More so than mac and cheese, chicken fingers, or even French fries, rice has always been my favorite comfort food.
When I used to get sick as a kid, my mom wouldn’t make me chicken noodle soup—instead, she’d dish up a simple bowl of rice doused in melted butter and lemon juice. I swear, coupled with The Price is Right, it was almost worth getting the flu for.
My recent adult equivalent of sick-food-meets-comfort-food emerged out of the mandatory prep for my SIBO test. If you’ve been through it, then you know that one of the frustrating parts about the breath test is that you can only eat white rice and plain protein for the 24 hours prior.
Only, I ended up not finding it frustrating at all. Eating as much as I wanted of my mom’s old comfort food, whenever I wanted, was glorious! Even if I may have bent the instructions slightly by adding more than a modest amount of butter and salt to my portions.
When I first started making over my diet to heal my Hashimoto’s, and indeed between those SIBO tests when I was told to heavily reduce my sugar intake, I sometimes felt guilty about my cravings for a big bowl of carbs. But now that I’m more practiced in the art of healthy hedonism, rice has found a sweet spot on my plate, joined by other nutritious fiber-rich things that don’t just include butter.
One of my favorite ways to design a healthy, comforting meal around this prized grain of mine is to make a baked chicken and rice casserole. I’m not talking about the cream of mushroom soup based baking dishes of your parents’ childhoods. My versions eschew the goopy soup, include lots of fresh produce, get packed with spices and flavor, and are cooked to perfection so that the rice holds its own and really sings.
You might remember this Asian-inspired version, i.e. what would happen if your favorite chicken and rice casserole went to Thailand and came back with a scandalous love child. Well, after returning from Slovenia and Italy, I wanted to make a chicken and rice recipe inspired by the Mediterranean, only using some of the best rice grown stateside in the USA.
The trick for thickening this Provencal chicken and rice casserole without having to use a canned soup or béchamel is Arborio rice. The extra starch helps the whole thing glue together, and by the end of the 45-minute trip to the oven, the grains are perfectly tender, the cherry tomatoes are sweet and caramelized, and the briny flavor of the olives has had a chance to meld and intensify, adding their healthy fats to the mix.
Arborio is a medium grain rice with a characteristic white dot at the center of the grain. You might know it, primarily, from making risotto. Since it has a high starch content, using it is a great gluten-free healthy way to develop a creamy texture in your dishes without using any dairy. And though many associate arborio rice with the home country of Italy, a large portion of the crops are grown in the US!
If you’re curious where your rice comes from and want to try to source locally rather than overseas (which, with an eye towards sustainability, I always encourage), simply turn over the package and check for the USA Rice logo on the back or see where it was grown. I used this Arborio from California!
For more gluten-free casserole recipes, check out these:
- Chicken Paella Casserole
- Thai Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Chicken Shawarma Casserole
- Chicken Satay Chicken and Rice Casserole
And if chicken isn’t your thing, try this baked shrimp and rice casserole recipe or this massaman-style beef and rice casserole!
Read on for this baked Provencal chicken and rice casserole recipe, which marries the best antipasti flavors from Italy and herbs from France, with rich, healthy rice from this side of the pond.
With health and hedonism,
Phoebe
Baked Provencal Chicken and Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 cup USA Arborio rice
- 1/2 cup pitted Nicoise olives
- 1 clove garlic minced (optional)
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 4 sprigs of fresh oregano thyme or rosemary (or a combination)
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup white wine
- Sea salt
- 1 pound whole chicken thighs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the Arborio rice, olives, garlic, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, chili flakes, oregano, chicken stock, wine and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Fold the ingredients together until well-mixed. Transfer to a 10-inch oven-proof skillet or a 9 x 13 casserole dish and arrange in an even layer. Nestle the chicken thighs, skin-side up in the rice mixture and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Bake the casserole for 45 minutes, or until the rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Serve warm with a green salad on the side.
Notes
This easy baked chicken and rice casserole recipe is brought to you in partnership with my friends at USA Rice & TheFeedfeed. All opinions are my own (duh). Thank you for supporting the brands that make this site (and my healthy comfort food) possible!
Hi Phoebe!:)
We absolutely adored this dish (and of course pinned it for immediate use lol)!
Besides being a great and healthy dish, what we also loved about this, is the simple dump-and-bake method for making it!:)
Arborio must be definitely great for this and we will be using it. We try similar dishes with Carolina rice in the past, have you tried it this way?
Sending you our love,
Mirella and Panos
xoxoxo
yes i’ve tried it with carolina rice and it works well too just less rich and gooey 🙂
Thanx so much for clarifying sweetie, greetings from sunny Athens!
xoxoxo
Wonderfull. I cannot resist, I’m going to prepare it.! Thank you very much
hope you enjoy it!
Hi Phoebe, I have to say this is the first ever comment I’ve left about a recipe, but good lord this was delicious! My kids wolfed it down, too! Thank you so much!
ahhh I’m so glad!! it’s one of my faves 🙂 xo
Love this dish- started making it a few weeks ago and it has become a regular in my rotation. Very simple and easy to make but absolutely fantastic, decadent taste! Thank you for this recipe.
yay!! so easy right?
You can still have the garlic oil flavor but no FODMAPs if you braise the garlic in the oil (NOT in water, you will get FODMAPPED if you braise garlic or onion in wateter) then remove the actual pieces of garlic. I read this the other day and am so excited, as I love actual garlic taste, it is key to so many recipes.
What are good substitutes for the Arborio rice?
sushi rice works well too!
Hi! What are good substitutes for tomatoes? Thanks!
Phoebe,
I love this dish and make it often but I’ve found myself in a kitchen without a working oven for a week. Think I could make this on the stove top?
unfortunately, probably not! You can make a risotto version though and sear the chicken first but the casserole method doesn’t really work stovetop.
Love this recipe but just one question, do you bake covered or uncovered?
uncovered!
This recipe has been a family favorite since I discovered it a few years ago! I’ve shared this recipe probably more than any other recipe – no one can get enough! We often add up to double the amount of chicken and the recipe still works. It’s also the easiest recipe with the most elevated outcome of any recipe I’ve ever made. Thank you so much for this, Phoebe!
Do you have any idea how many calories there are in this dish? I’m thinking 500-600 per serving?