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Chicken and Chorizo Rice

4.95 from 20 votes

This oven-baked chicken and chorizo rice recipe is absolutely tasty and easy to make. The chicken, chorizo, and rice are baked together in one pot and perfectly seasoned with aromatic spices. It’s a good chicken recipe that you will cook over, and over, and over again! 

Chicken and Chorizo Rice

If you are looking for easy one-pot chicken recipes or don't know what to cook with Spanish chorizo, try this recipe!

This chicken and chorizo rice dish is so flavorful and filling. It has all the components of a perfect meal in one pan! The chicken is so tender and the Spanish rice is so fluffy and not mushy!

This oven-baked chicken and rice recipe taste similar to Arroz con pollo and paella! Simply delicious!

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Why You’ll Love This Chicken and Chorizo Rice Recipe: 

  • It's a simple dish that cooks all in one pot. Cooking meals in one pot saves lots of time! You will also have fewer pots to wash for after dinner!
  • It's an affordable meal. This dish uses inexpensive bone-in chicken thighs and rice.
  • It's loaded with the Mediterranean and Latin American flavors!
Spanish Rice with Chicken and Chorizo

Ingredients for Chicken and Chorizo Rice

This dish is made with basic ingredients and seasonings that you can easily find in your pantry!

To make this Chicken and Chorizo rice dish, you will need; bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs, Spanish chorizo, long-grain white rice, Trader's Joe fire-roasted red bell pepper, tomato sauce, onion, chicken broth, garlic powder, smoked paprika, thyme, black pepper, and salt.

Chicken and Chorizo Rice
  • Smoked paprika, also known as pimenton, is the secret spice of Spain and a popular ingredient in many Mediterranean recipes. Pimenton is made from peppers that are smoked, dried, and ground into powder. It's a powerful condiment to add intense red color, aroma, earthy complexity, and smoky flavor to any dish.
  • Smoked paprika is a widely used condiment in many traditional Spanish dishes, including paella, all types of stews, and as an essential ingredient to make Spanish sausages.
  • Bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs. They are an incredibly versatile, cheap, fattiest, juiciest, and most flavorful part of the chicken. Bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs crispy up perfectly and cook at the same time as rice which makes them the perfect protein choice for this recipe.
  • Spanish Chorizo. It is a dry-cured sausage made from coarsely chopped pork and pork fat. The sausage is seasoned with garlic, pimentón (smoked paprika), and salt. It also has a deep brick-red color and smoky flavor. The dry-cured sausage can be sliced and eaten without cooking.
Chicken and Chorizo Rice

Now, let's talk about the preparation and cooking process.

How to Make This Spanish Rice with Chicken and Chorizo:

 

The preparation is pretty simple. You only need to pat the chicken dry with paper towels, chop an onion and mix all dried spices; garlic powder, smoked paprika, thyme, black pepper, and salt together in a small bowl.

The cooking process takes about an hour but the result is phenomenal, and it’s worth it!

So here are some important cooking steps to follow:

Chicken
  • First, season the chicken with 1 tablespoon of dried spices mixture. Cook chicken thighs, skin side down, until fat renders and skin starts to brown for about 5 minutes then flip over and cook for 3 minutes.
  • Second, keep about 3 tablespoons of rendered fat in a small bowl and discard the remaining. Clean the skillet to remove any unwanted residue to prevent burning if necessary. Add the reserved render fat back into the skillet, cook the onion until translucent for about 3 minutes.
Spanish Chorizo
  • Third, add chorizo and fire-roasted red bell pepper. Stir for about 1-2 minutes.
  • Fourth, add rice and the remaining dried spices mixture to the skillet and stir for about 2 minutes or until it smells fragrant, nutty, and looks slightly toasted.
Arroz con pollo
  • After that, add the tomato sauce then put the chicken on top of the rice, and pour the chicken broth around the chicken.
  • Now, it's time to bake the chicken and chorizo rice dish in the oven, covered for about 30 minutes then uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked.

How to Store the Leftover

Discard any cold leftovers that have been left out for more than 2 hours at room temperature or 1 hour when the temperature is above 90°F. You can learn more here.

Here's how to store leftover cooked chicken and rice:

  • Let the hot chicken and chorizo rice cool to room temperature before refrigerating.
  • Transfer the leftover to an airtight container. Properly stored, it can last 3-4 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.

How to Reheat the Leftover

  • Place a single serving of chicken rice in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover the dish with a microwave-safe lid.
  • Microwave in 30-60 second increments until warm in all parts.
  • Alternatively, you can reheat a large portion of leftovers, covered, in the oven at 350°F for 20 minutes or until warm in all parts.

Check Out More Delicious Chicken Recipes

I hope you’ll enjoy this Oven-Baked Chicken and Chorizo rice recipe! If you try it out, please don’t forget to come back and rate the recipe card! 

