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One Pan Roasted Herb Chicken and Wild Rice. I turned my family’s favorite dinner into an easy and delicious one-pan recipe that makes weeknight cooking easy and delicious! Wild rice is cooked together with vegetables, chicken, and herbs. This oven-roasted chicken dinner is the coziest thing you’ll make this week. And also, the simplest and most delicious! The trick is a few slices of butter over each piece of chicken. The butter drips down over the chicken and creates the most flavorful all-in-one recipe! So easy to prepare and enjoyed by all.
It’s always the simplest of recipes that I end up loving the most. This chicken and rice dish is just that, and I’m so excited to share it. I hope the recipe finds its way into your kitchen all fall and winter long – it’s that perfect.
I love creating more one-pot, sheet pan, or crockpot recipes for you all. Anything simple and easy is what I’m all about. When I was dreaming up this recipe, it started out a little more complicated than the recipe I’m sharing today.
After making this twice, I was actually going to move on. The dish just wasn’t working the way I had envisioned in my head.
And at the time, I didn’t feel it was special enough to share. So I left the recipe alone for a bit. But then it was my mom who reminded me how delicious this sounded on paper. She is a sucker for any chicken and rice style dish. Actually, I guess I am too.
I decided to give the recipe one more try, but this time I simplified the process and made the dish even easier. It turned out so delicious, and pretty. I quickly fell in love with it.
I’ve now made this multiple times since. And just like Monday’s pot roast recipe, it’s almost effortless, and a dish that everyone in my family really enjoys.
Here are the details
Step 1: the ingredients
This is not my first one pan chicken and rice, but it’s my simplest to date, and yet still so flavorful. You’ll of course need chicken. I love to use a skinless chicken thigh in this recipe since the dish will cook for a longer period of time. You can use thighs, breasts, or even a mix of the two.
You’ll need shallots, garlic, fresh and or dried herbs, your favorite Italian seasoning blend, a touch of chili powder, wild rice, orzo, mushrooms, and celery.
You’ll also need some gouda cheese, cider or white wine, broth, and butter.
Step 2: mix everything
Now, working in a large casserole dish with a lid, or oven-safe skillet with a lid, toss the chicken with olive oil, shallots, garlic, thyme, sage, Italian seasoning, and chili powder. Then season very well with salt and pepper.
Mix in the wild rice, orzo, mushrooms, and celery.
Add apple cider, or if you don’t have cider, try using white wine. Then add bone broth (or chicken broth). Now arrange pats of butter all around the chicken.
Step 3: bake
Slide the entire dish, covered, into the oven. Now bake for a good amount of time. The wild rice takes a little longer to cook. This needs about 45 minutes with the lid on.
After 45 minutes, I remove the lid and continue to roast the chicken until it’s browned and golden on top, the rice is fluffy, and the liquid in the pan has mostly cooked into the rice.
And that’s simply it, the dish is done.
Step 4: serve
There is not one fancy finishing step or detail. I scoop the rice and veggies up and serve them underneath the juicy herb butter chicken.
Totally no fuss and so delicious. I know this is a recipe I’ll be coming back to time and time again. Perfect dinner to make for family and friends in the next few cozy months ahead!
Looking for other weeknight meals? Here are a few ideas:
Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Rice
One Pan Chipotle Honey Chicken and Rice
Creamy White Bean Noodle Soup with Rosemary Bacon
Mustard Herb Chicken and Creamy Orzo
Crockpot Crispy Buffalo Chicken Tacos with Jalapeño Ranch
Slow Cooker Saucy Sunday Bolognese Pasta
Crockpot Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Bolognese
Crockpot Herb Butter Chicken and Wild Rice
Lastly, if you make this One Pan Roasted Herb Chicken and Wild Rice, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
One Pan Roasted Herb Chicken and Wild Rice
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 679 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs (skin on or off)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups dry wild rice
- 1/2 cup dry orzo
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup cubed gouda cheese
- 1 cup apple cider or dry white wine
- 2 cup chicken or chicken bone broth
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 400°. 2. In a 9×13 inch baking dish or oven-safe skillet with sides, toss together the chicken, olive oil, shallots, garlic, thyme, sage, Italian seasoning, chili powder, and season with salt and pepper. Add the wild rice, orzo, mushrooms, celery, and cheese. 3. Pour over the apple cider and broth. Position the chicken pieces over the rice. Add slices of butter. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the rice is fluffy and the chicken is cooked through. If the rice is hard, add 1/3 cup water and cook for an additional 10 minutes.4. Serve the chicken and rice topped with fresh thyme. And enjoy!
Notes
Trouble Shooting the Rice: some are having issues with the rice cooking properly. Wild rice takes longer to cook than white, it’s also a bit tricker. If you are having issues, you can start with pre-cooked wild rice (Trader Joes and Whole Foods sell cooked, frozen wild rice) and cook the entire dish, 30-40 minutes. Or, add 1 cup of additional broth, plus 20-30 extra minutes of cooking time. My rice cooks perfectly as directed, but ovens and wild rice brands all vary.
This post was originally published on October 25, 2023
I used dried herbs instead of fresh herbs and overall the dish lacked any herb flavoring. The apple cider vinegar was the predominant flavor. The chicken breasts were very tender but I would not make this again.
Hi Theresa,
Sorry to hear you did not enjoy this recipe! Unfortunately, I think the issues were in the lack of fresh herbs and then the recipe calls for apple cider, not apple cider vinegar:) I hope this clarifies things, let me know if you give it a try! xx
This recipe – despite others issues, worked perfect! I did use chicken breast instead of thighs because I don’t like dark meat but, I added it 35 minutes into the cook time so it didn’t dry out! So good and will make again!!
