Red Pesto Chicken and Rice One Pot

This Red Pesto Chicken and Rice One Pot is another dead simple mid-week recipe. This was a simple recipe handed down to me by my mother many years ago, when I first began cooking for my growing family – it didn’t even have a name until just now!

Red Pesto Chicken and Rice One Pot

Red Pesto Chicken and Rice One Pot is a very simple but tasty recipe,  best saved for days you are really short on time.

As long as you buy a good quality Red Pesto Sauce (I got mine from M&S, but I have seen it in Welcome and Fusion too) you’re guaranteed to end up with a tasty dish.  Also, it’s important to use a red or wild rice which takes longer to cook to avoid obtaining a mushy rice.  I used half Camargue Red Rice and half brown rice, both bought from Welcome Speciality Store.

I usually prepare this dish earlier in the day and leave in the fridge until ready to cook.

Red Pesto Chicken and Rice One Pot Method:

• Place your rice into an oven proof dish and add your chopped red onions, peppers, raisins (or apricots!) and black olives, mix them in with the rice
• Place your chicken thighs on top of the rice and vegetable mix
• Add the bouillon to the hot water then stir in the red pesto until well combined
• Pour this mixture over the chicken thighs
• Sprinkle the thighs with smoked paprika and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes at 180C, or until the rice is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid
• Once cooked scatter over the chopped parsley (you’ll note I absent mindedly added mine before it went in the oven!)

Serve with crusty bread and side salad or steamed green veggies.

gx

P.S. Don’t forget to pin this recipe to Pinterest by clicking the image below!

Red Pesto Chicken and Rice One Pot

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Red Pesto Chicken and Rice One Pot

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

50 mins

Total Time

1 hr 5 mins

 

Another quick but super tasty mid-week meal.

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Western

Servings: 6

Author: Gillian Thompson

Ingredients

• 250 g Camargue red rice or a mix of brown and red rice. I never use white rice in this dish as it will go too soft. The red rice and the wild rice takes much longer to cook and will have a better texture.
• 6-8 in chicken thighs bone and skin on
• 1 jar of red pesto sauce
• 500 ml of boiling water
• 1 tsp vegetable bouillon (optional for extra flavour)
• half a red pepper
• half a yellow pepper
• 20 g black olives stoned and chopped - optional
• 20 g raisins - I ran out of raisins so I used dried apricots
• 1 tsp Smoked Spanish Paprika to sprinkle over the chicken thighs
• small bunch of parsley chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Place your rice into a deep baking dish
2. Add the chopped pepper, red onion and raisins
3. Sit the chicken thighs on top of the rice and chopped vegetables
4. In a jug add the red pesto sauce to the hot water together with the vegetable bouillon (if using) and mix well
5. Pour the mixture over the chicken and rice
6. Sprinkle over some sea salt and a freshly ground black pepper
7. Place in the oven at 180C, uncovered for about 40-50, or until the rice grains have absorbed most of the liquid and are soft enough to eat
8. When cooked scatter over the chopped parsley and serve.

Recipe Notes

There are no set rules to this recipe, as long as you get the ration of rice to water correct the rest is all optional. I don't always add olives, but I happened to have some that need using in the fridge. I usually add raisins but I had run out so I replaced with dried apricot. I expect adding chopped chorizo would work a treat too... next time!