Easy Italian Chicken and Rice is simple, healthy, flavorful and best of all, ready in 30 minutes. And I don’t mean that it is done cooking in 30 minutes, I mean ON THE TABLE and you’re eating in 30 minutes! This saucy goodness is definitely a recipe to add to the weeknight rotation for a dinner that is sure to please even the pickiest of eaters.
I found my inspiration for this recipe from a great blog that I follow, Gimme Some Oven, and her recipe, Easy Italian Skillet. I have to admit that I am soooo jealous of Ali’s photos!! They are just so drool-worthy! Ah, maybe one day I will have photos like her???? I’m just going to keep on practicing and practicing and practicing…Any who! I should also mention that Ali’s recipes are fabulous as well! Amazing photos and food is a “recipe” (pun intended) for food blogging success and probably why Gimme Some Oven is such a successful blog. I just might have a blog crush 😉
Ok, now that I have gotten that off my chest…back to Easy Italian Chicken and Rice. I went on the hunt for a recipe that would use the fresh and beautiful tomatoes and the bright and crisp orange and yellow bell peppers that I had picked up at the farmer’s market the weekend before. I knew I wanted to pair it with chicken…I went to my trusted source for recipe inspiration, Pinterest, and that is when I stumbled onto Ali’s Easy Italian Skillet. Bingo! This will work perfectly for my family with just a few modifications.
So my boyfriend and I live next door to my parents. I know that might sound strange, but it is on a 7 acre piece of land (but we are still pretty close to each other). Well, it works for us for now and I am pretty sure my parents like it 😉 Mom, Dad, if you’re reading this, you can validate this in the comments below. Most nights I cook for all 4 of us. I need the taste-testers and I really don’t mind cooking. Probably why I have a food blog? Duh!
My dad has a severe allergy to raw tomatoes. His throat will swell shut if he eats them. So if I am using fresh tomatoes in a recipe I have to be sure that they are cooked for 15-20 to make sure that he won’t have a reaction. So I needed to make a modifications with this recipe as it called for the grape tomatoes to only be cooked for 4-5 minutes. I decided to make more of a sauce out of the tomatoes. I also decided to chop up my chicken into bite-size pieces prior to cooking. I usually do this as I find it much easier for cooking and portion control. If I cook the chicken breasts whole, I feel the need to take a whole chicken breast and then subsequently eat the whole chicken breast. If it is chopped up and mixed into with all the veggies and rice, then I eat less. It isn’t an exact science, no, but it works in my mind. The final big change that I made was to use fresh bell peppers instead of roasted, jarred bell peppers. I prefer to use fresh ingredients whenever possible and to make up for nice smokey flavor I would have gotten out of the roasted bell peppers, I added just a hint of cumin and chipotle chili pepper. Oh, and I didn’t have any basil (which would be nice but since I keep forgetting to plant any), so I just left it out. I added brown rice and mixed it all together to make saucy goodness! Yum!!
Here is your recipe and nutritional information for Easy Italian Chicken and Rice:
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large, sweet yellow onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 4 medium tomatoes, chopped
- ½ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
- 1 orange bell pepper, chopped
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. chipotle chili pepper
- sea salt and fresh ground cracked pepper to taste.
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- Cook brown rice according to package instructions.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the skillet is hot, add onion and garlic and saute until the onions soften and are beginning to turn translucent (4-5 minutes).
- While the onions and garlic are cooking, place a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat and add tomatoes and chicken broth to the pan. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes cook down. Mash the tomatoes with a potato masher and stir to combine with the chicken broth to create a sauce. Turn heat down to low.
- Once the onions have softened, add the bell peppers and chicken to the skillet. Add the cumin, chili pepper, salt and pepper. Cook for approximately 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and no pink remains.
- Add the tomato sauce, parmesan cheese and cooked rice. Stir to combine.
- Remove from heat and serve warm.
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