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!!!
This looks delicious! Chicken thighs are my favorite. If you don’t have a skillet that’s deep enough, can you use a Dutch oven? Thanks!
Hi Katherine! You absolutely can. It will probably cook quicker because it will retain more heat so check the rice a little earlier than what the recipe says. 🙂 Hope you love it!
Well, I do really love this recipe and the concept of it, I’d really like to point out how dangerous it is to re-use marinade that has been in contact with raw chicken. It’s always advised that you discard the remainder of the marinade, and even if you do plan on cooking with it, you need to bring it to a full boil for at least 5 minutes to try and kill the bacteria. Where this recipe only calls for a simmer. I’d really recommend for you to re-do your recipe for this, whether you just create extra marinade for the rice, or you do a full boil. I’d just hate to hear someone getting sick.
I agree on the dangers of this recipe. It is recommended NOT to re-use maranade that has touched raw chicken even if it is boiled. I plan to make extra maranade for this recipe.
Hi Mary! I promise that if marinade is cooked past boiling point, as this is, then it is absolutely fine to eat. Marinade must never be reused or frozen, but it can be consumed as a sauce or part of a stock, as is this case, if it is boiled. The cooking time in the oven is far beyond what is required and in fact, the marinade benefits from extra flavour from the chicken juices extracted during the marinade time. 🙂 This is a method that is used in many restaurants and by top chefs around the world. 🙂 I hope that alleviates any concern you have!
Hi Kristen! You are absolutely right. But actually, the marinade is mixed in with the rice and baked 🙂 So any bacteria is well and truly killed! N x
OH and I added a good handful of green olives. Yum yum.
GAH! I should have done that!! 😉
lovely. But sacrilegious to wipe away all those lovely juices. Leave out the oil then cook onions in the juices. I also used brown rice worked a treat.
Hi Tracie – I agree it’s such a shame to throw away the flavour! The reason I do it for this particular dish is because there are so many black bits in it which cooked in the rice and those bits had a little burnt flavour 🙂 But I agree, it kills me to throw away the flavour! You didn’t find that to be a problem?
I can imagine how nice this is with brown rice. I love that slightly nutty flavour!! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it Tracie, and thank you for your tips! N x
Made this tonight and MAN was it good! Thank you for the recipe! We LOVE rice in our family and this reminded me of the best Rice-A-roni times 1000! And that was with chicken breasts; I can’t wait to try it with thighs! This will be a recurrent recipe for the archives. 🙂
I am SO GLAD you enjoyed this! I really love rice too – being of Japanese background, I grew up with it!! Thank you for coming back to share your thoughts! 🙂
Hi Nagi. I’m currently in between moving and I’m using just portable skillets. Is there any way I can just do this on the burner and not bake at all?. This really looks wonderful and I’m dying to have it, but I’m lost without an oven. Please reply!!
Hi Katie! Yes, it is possible! (PS I feel your pain, my oven was dead for a couple of weeks, it killed me!) There are two options: a) Cook the chicken completely on the stove, set aside and cook the rice on the stove (reduce the liquid by 1/2 cup). To cook the rice, just follow the recipe directions up to the point just before putting it in the oven. Instead of doing that, put the lid on and cook on medium low until the liquid is absorbed. When the rice is almost ready, pop the chicken back in on top of the rice to warm up. This will yield a chicken with crispier skin than the second method. b) The 2nd method is to sear the chicken but not cook it through, then pop it on to of the rice to finish cooking while the rice cooks. This method is easier and you will get the benefit of the chicken juices mixing in with the rice while it cooks but you will lose the crispiness of the skin.
What I would suggest is using skinless, boneless thigh fillets instead, that way you don’t have to worry about the skin crispiness but you get all the flavour!
Hope that helps!!
Can’t wait to try this! Thank you for leaving detailed notes for substitutions, pan size, etc – that really helps 🙂
No worries Billie! Happy to be of help 😉
Oh Nagi!! You did it again! This is just as good as your rotisserie chicken and potato gratin all in one pot meal. The flavor was amazing. I was afraid the lemon and oregano might be overpowering but it was perfect. And the rice heavenly. Thank you again!!
Jan! I am so happy that you enjoyed it!! I know what you mean about the oregano – the first time I made it, I used half the amount but couldn’t taste it at all! So I cranked it up, 🙂 Thank you for coming back to share your thoughts on this! N x
PS: I also wanted to tell you I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs and it was delish!
