By five o’clock the light is gone, the day has used up your patience, and dinner still has to happen. This is the pan for that night. Chicken thighs sear in the same skillet the rice cooks in, the oven does the long part, and you get a dinner that tastes like you planned it all week.

Serves 4 to 6. About 1 hour 10 minutes, mostly hands-off.

Why One Pan Works

Wild rice needs time and liquid, about 45 minutes and three cups of broth for every cup of grain. A covered skillet in a 375-degree oven gives it both, and the chicken bastes the rice as it cooks. Searing the thighs first is the one step worth standing at the stove for. It browns the skin and leaves fond in the pan, and that fond is where the flavor in the rice comes from.

The grain itself is Minnesota through and through. Wild rice was adopted as the state’s official grain in 1977, and it is not rice at all. It is the seed of an aquatic grass that grows in the shallow lakes of central and northern Minnesota. It cooks up chewy and nutty, and it holds its shape in a way white rice never would here. Use true wild rice for this, not a wild rice blend, which cooks at a different speed and turns soft.

Everything goes into one oven-safe skillet, so the rice absorbs the broth, the chicken juices, and the browned bits from the sear. There is no separate pot to wash and no sauce to make. The pan comes to the table as it is.

One-Pan Chicken and Wild Rice Skillet

One skillet, one hour, and Minnesota's own wild rice turn chicken thighs into the weeknight dinner you'll cook on repeat.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 55 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 6 servings

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

For the chicken

• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs about 2 1/4 pounds
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

For the rice and vegetables

• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 2 carrots peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms sliced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 cup wild rice rinsed
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

To finish

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Method

 

1. Season and sear. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Pat the thighs dry with paper towels and season them all over with the salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. Dry skin browns; wet skin steams. Heat the oil in a 12-inch oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Sear the thighs skin-side down for 5 minutes without moving them, then flip and sear 3 minutes more. They will not be cooked through. Move them to a plate.
2. Build the base. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the skillet. Cook the onion, carrots, and mushrooms over medium heat for 6 to 7 minutes, stirring now and then, until the mushrooms give up their liquid and the onion softens. Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds, just until it smells fragrant.
3. Add the rice and broth. Stir in the wild rice, broth, and thyme. Scrape the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits. Bring the broth to a gentle simmer.
4. Nestle and cover. Set the thighs skin-side up into the rice, tucking them in so the rice comes partway up their sides. Cover the skillet tightly with its lid or a double layer of foil. A loose cover lets the steam escape, and the rice will not finish. Bake for 50 minutes.
5. Check and rest. The rice should be tender with most of the grains split open, and the chicken should read 165 degrees F at the thickest part. If the rice is still firm, re-cover and bake 10 minutes more. Let the skillet rest uncovered for 5 minutes, then scatter the parsley over the top and serve straight from the pan.

Make It Yours, and Make It Ahead

Boneless, skinless thighs work too. Sear them the same way and cut the bake to 35 to 40 minutes, checking the chicken at 165 degrees F. If mushrooms are not your thing, swap in two stalks of diced celery with the onion and carrots. A handful of dried cranberries stirred in for the last 10 minutes of baking leans the dish toward the holidays.

This pairs well with something roasted and simple on the side. Roasted acorn squash is a good match, and it uses the same oven while the skillet bakes.

Leftovers keep in a covered container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Reheat covered in a 325-degree oven until hot through, with a splash of broth if the rice has dried out. The skillet itself reheats well, which makes this a fair candidate for a Sunday cook that covers Monday too.

One pan, one hour, dinner done. The skillet goes from oven to table, and the only thing left to decide is who gets the last thigh.