Braised Chicken Thighs with Mexican Rice
Braised chicken thighs with Mexican rice came about because all we had after coming home from our trip to Miami was some frozen chicken thighs and a huge bag of rice. That, coupled with my son claiming that he will eat rice as long as it isn’t just white/plain rice. He refuses to eat white rice, which is really annoying since he isn’t usually a picky eater and also because the rest of us really like some buttery white/jasmine/basmati rice. On our way home from our trip we ordered some Cuban food from the Miami airport, at La Carreta. There was a yellow rice and a Cuban rice that he and my daughter devoured. Maybe he was being honest about the rice situation, so I wanted to put that to the test.
I started off by thawing out some chicken thighs, then seasoning them with some salt, pepper, chili powder, and smoked paprika. I heated up our cast iron Dutch oven until it was smoking hot, then added enough oil to coat the bottom of the pot. I seared the chicken, skin side down until it was crispy and colorful then flipped each piece over to give the bottom side the same treatment. I then added three cups of chicken stock to the pot, enough to cover about 3/4s of the way up of the chicken. I turned the heat down to medium low, placed the lid on top and let the chicken thighs cook for about two hours until they were very tender (about 195-200 degrees).
Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside for now, then strain the cooking liquid into a liquid measuring cup.
At this point, it is a good time to get your rice washed. Place two cups of medium/ long grain white rice into a fine mesh strainer and rinse the rice until the water is clear then let it drain for a few minutes while prepping the rest of the rice ingredients.
Place the pot back on the stove, over medium high heat. Add more oil into the pan, and sauté onions, carrots, and garlic for few minutes just to soften them up a bit. Add your rice to the pot and turn the heat up to high. The rice might stick to the bottom of the pot but continue to cook and stir periodically for about ten minutes to get some color on the rice. You need three cups total of cooking liquid, so whatever you strained into the liquid measuring cup, add whatever chicken stock you need to to make it so that you are adding three total cups of stock into the rice. Add in 1/4 cup of fire roasted tomato puree (mine were canned diced and I blended them). Obviously fresh is better, but tomato season is past us at this time of year and I wasn’t going to the store for one item. Add a pinch of salt, a pinch of red chili flake and bring the broth to a boil. Once boiling lower the heat to low and place the cover over the rice. Cook for fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, add frozen peas to the top of the rice (quicky to keep as much steam in the pot as possible). Keep covered and remove from the heat for five minutes. After five minutes, fluff the rice with a fork. Add chicken thighs to the top of the rice, with whatever juices left the chicken while resting then cover again until you are ready to serve. If the rice is a bit loose still, that is a good thing.. as long as the rice is tender all of those juices are going to be delicious.
Serve the rice in a bowl then top with a chicken thigh. In a more thoughtful setting, I would have sliced some jalapenos, and chopped some cilantro to garnish the plates with, maybe serve it with some lime.. unfortunately this is real life and not every dinner is planned out entirely. We ate it with a little bit of Frank’s red hot.
And wouldn’t you know? My son and daughter ate this rice like animals. The chicken was super tender and falling off the bone, and the rice was flavorful and filling. All that was left was a few tablespoons of rice, it was impressive.
Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we did, have fun making it your own by adding more spice, tomato bouillon, and/or cumin plus any garnish that was mentioned above (lime, cilantro, jalapenos).
Braised Chicken Thighs with Mexican Rice
Ingredients
Braised Chicken Thighs
- 4 Bone In Chicken Thighs (Skin On)
- 2 tbsp Chili Powder
- 1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 2 tsp Cracked Black Pepper
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 cups Chicken Stock
Mexican Rice
- 2 cups Long Grain Rice; rinsed and strained
- 1/4 cup Pureed Fire Roasted Tomatoes
- 1/2 Yellow Onion, Finely Diced
- 1 Carrot, Finely Diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, Finely Diced
- 1/2 cup Frozen Peas
- 1 tsp Salt
- pinch Red Pepper Flake
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
Instructions
Braised Chicken Thighs
- Season your chicken thighs with salt, pepper, chili powder, and smoke paprika.
- Heat your cast iron Dutch oven over high heat until smoking hot.
- Add olive oil to the pot then sear your chicken thighs, skin side down, until they are crispy and colorful then flip and do the same on the bottom side.
- Add chicken stock to the pot, then cover and lower the heat to low.
- Cook for two hours or until the chicken is fall off the bone tender (temps at 195-200 degrees).
- Set chicken aside, and strain the braising liquid into a liquid measuring cup.
Mexican Rice
- Place the Dutch oven back on the stove, over medium high heat.
- Add olive oil to the pot and sauté onions, carrots, and garlic for a few minutes to soften them up.
- Add rice to the pot and increase the heat to high. Cook while periodically stirring for ten minutes, allowing the rice to get a bit of color and crisp.
- Add three cups of the braising liquid into the pot (supplement with chicken stock if there is less than three total cups), pureed fire roasted tomatoes, red chili pepper flakes, and salt.
- Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to low and cover for fifteen minutes.
- Quickly remove the lid and throw in your frozen peas, then put the lid back on.
- Turn off the heat and let steam for five more minutes.
- After five minutes, fluff the rice with a fork then add your chicken thighs and whatever juices they left behind onto the top of the rice and cover.
- Let sit for another ten minutes then serve. Taste for salt and spice, now is the time to make it perfect!
- Optional: Garnish with thinly sliced jalapeno, lime, and cilantro.