Curry Chicken Rice Bake

This curry chicken rice bake is incredibly delicious and comforting! All you need is one pan, which means easy prep, easy cooking, and easy clean-up! You are going to love this oven-to-table meal!

This dish is a combination of some of my favorite things...

...tender chicken...

...moist flavorful rice...

...and curry.

All cooked up in one pan, no muss, no fuss...

...using ingredients that are simple and that you probably already have on-hand.

Seriously, you can't get better than this!

This curry chicken rice bake is so good, so comforting, and SO SIMPLE, and it's an oven-to-table meal you're going to love!

As Simple as 1, 2, 3

This meal involves at 3 rounds in the oven, but fear not! Even steps that would normally be done on the stovetop, like sauteing minced and ginger in butter in a skillet, are all achieved in one pan in the oven.

All you do is add the butter, garlic, and ginger to the baking dish and stick it in the oven for 5 minutes. In those 5 minutes, the oven heat will melt the butter, and the garlic and ginger will cook just enough to become fragrant...exactly what you want. And you don't even need to watch it.

Then comes the layer of rice, cauliflower, and a mixture of chicken broth, coconut milk, and fish sauce. These layers get baked first, to get the rice and cauliflower cooked partway before adding in the chicken.

The Chicken

After the rice and cauliflower have had 30 minutes in the oven, it's time to add the chicken. I use boneless skin-on chicken thighs in this recipe, but you can also use chicken breasts or bone-in chicken. Bone-in pieces require a longer cooking time and should be seasoned and added to the pan at the same time as the rice and cauliflower.

Before adding the chicken to the baking dish, I season the bottom of the chicken with a curry spice blend of curry powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. It's a very simple but tasty blend of seasonings that seeps into the rice as the chicken cooks.

I lay the chicken, seasoned underside down, on top of the rice and cauliflower and season the top of the chicken, making sure to also sprinkle some of the seasoning between the pieces. The oven temperature is increased and the baking dish goes back in the oven, uncovered, to finish cooking the entire dish. Letting the chicken cook uncovered allows the dry spices on the chicken skin and the rice on the edge of the pan to crisp up.

Oven-To-Table Ease

It is incredibly satisfying to bring a delicious meal like this curry chicken rice bake to the table straight from the oven. You've got everything you need for your meal, right there in one dish, making preparing and clean-up very low stress, if not stress-free.

With the addition of curry, it gives this chicken rice bake an Asian twist, which is a nice change to typical chicken rice bake dishes. You could certainly skip the curry powder, but I, personally, love the flavor you get from those spices and it really takes the dish up a notch.

If you're looking for another one-pan meal, considering my One-Pan Roast Chicken and Kale which is all meat and vegetables and equally as satisfying. If you insist on serving up something to go with this one-pan meal, try serving it Cold Spicy Cucumber Bites or a fresh leafy side salad. Even having a few fresh cucumber slices is a to serve alongside the dish is a perfect light and fresh touch to balance the meal.

Super tender chicken with a slightly crispy skin, on top of a layer of tender cauliflower and perfectly cooked rice...all laced with a beautiful curry coconut flavor...it will, undoubtedly, be one of the best...and easiest...one-pan meals you'll serve up!

~ Lisa.

Curry Chicken Rice Bake

This curry chicken rice bake is incredibly delicious and comforting! All you need is one pan, which means easy prep, easy cooking, and easy clean-up! You are going to love this oven-to-table meal!

4.20 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Asian, Western

Keyword: casserole, chicken and rice

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Makes: 6 servings

Calories: 593kcal

Author: Lisa from A Day in the Kitchen

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 tbs butter
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ▢ 1 tbs finely chopped or minced ginger

Chicken:

• ▢ 6 boneless skin-on chicken thighs (see note below about chicken)
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon curry powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ ½ teaspoon paprika

Rice:

• ▢ 2 cups long-grain rice, rinsed and drained
• ▢ ½ head cauliflower, cut into small chunks
• ▢ 2 cups chicken broth
• ▢ 1 cup coconut milk
• ▢ 1 tbs fish sauce

Equipment

• ▢
  10x13 Baking Pan

Instructions

• Preheat oven 350F/180C.
• In 9x13 baking dish, add butter, ginger, and garlic. Bake for 5 minutes.
• Stir garlic and ginger into butter, and then add the rice to the pan, spreading and leveling it out.
• Layer cauliflower in a single layer on the rice.
• Combine chicken broth, coconut milk, and fish sauce and pour into pan.
• Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Chicken:

• Combine seasoning ingredients and stir well to mix.
• Sprinkle seasoning on the underside of the chicken with approximately half the mixture.
• Set aside, waiting to season the top side of the chicken after it is added to the pan.
• Once rice and cauliflower have baked for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and increase oven temperature to 400F/200C.
• Add chicken to the pan, seasoned side down, laying the pieces on top of the cauliflower.
• Season the top of the chicken and the rice with the remaining seasoning mixture.
• Return to oven and bake for 30 minutes.
• Let rest 10 minutes before serving.
• Garnish with chopped scallions, sliced almonds, sesame seeds, if desired.

Notes

• I use long-grain jasmine rice for this recipe. You can use basmati, but it will be less moist than if you use other long-grain rice varieties.
• Use all chicken broth or a different ratio of chicken broth to coconut milk, as long as you have 3 cups total for the recipe.
• You can use chicken breasts in place of chicken thighs, if desired.
• I like to use skin-on pieces as the skin gets nice a crisp from the dry seasonings after baking, and it also helps keep the chicken moist and tender.
• For bone-in chicken pieces:
  • Season the underside of the chicken as per instructions and place the chicken in the baking dish with the rice and cauliflower at the start of cooking. Sprinkle the rest of the seasonings over the chicken and cover the baking dish with foil.
  • Follow the remaining instructions as stated, removing the foil after 30 minutes of baking, increasing the oven temperature to 400F/200C, and roasting for another 30 minutes.
• You can add diced onion to the garlic and ginger, if desired.
• If you want the rice along the edge of the pan to get nice and crisp, you can increase the temperature to 425F/220C for the last 10-15 minutes of baking time.

Nutrition

Calories: 593kcal

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