Creamy Chicken And Rice (One Pot!)
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Creamy chicken and rice is the perfect cozy comfort food for a quick weeknight meal. Made all in one pot with plenty of flavors, this dish with a gooey parmesan sauce is easy to adjust with what you have in your refrigerator and will become your new family favorite.
Table of Contents
Why We Love Creamy Chicken And Rice
- Kid-Friendly Dinner – This dish has easy flavors that are usually great for kids and adults both.
- Inexpensive Weeknight Dinner – This dinner will fit into your budget using chicken thighs to squeeze your grocery budget a little further. This recipe is easy enough for a weeknight, and will be one of those you throw into the regular rotation.
- No Cream Of Soup – I love making things faster in the kitchen, but using condensed soup just isn’t my favorite. I love that this dish comes out rich and creamy without using a cream of soup.
Ingredients For Creamy Chicken And Rice
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions below in the recipe card.
- chicken thighs boneless and skinless. Boneless skinless chicken breast or even leftover rotisserie chicken can all be used.
- salt divided
- black pepper divided
- butter salted butter works find for this recipe
- onion finely diced, you can use white onion, yellow onion or even purple onion. For a more mild onion flavor try a sweet onion.
- garlic finely chopped, you can also use minced garlic from a jar or garlic powder
- red pepper flakes optional
- chicken broth – normally I stick to low sodium chicken broth, but today I used regular chicken broth. If you are using low sodium broth you may need to add a little extra salt at the very end, simply add to taste.
- brown rice – any long grain brown rice will work. If using a white long grain rice see the tips below
- heavy cream can also use half and half
- parmesan cheese grated, divided
How To Make Creamy Chicken And Rice
- With a sharp knife, cut chicken thighs into cubes. Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, then set to the side.
- Place the butter in a large skillet (with a lid) over medium heat. Place the butter in the pan and let it melt. Add the onion and garlic, cooking until the onion just begins to become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the chicken thigh pieces to the onion and garlic in the pan. Add optional red pepper flakes to the chicken and stir well. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes stirring often as needed. Cook until the chicken is lighty golden brown on all sides.
- Pour the chicken broth and rice into the pan. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
- Allow the rice to cook over medium heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Once the broth is boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pan with a lid to keep the liquid at a simmer. Cook the rice for about 45-50 minutes or until the rice is tender and cooked through.
- Carefully pour in the half and half a little at a time while stirring. Sprinkle in half of the grated parmesan cheese while stirring well until it melts. Allow the rice to cook uncovered for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken up slightly.
- Serve immediately and top with the rest of the parmesan cheese. You can optionally top with fresh parsley or a squeeze of lemon juice. Enjoy!
Variation Ideas For Creamy Chicken And Rice
This is a great base chicken dinner to start with, but don’t be afraid to add your own ideas and experiment. The recipe is pretty flexible overall, it kind of reminds me of both risotto or a better-flavored version of the creamy rice boxes you can often find at the grocery store. It also kind of reminds me of a Easy Chicken Pot Pie, this recipe has the same kind of gooey warm you up feeling.
Try Adding Vegetables – This is a great recipe to clean out your fridge of a few extra vegetables that might be hanging in the back. Diced bell pepper, broccoli floretts or cauliflower floretts, chopped asparagus or shredded carrots can be added at the same time you add the rice and broth to the pan.
If you have vegetables with more water in them such as diced zucchini or celery, I recommend cooking the water out of it when you cook the onions.
Fresh spinach can be stirred into this recipe at the end. Frozen vegetables like peas, carrots, corn or even spinach can be defrosted in the microwave, drained of any water and then added at the end.
Add Other Proteins – Chicken breast for chicken thighs seems like and obvious swap, but don’t hesitate to use up other types of protein that may be in your fridge. Steak, ham, crumbled bacon, smoked sausage or shrimp would all be delicious stirred into this dish.
Mix Up The Flavors – This dish is pretty mild on flavor, but you can add a little more spice to the pot to liven things up. Try adding a tablespoon of Italian seasoning, two teaspoons of greek seasoning and a squeeze of lemon, or even 11/2 teaspoons of cajun seasoning when you add the rice to the pot. You can also season the chicken directly with any of these seasoning ideas.
