Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
One Pot Chicken with Tomato Basil Risotto
Golden chicken over creamy tomato-basil rice makes a generous dinner to share from the pan. Pesto and Parmesan give the rice a savory finish, with fresh tomato pieces folded through. Scoop the rice around the chicken and enjoy both together while the sauce is warm.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 55 min
- Original yield
- Serves 4
- Ingredients
- 12 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Main course
- Primary protein
- Chicken
- Cuisine
- Italian
- Cooking method
- Baking · Baked & roasted · One pot · One pot & sheet pan
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 15 minutes or less · Total: 31–60 minutes
- Dish type
- Rice dishes
A few quick notes
1. Start chicken skin side down
Season thighs and brown the skin side deeply before turning to brown the other side, then remove and cover the chicken.
2. Toast rice with the onion
Let onion soften until translucent, then stir in rice for two minutes before adding wine for its reduction stage.
3. Boil before the oven
Return chicken to the broth-and-rice mixture and bring the liquid back to a boil before covering and moving the pan into the oven.
Get to know the ingredients
Short-grain rice
Short-grain rice is listed for this covered oven cooking, toasted briefly after onion and before wine and broth are added.
Seeded tomatoes
Chop and seed the tomatoes before cooking. Keep them for stirring into the rice after the chicken comes out of the baked pan.
Basil pesto
The pesto is stirred through the finished rice with tomatoes and Parmesan, giving the cooked base its final basil flavor.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 4. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 6 steps completeMake room for One Pot Chicken with Tomato Basil Risotto
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Finish rice, then replace chicken
Remove chicken to stir pesto, tomatoes and cheese through the rice, taste for seasoning and put chicken back on top to serve.
A little more help as you go
Reduce wine completely
Turn heat to high after adding wine and cook until it evaporates before pouring broth into the toasted rice mixture.
A covered oven stage
Cover the pan after the liquid boils and keep it covered for the forty-minute oven cooking before finishing the rice.
A few questions you might have
Do the tomatoes bake for the full oven stage?
They go into the rice after baking, along with pesto and Parmesan, while the chicken is briefly lifted out.
When is Italian seasoning used?
Sprinkle it over the chicken thighs with salt and pepper before their first browning in the hot oil.
Does Parmesan go over the chicken?
Stir it into the cooked rice with pesto and tomatoes, then return chicken to the top of the rice for serving.
How should the chicken look before the oven?
Its skin side should be deep golden brown and the other side golden after the initial skillet stage, before returning it over the rice.
Do I need to add broth gradually?
The directions add the broth before returning chicken, then cover and bake the rice mixture together rather than ladling broth in during cooking.
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: dinneratthezoo.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.
