One of the reasons I pop into the kitchen nearly every day is to create or recreate a memory. I feel like… standing over the stove, I can bring back to life a meal, not just in taste, but in feeling, too… like I can feel the heart and laughter inside the food.
It might be that I’m always chasing those good feels or trying to create new good feels in the kitchen. It’s just my way.
This pot of chicken and rice is a memory recreated. My favorite Friday night in Israel a few weeks back was a Shabbat dinner with a friendly family of strangers. Ori and Anna welcomed all of us sun-weary travelers into their home for an incredible table of food (that Anna tenderly mentioned took her three nights after work to prepare).
A big pot of chicken and rice was my favorite dish on the table (before I discovered a lemon pie in the kitchen) and it was only luck that I happened to be seated near the chicken pot for dinner. The dish was spiced with Baharat, a Middle Eastern spice blend that combines black pepper, coriander, cumin, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, paprika, and a few other warming spices. It’s savory and round and brings an incredible comfort-food mood to every dish it touches. Also, no two baharats are the same. Think of all of the differences you may have encountered with garam masala. Spice blends are always unique. (See if you can find Baharat at your grocery. If not, the recipe below includes instructions to make your own version.)
The next day I found Baharat at an old spice market outside of Tel Aviv so I could recreate this dish and it’s warm memories at home. Thanks to Vibe Israel for the incredible introduction to Israel and deep love to Betzavta who so graciously pairs host families with travelers for Shabbat dinner in Israel. If you make it to Israel, you must have Betzavta find you a family to dinner with!
In the meantime, here’s dinner for us. The invitation, of course, is to find some friends (new or old) to share it with.
One-Pot Chicken with rice, lots of spices, a splash of wine and a sprinkle of parsley. It’s simple. It’s supposed to be.
The key is to layer each element of this one-pot dish with seasoning and flavor.
We’ll start with chicken. I’m using boneless, skinless chicken thighs because well… I like them, they’re flavorful and economical and that all lines up in my book.
We’ll season out meat generously with salt, fresh cracked black pepper, and smoky paprika.
In a large oven-proof skillet, add several tablespoons of olive oil and brown the seasoned chicken on both sides. Not until the chicken is cooked through, just until it’s nicely browned all around.
Onions!
How do you like them? You might like a fine dice. I liked a thick slice for this dish. I like an onion bite.
Slice them however you’d like. The thick slices will just a bit longer to cook down and there’s not a thing wrong with that.
Where there are onions there are garlic. I coarsely chopped my garlic because a) I hate chopping garlic and b) I love bit bites of softened garlic. Win win.
Saute the onions and garlic in a large oven-proof skillet.
We’ll remove the browned chicken from the pan and place it on a plate. Add a few more tablespoons of olive oil and add the onions and garlic and saute slowly until the onions sweat and start to break down. We don’t need anything to brown we just need everything to soften.
To the softened onion and garlic add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, a few tablespoons of the baharat seasoning, and we’ll stir until the mixture is mixed through and fragrant.
Shake in the rice and stir to coat and toast. I love a rice-in-a-hot-pan-SIZZLE.
To the sizzling mixture we’ll add a good splash or three of white wine.
If you don’t have white wine on hand, a light beer is a good swap.
If you don’t want any booze in the mix, a splash of chicken broth will do a great job of deglazing the pan.
Stir until the wine, beer, or broth absorbs and nestle the cooked chicken back into the pan.
Tuck in a few bay leaves.
Add the chicken stock and see that that all of the rice is submerged. Place the lid on the pot and set it in the oven to cook for 25 minutes.
It feels like magic! The rice puffs to soft, the chicken will cook to fork-tender, and the entire kitchen will smell like dinner.
I served mine with a cucumber tomato salad to bring so fresh flavor and color.
Parsley to top the cooked chicken and rice.
One-Pot Baharat Chicken and Rice
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
- Total Time: 0 hours
Ingredients
For Baharat Spice from whole spices:
- 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
- 2 tablespoons cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon all-spice berries
- 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds (seeds not pods)
- 1 4-inch cinnamon stick
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon smoky paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
For Baharat Spice from ground spices:
- 1 1/2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 heaping tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground all-spice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon smoky paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
For the One-Pot Chicken Dinner:
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
- Smoky paprika
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium purple onion, sliced thick (about 1 cup)
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed and coarsely chopped
- 2 – 3 tablespoons baharat spice
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 cup dry white wine or light beer
- 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice (I used basmati because that’s what I had on hand)
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- First make the spice mix if you aren’t able to buy it in a store. To make the whole spice mix: Grind the whole spices using a spice mill or coffee grinder. You’ll likely need to do this in several batches.) Place freshly ground spices in a small bowl and stir in the paprika and nutmeg.
- To make the spice mix with pre-ground spices, mix all of the spices together in a small ball until thoroughly combined. Taadaa that’s it!
- To make the chicken dinner, place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Season both sides of the chicken liberally with salt, pepper and smoked paprika. Place a large shallow skillet (with a tight fitting lid) over medium-high heat with the olive oil. Once hot, add in half of the chicken in a single layer. Cook until browned on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. The chicken doesn’t have to be fully cooked, we’re just looking to brown it at this point. It will continue to cook in the oven. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate and brown the rest.
