This One-Pan Tomato-Basil Chicken and Rice Is a Dinner Miracle
Allow me to paint a picture for you: It’s dinnertime, and you have a table of hungry people waiting with anticipation. You open the oven door, pull out a skillet filled with perfectly cooked chicken thighs and rice, and set it on the table. Everyone digs in and proclaims how good it is. You smile and pat yourself on the back for another successful weeknight meal. And when it’s time to clean up, you only have one pan to wash. Sound too good to be true? It’s not!
The secret to success here is using bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. When you first sear the thighs in the hot skillet, you get that nice golden-brown exterior. The fat that cooks off from the chicken skin also creates a flavorful base to sauté the ingredients for the sauce. Later, when you add the chicken back into the skillet, the tomato sauce helps keep the interior meat from drying out. What you’re left with is truly the best of both worlds: crispy skin and juicy meat.
The other ingredient that really seals the deal is the sprinkle of fresh basil on top when the skillet comes out of the oven. Because the recipe calls for sun-dried tomatoes and canned crushed tomatoes, the pop of freshness the basil imparts really goes a long way here.
→ Get the Recipe: One-Pan Tomato Basil Chicken and Rice from Cafe Delites