Oooh, so glad to hear that! I haven’t made it with breast (yet)… N x
I have never commented on a blog before but I had to with this… Wow! Threw it all together and I went to the kitchen for some more after. I Sprinkled some veg stock/seasoning over the top which browned the chicken some more and added salt while I was eating (clearly a problem for me!) but I am going to make this again and again!!!!!
Hi Amy! WOW I am so honoured that this is the first comment you’ve left on a blog! I’m so glad you enjoyed this. I really love this dish! I’ve made so many variations of it – really, you can go wild with the rice and chicken flavourings!! Veg stock / seasoning? You’ve totally taken this to a new level! Thank you again for coming back to share your thoughts on this dish!! N x
Hi- made this recipe and LOVED the flavors! However, I substituted long grain brown rice and couldn’t get the rice to soften up. Think I need to put the rice in for like an hour before adding the chicken. Any advice on using brown rice specifically?
Hi Lori! Brown rice takes longer than white rice to bake in the oven. So you’ll need to make a few adjustments! So bring the rice and liquid to a simmer on the stove, per the recipe. DO NOT put the chicken in, just cover the rice and bake for 20 minutes. THEN put the chicken in, cover again and bake for 40 minutes. Then remove the cover and bake for 10 minutes to make the chicken nice and crisp. Total bake time for the chicken is 50 minutes which is longer than using white rice because the chicken will cool down more while the rice bakes for the first 20 minutes.
Hope that helps! N x
This is a recipe after my own heart, Nagi 😉
Aw, thanks Suzy!! Glad to hear YOU approve! 😉
This is amazing! My family of fussy eaters loved it, wanted seconds and they never want to try anything new! Will be a regular on our menu now
I’m SO HAPPY you loved it as much as I do!!! Thank you so much for coming back to share your thoughts!! N x
Gosh Nagi! This one pot dish looks amazing and I have to try this asap. Pinning it right away
Aww, thank you so much for your kind words! 🙂
Can’t wait to make this next week. I’ve already done my menu planning for this week and will be cooking 3 of your recipes. This one is being added to next week, especially after hearing from a good friend of mine who made this dish tonight: “There is one word to describe this dish… orgasmic.” 🙂
3?? Eeek!! I’m so honoured!!! I hope you love this as much as I do. Seriously, the rice…..it’s ALL about the rice!!! 🙂 Please pass on my thanks to your friend for trying this!! 🙂
I just made this dish and it was PHENOMENAL! It was SO quick and easy to make – this is my new favorite weeknight meal! I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs so I didn’t quite get that gorgeous browning on the outside, but the meat was so incredibly tender it practically FELL apart! And as good as the chicken was, the rice was where it was at! I literally stood over the stove just spooning mouthfuls of rice into my mouth! Oh, and did I mention it made my entire house smell of lemon and garlic!? I wish I could bottle that smell!
I’d give this recipe 6 stars, if I could!
Eeek! I am SO GLAD you enjoyed this!! It is quite a co incidence (again!), I made your Thai soup yet again on Thursday night (seriously, it is becoming my “show off” dish – “look how easily I can make a Thai curry”!!):)
I have a go-to chicken recipe that has the same flavor profile. The lemon, garlic and oregano are really nice together. I usually cook the white rice on the side. Then, scoop the sauce over. I love your one pot meal verson! The rice can absorb all the wonderful flavors. Sounds soooo good! Just to think about it makes me hungry!
I remember when I first tried this, I was skeptical about whether it would work. I was concerned the rice would get mushy, because I grew up in a household where rice is king and my mother was always very critical about rice that was not perfectly cooked! But this works really well! Even my mother approved!
I love one pot meals and this looks amazing. Can’t wait to try it.
Hi Amy! So glad you like the look of this 🙂 Be sure to shout out if you have any questions!
Rice is my weakness. I can literally eat it all day long. SO BAD. I can’t wait to try this. One pot meals are the best!
Rice, bread, pasta….any carb is my weakness!!
My goodness this looks fabulous! With how amazing that chicken looks, it’s hard for me to believe that rice could be the star. I guess I’ll have to do a first hand investigation. 😉
Thanks Marissa!! You know what, the chicken really is yum too but the RICE is just soooo crazy delish!
Beautiful! (making this tonight!)
Hope you do give it a go!! It really is super duper tasty 🙂
Is it ok to use bone in chicken breasts instead of thighs? Just not a big fan of dark meat. Looks yummy! Love the one pot meals!
Absolutely Lisa! Just cook them on the stove a wee bit longer – may an extra minute on each side. Because bone in breast is thicker than bone in thigh. I love one pot meals too!! Especially ones that are a bit different, like this one! 🙂