This Mexican Chicken and Rice brings together your favourite Mexican Red Rice with sweet pops of corn and black beans with a fajita seasoned chicken. Big Mexican flavours. One pot. Sheer perfection!
One Pot Mexican Chicken and Rice
This is a really handy recipe if you’ve got a family of big eaters and are short on time because it makes a substantial amount of food, it’s a complete meal (no need to make starch and veg sides as well as a separate protein!) and it’s all done in one pot.
Readers also tell me they love that it’s finished in the oven. No need to worry about scorching the base of the pot. No stirring or watching to ensure it doesn’t bubble over. It’s entirely hands off.
Plus, it’s Mexican flavoured. “Everybody” loves Mexican food, right!??
And look – proof of juicy chicken and fluffy rice. No mushy rice in my world!
What you need
Here’s what you need to make this One Pot Mexican Chicken and rice:
Chicken thighs (bone-in, skin on) – For the best, juiciest results and golden, flavour infused skin. This cut of chicken cooks in the same time it takes for the rice to cook in the oven which makes it the perfect choice. Plus, because it’s the juiciest chicken cut, you get a stack of free flavour added into your rice as the chicken bakes. Win, win!
Prefer boneless thighs or breast? Because these cook faster, they will need to be added partway through the oven cook time. I’ve included directions in the recipe notes!
Mexican spice blend for chicken – see below.
Rice type to use – Long grain rice is best here, for the fluffiest results. Basmati will yield a similar texture in the end result but you’ll have a subtle perfume of basmati rice flavour in the dish. Not necessarily a bad thing, just not Mexican! 😂 Medium grain rice will yield a a good result albeit slightly stickier (because that’s the nature of the rice) as will short grain / sushi rice which is stickier still.
Rice to avoid – Risotto rice (arborio), jasmine, brown rice and faux rice (quinoa, cauliflower rice etc).
Tomato passata (puree) – Pureed, strained pure tomatoes, sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US (here’s a photo of Mutti tomato passata sold at Walmart). It’s readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces. More on tomato passata here.
Substitute with canned crushed tomato though just bear in mind that your rice will not be quite as red.
Garlic and onion – Essential flavour base.
Capsicum / bell peppers – On theme for the fajita flavours going on here in this dish. You can really use any colour you like, or switch it out with other vegetables like zucchini, carrot etc.
Frozen corn – Adds lovely pops of sweetness and colour into the rice! I use frozen for convenience, because I always have it. Canned (drained) can also be used or, as with capsicum, substitute with another diced vegetable.
Black beans – On theme for this Mexican rice, plus it adds flavour and protein, and fills out the rice. I just use a can (drained). Black beans are on theme for Mexican food but can be substituted with any other beans such as red kidney beans.
Chicken stock/broth – The liquid in which the rice is cooked. Substitute with vegetable stock, or water plus stock powder. Please don’t use water, the dish will lack flavour!
Lime – For a finishing spritz of freshness at the end.
Mexican spice mix
Here’s all you need for a great Mexican spice mix – garlic powder, paprika, cumin, cayenne (for a touch of heat – skip or reduce if desired), salt and pepper. All pantry staple spices!
For this recipe, most of it is used on the chicken but we reserve a bit to season the rice. Love one spice mix that serves duel purposes!
How to make One Pot Mexican Chicken and Rice
It’s as easy as 1-2-3:
Marinate chicken in Mexican spice mix, if time permits.
Sear chicken, then sauté veg (onion, garlic, capsicum/bell peppers).
Add rice and everything else, pop it in the oven.
Dinner. Done!
1. Marinate chicken (if you can)
The chicken is tastier if you have the time to marinate for 1 hour (or overnight) because the flavour infuses into the flesh. But even if you don’t, the chicken is still super tasty because of the seasoning and also it absorbs flavour as it cooks with the rice.
Mix Mexican Spices with olive oil and lime juice in a large bowl to form a paste.
