One-Pot Chicken & Rice with Veggies

one-pot recipespoultrymeat & seafoodlunchdinnerrice recipesbeans & grains

Jul 23

Written By Anadi Misra

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

Do you hate celery? I do too, but it’ll be delicious in this **One-Pot Chicken & Rice with Veggies**! Delicious and tender chicken breast is paired with basmati rice, and we’ve got carrots, onions, celery and peas!

Healthy One-Pot Chicken & Rice with Veggies

Have you ever been stuck with leftover veggies? I have! I’ve been referencing my Ragu alla Bolognese recipe literally ever since I’ve made it! Just so much goodness came out of it! For the full picture of what I’ve been up to with the Bolognese sauce and leftover ingredients, be sure to follow me on Instagram! In my stories and posts, I always share my behind the scenes glimpses! You can see my fun kitchen experiments and sneak peaks at recipes to come!

An excellent discovery I’ve had from the leftover eggplant was my very first eggplant Parmesan. I used to always scoff at eggplant Parmesan, thinking that it could never hold a candle to Classic Chicken Parmesan. Well, spoiler alert, I was wrong! I loved it! Thank you leftover eggplant to getting me out of my comfort zone and finally trying this out! I definitely want to make a recipe for this soon! Let me know in the comments if you want to see my eggplant Parmesan recipe!

Eggplant isn’t a bad vegetable. You can make Baingan Bharta or Aloo Baingan Sabji if you want some Indian ideas for using eggplant. I also had leftover zucchini, but my girlfriend took over and made some zoodles. That was easily off my plate! Carrots… they’ll be used here, you’ll see! But I love Now, the villain here was…. CELERY! One issue I had is all the celery I had leftover. Argh, I do NOT like raw celery at all! If you’ve checked my Better Chicken Salad Sandwich recipe, this isn’t a conventional chicken salad… It has NO CELERY! Because I hate that texture! Yuck! If you don’t like celery too but want the essence of a chicken salad, then this is the recipe for you, and I recommend you check it out!

Now I really don’t like food waste. One of my life mottos. No ingredient is a bad ingredient. But what to do with celery since I hate it so much?

Okay, I’ll be honest. I gave some stalks of celery to my girlfriend’s mom. She suggested “You could snack on some with a dip.” Yeah, true, but I didn’t feel like making a dip or going out to buy one that would just sit in my fridge when the celery is done! And as I said, I really don’t like raw celery. Any dip won’t disguise that taste!

I could make a soup, you may suggest. Yes, yes I could. But I already had a buttload of Bolognese sauce, and that was hot enough! As I’m writing this, it is July, and a heatwave was brewing!

What do I do? Well, I never said I don’t like COOKED celery! The taste kind of disappears if you’ve got enough flavours going on in your dish, so it’s fine! Celery is basically water!

One night I wasn’t sure what to make for dinner. I still had the leftover carrots to use too, and I had some chicken breast to eat. What’s the master meal of speediness, health, and deliciousness?

One-pot meals! One pot chicken and rice dishes, to be precise! Seriously, Google one-pot healthy meals, and you’re always suggested chicken and rice with veggies!

“Chicken and rice” can be viewed as bland bodybuilding food or a beautiful pinnacle of health. Let’s make this one the latter! It’s also applauded for dirtying minimal dishes and to meal prep for the week.

I’ve got my favourite Spicy One Pot Chicken & Rice recipe that I always resort to when I don’t know what to make for dinner! However, I’ll admit that’s an elevated chicken and rice. We’ve got lots of ingredients, and you bake it in the oven. Ehhh maybe you want something faster with more veggies?

I’ve got you covered today! This is strictly made on the stove-top, minimal ingredients, and minimal effort! We’ve got extra veggie goodness, so if you’ve got veg laying around from something, then you can finish it up in here! It’s kind of like a stir fry but even easier I’d say!

What are you waiting for? Let’s get cooking!

What rice should I use for healthy Chicken & Rice?

You can use any kind of “generic” white rice you have on hand - such as basmati rice, Jasmin, long, short or medium grain. I’m using basmati rice here because it’s my pantry essential and my go-to choice of rice unless I’m making a risotto, paella or sushi! I would steer clear of arborio rice and sticky rice for sure! If you want to use brown rice you could, but it will take longer to cook and the taste is not guaranteed to be the same. I recommend you use white rice here to guarantee best results. You could even use leftover rice if you have it on hand.

Can I use chicken Thighs?

Why not! If that’s what you have available to you, then by all means go for it! I just had chicken breast on hand. If you want to use chicken thighs, it would be so easy to cut up the chicken thighs, plus you’ll get the bonus of extra juiciness from the dark meat! I recommend boneless, skinless chicken thighs for easier preparation. Let me know if you give it a try with chicken thighs, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Tips for an Excellent One-Pot Chicken & Rice with Veggies

You can use this recipe for any vegetables you don’t like! If you have eggplant, tomato… anything, use it in this dish! The combinations are endless!
I do recommend homemade taco seasoning so that you can control the amount of salt and spice in it
Place a well in the pan so that you can cook your chicken and the veggies together evenly
Don’t cook the chicken all the way through when you’ve added the chicken in the pan. Give one side a good sear
If using fresh thyme, reduce the amount by one third to one half.
Gently cook so that the rice and chicken get finished together
If using fresh peas, boil them in water for 5-6 minutes before adding them to your pan
Let the pan sit covered with a lid on the stove, with the heat off. All the residual moisture will be absorbed, making the rice fluffy and soft

