncooked (Note 6)
- 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) chicken broth / stock
- 3/4 cup (185 ml) water
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Garnish
- Finely chopped parsley or oregano (optional)
- Fresh lemon zest (highly recommended)
Instructions
- Combine the Chicken and Marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag and set aside for at least 20 minutes but preferably overnight.
To Cook
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Remove chicken from marinade, but reserve the Marinade.
- Heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a deep, heavy based skillet (Note 2) over medium high heat.
- Place the chicken in the skillet, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, then turn and cook the other side until golden brown. Remove the chicken and set aside.
- Pour off fat and wipe the pan with a scrunched up ball of paper towel (to remove black bits), then return to the stove.
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and sauté for a few minutes until translucent. Then add the remaining Rice ingredients and reserved Marinade.
- Let the liquid come to a simmer and let it simmer for 30 seconds. Place the chicken on top then place a lid on the skillet (Note 3). Bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender (so 45 minutes in total).
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving, garnished with parsley or oregano and fresh lemon zest, if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
If you like this one pot Greek Chicken recipe, you may also enjoy my ONE POT BAKED GREEK CHICKEN ORZO (RISONI)!
And if you’re after another Greek Chicken recipe (because let’s face it, the Greeks know how to make GOOD CHICKEN!), I think you’ll enjoy my GREEK CHICKEN GYROS.
The yoghurt lemon marinade for this chicken is incredible!
LIFE OF DOZER
His chest hair bursting out of his sweater…. SO CUTE!!!
I love your one pot chicken dishes.
I’m so pleased you like them Rebecca! I’m a huge fan of one pot dishes – when done right 😉 N xx
This turned out great! I used a 12 inch frying pan. I have an 8 inch and a 12 inch pan.
That’s terrific to hear Rebecca! Thank you for letting me know! N xx
This looks great! What if I don’t have a cast iron skillet? Can you transfer everything to a baking dish after the chicken is browned?
Hi Jessica! Follow the recipe up to browning the onions then add some of the broth into the skillet and bring to simmer, scraping the base to mix all the brown bits into the liquid. Then tip it all into the baking dish and proceed with recipe. Reason is that the brown bits left in the skillet after browning the chicken adds flavour to the rice. 🙂
What a great recipe idea! I’m making this with farro, as we are trying to incorporate more whole grains into our meals. I will let you know how it turns out! Thanks for a great site!
Oooh! I would love to know how it goes!
Can I used a cast iron skillet?
Yup! That’s what I use!
Nagi, your the greatest, you did it again and after eating this wonderful dish, I lost my appetite! LOL Oh, and my Cody
who was constantly smelling this wonderful recipe cooking, was lying right down by the oven to let me know that he knew something wonderful was in there, and I just had to slice some of that juicy meat from one of the thighs and he was in Heaven. Finished off the whole batch today, and the aroma from the rice and lemon was just as great as it was
yesterday when I first made it.
Thanks for an outstanding recipe, and my Cody seconds the motion.
PS: Don’t know what the problem is, but everytime I make one of your great reccipes and eat, I always lose my appetite.
Ohhhhhh! I have the BEST vision of Cody lying in front of the oven, waiting for it to come out!
This is basically over Risotto so I believe risotto rice will work very well.
I have a baked risotto which would work very well in place of normal rice for this recipe! Just need to amend liquid ratios 🙂
Would this work with orzo in place of rice?
Unfortunately not, cook time and liquid ratio would be different and I haven’t tried it 🙂 (Though you have given me the idea to now!)
Hey Nagi! I’ve been browsing through your recipes for the past week since I came across your site and I’m OBSESSED!! I can’t make up my mind as to what I ought to cook first. ?
Just a quick, I wanted to know what kind of pot you use for your one pot recipes.
So pleased you see recipes here you like Syeda! I use lots of different types of pots, the one in this recipe is a cast iron skillet 🙂 Then if the skillet I use doesn’t have a lid that it came with, I just use the lid of another pot!
I loved the looks of this recipe, I was truly look forward to it… After an hour of cooking I still have TONS of liquid in my pan though! My thighs have the drumstick attached, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly, even used a cast iron pan with a lid from another. I used long grain brown rice, you specified that brown basmati takes much longer, but that regular brown could be used. I’m a sad this hasn’t cooked up, not only is it now crunch time for dinner, but my organic rice and pasture raised chicken cost a pretty penny ?. Any ideas what happened or advice for next time?