Give The Recipe A Kick With Heat – I recommend adding a little bit of red pepper flakes to this recipe as it balances the creaminess, but if your family doesn’t like spice this can be added at the table. A small pinch of cayenne pepper or even a few dollops of hot sauce can also help to balance the creaminess in this recipe.
Can I Use Other Kinds Of Rice Instead Of Brown Rice?
Swap Long Grain White Rice For Brown Rice – Swapping long grain for white rice in this recipe is pretty easy, and actually cooks a little faster. To swap use only two cups of chicken broth, and cook the mixture for about 20-23 minutes or until the rice is tender, I use this method in my one pot smoked sausage and rice recipe.
Instant Rice Swapping – I don’t generally recommend using an instant rice or Minute rice in this recipe. Minute Rice or Instant rice has been cooked and then dehydrated to make the rice cook quicker. When you add it to a dish like this which is already on the mushy side it can get really mushy. It also needs a different liquid amount.
I have not tried this recipe with Minute Rice, however I did have one reader use it in my smoked sausage and rice recipe recently, and the process is very similar for this recipe. She used two cups of instant rice, two cups of broth and cooked it for about ten minutes before moving on to the next step in the dish. If you do try this method, let me know how it goes in the comments.
Does This Creamy Chicken And Rice Recipe Freeze Well?
No I don’t recommend freezing this creamy chicken and rice. The cream in this recipe tends to split when you freeze it and the texture will likely be a little off when you reheat it, unfortunately.
How Long Will Creamy One Pot Chicken And Rice Last?
Expect this chicken and rice dish will last about three days if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
The sauce may thicken up a little bit more when you reheat it. Try mixing in a splash of milk, chicken broth or water if it thickens up too much.
I find it’s easiest to reheat leftovers in the microwave. You can also heat up leftovers on the stovetop. I find the dish usually requires a little more liquid added when heated on the stovetop to make the right texture.
More Dinner Recipes You’ll Love
Cheesy Mexican Chicken And Rice (One Pot!)
Cheesy Unstuffed Pepper Skillet (One Pan!)
One Pot Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Rice
One Pot Ground Turkey Spaghetti
Creamy Chicken And Rice (One Pot!)
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken thighs boneless and skinless, about four thighs for a pound. You can also use up to 1 1/2 pounds of chicken thighs or 6 chicken thighs for this recipe
- 1 teaspoon salt divided
- ½ teaspoon black pepper divided
- ¼ cup butter salted
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped or one tablespoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- 2 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup brown rice
- ½ cup heavy cream can also use half and half
- ½ cup parmesan cheese grated, divided
Instructions
- With a sharp knife, cut chicken thighs into cubes. Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, then set to the side.
- Place the butter in a large skillet (with a lid) over medium heat. Place the butter in the pan and let it melt. Add the onion and garlic, cooking until the onion just begins to become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the chicken thigh pieces to the onion and garlic in the pan. Add optional red pepper flakes to the chicken and stir well. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes stirring often as needed. Cook until the chicken is lighty golden brown on all sides.
- Pour the chicken broth and rice into the pan. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
- Allow the rice to cook over medium heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Once the broth is boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pan with a lid to keep the liquid at a simmer. Cook the rice for about 45-50 minutes or until the rice is tender and cooked through.
- Carefully pour in the half and half a little at a time while stirring. Sprinkle in half of the grated parmesan cheese while stirring well until it melts. Allow the rice to cook uncovered for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken up slightly.
- Serve immediately and top with the rest of the parmesan cheese. You can optionally top with fresh parsley or a squeeze of lemon juice. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This?
I would love to see it! Share your thoughts with me in the comments below!
Haven’t tried this version yet but it sounds like it will be awesome. Can’t wait to try. My husband and I do a similar recipe but we use elbow noodles instead. It’s everyone’s favorite everywhere we bring it to.
Ohh I’ll have to try your noodle version, yum!