Chicken and Rice Recipe
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This Chicken and Rice Recipe is one of my most favorite comfort foods and is simple to prepare.
Each of us have those certain dishes that never require following a recipe. The flavors mingle in your mind. They’re just part of you and what you know. Out of habit and familiarity, the dish materializes before your eyes. Kind of like a dance you’ve always danced. You don’t think about it. You just do it.
No precise measuring. No fancy techniques. No strict timers or guidelines. And then it’s complete.
Dishes like these are usually our comfort foods. Food we’ve grown up with. Comfort derived not just from the enjoyment of eating the food itself but from the process of doing something routine, regular, and familiar.
This dish of Chicken and Rice recipe is that kind of comfort food for me. Having grown up with it, watching my grandmothers, and mother make it, and now being able to share it with my family is a pleasure. It’s special. Not to mention super yummy. My daughter requests this along with the White Bean Chicken Chili regularly. And one day she’ll learn to make it for her family too.
Here in the south Chicken and Rice is a regional favorite, and you’ll find as many versions as there are different southern accents. Particularly in the Low Country in South Carolina, Chicken and Rice may be referred to as Chicken Bog or Chicken Pileau (or perlow, or pilau, or perlieu?). While each may have a slight variation in ingredients (some recipes may include sausage and/or wine), all have two things in common: chicken that’s been cooked in a pot of it’s own broth until it’s falling off the bone, and rice added to soak up all the broth-y goodness.
I don’t know what the higher ups in all things food would call this version that I’m sharing with you, but we call it Chicken and Rice. And that suits me just fine.
I’ve been cooking this Chicken and Rice recipe for years, and, as I said, I don’t really follow a recipe. But the last few times I’ve made it I’ve taken notes so it could be shared with you. The recipe follows but please make it your own. It’s a basic rendition but sure to please. The ingredients are simple: a whole chicken, rice, celery and onion are the main ingredients, with the addition of a few seasonings. The process is pretty simple as well. I put mine together similar to a risotto.
After the chicken has cooked and the meat is falling off the bone (at least an hour, but the more the bettah), remove the chicken and let cool slightly in order to debone. While the chicken is cooling I usually let the broth reduce a bit more. When chicken is deboned, I remove all of the broth (or use another large pot) and put about 6 cups of broth back into the pot with 3 cups of rice and the deboned chicken. Add additional salt and pepper, cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes. Stir rice and add another cup of broth, cover and cook an additional 5 minutes. Continue the process by simmering covered and stirring in more broth every 5 minutes or so, until rice is done. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
Result? A smooth, creamy and tasty Chicken and Rice. And a wonderful smelling house!
I sure hope you enjoy it as much as we do and that it brings you a measure of comfort too.
One note: If you don’t own a dutch oven or large cast iron pot, this would be a good recipe to test drive one with. They are such a all-around good item to have for a well-stocked kitchen.
Chicken and Rice Recipe
Chicken and Rice Recipe
Chicken and rice is the perfect comfort food for any time of the year.
Ingredients
- 4 quarts (16 cups) water approx. (enough to cover chicken)
- 4 lb. (approx.) whole chicken
- 3-4 stalks celery; rough chopped
- 1 large sweet onion; diced
- 1 teaspoon pepper – divided
- 1 teaspoon salt – divided
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley – divided
- 3 cups long grain white rice
Instructions
- In a large stock pot bring water, chicken, celery, onion, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, oregano, celery salt, 1 teaspoon parsley to boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for at least 1 hour (2-3 hours would be even better).
- Once simmering is complete, remove chicken to cool in order to debone. Let broth continue to simmer and reduce.
- When cool enough to handle, debone chicken.
- Remove all broth from pot (or use another pot) and put approximately 6 cups broth back into pot along with the rice, chicken, remaining pepper, salt and parsley. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes stir in another cup of broth. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Continue to check the rice for doneness every 5 minutes. Stir in a little broth as needed to avoid rice drying out and sticking to the bottom of the pan, cover and simmer; repeat this step until rice is done.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
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Can this be made in a crockpot?
I’ve been looking for a chicken “purloo” recipe for a long time, so I gave this a try. It turned out REALLY great and tasted just like the purloos I was served at church and school suppers when I was a kid in southwest Georgia. I followed your recipe, except I used 4 lbs. of chicken thighs, added some bouillon, and used a generic brand of Jasmine rice. I also didn’t need to add the additional cup of water in the final step or simmer for the 5 additional minutes–it was all done after the first 15 (maybe because I used Jasmine rice instead of long grain?). Thanks for a really good recipe :-).
I grew up on this dish it is so comforting , but my mom tossed in 4-5 chopped up boiled eggs to it before serving. Has anyone else had it this way? I am from the South so I am wondering where this addition originated.
Can’t imagine eggs in chicken and rice, but definitely in chicken and dumplings
Yuck can’t imagine eggs in my chicken and dumplings (central Alabama, slicks). But I could see it in this.
