Succulent Roasted Chicken Breasts with Confetti Rice

This dish is elegant enough to serve for a holiday meal but also simple enough for a lovely dinner. It’s a basic but delicious recipe for how to roast a chicken breast with skin on, primarily boneless, (I got a bit lazy and mighta left a bone or two in there) but the big bones are out BUT the tenders are still attached. This makes for a large skin-on breast. Even if you dislike the skin, please I beg you, don’t remove it. It adds so much to the juiciness of your chicken and you can always remove it afterwards, really. And second, the confetti rice. I particularly like to prepare rice this way since it’s both packed with veggies and is good for you but mostly cuz it’s delish and oh so pretty to look at, serve and eat.

The chicken is ridiculously easy to prepare and yet, if you really follow the instructions without cheating, it will be so moist and delicious that even those who prefer the leg and thigh will happily eat it. Yup yup, trust me.

So without further ado, whip out your chicken breasts with skin on. Now what’s important to note here is that it’s not a small chicken breast. It has height and it’s not flat like a shnitzel. This is critical due to cooking time since the bigger the chicken breast, the longer it must cook in the oven and whatever we do here we don’t wanna dry it out. Hence, the pics below:

See what I mean about thick? That’s cuz I cut up my own chicken (although you can purchase them like this as well, of course) and didn’t remove the tenders, those skinny long bits under the chicken breast. K. Onward. Gather your handful of ingredients together and preheat your oven to 400 F/200 C. Take your nicely cleaned chickies and place them on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet.

Now drizzle some good olive oil lightly on each chicken breast and rub all over top and bottom. Then sprinkle lightly with the salt, pepper and rosemary. I actually prefer dried rosemary to fresh since I find the fresh way too powerful, what can I say.

Let the chicken sit till oven comes to temp and also make sure it’s not too cold. This is to make sure that when it goes into the oven it’s cooking right away. Remember, the succulence of the chicken completely depends upon not overcooking it. Don’t worry, if you are using small skin covered chicken breasts I’ll give you approximate oven times as well. Good. Set aside and begin on the confetti rice.

Chop an onion and clean and slice some mushrooms.

Then take a nice red pepper and an ear of corn (alternatively 1/2 cup of frozen corn kernels or canned drained corn) I saved my other cooked corn for making Lizi’s Taco Salad

Chop the peppers and slice off the cooked corn.

Sautee your onion in oil till light yellow and add the mushrooms, cook a bit till wilted.

Now toss in the corn and pepper

and stir stir stir. Not too long cuz their gonna cook in with the rice and water, just enough to coat with the oil.

Btw, don’t forget your chicken! By now the oven is up to temp so pop it in there and set a timer for 25 minutes for a flattish chicken breast and 35 minutes for a plumper, fuller chicken breast. Okay.

Now add salt and pepper and prepare boiling water and the rice.

Now honestly I used a cup and a third of rice only because that’s what I had to hand. You can also use more rice if you choose. Good, into the pot they go and stir all the ingredients together.

Cover the pot tightly with a lid and set a timer for 15 minutes. In the meantime, take your frozen but defrosted broccoli (defrost quickly by removing about a cup’s worth and soaking in water in a bowl for 10 or so minutes. Drain and cut into smaller florets. Done.) and after 15 minutes of cooking the rice and veg together QUICKLY open pot and place broccoli florets right on top of the rice mixture and clap the lid back on, cooking 5 more minutes and turning off flame. Let steam another few minutes.

Remember your chix? K. Now is critical time. Open oven, remove chix and close oven door (don’t lose the heat) and with a wooden toothpick, poke one chicken breast in the center and check if juice runs red, pink or yellow (clearish). If yellow, immediately cover with tin foil and let rest 5-10 minutes. If pink cook 5 more minutes remove and cover with tin foil, let rest.

Back to the rice. It should be fluffy and gorgeously colorful. Yay! K. If serving immediately, slice chicken in pretty slices and place on plate with a mound of your confetti rice by it’s side. You won’t have any left, trust me.

Succulent Roasted Chicken Breasts with Confetti Rice

For the chicken:

4-6 plump full chicken breasts skin on, cleaned, room temperature
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
3-4 shakes of rosemary

Confetti Rice:

1 peeled, chopped onion
2-3 tablespoons canola or other vegetable oil
15 cleaned, sliced mushrooms
1 red pepper, washed and chopped
1 ear of cooked corn or 1/2 cup frozen or canned drained corn
1 teaspoon salt
pinch black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
1 1/3 cups basmati rice
2 2/3 cups boiling water
1 cup frozen broccoli, defrosted and sliced into smaller florets

Preheat oven to 400 F/200 C. Take clean chicken breasts and place on parchment lined rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and rub all over chicken and sprinkle with salt, pepper and rosemary. Let sit until oven comes to temperature. As soon as it does, put chicken in oven and time for 25 minutes for smaller skin covered chicken breasts, 35 minutes for big plump chicken breasts.

Now prepare the rice. In a pot with a lid, big enough to hold all the ingredients, saute the onion in the oil till light yellow and add mushrooms, cook till a bit wilted and add pepper, corn, salt and black pepper and red pepper if using, stir and cook till coated with oil. Take the rice and boiling water and add to the pot, stirring well. Cover the pot and put on a timer for 15 minutes. Don’t forget your chicken and keep an eye/ear out for it. As soon as rice is cooked for 15 minutes place broccoli florets on top of rice mixture in pot, close pot again tightly and cook 5 more minutes. Turn of flame let steam a bit.

Check chicken after 25/35 minutes depending on how big the chicken breasts are and test with wooden toothpick. If juices run red or pink, cook an additional 5 minutes. If they run yellow/clear, immediately remove, cover with tin foil and let rest. If the extra 5 minutes are needed, when done, remove and let rest covered as before. Chicken should be completely cooked but moist and succulent. Slice chicken and plate and serve with a nice sized scoop of fluffy confetti rice on the side.