- Once the all the chicken has browned, add the onion and garlic to the skillet and cook until softened, about 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Stir in the tomato paste and cook until deep red in color, about 1 minute. Add the spices and stir until fragrant. Add the rice and bay leaves and cook for another minute or so to develop the rice’s flavor. Stir in the wine or beer and cook until almost evaporated completely, making sure to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the skillet. Stir in the chicken stock and bring up to a simmer. Nestle in the chicken and any juices that may have collected on the plate.
- Cover and transfer to the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to rest with the lid on for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, sprinkle with parsley and serve warm.
Rita
Let’s say I bought all the ingredients for this fabulous recipe before looking close enough to see that it calls for a shallow oven-proof skillet *with a lid.* Could this still work in a large dutch oven? Or a cast iron skillet covered with foil, maybe?
Naomi
I’m not Joy but I don’t have a large selection of pots and pans and it doesn’t hinder me from being adventurous in my kitchen. Honestly for a lot of recipes I use the vessel of my choosing. I would love to have a Staub skillet with a lid but I don’t so I use my dutch oven or my cast iron Lodge skillet with the dutch oven lid etc. Heck sometimes I use my grill instead of my oven. The one thing I try to avoid is putting too much food in too small a vessel cause then it because a ridiculous game of musical chairs with food and pots. So I mean, you do what works for you. And maybe just be aware that food cooked in cast iron enamelware is going to cook for a different length than something in an aluminum pan from the grocery store. So if you switch it up just keep at eye on it and adjust the times as needed.
Rita
Thank you for the info and encouragement! :) It’s nice to know I’m not the only one lacking cookware! For this I ended up using the skillet, doubling up on the foil, *and* using my dutch oven lid. Worked perfectly!
This dish was such a gem, Joy! So good.
joythebaker
Problem solving! That’s great!
Kristi
The dish looks awesome, as well as that dress! Do tell, where did you find it?
joythebaker
Thank you! The dress is from Target!
Kelsey
Dear Joy, I’ve followed your blog and bought your cookbooks for myself and friends over the last seven years. Part of what attracted me to your blog was your willingness to engage with social justice topics, in addition to your recipes. You aren’t afraid to put your opinions on critical cultural and political issues out there, and I always looked forward to your Sunday collection of links. Your voice is powerful, which is obviously why you were selected for the trip with Vibe Israel. You could have turned down the offer, as other celebrities, chefs and performers have turned down offers to help the government propagate its desired self-image, at the expense of those excluded from that image. But you chose to go and now you’re continuing to help the organization ‘change hearts and minds about Israel.’ That’s your choice, and mine is to {regrettably} no longer follow your blog or buy your cookbooks.
Beth
I always find it interesting when people want open dialogue until there is a differing point of view. Sadly, I see this as a typical response for people unable to see more than a shallow, single point of view.
Natasha
Another request for the source of that fabulous dress!
joythebaker
The dress is from Target! :)
Courtney
Baharat is also yummy in tabbouleh!
joythebaker
Oh yes – sounds warming and delicious!
Samantha
I can almost smell it!
Caroline
I also want to say how adorable that dress is! But how can you cook this dish wearing the dress and not get greasy spots all over it?! I wear an apron and still manage to stain my clothes.
joythebaker
So far I’ve been pretty lucky in the kitchen and I give any splattering grease a wide birth. But an apron also comes in very handy and I wear one often!
Briel K.
This looks so yummy! I’m printing the recipe in hopes that will bring me one step closer to actually making it! :)
joythebaker
That’s the spirit!
Diana M.
I have the opportunity to go to Jerusalem and Bethlehem later this fall, I’m not sure where exactly you went in Israel, but I’d love to hear about any places you ate great food or bought fun things!
Thea
That looks delicious. What a great recipe to use as a jumping off point for experimentation with different spice and herb mixtures.
What is that beautiful skillet you’re using?
Corky
I have the same one… I believe it’s a STAUB. I have 3, love it and use daily.
Dennie Raviv
I have an incredible chicken and rice recipe with Baharat from Um -El-Fahen, an Arab city in Wadi Ara, moth Israel. I would love to share it, it is a family favorite. Best explained, I don’t know if I have a picture.
joythebaker
Wonderful!
B
OMG, just picked up a jar of Baharat, because I’d never seen it before. This looks like a primo use. I think I may try it in the instant pot cause it’s eleventy million degrees out today. Thanks for saving me research time.
joythebaker
I am rooting for your Instant Pot success!
Yael
Yum! My grandma makes a similar dish, cooked overnight, called t’beet. Rice gets super sticky in some places, crunchy in others, and so so so yum. Cucumber and tomato on the side, always. Love this!
joythebaker
That sounds perfect!
Morsey
The dish looks delicious! But WOWSA, that dress is Fabulous! can I ask where you got it??
joythebaker
Yes, it’s from Target!
Mariya Zafirova
That looks delicious!
Mariya | https://www.brunetteondemand.com/