Marinate chicken 1 hour – Add the chicken and toss to coat. Leave to marinate for 1 hour in the fridge, or even overnight if you want. But as noted above, don’t fret if you don’t have time. This dish is absolutely worth making even without marinating – and I know this for a fact because I tried it with and without marinating! See? 🙂
Cooking vessel
I use my 30cm / 12″ shallow casserole dutch oven (2.5 lt / 2/5 qts) which is the ideal shape for dishes like this, and goes from stove to the oven. I have this Chasseur one (pictured in post and video) and this Le Creuset one. I didn’t pay full price for either – shop around! They are an investment but should last a lifetime if you look after them. 🙂
However, you can make this in any large ovenproof dutch oven or deep skillet. If you don’t have a matching lid, just cover with foil for the baking part. If you don’t have an oven-proof skillet, just do the stove steps using any frying pan then transfer everything into a baking dish. I’ve popped directions in the recipe notes for how to do this.
2. Searing and sautéing
This recipe starts off on the stove to sear the chicken (flavour!) and sauté the vegetables. Then you add the rice and liquids, pop the chicken back on top and put it in the oven. Hands off cooking is the best!
Sear the marinated chicken to brown the skin. The inside will / should still be raw. We just want to get some lovely colour on the chicken skin which we wouldn’t achieve in the bake time.
Remove chicken onto a plate and set aside.
Sauté aromatics – In the same pot / pan, sauté the onion, garlic and capsicum. Using the same pot to cook the rice is a path to express flavour because all the tasty flavours left in the pan from sautéing the chicken gets soaked up by the rice.
Then add the rice, stir to coat it in all the tasty flavours (bit like making risotto!).
Flavoured rice liquid and add-ins – Add the liquids (stock/broth, tomato passata), reserved Mexican Spice Mix, corn and beans. Then stir to combine.
3. Baking
Top with chicken – Place the chicken on top. It will be partially submerged under the liquid and that’s fine. In fact, that’s exactly what we want because the flesh under the liquid will absorb flavour from the seasoned rice stock. And the skin exposed above the liquid will brown!
Bake 25 minutes covered – Cover with a lid and bake for 25 minutes.
Bake uncovered 15 minutes – Remove the lid and bake for a further 15 minutes or until the liquid has been almost completely absorbed by the rice. Some puddles remaining on the surface is fine as they will absorb while the rice rests.
Note: If you taste the rice at this stage and it is still a touch firmer than you want, that’s fine. It will finish cooking as it rests in the next step, just as ordinary white rice does during the resting stage.
Rest 10 minutes – Remove from the oven then rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
Remove or push the chicken to the side, then fluff the rice with a rubber spatula or fork. Squeeze over lime juice, sprinkle with coriander/cilantro and jalapeño if you want to garnish it. Then serve!
With the right cooking vessel, it can be placed on the table as a sharing dish, for everybody to help themselves. By “right cooking vessel”, I’m mainly referring to shape. I’d put a shallow pot / casserole pan, like pictured in this post and in the recipe video, in the centre of a table. But I were using a deep pot, I’d probably plate it up individually. Mainly for practical reasons (reaching into a deep hot pot isn’t ideal).
Complete meal in one!
With the tomato and vegetables in this dish, I consider it a complete meal. But if you’d like to add some more vegetables on the side, have a browse of my side salads and vegetables sides recipe collection here. It’s organised by primary vegetable so you can find something to make using what you’ve got. It’s work in progress – I’m continuing to build up the collection.
Love to know what you think if you try this Mexican chicken and rice!
– Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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One Pot Mexican Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
Mexican Spice Mix
- 2 tsp garlic powder (or 2 garlic cloves, minced)
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (Note 1), optional
- Black pepper
Chicken
- 5 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on (Notes 2 and 3)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lime juice
Rice
- 1 small onion , peeled and diced (or 1/2 large)
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1 red capsicum (bell pepper), diced or sliced
- 1 cup long grain rice , uncooked (Note 4)
- 1 cup chicken stock/broth , low sodium (or vegetable stock)
- 3/4 cup tomato passata (US: tomato puree) (Note 5)
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels (or canned – drained)
- 1 can (400g/16oz) black beans , drained and rinsed (sub red kidney beans)
Garnish
- 1 lime , plus extra to serve
- Coriander/cilantro
- Sliced jalapeño peppers (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160° fan).
