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The easiest One Pan Chipotle Honey Chicken and Rice, our new weeknight staple. Chicken breasts or thighs seasoned with olive oil, parmesan cheese, chipotle, paprika, garlic, and salt. All tossed together with dry basmati rice and sliced zucchini. Top the chicken with a spicy honey sauce just as it comes out of the oven. This juicy spicy/smoky chicken and rice is all made in one pan – no cooking the rice separately. Simply mix, bake, eat, and enjoy. You’re going to LOVE this.
I think I’m in my “quick and easy” era. One of the things that I find so inspiring about Taylor Swift is her ability to continue to recreate herself. She never stops. And because she has the ability to always be evolving and changing, she never gets boring. We always want more from her!
I hope in a way I can be like this. I definitely am the type of person that has “eras”. Periods when life looks a little different than other times. And I’m always, changing and growing, literally by the day.
The point is, right now I’m in a quick and easy era.
Because of this, I get to be creative with recipes. How can I make this taste the yummiest but also be easy? What ingredients can I use that are multi-purpose?
I think about it all. And certainly, nothing is easier than a dinner that cooks up all in one pan. Especially a one-pan chicken and rice situation. We just love a one-pan recipe that’s also filled with yummy flavor!
Onto the details
Step 1: season up the chicken
I wanted to create a spicy, smoky chicken. So I decided on chipotle honey garlic! Such a delicious flavor profile that most people love.
Take chicken breasts or thighs (or do a mix) and mix them together with olive oil, grated parmesan cheese, chipotle in adobo, paprika, onion powder, and fresh chopped-up garlic.
Step 2: the rice and zucchini
Next, get a 9×13 inch baking dish, add the dry rice and sliced rounds (or chopped chunks) of zucchini. Pour over the water, which will cook into the dry rice while baking.
Place the chicken directly over the rice and set the pan in the oven to cook. The rice will get fluffy and the chicken becomes crispy!
Step 3: the honey sauce
While the chicken bakes, work on the honey sauce. This is a very simple mix of honey, hot sauces, and spices all simmered together gently on the stove.
As the chicken comes out of the oven, spoon the sauce directly over each piece.
Step 4: add basil and enjoy
Finish the dish with fresh basil. Or use parsley, green onion, thyme, cilantro, or whatever you love or have on hand. I think basil and parsley work best.
Serve the fluffy rice under each piece of chicken, then extra honey sauce on top! Oh, and a little sea salt and some lemon juice are really nice too.
As the chicken roasts, the juices drip down into the rice creating flavorful rice and roasting up the zucchini too. It’s so delicious!
And the chicken doesn’t dry out since it’s roasted with a bit of water. As the water cooks into the rice, the chicken slowly and beautifully roasts and gets perfectly crisp.
I love to serve this with my favorite loaf of 5 ingredient beer bread. This is certainly a wonderful transitional dinner that will be nice heading into September!
Looking for other easy chicken and rice dinners? Here are my favorites:
One Pan Lemon Pepper Yogurt Chicken and Rice
One Skillet Louisiana Style Chicken and Rice
Broccoli Cheddar Chicken and Rice Casserole
Cheesy Zucchini Chicken and Rice Bake
Slow Cooker Herbed Chicken and Rice Pilaf
Spicy Sesame Chicken and Ginger Rice
Lastly, if you make this One Pan Chipotle Honey Chicken and Rice, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
One Pan Chipotle Honey Chicken and Rice
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 687 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs or breasts (skin on or off)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped chipotle in adobo
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 3/4 cups dry basmati rice
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 cups sliced/chopped zucchini
Hot Honey
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2-3 tablespoons hot sauce
- 1-3 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- 1/2 teaspon onion powder
- sea salt
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 400°.2. In a bowl, toss together the chicken, olive oil, parmesan, chipotle, paprika, onion powder, garlic, lemon, salt, and pepper. 3. Pour the rice and zucchini into a 9×13-inch baking dish. Pour over 2 cups of water. Add the butter. Arrange the chicken over the rice and zucchini. Bake 30-40 minutes, until the rice is fluffy and the chicken is cooked through. If the rice is hard, add 1/3 cup more water and cook for an additional 10 minutes.4. To make the sauce. In a sauce pot, warm together the honey, hot sauce, cayenne, chili powder, onion powder, and a pinch of salt.5. When the chicken is done, spoon half the sauce over the chicken. Serve the chicken, rice, and zucchini topped with fresh basil and extra honey sauce. Enjoy!
Hi Tieghan, thank you so much for this recipe! I was wondering if the rice can be replaced by some kind of pasta. Would tagliatelle work well?
