Chicken and rice and everything nice! You can not have too many chicken and rice recipes in your arsenal. This one bakes up in the oven so no hovering over a skillet!
This has a kicked up lemony rice pilaf that is super delicious. Rather than finish in the skillet, I poured it into a baking dish to avoid having to keep an eye on it. I am not a big ‘stand at the stove’ kinda gal.
Before I get to the recipe, I want to share a new feature on Laughing Spatula. I have a new recipe card that is not only pretty, it does tricks! You can now easily adjust the servings of the recipe by simply hovering over the the ‘servings’ amount in the recipe card.
Here is how the servings adjuster works…super easy!
I will also be providing nutritional information for all my new recipes and for my most popular recipes. I am busy clickety clacking away entering all the info but it’s going to take some time. If you have a recipe you love but I haven’t gotten to it yet, send me a note at laughing spatula@comcast.net and I’ll get the nutrition card added asap!
Okay, back to this Baked Chicken Breasts with Lemon Rice Pilaf
A quick sauté of the rice and veggies is what the ‘pilaf’ is all about. The toasted rice kicks up the flavor of this dish with very little work and gives you the opportunity to add lots of veggies!
The trick here is to heat your broth. I just use a microwave safe measuring cup and nuke it for 2 minutes. It helps cook the rice faster so everything is done at the same time! I added a bit of lemon zest as well…that stuff is a flavor booster and then some!
I made and photoed (is photoed a word?), with 3 chicken breasts but the recipe is for 4. I was one breast short of a full load!
I like to serve this with a side of broccoli, but I like everything with broccoli. Peas or green beans would be nice as well.
You can see all my chicken recipes here!
Here’s to Chicken and Rice and everything nice!
Clink!
Kathi
Looking for another easy chicken recipe? Try my Easy Oven Roasted Chicken with Potatoes – it is the most popular chicken recipe on Laughing Spatula!
Baked Chicken and Lemon Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
- 4 boneless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup celery, chopped
- 1/2 cup carrot, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 cup rice long grain if you have it
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or juice of one lemon
- 2 tablespoon dried italian herb blend divided
- 2 lemons 1 zested and juiced. 1 sliced.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In large skillet, melt butter and add olive oil.
- Saute, carrots, onion, celery, garlic and uncooked rice until vegetables are soft and rice is slightly brown. About 8-10 minutes.
- Add salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon italian seasoning, lemon zest and lemon juice.
- Pour rice mixture into 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Heat chicken stock for two minutes in microwave and pour over rice mixture. Nestle chicken breasts on top of rice. Season with salt, pepper and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon italian herbs
- Top with sliced lemons.Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and no liquid remains in the pan
Notes
Nutrition
Julie says
Hi, I made this tasty chicken for my family two weeks ago and everyone enjoyed it so I made it last week too. Definitely a keeper! The lemon gives it wonderfully zesty flavor on these dreary winter days. I’d like to take to two friends this week. One just had a baby and the other surgery. Can I make (not bake) this in advance and cover with foil and the cooking instructions. Just want to make sure it would work to prepare and cook a couple of hours later, thank you so much! Julie
LaughingSpatula.com says
So glad you loved it! I wouldn’t add the broth. Give that to them on the side for them to add right before baking, then it should be fine!
Mogie says
Could you use lemon juice instead of lemon zest?
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Hi Mogie, the recipe calls for lemon juice and zest. If you only have bottled juice that will be fine. Just won’t be as lemony but still very good!
Brittany Manning says
That’s a great feature. I’m excited to try your lemon and rice recipe. I want to confirm that the rice is supposed to be browned with the veggies before it’s cooked, right?
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Hi Brittany! Yes, dump all the veggies and the rice in the same pan. By the time the veggies are soft the rice will be slightly toasted, which makes the rice a pilaf!
Betty says
I I love your chicken with lemon rice casserole, and, and, I also Love your sense of humor!..
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Thanks Betty! 4 stars worth of funny is all? I’m willing to work for the 5th one LOL! Have a great day and thanks for the sweet note!
Connie says
Wow. You are amazing. Love your recipes and your fantastic blog.
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Thank you Connie! What a nice note!
Linda says
Love, Love, Love the serving adjuster!
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Thank you Linda! It’s a pretty handy little tool!
Cindy says
What an amazing tool! Love it!
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Thank you Cindy! I have a few more updates coming up…stand by!