Oooh! Two of my favourite Middle Eastern foods baked together in one pan! This Baked Chicken Shawarma and Rice is made with chicken coated with Shawarma seasoning that’s seared then plonked on a fragrant rice with chickpeas before baking. When it’s in the oven, the the gorgeous juices from the chicken mingles with the rice, adding incredible flavour you just can’t buy!
My family will rib me for sharing yet another Middle Eastern recipe. And yet another one skillet recipe! I love that they have no control over what I post. Unlike deciding the menu for our regular family dinners. The number of emails that fly back and forth as we argue over what the menu will be and who is making what…..
Oh boy. It’s ridiculous. Absolute undeniable evidence that I was born into a foodie family!
Chicken Shawarma is one of my most requested recipes. By my friends, that is. No one in my family has ever asked me for this recipe. It’s a matter of principle. They can’t make fun of how often I make Middle Eastern dishes then come crawling to me for my secret Chicken Shawarma recipe!
It’s not-so-secret anymore anyway because I shared my stovetop / BBQ Chicken Shawarma recipe last year – you can find it here. Hmm. I wonder if anyone in my family has used the recipe? 😉
One of the reasons I love Chicken Shawarma so much is because I think that the effort vs flavour is off the charts. Just a handful of spices packs a serious punch! And it is spices that I always have in stock – cumin, coriander, paprika and cardamon. Sometimes I add cayenne pepper too, for a bit of a kick (I’ve made it optional for this recipe).
So it was just a matter of time before I created a one pot version of Chicken Shawarma. Well, not one pot. One skillet. At least, that’s what I used, but it can definitely be made in a pot too! In fact, this is ideal to make in a dutch oven. 🙂
The wonderful benefit of cooking the chicken and the rice together in one pot is that the juices of the chicken drips down into the rice as they cook. So basically, the rice is being cooked with the best stock in the world! There is so much flavour in the rice, honestly, I’d be happy to forgo the chicken and just have the rice for dinner!
Well actually, that’s just a blatant lie. I’m not passing on the chicken. I want BOTH!
The pilaf for this Baked Chicken Shawarma and Rice is adapted from a recipe by the great Yotam Ottolenghi, from his cookbook Jerusalem. It’s flavoured with a touch of cardamon and a couple of cinnamon sticks and the fragrance is delicate and exotic.
Because the spice rub for the chicken is so intense, it isn’t necessary to marinate for very long. Though it certainly would benefit from marinating overnight. As long as you get a bit of skin with each bite of chicken, there is plenty of flavour, so I rarely marinate it. I consider this Baked Chicken Shawarma and Rice to be my midweek version.
We’re half way through the week! Back Friday with something delish for the weekend. 🙂
– Nagi x
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One Skillet Oven Baked Chicken Shawarma and Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
Spice Rub
- 1 large garlic clove , minced (or 2 small cloves)
- 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp smoked paprika (or ordinary is fine)
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
Chicken and Rice
- 5 chicken thigh fillets , bone in, skin on - about 2 lb / 1kg in total (Note 1)
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion , finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 1/2 cups long grain rice , uncooked (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (or water)
- 2 cups water
- 3/4 - 1 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp cardamon powder
- 2 cinnamon sticks (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder)
- 400g (14oz) can chickpeas , drained (1 can)
- 1/4 cup raisins or sultanas (optional)
Garnish (optional)
- Yoghurt (plain, unsweetened. Greek yoghurt is great)
- Cilantro/coriander leaves , roughly chopped
- Parsley leaves , roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Mix the Spice Rub ingredients together in a small bowl. Slather onto the chicken, covering both sides.
- Optional: Marinate for at least 1 hour, up to 24 hours. (Note 3)
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken, skin side down, and cook for 5 minutes on each side, or until light golden brown.
- Remove chicken from skillet. Scrape off excess black bits stuck to the pan and discard, along with excess oil (but leave some to cook the onion).
- Add garlic and onion. Cook for 2 minutes until translucent.
- Add rice and stir so the grains are coated in oil and become a bit translucent.
- Add remaining ingredients. Place the chicken on top - it should be half submerged with the skin above the surface. Pour in the juices from the plate as well.
- Bring to simmer, then place a lid on (or cover with foil) and transfer to oven.
- Bake for 35 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for a further 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Remove chicken from the rice and mix the rice quickly (to evenly distribute flavour).