Ingredients for Healthy One-Pot CHicken & Rice

This Healthy One-Pot Chicken & Rice has just a couple of ingredients to make this delicious and easy to whip up! Let’s review what we’ll be using here:

Boneless, skinless chicken breast
Homemade Taco Seasoning
Basmati rice
Olive oil
Celery
Onions
Carrots
Peas
Thyme
Chicken broth
Salt
Cilantro

How to Make One-Pot Chicken & Rice with veggies

Now time to make our easy and healthy One-Pot Chicken and Rice with Veggies! Remember, this is literally all made IN ONE POT! Woohoo, no dishes! Okay, you have to wash the pot and the cutting board and the knife… But it could be worse!

Don’t forget that the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE with all measurements and cook times is available at the bottom of the post, so that you can save this recipe for later!

Heat olive oil in a saute pan and add the celery, carrots and onions. Saute until the veggies start to turn soft.
In the meanwhile, cut chicken into 1 inch cubes and place in a bowl. Season with Taco Seasoning and salt, olive oil and toss well to coat.
Once the veggies have softened, create a well in the middle of the pan and place the chicken in the created space.
Turn heat a notch higher and give the chicken a quick sear. Turn and seal each side of the chicken until no longer pink on the outside. There is no need to completely cook the chicken at this stage.
Season with thyme and mix until fragrant.
Add rice and mix well for 4-5 minutes to lightly roast the rice. Pour a splash of water/broth to deglaze the pan and scrape any bits from the bottom of the pan.
Pour in 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of water/chicken broth, season with a pinch of salt and bring to a simmer.
Once simmering, lower the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid and wait for the rice to become fluffy.
Once the rice is cooked, taste and adjust seasoning to taste, add in frozen peas and mix well. Cover with lid and let the peas defrost naturally.
Garnish with cilantro and serve right away!

Can You Meal Prep this Chicken and Rice?

That’s one of my favourite movies by the way :)

But yes, of course! When you hear “chicken and rice,” meal prep is probably the association you’re making in your head.” The two ingredients together is definitely a star for meal prepping! However, I would recommend you keep it in the fridge for no longer than 3 days. Cooked chicken will become dry and stale if left for too long.

How Do You Store This One-Pot Chicken and Rice?

After you’ve finished cooking your healthy One-Pot Chicken and Rice with Vegetables, let the dish completely cool. Then, transfer to air-tight containers into equal portions and store in the fridge. Don’t close the lid of the container if the rice is still steaming, otherwise the condensation will turn the rice watery and mushy.

How Do You Reheat One-Pot Chicken and Rice?

Your best bet to reheat this One-Pot Chicken and Rice with Vegetables is in the microwave, and that’s probably the most convenient option if you’re taking this to school or work! About 2-3 minutes should be enough to get this dish hot and ready.

If you’re at home and want to have the time to, you can transfer the desired portion to a pot, cover the pot and heat on low until warmed through. Taking the time to ensure the rice grains are still fluffy and prevent any mushiness. However, I can imagine you’re probably in a hurry, so if you want to microwave leftovers, then go ahead! I tried both reheating methods and let me tell you that the stove does take quite some time!

More Rice Recipes!

Watch How to Make One-Pot Chicken and Rice Here:

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cookingwithanadi. Thank you!

One-Pot Chicken & Rice with Veggies

Do you hate celery? I do too, but it’ll be delicious in this One-Pot Chicken & Rice with Veggies! Delicious and tender chicken breast is paired with basmati rice, and we’ve got carrots, onions, celery and peas!

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min

Ingredients

1 Boneless, skinless chicken breast
2-3 tsp Homemade Taco Seasoning
1 Cup Basmati rice
1 - 2 tsp Olive oil, for cooking plus 1 tsp for marination
3/4 Cup Celery, finely diced
3/4 Cup Onions, finely diced
3/4 Cup Carrots, finely diced
1/2 Cup fresh/frozen peas
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 3/4 Cup Chicken broth
Salt to taste
Cilantro for garnish

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a saute pan and add the celery, carrots and onions. Saute until the veggies start to turn soft.
In the meanwhile, cut chicken into 1 inch cubes and place in a bowl. Season with Taco Seasoning and salt, olive oil and toss well to coat.
Once the veggies have softened, create a well in the middle of the pan and place the chicken in the created space.
Turn heat a notch higher and give the chicken a quick sear. Turn and seal each side of the chicken until no longer pink on the outside. There is no need to completely cook the chicken at this stage.
Season with thyme and mix until fragrant.
Add rice and mix well for 4-5 minutes to lightly roast the rice. Pour a splash of water/broth to deglaze the pan and scrape any bits from the bottom of the pan.
Pour in 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of water/chicken broth, season with a pinch of salt and bring to a simmer.
Once simmering, lower the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid and wait for the rice to become fluffy.
Once the rice is cooked, taste and adjust seasoning to taste, add in frozen peas and mix well. Cover with lid and let the peas defrost naturally.
Garnish with cilantro and serve right away!