- Guys, today we're making Spanish Chicken and Rice.
This is one of my favorite recipes to make
in the middle of the week.
I was born and raised in Spain.
I feel like I'm eating Paella,
but not, it's a quick and simple recipe
you're going to want to make at home.
So this recipe comes together
in a pan with sides
and a lid and the skillet.
This is a braiser pan
that I have right here.
But if you don't have one of these large braisers,
you can also use any large pan with a lid.
You're going to want one with sides,
so when you put your chicken thighs and your rice,
there's room for the rice to cook,
and you're going to want a lid so you can cook the chicken
in the rice for another 20 minutes.
The first thing we want to do is get a really good sear
on our chicken thighs' skin.
This is a bone on, skin on.
Why?
Because it's juicer,
it's going to add a lot of flavor to our rice.
So to my pan,
I'm going to add some olive oil.
You're going to want to put your chicken
skin-side down right onto the pan.
Now, once it's on there,
you do not want to touch your chicken.
Okay?
Just place it where you're going to cook it.
Now, we are searing these chicken thighs on the skin side
for about five minutes,
just to get it really golden
and seal in the juices of the chicken.
And after that, we can flip them and cook the other side.
Now, once your chicken thighs are seared on both sides,
you're just going to take your kitchen tongs and remove them
from the pan onto a plate,
but don't touch the drippings,
because you are going to want those
to brown your onions and your other vegetables.
All right, guys,
so up next, we are going to cook
our onions and vegetables.
And I have an onion that I've previously chopped,
and it's even frozen.
So, if you don't feel like chopping,
grab those freezer onions and use them for this recipe.
Shortcuts are totally great.
Whatever gets you cooking
in the middle of the week,
that's great too.
I would maybe even use frozen peppers.
You can use that too.
The idea here is to save a little time
with some shortcuts
so you can get real food meals on the table really quickly.
But I'm just simply going to take my knife
and chop my bell pepper.
So you're going to want to dice these peppers,
give or take, the same size as your onion
so they cook at the same time,
but because it's going to be cooking with your rice,
they're going to be soft and delicious
with your meal.
To my heated pan, I'm going to add my onions.
And at the same time, I'm going to add my peppers.
Now, again, I'm using red bell peppers,
but if you have a green one or yellow one,
use that as well.
We want to get these cooking until they're nice and soft.
And they're going to absorb
all those flavors from the chicken.
As these cook around,
I'm going to add my garlic cloves.
I have garlic paste here,
but you can use chopped garlic,
crushed garlic, grated garlic.
Now, guys, remember,
I always put the measurements for all of my recipes
in the description box below this video,
so you can just really enjoy the video,
cook along and then print out the recipe
and have a good time in the middle of the week.
To my veggies,
I'm going to add a little bit of salt.
Now, I'm using saffron
because I am from Spain and it is quote, "Spanish rice".
If you don't have saffron strings,
you can use paprika for this,
so it'll color your rice nicely.
It also adds flavor.
So I'm just taking my saffron strings
and putting them right over my veggies.
Now, if you're wondering,
can I make this recipe with chicken thighs
that are boneless and skinless?
Absolutely.
The chicken thighs,
you still want to brown them.
It's going to take a little less time and cook faster,
but it's good just like this.
But everything else or even chicken breasts,
but make sure you cook your chicken breasts through,
because they tend to be thick.
You could even use chicken tenders.
You know, again, don't clean your pan,
you want to leave the tidbits there to flavor
all of your veggies.
And I do have a bay leaf
I'm going to add in for seasoning.
I want to toast it in here,
but if you don't have a bay leaf,
my grandmother would tell you just to skip it
and make this dish another day.
But I'm telling you go ahead and make it,
it's okay to omit.
We actually used to have a bay leaf tree in our backyard,
and we always had bay leaves readily available.
You have more leaves than you can actually cook with,
it's cool.
We throw them in beans and rice,
in anything with, that you add liquid to,
you could just throw a bay leaf.
Now, right about now,
I am inhaling the scent of these veggies,
with the garlic, the bay leaf, like all of it.
And that is when
you are going to want to toast your rice.
I'm going to throw it right over here on my pan.
And I also want my rice to absorb
all of these flavors
before I put in my liquid.
Up next, I am going to add my liquid.
I'm using chicken broth,
you can use chicken stock, vegetable,
whatever you have around,
even water if you don't have it.
But I do have some chicken broth available.
So I'm going to add it to my rice
and stir it around to make sure
that there's no rice stuck to the bottom of the pan,
it also helps release any of the last chicken tidbits.
And you definitely want those.
Okay, so now that I put my liquid in here,
I'm going to place my chicken right in my pan once again,
because the chicken needs to be finished, fully cooking,
and we also want the rice to absorb the chicken flavor.
So now that my chicken is in my pan,
I'm going to make sure my heat is reduced to medium heat
and then bring the liquid up to a simmer,
but I'm going to cover it
and cook it for about 30 minutes
while I clean up the rest of the kitchen.
All right, guys,
so in the last five minutes of cooking,
you are going to want to take your peas,
open your lid
and put them right over the top.
Even if they're frozen, no biggie,
don't worry about it.
Just put it back on,
cooking the rice until it's ready.
Oh my gosh.
This looks so good.
This is what I'm going to eat for lunch when we cut this video,
so I can't wait.
The chicken is cooked through,
but, of course, if you want to check it,
it should be to an internal temperature of 175 Fahrenheit,
because it is dark meat, chicken thighs.
Whether it's bone in or boneless, 175,
if you use chicken breasts for the recipe, it's 165.
And then of course our rice is done.
I mean,
doesn't it look beautiful?
All right, guys, let's plate this chicken and rice.
I'm going to just grab some of my rice right here.
Taking out all the veggies
and my chicken
right on it.
So let's try
the rice first.
Tastes like chicken,
all the seasonings.
Our veggies are cooked.
Let's cut the chicken.
(subtle upbeat music)
So good.
You're definitely going to want to get the recipe
for this Spanish Chicken and Rice.
It's going to be right below the video,
along with more chicken recipes,
a chicken eBook
that's perfect for mid-week meals.
And then, of course, while you're down there,
hit that red Subscribe button.
We might get to hang out together
and cook a few times a week.
See you next time.
(subtle upbeat music)