Elizabeth my mom does the same. I love it, & we always make sure to fix enough so we can have leftovers. This goes great for a small family, large family, pot lucks, church suppers or any event or reason to cook. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe, & Elizabeth are moms know what they are doing in the kitchen hands down. SC Southern Girl since day I was born & i think everyone’s variation sounded good. Hope you each enjoy as much as I have over the years.
@ Elizabeth Watson – My grandmother made chicken & rice a lot when I was growing up, and on occasion she would add sliced boiled eggs to hers… also, I’ve seen recipes online where others add boiled eggs to theirs… a strange thing is Granny always put boiled eggs in her chicken & dumplings, too (and I do that, as well – gotta follow Granny’s recipe) but I’ve never seen any recipes that call for them in chicken & dumplings… I guess the addition of boiled eggs is a personal preference?
Ann,
How interesting! I will have to try them in my dumplings now!
I made this tonight, it’s amazing! to me it needed extra salt but I am a salt person LOL 🙂 Great job 🙂
I was reminiscing last week about my mother’s Chicken and Rice. This looks very similar to how she made it. She did cut her chicken into pieces though, instead of cooking then deboning. I’ll be trying this soon! Thank you for sharing!
I grew up on this being cooked in a pressure cooker with poultry seasoning added. OMG. This, some hot cornbread and a glass of sweet tea. Manna from heaven! Good ole redneck from south Alabama food. I am now trying to do this in a low carb, low salt way. woo hoo. Anyone have any ideas, holler. Gonna use brown rice, low salt chicken bouilion, skinless chicken breast, and the other stuff.
Boy does this dish ever bring back childhood memories! I grew up in south Mississippi in the 50s/60s and this was a staple at our house. Delicious, cheap to make, and made enough to feed a hungry bunch. It was called Greasy Chicken and Rice and basically the same recipe as yours minus the oregano, celery salt, and parsley. It’s been years since I’ve had it, will have to make it now using your recipe. Thanks for sharing and the memories of good times around mama and mawmaw’s dinner tables.
My Nannie used to call hers “greasy chicken and rice” and she also just made “greasy rice 😋.” I still call mine greasy _!
This was delicious, I love to add lot’s of soy sauce to it. YUM
This was amazing! I cheated and started with four bone in chicken breasts and made the broth from that. They simmered two hours and fell
Off the bone. The seasoning was perfect and even my super picky kids loved it and asked for more! Such a huge pot for only $10 worth of ingredients! Thank you!
Yay! So glad you all enjoyed it. It is such an economical meal, and better than anything you can get at a restaurant!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I grew up eating this at least once a week, and I loved it. I never got the recipe from my mom. (she didn’t use a recipe really) She passed away 10 years ago. I have scoured the internet trying to figure out how to make this. It was only when I typed in the word “bog” that I found this. I never knew of anything like that, I just called it chicken and rice. Thank you again! 🙂
You are most welcome, Dori! I’m glad you were able to find it. We never called it bog either. It was always chicken and rice in our home and still is. And it is still one of my very favorite comfort foods ever.
I have a silly question, I’m sure! Can you do this just chicken breasts? I would use four. I have made soup from the broth, added shredded chicken, celery, some salt, onion, parsley, celery, diced carrots, then rice. I cook it in a slow cooker and it smells up the house! Your recipe sounds delicious and I will try it for sure! Thank you for your recipe!
You sure can. A whole chicken will add more flavor but chicken breasts should work fine.
I do not eat dark meat. Can I just use fresh boneless chicken breasts?
Nevermind. I see this was already answered.
Do you have any ideal about how many servings you think you get out of this recipe? I need to make it fir a crowd. Thanks
I would say 6-8. Maybe more, but everyone always eats seconds!
My husband is a “Chicken Bog” Lover! He and his “first domestic other” had the dish weekly. So of course I just had to make sure that my dish was “more bettah” and with your recipe, and a few additional ingredients (so I could kinda call it mine) it was a total success! Thanks so much for sharing!
I am so happy to hear that, Shelly! Yay!
What if I wanted to use Brown basmati rice. Takes about 45 minutes to cook.
You may need to adjust the cook time and possibly add more broth toward the end. Let me know how it turns out!
This looks amazing! I hope I can make it work with short grain brown rice. It also takes about 45 minutes to cook. ????
Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated!
You may need to adjust the cook time and possibly add more broth toward the end. If you make it, please share how it turns out.
How would I alter this for the crockpot? Got a party on Saturday and want to be able to start it and leave it so I can get the rest of my stuff ready…THANKS!!!
I’ve never prepared it in a crock pot. Without testing the crockpot method, here’s a good guess: once the chicken has cooked and is deboned, follow the rest of the recipe as written but in a crockpot, cooking until rice is done, and adding more liquid as needed.
I guess I must have missed something…this was tasteless to me and hubby…will not make again! I followed recipe…no changes…maybe for the leftovers of which there was a lot…I will make a chicken gravy to put on top!
My friend used to make this. I asked her for the recipe and she just said cook the chicken take it off the bone and put in the rice. So thank you, just what I was looking for.