📖 Recipe

Chicken and Chorizo Rice

Chicken and Chorizo Rice

Rika
This oven-baked chicken and chorizo rice recipe is absolutely tasty and easy to make. The chicken, chorizo, and rice are baked together in one pot and perfectly seasoned with aromatic spices. It’s a good chicken recipe that you will cook over, and over, and over again! 
4.95 from 20 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Spanish
Servings 5
Calories 562 kcal

Equipment

  • A Dutch oven or braiser or oven-safe deep skillet

Ingredients
 

  • 5 bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil , (divided)
  • 1 large onion, (diced)
  • 4 oz dry cured Spanish chorizo, (fully cooked, dice into ½ inch pieces)
  • 4 oz fire-roasted red bell pepper, (slice into thin strips)
  • cups uncooked long-grain white rice
  • cups tomato sauce, (heated)
  • cups chicken broth, (heated)

Spices:

Instructions
 

Preparation:

  • Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels and transfer to a bowl. Set aside.
  • In a small bowl, stir together the smoked paprika, garlic powder, dried thyme, salt, and pepper until evenly blended. Set aside.
  • Rinse the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear; drain well. 
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Brown the Chicken:

  • Season the chicken thighs with 1 tablespoon of the dried spices mixture and 1 tablespoon of oil. Set aside.
  • Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in an oven-safe skillet, braiser or dutch oven over high heat until hot but not smoking. Place the chicken thighs in the skillet, skin side down, and cook 2 minutes. 
    Reduce heat to medium-high; continue cooking skin side down, occasionally rotating the chicken to evenly distribute heat, until fat renders and skin starts to brown for about 3 minutes. Flip over the chicken thighs and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
  • Remove the chicken from the pot and pour the rendered fat into a bowl.
    Reserve about 3 tablespoons of the fat to cook the onion, chorizo, and rice. Discard the remaining rendered fat and clean/wash the oven dutch/skillet to remove any unwanted residue to prevent burning.

Sauté the Onion, Chorizo, and Rice:

  • In the same dutch oven or braiser or oven-safe skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of rendered fat over medium heat.
    Add the diced onions and stir for about 2-3 minutes or until translucent.
  • Add the chorizo and stir for about 45 seconds. Add the fire-roasted red bell pepper and stir for 45 seconds.
  • Add the remaining dried spices mixture and stir for 30 seconds. Add the rice and stir for about 1-1½ minutes or until it smells fragrant, nutty, and looks slightly toasted. Turn off the heat.
  • Add tomato sauce into the skillet and spread it all over the rice.
  • Add the chicken thighs back into the pan, skin-side up then pour the hot chicken broth around the chicken.

Oven-Baked:

  • Cover the dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes then uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked and liquid is fully absorbed.
  • Remove from the heat, wait for about 5 minutes then stir the rice.
  • Serve and enjoy!

Video

Notes

I used the following products: 
  1. Spanish Chorizo from Vons/Safeway - it's fully cooked and dry-cured. 
  2. Trader's Joe Fire-Roasted Red Bell Pepper
  3. Kirkland Organic Chicken Stock 
  4. Hunts Tomato Sauce
 
Use a large baking dish (10” x 15”) if you don't have any Dutch oven or braiser. Simply brown the chicken, saute the onion, chorizo, and rice in a skillet. Transfer the rice mixture into a baking dish, add tomato sauce, broth, then put the chicken back on top of the rice, skin side up.  Cover the baking pan with foil and bake 350°F for 30 minutes then uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked and liquid is fully absorbed.
*The cooking times may vary slightly based on the pan and oven being used.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 562kcalCarbohydrates: 54gProtein: 24gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 111mgSodium: 1584mgPotassium: 694mgFiber: 3gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 1225IUVitamin C: 21mgCalcium: 61mgIron: 3mg
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Comments

    4.95 from 20 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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    Recipe Rating




  1. Chef Dennis says

    5 stars
    I will definitely go and make this Chicken and Chorizo Rice! It makes me really hungry. Looks really delicious!

  2. Jennifer Van Haitsma says

    This sounds amazing! Adding this to my menu for next week. I love chorizo.

  3. Paula Schuck says

    5 stars
    Drool. We make chicken so often that my kids sometimes roll their eyes still and are like OH boy chicken again. So we are always looking for some new ideas for chicken recipes. This chicken and chorizo rice sounds amazing. I am all in. Pinning it for later. Thanks!

    • Rika Livingston says

      Thanks for pinning, Paula!

  4. Joline says

    That looks super flavourful! And we're big fans of one pot meals.

    • Rika Livingston says

      I ama big fan of one-pot meals too, Joline!

  5. Lynndee says

    That looks amazing! My son is huge fan of chicken so I'm always on the lookout for new chicken recipes to try. Thanks for the recipe!

    • Rika Livingston says

      You're welcome, Lynndee!

  6. Kathy says

    Wow this recipe sure does look amazing. I definitely need to try this soon. I can't wait to see how it tastes. I think my family is going to love it.

    • Rika Livingston says

      Let me know what you think about it!

  7. Kita Bryant says

    5 stars
    I love a good chicken and rice recipe.

    • Rika Livingston says

      A great combo 🙂

  8. Debra Schroeder says

    This looks delicious. I’m always looking for new ways to cook chicken.

  9. Lois says

    That is a very spicey and tasty looking dish. I love spicey.

    • Rika Livingston says

      It uses a lot of spices but actually doesn't taste that spicy 🙂 try it out!

  10. Marysa says

    Sounds like a great combination of flavors. I love spicy chorizo and will have to give your recipe a try.

    • Rika Livingston says

      Awesome. Let me know what you think about it!