- Mexican spice mix – Mix the ingredients in a small bowl.
- Rub Chicken – Place 1 1/2 tablespoons of the Mexican Spice Mix in a large bowl (reserve rest for rice) with 1 tablespoon olive oil and lime juice. Mix to form a paste then add the chicken and toss to coat the chicken.
- Marinate (optional) – Marinate chicken for 1 hour, or even overnight, if you have the time. Otherwise, it's fine to proceed with the recipe!
- Sear chicken – Using a large deep skillet preferably with a lid (Note 6), heat the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat. Sear the skin side of the chicken for 4 minutes until light golden, then sear the flesh side for 1 1/2 minutes (will still be raw inside). Remove onto a plate.
- Sauté aromatics – If you've got a lot of burnt spices on the base, scrape off and discard some of it. Then in the same skillet, still over medium high heat, add the onion, garlic and capsicum (bell peppers). Sauté for 3 minutes until the onion softens.
- Rice & liquid – Add the rice and stir. Add chicken stock, tomato passata, corn, beans and remaining Mexican Spice Mix. Stir to combine.
- Top with chicken – Place chicken on top of the rice, skin side up. It will be partially submerged but most of the skin should be above the liquid.
- Bake covered 25 min – Bring to simmer, then cover skillet with a lid or foil and place in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Bake uncovered 15 min – Remove the lid/foil and bake for a further 15 minutes until only small puddles of liquid remain on the surface of the rice.
- Rest 10 minutes – Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes (uncovered). Any remaining liquid will evaporate in this step.
- Serve – Squeeze the juice of 1 lime over the chicken and rice. Remove chicken or push to the side then fluff the rice. Serve, garnished with coriander/cilantro leaves, extra lime wedges and sliced jalapeños, if desired. Sour cream also goes well with this, or a dollop of guacamole or avocado sauce!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Recipe originally published in 2016. Updated with much needed recipe video and more importantly, Life of Dozer added!
One Pot Chicken and Rice recipes
I’m a big fan of cooking chicken and rice together – for the extra flavour you get! Less washing up is a bonus. 🙂 Here are some reader faves.
Life of Dozer
Took Dozer up to the Hunter Valley* last weekend. Stayed at lovely dog friendly cabins called Tonic. Plans to sleep in didn’t quite happen due to his “enthusiastic” barking at the sight of early morning kangaroo visitors (below). Visions of him prancing around vineyards also did not eventuate after being warned of kangaroos beating up dogs (seriously) and seeing this video on YouTube. Dozer would stand no chance against a roo. We both know it!
* Wine region, 2 hours drive from Sydney
I made this with chicken breast and with long grain brown rice. It worked out perfectly. I filleted the breast so it would be somewhat even, size wise. I added the bigger halves after 15 mins in oven with the lid on then added the smaller pieces for an additional 10 mins with the lid on and added less than 1/4 cup of water because it was looking dry. After a total of 25 mins, I took off the lid and added a little more water as it was dry looking again and made sure to submerge the breast in the water. I baked it for the ~10 additional minutes without lid, than I took it out and let it rest with the lid on for 8 mins and it was perfect after. The chicken breast was moist and not dry, as long as you don’t let it rest too long.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Su!!! YAY! Thank you very much for taking the time to come back and let me know! 🙂
Another excellent recipe, this tastes really good, love the spices and the black beans, never really gone for thighs but they were delicious in this, one to try again!
Cheers Nagi
Glad you enjoyed it Scotty! Thanks for letting me know! N x
So good! Officially in love with your recipes. So easy and delicious. I doubled the amount of rice and chicken stock because I wanted to make sure there were leftovers! Also, I was not sure if I would get the same colour of the rice as in your picture, so I added a bit of red food colouring to the rice before adding the liquids. Definitely worked 🙂 I had massive chicken leg quarters and I used them up with this recipe. Will definitely be making them again.
