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Chicken casserole with rice

Crispy and tender chicken thighs with full-flavored rice cooked with
tomatoes, peppers, carrots...a crowd-pleasing lunch or dinner.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time1 hr 15 mins
Pre-cooking chicken45 mins
Course: dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: Balkan, Turkish
Keyword: casserole, chicken, chicken casserole, rice
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 350kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 big cup rice (about 300 gr)
  • 4 chicken thighs (cooked)
  • 2 big red peppers (chopped)
  • 1 small or medium size carrot (chopped)
  • 5 tomatoes (of 4 if they are too big)
  • 1 cup eggplant (optional)
  • 1 yellow onion (chopped)
  • 500 ml chicken broth (that you will get from cooking chicken)
  • 1 cup water
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • chilli flakes (optional)
  • 1 or 2 tsp parsley
  • 1 tbsp chicken seasoning mix
  • 2 tbsp olive oil (or more if you need for stir fry)

Instructions

  • Cook chicken thighs first and while they are cooking, prepare all the veggies. Chop onion, eggplant, carrots, peppers, and tomatoes and put them aside in separate bowls. Eggplant, carrots and peppers can be placed in one bowl.
  • In a deep skillet fry chopped onion until becomes translucent. Add eggplant, carrots and peppers and stir everything together. Stir fry at medium temperature for about 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t start this step until the chicken is cooked, because you will need chicken broth soon)
  • Add some salt and pepper and add a big cup of rice. Stir well for a minute, add more oil if necessary. Rice mustn't get burnt. After a minute or so, add about 150ml of chicken broth and stir fry for 10 more minutes.
  • During the step 3 you can turn on the oven at 200 degrees Celsius. Now add the rest of chicken broth, chopped tomatoes and a cup of water. Put chicken thighs which you have previously rubbed with chicken seasoning. Sprinkle some parsley, more salt and pepper and stir well. Rice should be deeply covered in water.
  • Bake at 200 degrees for about 50 minutes. You need to check the chicken casserole every 20 minutes or so, and turn the chicken thighs so they get nice golden colour and crispy skin. Chicken casserole is ready when chicken thighs are crispy and golden and there is no water.

Notes

If water dries out before the casserole is cooked, add more chicken broth and water. Stir the rice nicely so you can see if it is not getting too dry. 
For this casserole you can also use chicken breast, but chicken thighs are more juicy and tender. If you want to prepare this casserole for a weeknight dinner, you can pre cook chicken the day before.