Hi Kimby! Brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice, that’s why there is still liquid in the pan 🙂 Please see recipe notes for tips on using brown rice. I hope that helps! N xx
I am very excited to use this recipe! For the brown rice would you recommend 1 hr. covered then 15 mins uncovered? Thank you so much! I’m looking forward to trying the Mexican recipe too!
Hi Sue! I found it was 1 hr 15 covered, then 10 minutes uncovered 🙂 Note 6. N x
I LOVE the slider over the ‘servings’ feature. This is so good. I always end up making too much of everything, and since I’m mostly cooking for one, this means I’m always throwing food away. Mind you, slicing 20% of a small onion (and all the other odd ratios) will probably waste just as much, but it’s still a great feature to have.
I was so sure I wouldn’t like this recipe as I haven’t liked much of the Greek food I’ve had but everything in this sounds fabulous. Definitely putting the ingredients on my list today.
I know exactly what you mean! Love that slider but yes ratios come out weird 🙂 Fixing that is a bit tricky for the tech guys! So pleased you enjoyed this and managed to slice 20% of an onion – ba ha ha!!
Can you use quinoa?
I haven’t tried with this particular recipe but the liquid to quinoa ratios and bake time is close to how I bake quinoa so yes, I think this will work!
How would you recommend changing the recipe if I want to use 7 chicken thighs instead of 5?
Hi Bronwyn! If you hover your clicker over the servings, a slider will appear so you can scale it up 🙂 Pretty nifty, isn’t it?? 🙂 To revert to the original, you’ll need to refresh the page. N x
Wonderful, thank you! 🙂
amazing!
Could i use a dutch oven for this recipe?
Sure thing! 🙂
Hi Nagi,
This looks tasty! If using skinless boneless thighs would I still brown them or just put them raw onto the rice at the appropriate time? I don’t see any info on that in the notes and I’ve never made anything like this before and don’t want to ruin it. Thank you!
Hi Shawnee! I just added it to note 1, yup, please brown the breast then add it into the oven partway through the cook time 🙂
Excellent, thank you so much for replying! I’ve got all my ingredients and will be making this Tuesday! Thank you again!
Hello from Greece! Yesterday I tried your recipe and I must admit that it doesn’t look like the chicken with rice we make in Greece. YOURS IS MUCH TASTIER!!!! Congratulations! In Greece, chicken with rice is something we call “hospital food” as it is not as tasty as other chicken recipes. Since I’ve tried some other recipes of yours, with excellent outcome I must admit, I decided it was time for the chicken and rice. From the beggining the smell was wonderful and even my six year old boy who doesn’t like rice, ate the whole plate. The lemon, the roasted chicken and the oregano… oh my God! Thanks once more for the great recipe!
WOAH! What a compliment! Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to write in! N xx PS I may have to quote you on this in the post, it’s too good not to share!!!
I made this last week and it was simply divine! I was looking for something to break in my new cast iron skillet and this did the trick. The wife loved it, and I’m going to make it again when the kids visit again next week. In the mean time I’m going to change it up a bit for tonight and use mojo instead of lemon and make it cuban style! Thanks for the great site and recipes…….
I’m trying this for dinner tonight! Any suggestions on a vegetable that would compliment these flavors that I could serve with this?? It looks amazing! I love the idea of baking the rice!
Hi Kara! It would be very Greek to serve this with a Greek Salad! I have a recipe on my site 🙂
Excellent recipe. I substituted quinoa for rice. It took a littleness longer to bake but tasted amazing First time I’ve ever used quinoa
Oooh I’m so pleased to hear this worked with quinoa! N xx
Loved this! So did the whole family. Great easy recipe with a lot of fresh flavors. Thank you so much!
AWESOME! I’m so pleased to hear you enjoyed this one Michelle! Hope you have a great weekend – N x
I made this last night and it was very good. The chicken thighs were tender and the rice was especially good- very nice blend of flavors. I recommend this recipe. I didn’t change a thing
Thrilled to hear you enjoyed this Robin! Thank you for letting me know! N x