Thanks Nagi!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Nina! I’m sorry the bottom of your pan got burnt 🙁 It sounds like either your stove is stronger than mine or you might have heated up the oil a little too much before putting the chicken in? And YES to marinading longer and YES YES to your toppings!!! Oh, and I’m so glad to hear it worked with brown rice! I wasn’t sure because brown rice takes longer to cook and typically requires more water. 🙂
Giant Colorado chicken thighs? 😉 What have you got in the water up there?? Ha ha!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this!! I can imagine that you struggle with baking recipes at high altitude 🙂 At least with savoury dishes they can probably usually be salvaged by adjusting cook time. Whereas cakes etc….if they don’t rise, they can’t be salvaged!!!
YAY!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this Sean, thank you very much for coming back to let me know!
I have now done this recipe multiple times and what a hit….good for re-heating and even cold, the boys took it camping and said so good cold. Doing again tomorrow as Im off from Brisbane to New Caledonia for a week to catch up with long time locals there. Taking fish stew recipe with me as we live off the sea all caught by them…they will love it. Will also put them in touch with your site, like I do with anyone who mentions cooking. Thanks again.
Oooh! New Caledonia? I have to say, I’ve never been there! Thank you so much for your wonderful message, I’m very flattered by your kind words and that you tell people about my site!! Have a wonderful and safe trip!! (I bet seafood is amazing there!)
Made this for dinner tonight, it was amazing! I can’t wait to make it again! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it Deanna! Thanks for letting me know!! N x
What’s “a cup” in grammes or mls? I’m in the UK and want to try your recipe
Hi Becks! I’m in Australia and I am very specific to ensure that all my recipes work whether using UK, Aus or US cups. 🙂 For this recipe, the difference in cup sizes between countries is not enough to make affect the recipe. I hope you consider giving it a try!
In a lot of european countries such as the scadinavian countries dont use cups meassures at all. We only use the metric system with ml. dl. Grams etc. 🙂 just for info.
Woah! I didn’t know that – really??? You get your scales out every night? What about teaspoons and tablespoons??
Teaspoons and table spoons is used. And the deciliter (dl) is 250 ml cup, so we dont have measure everything 🙂 but the cup measures used in the US and the UK are not used here 🙂
But luckily it is quit easy to convert cups to mililiters (ml) etc. So your recipes are easy to make.
And i actually tried the mexican rice recipe yesterday, and it turned out perfect! Black beans in a can was not easy to find, but after visting multiple stores, i finally found it.
My next quest is to find chipotle in adobe sauce. Chipotle chilies is not common here in denmark, but luckily we have the internet, so i might need to order it online 😛
Our cups are 250ml here too 🙂 I’ve noticed books that use gm for things like rice quantities, the thing that always confuses me is that it’s so easy to scoop up a cup of rice whereas pouring it out to measure is a pain!! Oooh YES to Chipotle in Adobo Sauce. I think you’ll be addicted to it when you find it, it’s honestly such a magic Mexican sauce!! PS So gla you loved the Mexican rice!!! You can always sub the black beans with red kidney beans if they are more readily available?? Here in Sydney kidney beans are in every supermarket whereas black beans are a little harder to find 🙂
This was delicious! I made it for dinner tonight and everyone loved it, there is even enough for my lunch tomorrow and some rice for a side dish for dinner tomorrow night. I need to use chicken thighs more often, they were so good. I’ll definitely make this again. Thank you!
That’s fabulous Andrea! I’m so glad you loved it! N x
Sounds so tasty and easy … about to make one… hope my Mr Complain will like it. :))
Will rate it after my tea 🙂
I’m keeping my fingers crossed…. 😉
This is a winner! I made a mistake, though; halved the recipe and made three chicken thighs for two of us. It wa Sao good that I should have made all five and frozen the rest for another meal. My husband, a/k/a Mr. Fussy, loved it! (I did leave out the beans and corn, as I didn’t have beans and he doesn’t like corn in recipes like this.) a great one to have in my repertoire. Thank you, Nagi, for a great concepts that lends itself to lots of variations.
Wow what a compliment that “even Mr Fussy” liked it! I’m so glad! And you are absolutely right, this recipe is a fantastic base for so many variations. Even just changing up the spices slightly you can change it to Mediterranean or Middle Eastern or even Indian!
If you are on the fence about making this recipe, get off of it and get in the kitchen! I have made this several times and it is SO. GOOD. I assumed it would be just from reading the recipe, but the intense flavor always surprises me, not to mention how beautiful it is when you pull it out of the oven.
