Recipes: One Pan Greek Lemon Chicken Rice with Roast Garlic

A super simple and flavourful one-pan Greek style roast chicken with roasted head of garlic and lemon! Having a small kitchen I really enjoy a nice one-pan meal for the ease and convenience and this one-pan greek lemon chicken rice with roast garlic is my current favourite! You won’t believe how easy it is to make this meal and it’s just packed with flavour! 

It starts off by frying the chicken in a pan until the skin is nice and golden brown, crispy and good! Onions and garlic are then sautéed before adding the rice, broth and heads of garlic and throwing it in the oven to roast until the rice and chicken are both cooked! It’s really that simple! 

The dish has Greek inspired flavours including garlic and lemon along with a healthy dose of oregano. I did not make this dish with the heads of roasted garlic but one day I was thinking that since I was roasting the chicken anyways, why not roast some garlic along with it? 

The heads of garlic can be placed in the pan along with the rice and chicken to roast along with them. Garlic takes a bit longer to roast than the chicken but that’s a-ok with me for the flavour that it adds! 

I was also pleasantly surprised by the fact that the extra roasting time allows for the rice to cook until it gets all nice and golden brown and crispy along the edges of the pan and that is so amazingly good! That added time certainly pays off and it require no extra effort! What makes this amazing;

• It’s so easy to make. 
• It’s one-pan. 
• The chicken is fried in the pan until the skin in nice and crispy. 
• The rice is toasted bringing out nutty flavours and aromas. 
• The onions are cooked in the rendered fat from the chicken skin and the juices from the chicken drip into the rice as it roasts infusing the rice with even more chicken flavour. 
• The browned bits of flavour stuck to the bottom of the pan after frying the chicken and sautéing the onions are picked up and added to the broth that the rice is cooked in when the pan is deglazed. 
• The rice along the edges of the pan roast up nice and crispy. 
• Roasted garlic! 

If you are thinking ahead you can even marinate the chicken in a garlic, lemon and oregano marinade the night before to add even more flavour! 

One Pan Greek Lemon Chicken Rice with Roast Garlic 

Prep Time: 5 minutes 

Cook Time: 55 minutes 

Total Time: 1 hour 

Servings: 4 

A super simple and flavourful one-pan Greek style roast chicken with roasted head of garlic and lemon! 

Ingredients;

• 1 tablespoon olive oil salt and pepper to taste 1 pound chicken (breasts, thighs, drumsticks, legs etc.) 
• 1 onion, diced 
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped 
• 1 cup long grain rice 
• 2 cups chicken broth 
• 1 teaspoon oregano 
• 1 lemon, juice and zest 
• 2 heads garlic, top 1/4 cut off 
• 1 teaspoon olive oil 

Directions 

1. Heat the oil in a large oven safe pan (a cast iron skillet is nice) over medium-high heat, season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook in the pan until the chicken is golden brown, about 2-4 minutes per side, before setting aside. 
2. Add the onion to the pan and cook until tender and lightly golden brown, about 3-5 minutes. 
3. Add the garlic and rice to the pan and cook until fragrant, about a minute. 
4. Add the broth and deglaze the pan by scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon while the broth simmers. 
5. Mix in the oregano and the lemon, add the chicken and heads of garlic with the cut sides up and drizzle the oil on the garlic before covering the pan and roasting in a preheated 375F/190C oven until the rice is cooked and the garlic is a light golden brown and tender, about 30-45 minutes. 
6. Squeeze the garlic out of the heads and mix it into the rice serving the chicken on the lemon garlic rice. 

Tips: 

Use skin-on and bone-in chicken for more flavour and that crispy skin! (Boneless and skinless chicken also works.) 

Option: 

Marinate the chicken in 2 tablespoons olive oil, the juice and zest of one lemon, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper for 30 minutes to overnight! Add the marinade to the pan along with the broth and rice for even more flavour! 

Option: 

Add slices of lemon to the pan before roasting. 

Option: 

Omit the heads of garlic and roast until the rice is cooked, about 20 minute to save some time. 

Option: 

Serve with kalamata olives, crumbled feta and chopped parsley! 

Nutrition Facts: 

Calories 430, Fat 8.6g (Saturated 1.7g, Trans 0), Cholesterol 87mg, Sodium 113mg, Carbs 47.4g (Fiber 2.1g, Sugars 1.7g), Protein 38.8gNutrition

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