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!
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.