By Melissa Clark
Updated Jan. 23, 2024
- Total Time
- 50 minutes
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- 4(1,507)
- Notes
- Read community notes
A layer of crunchy, golden rice at the bottom of a pan is revered across many cultures, be it a Persian tahdig, Korean nurungji or Spanish socarrat, and you can get a similar result by baking oiled rice at high heat on a sheet pan. Here, bone-in chicken legs are coated in a mix of turmeric, ginger and garlic and nestled into a pan of scallion-flecked short-grain rice. As it all roasts, the spiced chicken fat seasons the rice, which turns especially crisp where it meets the edges and bottom of the pan while staying soft and chewy on top. Dabbed with more turmeric-ginger mixture at the end, it’s a richly flavored and textured chicken and rice dish all made in one pan.
Featured in: What Makes Chicken and Rice Even Better? A Little Bite.
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- ¼cup fresh lemon juice, plus more for serving
- 6garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
- 2tablespoons fresh ginger (from 1 2-inch piece), finely grated or minced
- 3teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal or use 1 ½ teaspoons coarse kosher salt, such as Morton), more as needed
- 2teaspoons ground turmeric
- 2teaspoons ground coriander
- 1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks
- 5cups cooked short-grain rice (such as sushi rice, see Tip)
- 1bunch scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
- 5tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed
- ½cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
1423 calories; 40 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 21 grams monounsaturated fat; 7 grams polyunsaturated fat; 201 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 58 grams protein; 1264 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Place sheet pan on middle rack in oven and heat oven to 450 degrees.
Step
2
While the oven is heating, marinate the chicken. In a large bowl, combine lemon juice, garlic, ginger, 1½ teaspoons of the salt, turmeric, coriander and pepper, and mix well. Transfer 1 tablespoon of the turmeric-ginger mixture to a small bowl and set aside for serving. To the large bowl, add chicken and toss until the pieces are well coated; let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Step
3
While the chicken is marinating, toss the cooked rice with the remaining 1½ teaspoons salt, scallion whites and 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil (the best way to do this is with clean hands). Add a little more oil if needed to fully coat the rice so that it crisps up in the oven.
Step
4
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the chicken pieces, tossing well to coat.
Step
5
Use a large spoon to carefully spread the rice out on the hot sheet pan, then make divots in the rice for the chicken, making sure the sheet pan is exposed. Place chicken, skin side up, in the divots touching the pan. Drizzle the rice and chicken with a little more extra-virgin olive oil.
Step
6
Roast until the chicken is deeply browned on top, cooked through and the rice is crisp at the edges, 40 to 50 minutes.
Step
7
Stir a little more lemon juice and olive oil into the reserved turmeric-ginger mixture to thin it out. Use a spoon to dab or drizzle it onto the rice (not the chicken). Stir up the rice on the baking sheet, so the crisp parts get mixed into the soft part of the rice, and the turmeric mixture gets distributed. (Taste rice and add a little more oil, lemon juice and salt if necessary; rice can take a lot of seasoning.) Top everything with scallion greens and chopped fresh cilantro, and serve.
Tip
- If you want to substitute long-grain rice, watch it carefully; it browns (and can dry out) more quickly than plumper grains of short-grain rice.
Ratings
4
out of 5
1,507
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Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
dewi
I’m always confused when I see recipes calling for olive oil in ovens above 400 degrees. Isn’t that risking its smoking point? And does that not make the oil carcinogenic? Please correct me if I’ve understood this wrong all these years…
PerkyPop
I used this recipe to make firm cubed tofu instead of the chicken, marinated in the same sauce. I had leftover short grain, brown rice and barley, which worked out perfectly. Served with some steamed broccoli on the side and a sunny side-up egg, because I didn't want to crowd the sheet pan I was using. Excellent meal. Vegetarians be not afraid of the tofu or even seitan substitutions. For easier clean-up on the sheet pan, line it with aluminum foil and give it a swipe of olive or sesame oil.
FattySing
How long should one let the cooked rice sit before baking? I'd imagine it would be best to let it sit and dry out for at least a day like is optimal for fried rice.
kim
Do we think boneless thighs would work for this? My husband has an aversion to bone-in meat (we all have our things, right?)
J. Laird
since the recipe calls for cooked rice, i would think you could substitute brown rice.
Pam B
Delicious recipe. The cilantro is a nice addition but not critical. I forgot to buy scallions and substituted shallots instead. Otherwise followed it exactly. Crispy rice was great. Side note - I made roasted carrots on the same pan and added them 10 minutes after starting the chicken. Perfect.
Sandra
For the person who asked about cooking olive oil at a high temperature, Dewi, perhaps your information is outdated. I googled and found that not to be true. In fact, what I found indicates the oil is one of the better ones for high heats.
