Healthy Southwest Chicken and Rice Skillet

Name: Healthy Southwest Chicken and Rice Skillet
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion (-minced); 3 cloves garlic (-minced); 1 lb bonelss/skinless chicken thighs (-cut into chunks); 1 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 1 tsp cumin; 1 tsp smoked paprika; 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper; 1 cup brown rice (-rinsed); 1 cup salsa (-your favourite); 1 cup black beans (-rinsed); 1/2 bell pepper (-cut into chunks); 1 ear corn (-kernels removed (or about 1 cup frozen)); 1 tbsp unsalted butter (-optional); 2 cups chicken stock (- I used unsalted); tomato (-diced); avocado (-sliced); cilantro; jalapeno or pencil chili (-sliced); lime; yogurt

January 25, 2018 Updated: October 24, 2018 By Girl Heart Food 44 Comments

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This healthy chicken and rice skillet recipe is a sponsored post by USA Rice Canada, but, as always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that make Girl Heart Food possible and for helping me continue to do what I love – cook, eat and share delicious recipes! #ReachForRice

This one pot Healthy Southwest Chicken and Rice Skillet is sure to be a family favourite! It’s loaded with flavour from spices like cumin, cayenne and smoked paprika and packs a filling punch of nutrition from whole grain brown rice and chicken thighs. Garnish to your heart’s content! This is one delicious recipe!

Hey, my friends! How has January been treating you so far? I gotta say – it hasn’t been too bad ’round here. The weather hasn’t been ‘summertime level nice’, but decent for this time of year. And I’ve been cooking up a storm with all sorts of nutritious comfort food recipes, like this chicken and rice skillet.

Chicken and Rice Skillet – An Easy One Pot Recipe

You know what I love about this recipe besides the awesome flavour? It’s SO easy to prepare! You just put all the ingredients in one pot and way to go! There’s not a kitchen full of dishes required and very minimal clean up. I don’t know about you, but I need more recipes like that in my life. To be honest, though, no matter what I do in the kitchen, I somehow always make a mess…..hubby can attest to that.

What are the Benefits of Rice?

Are you a fan of rice like me? It’s eaten in our home on the regular. It’s so inexpensive (like, I bought a huge four pound bag of whole grain brown rice for less than $7!). I’m pretty sure I can feed the entire street for a week on it, lol. Plus, it’s a delicious base for so many recipes like stir fry, veggie and rice bowls and, of course, this healthy southwest chicken and rice skillet.

The main reason why I love rice is because its nutritious!! Did you know that it’s low in calories (108 calories for half a cup), it’s gluten free and loaded with fibre! Rice is also a plant based protein and when combined with beans (like in this recipe), it’s giving you eight essential amino acids! That’s good stuff 🙂

Trying to keep any healthy eating new year’s resolutions on track? Well, this recipe is for you!! And one thing about me, is that I will never sacrifice flavour. I’ve been there in my younger days, eating boring ‘diet’ foods. These days in my more experienced, (or, er) older wisdom, I’m all about real food. This chicken and rice skillet hits all the important check marks for me.

If you can’t finish this whole pan in one sitting (because there’s only two people in your household like mine), leftovers warm up beautifully. If you want to bring a little more ‘life’ to the dish upon reheating, just add a touch of chicken stock to the mix as you reheat. And, if you are thinking beyond dinner, leftovers are delicious for breakfast with a poached egg on top…..just sayin’.

Other Easy One Pot Recipes you May Enjoy

Hope you love this easy chicken and rice recipe!

Until next time, take care and chit chat again soon 🙂

~Dawn

P.S If you think this Healthy Southwest Chicken and Rice Skillet will make your belly happy too, please be sure to hit that little Pin button. Many thanks you guys! XO

5 from 7 votes