Thanks so much Megan!! I appreciate you making this dish and your review, so glad it was enjoyed! xT
This was fantastic! I was nervous based on some reviews (on rice problems) but I used a wild rice mix and it was perfect. Even boneless, skinless breasts stayed moist and there was lots of flavor. Thank you Tieghan!
Hey Caroline,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this dish turned out well for you, thanks for giving it a try! xx
I made this exactly as the recipe states. It came out perfectly with the rice cooked the perfect amount of time. It was very easy and absolutely delicious! Thanks for another easy weeknight meal.
Yay! Thanks so much Beth! So glad you enjoyed this dish and I appreciate you making it:) xT
Overall an easy cozy meal for cold nights. Like other posts, the wild rice needed a bit more time. (I am in MN where wild rice cooking is well-known so understand the extra liquid and time needed.). I had extra broth left from the cooking that absorbed later so know that I had enough to start.
I think the issue is that the orzo and chicken are done sooner so would suggest the pre-cooked versions or soak the wild rice maybe 10 min. in advance of cooking with the dish.
Will try this again!
Hi Bobbi,
I appreciate you making this dish and sharing your feedback! Sorry to hear about your rice, but thank you for sharing your tips that might be helpful for others! Have a great day! xT
Fine, but the things in the pan did NOT cook at the same time. Flavors could also be better.
After trying this recipe, I read the reviews (should have done that before). Many of the positive reviews are almost glowing and seem to be falling over themselves to personally flatter the creator of this blog. The more critical ones seem more thoughtful and considered and actually talk about the recipe. Not sure what that means, but just an observation.
Hi Marsha,
Thanks for trying this dish and sharing your feedback! Sorry to hear it did not turn out for you. Please let me know if there is something specific that I can clarify, I would love to help troubleshoot! xx
Perfect as is. Great recipe Tieghan. I’ve got good chicken and rice recipes in the arsenal but they’re all FAR more work. That Gouda add is inspired.
Thanks so much Lindsay!! So glad to hear that this recipe was a hit, I appreciate you making it! xT
Very good!! Was nervous to make because of some of the comments but mine turned out perfect. I used the black, wild rice from Trader Joe’s. I also used a generous amount of salt and left out the celery and doubled the mushrooms. I cooked the thighs 45 mins covered then 20 mins uncovered, then took them out and let the rest of it cook an additional 10 minutes. I shredded the thighs and added them back into everything once it was done cooking. So good!
Hey Alexandra,
Awesome!! Love to hear that this dish was a winner, I appreciate you making it and your feedback! xx
Doesn’t the skin on the chicken make a fatty dish?
I thought this recipe was great! Reading the comments however, I did make a few adjustments. First, I precooked the wild rice partially. After mixing the chicken with the shallots, garlic, spices, etc… I popped it in a 450 oven for about a half hour to get a little browning. I also used ghee instead of olive oil only because I favor ghee as opposed to olive oil. After removing the pan from the oven, I knew the chicken was pretty close to being cooked almost all the way, so I pulled the chicken out of the pan and set it aside. (You must use thighs!) I added the rest of the ingredients, then cooked, as directed. I didn’t put the chicken back in until the last 15 minutes of cooking time. I had no gouda, but 5 minutes before I pulled the pan from the oven, I poured about 1 cup of cream over the entire dish, and it was fabulous! Definitely another keeper. Thanks, Tieghan!
Thank you so much for your input Michelle! xT
Thanks, Tieghan? Thank you Michelle for actually turning this into a workable recipe!
Tried this tonight. I was surprised by the blandness of the dish despite the amount of spices and ingredients. I didn’t use fresh spices so that may have contributed.
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for trying this dish and sharing your review, sorry to hear it was bland. I would definitely recommend using the fresh herbs next time for more flavor:) xx
I made this recipe as instructed, but omitted the chicken and used extra mushrooms and added carrots to make it vegetarian. It was delicious! I used a wild rice blend from Costco and it was nutty and chewy like wild rice should be, but perfectly cooked in the 45 min. covered plus 10 min. uncovered. Everyone had seconds and a few had a third serving so I will definitely be making this again!
Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try! Have a Happy Halloween! 🙂 xT
Needs some major modifications, primarily the cook time. The wild rice was no where near ready at final cook time but the chicken and orzo was cooked which complicates things. Would recommend pre-soaked wild rice. Also the apple cider vinegar was overpowering, 1/4 would be max.
Hi Jule! The recipe calls for apple cider, not apple cider vinegar! So sorry for any confusion! xT
I loved this recipe. I too got a little confused about the chicken in the pan first but then later said to place the chicken on top. However, I felt like it was very tasty but could have used a little more salt. Unfortunately, it was not a hit with my husband. I guess too much on the herb side. So, likely will not be making this one any more. But for me, I loved it!
Wild rice and orzo definitely don’t cook at the same pace. Thought it was a bit too tangy with all of the apple cider vinegar.
Hi Anna! I’m so sorry for the confusion, this recipe doesn’t call for apple cider vinegar, it calls for apple cider! So sorry! xT
Another excellent recipe! Everything was cooked wonderfully and the rice was not under cooked or anything! This is such a great comfort meal! Would make it again and again.
Thank you so much for trying out this recipe! So glad you enjoyed it! Have a great Halloween 🙂 xT