Thanks for posting this!
Natalie! I’m so GLAD you love this!! It’s the flavour incredible? I love big flavours!! Thank you so much for coming back to let me know you enjoyed it!! Especially touched because this is an entire “from scratch” creation of my own! (I was rather worried people would think I was weird!). Have a wonderful weekend! N x
I know I’ve said this on Instagram (http://instagram.com/p/2V1UA1KyYn/) but I wanted to say it again.
I made this on Wednesday night. Oh Miss Nagi, you’ve done it again! This dish is AMAZING! Maximum flavours with minimal effort. Really very delicious rice with juicy, tender chicken. Omitted the onion and doubled the capsicum which gave the rice an added sweetness. This recipe is DEFINITELY on the “must cook again and again and again” list. AMAZING!
J Daddy had the last of the leftovers today and I was thoroughly jealous he took the last box to work with him! Thank you for yet another amazing recipe!
Hurrah!! I am so SO glad you enjoyed it! The flavour is pretty serious, isn’t it?? Sometimes I make the rice plain because I love it so much!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback! 🙂 N x
I have all of the ingredients in the recipe, but was also wondering if I could substitute a box of Spanish rice rather than the long grain. I think the flavors would be a good addition but not sure if that would work. Any thoughts?
Hi Meg! Spanish rice will work great! The water to rice ratio needs to be increased though – typically you will need 1 3/4 cups of liquid per 1 cup of Spanish rice. Hope that helps! 🙂
Thanks, I will try it for dinner tonight and let you know.
It was a big hit. I ended up not using the tomato puree because I didn’t have any and ran late and didn’t use paste/ water. This is one recipe we will make again!!
Hurrah! So glad you enjoyed it!! I love this – even the flavours of the rice alone! 🙂 thanks for coming back to share your thoughts Meg!! 🙂 <3
This turned out great! First, I broiled on high for 6 minutes in addition to the cooking time to get a crispy skin. Only difficulty was getting the rice a bit softer. Had to cook a bit longer on the stove after the oven cooking.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Danielle! I agree, broiling to get extra crispy skin is a great touch. Re: rice, did you let it rest for a while after taking it out of the oven? During the resting the rice continues to absorb water and finishes cooking. 🙂 Thanks for coming back to share your thoughts!! 🙂
I should add, I made it tonight with the chicken and it was delicious!!! Just would like my vegetarian friends to get to taste the delicious rice!!
The rice itself is really yum, I have to say!! Oh, in addition to the suggestions in the reply below, obviously sub the chicken broth with veg broth! 🙂
Would it be possible to make this dish without the chicken for my vegetarian friends? If so, how would I need to alter it.
Hi Kathy! A vegetarian version won’t have the same flavour I’m afraid because the juices from the chicken flavour the rice! A vegetarian version would also require some testing to get it right because different veggies have different liquid content i.e. too much will make the rice soggy, too little will be too dry. What you could do is just make the rice and sauté some veggies in when you stir fry the onion, and throw the spices and all flavourings in while sautéing the veggies, then add the rice and following the cooking instructions. Add 1/4 cup extra water because the juices from the chicken add liquid to the rice which you won’t have in this case. Easy veggies to add are diced carrots, increase the amount of capsicum/bell peppers and corn, and diced zucchini. They are “safe” additions because they don’t have high liquid contents and they sauté well. Love to hear if you give it a try! 🙂
This looks amazing and I love it even more that I only have 1 pot to wash!!
Pinned to make. 🙂
Thanks Tina!! Hope you do try it – it is truly delish! 🙂
I made this for dinner tonight. It was amazing! My husband even said it was one of the best things I have ever made. The skin on, bone in thighs are perfect in this recipe. They are so flavorful and come out juicy and tender but crispy on the outside. I left mine under the broiler for about five minutes before taking it out of the oven. I also topped it all with some fresh Pico de gayo that I made. I will definitely make this again!
Your husband has great taste, and you are clearly a great cook! 🙂 Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback and I’m SO glad you both enjoyed it so much! Pico de Gayo is a wonderful topping, I wish I had thought of that!