Chicken and Rice Never Looked So Good

There are 3 million chicken recipes on the internet. We're here to show you the good ones. Win, win.

Today: A New Orleans chicken and rice dish that's the ideal weeknight dinner—without taking any shortcuts.

What if we told you that in the span of one hour, you could create a spice mix, braise a chicken, make a pot of mushroom stock, create delicious dirty rice from scratch, and feed your entire family (or five friends) out of one skillet? Jenny H.'s recipe for Creole Chicken with Mushroom Dirty Rice doesn't take any shortcuts (no store-bought stock or boxed mix of dirty rice), but somehow yields a homemade meal that's packed with a rich, earthy flavor in the span of one episode of True Detective. The depth of flavor comes from loads of garlic, serrano chile, mushrooms, and tomatoes. The only real challenge here is to keep yourself from dipping your fork into the crispy bits of rice along the edges before serving—which you can do by just setting the entire pan on a trivet on the table. Dig in.

Creole Chicken with Mushroom Dirty Rice

Serves 5

For the creole seasoning:

1 1/2 tablespoons pimenton (smoked paprika)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed dried basil

For the chicken and rice:

1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
5 bone-in, skin-on free-range chicken thighs
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
5 teaspoons creole seasoning (see Step 1), divided
Grapeseed oil, for frying
3 cups assorted mushrooms, such as maitake, shiitake, and oyster
2 cups yellow onion, diced
5 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup diced celery 
1 1/2 cups diced green bell pepper
1/2 serrano chile, diced
3 fresh bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon roughly chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 cup crushed tomatoes, juice and all
1 cup long grain rice, such as basmati
Thinly sliced scallions and chopped parsley, as garnish

Save (and print) the full recipe here.

Photo by James Ransom

Is there an undiscovered Food52 chicken recipe you love? Send us a paragraph or two at [email protected] about why you love it, and it could be next week's Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.