- Serve, garnished with cilantro/coriander and parsley if desired. I also like to serve it with a bit of plain yoghurt. (Note 4)
Recipe Notes:
- Drumsticks and large breast fillets - follow recipe
- Small to medium chicken breast fillets - bake for 25 to 35 minutes, so put it in the oven 10 to 15 minutes after the rice has been in the oven
- Boneless skinless thigh fillets - put in oven on the rice after the rice has been in the oven for 15 minutes
Also, if you want to make this with chicken breast fillets, add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the Marinade, otherwise it will be too dry to sear. 2. This can be made with white long grain or medium grain rice. Jasmin and basmati will work too. Short grain white rice can be used as a last resort. This recipe is not suitable for arborio (risotto rice), calasparra (paella rice) or brown rice (takes too long to cook in the oven). 3. The flavours of the spice rub are quite strong. So as long as you get a bit of skin/chicken surface with each bite, there is plenty of flavour even without marinating. Plus, because it is half braised, there is extra flavour from the braising liquid too. 4. Yoghurt - you can fancy up the yoghurt a bit if you want. If I'm cooking for company, I will make a yoghurt sauce with 1 1/2 cups of yoghurt, 1 minced garlic clove, 2 tbsp lemon juice, salt and pepper. 5. This makes more rice than for 5 servings. I think it makes enough for 7 servings. 6. The nutrition analysis below takes into account that I discard 3 tablespoons of fat that rendered out when I browned the chicken and that this recipe makes enough rice for 7 servings.
Nutrition Information:
Love, love, love this recipe. Always come back to it!
Hi Nagi, I made this recipe but found the rice turned mushy. Do you know what I could have done wrong? I added the full 2 cups of water in addition to the chicken broth as instructed in the recipe. Was the onion I was using maybe too big?
Any insight would be much appreciated!
Another winner! I love this recipe and it’s easy to make. I use my cast iron pan and it’s great having only one pan to clean.
Thanks for this recipe, we loved it! Even my 13 year old dog wanted some. This is going to be a regular staple.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Jess, thanks so much for letting me know 🙂 N x
I keep coming back to this recipe. The flavours are beautiful! Whenever I make it with the chicken thighs it turns out PERFECT. I did try it with chicken drumsticks once and it was a disaster. Uncooked chicken and mushy rice. Will stick to the thighs in the future. Love it!
Made it for my family coming into town. It was delicious!! This is the 3rd middle eastern recipe i have tried from your site, and i can’t stop!
That’s great to hear Ann! N x
I made this as I was craving Middle Eastern food and it certainly didn’t disappoint! Had a few issues tho: After 35mins in the oven I found that most of the rice cooked but in the middle there was some uncooked rice! I took out the chicken, mixed it up, put it all back in and added a tiny bit of water (the cooked rice was already very soft and mushy so didn’t want it to end up like soup), then covered it back in oven for 30mins more and it seemed to have done the trick. Just wandering, is the rice suppose to be mushy? I used basmati rice. Didn’t really bother me as flavours were delicious.
I’ve been so inspired to cook since I stumbled your site during WFH. Have experimented with so many of your recipes!
For this one, would like to replace the chicken with lamb chops and planning to use the same spice rub. Is there anything I need to adjust in the recipe for the lamb chops, Thanks in advance!
I forgot to let it rest for 5minutes before turning over the rice….is this going to ruin the rice now? It looks gluggy 🙁
This was legit SO tasty, SO flavorful and SUPER easy to make! I used boneless chicken thighs and followed your notes for using it. Not going to lie, I was skeptical about the amount of liquid to use but it came out perfect! I’m really excited to try out your other rice bake recipes!!
Wahoo, I’m so glad you gave it a shot!! N x
Is it possible to make this up to stage 9, refrigerate and leave to cook later that night?
Btw I love your recipes.
Thanks in advance
I’ve made this recipe several times, it’s so good!!! <3
Thanks so much Zandy!
Absolutely delicious! I made your yoghurt sauce and the fattoush to go with it as well.
Perfect Mady!
I don’t have cardomon. I read I can substitute equal parts of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice. I used cinnamon and nutmeg for the rub, but might be too much if the recipe calls for cinnamon sticks. What do you recommend? Someone mentioned tumeric, which I do have? Also, if it’s bonelss, skinless thighs is that 1lb to your 2lb due to bones?
This looks wonderful! Is there a difference between ground cardamom and cardamom powder?
This is a great recipe and I love the ease of the one skillet. Thank you for the great idea.
Thanks so much for the great feedback Sj!
The awesome recipe I try at home kids loves it.
That’s great to hear!! ❤️ N x
I keep making this recipe over and over- my husband and I both love it! The cardamom and cinnamon make everything so fragrant and dreamy. I usually cut the rice ingredient quantity in half (the full recipe is way too much for two of us, even if we stretch it to two nights), and that works perfectly. Thanks so much for this!
I love this recipe! The flavors are out of this world and it’s a great meal for “company”.
I would really LOVE to use brown rice. Is there anyway to modify this to accommodate that?
Thank you so much!
Made this twice and came out wonderful. Will definitely make again. It’s a keeper.
That’s great Debbie! Thanks for letting me know! – N x ❤️
Gurrrrl! My mom and I are having this for dinner right now. It is so so so good!! Squeezed a little lemon juice over the entire dish after cooking, Nagi girl, this dish right here…wooo!