Thanks so much, Jane! I’ve never tried that, I think a small pasta like orzo would work nicely for you. I hope this helps! xx
Absolutely LOVE this recipe. My favorite way to eat chicken. Great flavor, keeps me wanting more even though I’m already full.
Thanks so much, Danielle!! Love to hear this recipe is always enjoyed:) I appreciate you making it so often! xT
Rechecked the recipe multiple times to make sure I wasn’t missing something. Super bland, did not cook like the recipe said. Does not look like the pic. Ended up tossing.
Hi Michelle,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! So sorry to hear it was not enjoyed. If there is anything that I can help with please let me know! xx
Our family really loves the TASTE of this dish. I continue to make it but find it needs more liquid than it calls for and I also cover it. Often the rice in the middle of the dish is hard, but the edges are a bit mushy. I am trying to perfect it as the taste is just incredible!
Hey Kelly,
Fantastic! I’m so glad to hear your family enjoys this recipe. Sorry to hear you have issues with the rice. What kind are you using? Have you tried to use a different brand, sometimes something that simple will help. XxT
Super easy, so delicious — even my picky eaters LOVED it!!
Hey Melissa,
Yay! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for giving it a try! Happy fall weekend! xT
You should trguYellowhkrd sauce Sweet habanero flavor! Used it for this recipe and it as amazing!
Thanks so much for sharing, Hollie!
Does the rice need to be washed first?
Hi Hanna,
I do not wash my rice:) Please let me know if you give this recipe a try! xT
This is easy to make and turned out delicious! There are only 3 of us at home so I use 4 boneless skinless thighs, and one cup of Minute rice (so I don’t have to worry about if the rice will be soft and cooked through enough. Instead of water I use a can of chicken broth. This cooks up nice and browned, and the hot honey topping sends it over the top! it’s a knock-out weeknight dinner!
Hey Liz,
Happy Friday! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe, love to hear that it turned out well for you! Xx
Absolutely delicious. Made with boneless chicken breasts and farm fresh yellow squash from Long Island. Will definitely make it again.
Hey Jennifer,
Thanks so much for making this recipe and your comment, so glad to hear it was a winner! Have a great Thursday! x
This turned out great! The flavor of the chicken and rice were awesome and everything cooked perfectly for me. I used store-bought hot honey as an extra time saver, which worked perfectly. Definitely an easy weeknight dinner that I will make again!
Hey Jen,
Happy Friday!! Thrilled to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it and your comment! xx
This was absolutely delicious! I used jasmine rice instead of basmati, added chicken bullion to the cooking water, added a yellow squash and a red onion. It was so easy to put together and my family all loved it! Thanks for another amazing recipe!
Hey Tiffany,
Awesome! Love to hear that you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for making it and your comment! xT
I have made many of your recipes and they are all delicious! This one was absolutely amazing! Thank you so much Tieghan for all your recipes.
Hey Jaclyn,
Wonderful! I appreciate you making this recipe and your comment, love to hear it turned out well! Xx
The rice did not cook, I tried adding more water and cooking longer and it did not turn out. I used basmati rice.
Hi Taylor,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback. So sorry to hear you had some issues with the rice. Was there anything you may have adjusted? Was your baking dish glass by chance? xx
When trying to print the recipe, one of the ingredients is showing as the link instead of the actual ingredient. I before it’s the chipotle adobo.
Hey Amanda,
Thanks so much for letting us know, that’s bizarre! Will try to get this fixed ASAP! xx
Had high hopes, but the rice would not cook fully. I tried adding more water and cooking long as suggest, but yeah didn’t work. Flavor was good though!
Hi Ann,
Thanks for trying this dish and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear you had issues with the rice. What kind of rice did you use? xx
I would love to make this, but I don’t have basmati rice on hand. Can I use just regular white rice and have it turn out?
Hey Natalie,
Yes, that will work nicely for you! I hope you love this dish, please let me know if you give it a try! xT
After reading the comments where the rice didn’t cook, and there was the question of the glass dish, which I use, I decided to cover it with foil to bake which worked perfectly. I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and ended up baking it covered for 30 minutes, uncovered and put Mike’s hot honey on it (didn’t feel like making it) then put it in uncovered on broil until it got a little browned. It felt like it was missing something though so I ended up squeezing the lemon I zested over top of it all, put extra hot honey, and The Spice Lab’s spicy sun dried tomato seasoning on it and nowww it’s perfect. I may try putting the lemon juice and more of that seasoning in the chicken marinade next time.
Thanks so much for sharing your feedback, Jazmine! So glad to hear you ended up enjoying the recipe! xT