Liz
My heritage is eastern European and Irish my family makes a similar dish but with uncooked rice in a huge pot. My grandmother would use an older hen since it would have more fat. It was heaven the crispy rice on the bottom of the pot and the meat would just fall off the bones. Her spice blend was a handed down family secret. Just incredible.
beehill
What do you think - could you sub in tofu to make this vegetarian? Cook the rice for 20 min, then toss in tofu for 20 min? Or skip the tofu and toss vegs on top of rice? Just sounds yummy, but I don’t eat meat.
Miriam
What do you think cooks? Would parchment paper on the pad detract from the crunching of the rice?
BB
Made this exactly as written, and we enjoyed it. Will make again, with a few notes. We felt it could take a lot more seasoning (not salt). Will probably make more marinade and add some other warm spices. Also, we felt you could reduce the oil and still get the crispy rice. We had a lot of oil on our plates, and I only used the stated amount, not adding more where mentioned. Finally, like others, we loved the crispy edges of rice but some was also too hard, and I cooked nowhere near the 40-50 min
Joan
I would make something else.Boneless/skinless chicken breasts? I would make something else. The bone & skin play a significant role in how the chicken cooks, is flavored by the marinade, and in turn flavors the rice.Utterly delicious.
DW
When I entered all of the ingredients in the stated amounts into a calorie counter app, it calculated that a single serving is 960 calories. Not sure how NYT got 1423 per serving.
Jules
1200 calories? That can’t possibly be “per serving”, I hope!
Billy
Does it matter if the rice is hot or cold?
Linda
Delicious, easy meal. Have encouraged friends and family to make this and it has been a hit with everyone who has made it.
Chloe
To make the marinade 8 hours before i cooked and i would even recommend it overnight. I added another 2 tsp of garlic powder, bit of EVOO, and 1/2 tsp of cayenne, some scallions and i pureed the marinade instead of trying to chop everything. When i cooked the rice (medium grain), I added salt, evoo, garlic powder and some turmeric (a little goes a long way). No need to preheat the sheet in oven. I added a side cucumber sumac cilantro salad (olive oil, lemon juice, salt, sumac, shallots)
Haley
This was NAUGHTY. I don’t think you need as much oil as it calls for, but that might be a preference. I didn’t have green onions — so I tossed diced sweet onion in the rice before baking and it added great flavor. I eat meat every once in a while and this was totally worth it.
Sewfast
OMG! The hard rice was the best part! Crispy was great!
At
After seeing all these notes, I might just add a little more salt and add the rice halfway through the chicken. I'm using boneless skinless thighs.
Knitter 215
Loved this! Didn't make enough rice. I was lazy and used Trader Joe's microwavable Jasmine Rice (Frozen) and only used 4 cups. Damn This was outstanding. I would easily make again for a crowd. The rice was stellar. The chicken, after 40 minutes in my oven, was perfect.
Greta
Am I the only one where this burned?!!! The temperature of 450 degrees seemed too hot to me so I checked it after 20 minutes and half the rice was burnt but the chicken was delicious.
Jocelyn
The chicken came out amazing but the rice was dry and crispy not in a good way, somewhat inedible, felt a waste of rice!! I love the marinade and cooking timing of the thighs though.
Tommy L
Go easy on the garlic.
Glynis
I found the seasoning perfect. The lemon juice gave the dish a bright punch. The rice was both crunchy and chewy. Here’s the thing: I roasted it for 30 minutes. It did not need 40-50 min in my opinion, not at that temperature. Seemed like a fuss but I’ll make this again I think. Very tasty.
SmoothMA
This was delicious! It took longer than I expected because of cooking the rice beforehand.
Thomas M
Second time making it. This recipe is a total winner. The second time the rice came out even crispier. So many variations possible with this one.
Susan
I made it with boneless thighs for a mid-week dinner and still thought it had plenty of flavor; however, if I used boneless again, I would wait and add them for the last 20 min or so. I took them out after about 20 min, but the other way makes more sense. I'm making it again soon for a crowd and will make the rice in advance as suggested by FattySing.
Tiana L.
I roasted some veggies on a separate pan to add a little more nutrition. Definitely a good way to use up veggies before they go bad and a good recipe to use for meal prep. Not too exciting, but still an overall solid recipe.
aggss
I’ve made this twice. The first time, I wasn’t paying close attention and the rice was so crispy it wasn’t edible but the chicken was so good I decided to give it one more try. I checked the rice after 30 minutes and it was starting to get too crispy so I removed the rice but let the chicken keep cooking. I don’t know how everyone else got their rice to cook correctly
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