This Lemony Roast Chicken with Rice is a family meal made with classic Greek ingredients. Marinated chicken thighs, nestled on top of herbed rice baked to perfection! The beauty of this meal is that the rice is cooked with the chicken thighs on top. This method elevates the rice flavor, because the chicken juices get soaked up by the rice. The rice gets the full benefit of all chicken juices while it is cooked and becomes to perfection! This is a meal my whole family loves and we use to enjoy it quite often.
Tips for Greek Lemony Roast Chicken & Rice
For a richer flavor, I recommend to use chicken thighs with bone and skin in. When marinating the chicken, be sure to cover the whole surface of the thighs. You can either add all the ingredients for the marinate in a bowl, together with the thighs and just mix them very well or add the marinate first to a bowl, stir very well and using a brush, cover the thighs.
Sauté each side of chicken thighs until golden brown and deglaze the pan with lemon juice. Rinse the rice very well and add it in a big oven pan or crock pot. I prefer to use parboiled rice, but feel free to use basmati, brown rice etc. Add sliced garlic, lemon zest and chicken thighs on top. Don't forget to add the juices left on the pan too, because they add so much flavor. Next, add chicken stock, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with dried thyme and oregano. Season with salt & pepper to taste and bake in a preheated oven at 180C (350F), set to Fan. Place the pan/crock pot on the lowest oven rack and bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Your meal will be ready when the rice has absorbed all liquids.
In case of leftovers, simply place them in an airtight container when cooled and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Recipe
Servings: 4-6
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Ingredients
1 kg chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
400 gr. parboiled rice
1 clove of garlic, peeled & sliced
2 lemons, only juice
lemon zest, from 1 lemon (optional)
2 tbsp. dijon mustard
8-10 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 1/2 lt. chicken stock
salt & pepper
Method
Preheat oven to 180C (350F), set to Fan.
Place chicken thighs in a bowl. Add 3 tbsp. olive oil, mustard and season with salt & pepper. Cover the whole chicken surface.
Place a frying pan over high heat and sauté each side of the chicken thighs for approximately 3 minutes or until golden brown. When ready, deglaze the pan with lemon juice from 1 lemon and remove from heat.
Rinse the rice and add it to a big oven pan or crock pot. Next add garlic, lemon zest and the chicken thighs with the juices from the pan.
Add chicken stock, 5 tbsp. olive oil and the rest lemon juice.
Sprinkle with oregano & thyme and season with salt and pepper.
Place oven pan to the preheated oven and roast for 50 to 60 minutes minutes or until rice is cooked and liquids are absorbed from it.
When ready, remove from the oven, serve and garnish with some fresh chopped parsley if wanted. Enjoy!
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