Chicken, rice, and broccoli all done in one delicious foil packet for a healthy and flavor-packed dinner! 
What’s not to love about foil packet dinners? Everything cooked all in a foil and no cleanup… Yes, please!
This chicken, rice, and broccoli foil pack is a complete dinner that’s packed with protein and nutrition. For the greens, I used broccoli but zucchini, green beans, or asparagus will also work! 
For the rice, I used instant brown rice but white works as well. I’ve also had luck using basmati rice. The trick is to soak it for at least 5-10 minutes. This helps speed up the cooking process and will ensure the rice cooks perfectly in the oven. After soaking the rice, simply divide it into 4 sheets of foil. Add a few tablespoons of the water that the rice was soaking in into the foil as well.
For the chicken, I used small (about 4 oz each) chicken breasts per foil pack but big chicken breasts can work as well. If your chicken breast is too big for 1 serving, cut it in half either horizontally or vertically and use half for each foil pack.
The seasoning is a mixture of chili powder, Italian seasoning, and salt & pepper. 1 teaspoon of each is used for each foil pack because the seasoning is for the rice, chicken, and broccoli. Be generous with the seasoning because it’s what gives the chicken breasts this flavorful crust. For the salt, season to taste. I added 1/2 teaspoon per foil pack.
Foil Pack Chicken Rice and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 4 4 oz chicken breasts, boneless skinless
- 2 cups Instant brown or white rice
- 2 cups water
- 2 cup broccoli florets
- 4 teaspoons EACH chili powder, Italian seasoning, black pepper,
- salt to taste
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with 4 sheets of foil (about 6-8 inches) and set aside.
- Combine the brown rice, and water in a medium bowl and soak for 5 minutes. DIvide rice (and it's water) into 4 sheets of foil.
- Pound chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin until they are even. Place the chicken breasts and broccoli florets on the rice. Seasoning each chicken breast generously with 1 teaspoon of chili powder, Italian seasoning, black pepper, and salt to taste. Drizzle each packet with olive oil and fold the sides of the foil over the chicken, covering completely; seal the packets closed.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until chicken's internal temperature reaches 165F. Remove from oven and carefully open up the foils. Serve immediately.
Notes
*For the Rice, I use the 5 minute rice (brown or white) for this recipe and have not tried it with regular rice. Some readers have had success with half-cooked rice.
*Parchment paper can also be used instead of foil.
Can I use fresh tilapia instead of chicken breast?
I agree– with a tsp of chili power, 1 tsp Italian seasoning and 1 tsp Black pepper in EACH packet, we all but burnt off our taste buds. I ended up having to wipe off the spices from the chicken. Should I be cutting the spices in half or something?
Today I was looking for a healthy recipe with the ingredients I had on hand and found this one. Because I didn’t have instant rice, I partially cooked some regular basmati rice in chicken broth (12 minutes instead of the normal 20 minutes). Since I didn’t have Italian seasoning mix, I took olive oil, lemon juice, and Hungarian chicken rub (Pride of Szeged) and made a marinade. I let the chicken marinate in the fridge a for a few hours beforehand. Foil packet cooking isn’t anything I’ve done before so I didn’t know what to expect. However, I was very pleased with the results! The chicken was tender and juicy, the broccoli was cooked just right, and the rice was just how it should be. Both my husband and I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe! I plan to prepare it again in the future.
Mine came out super spicy . . . did I do something wrong????
I added 4 teaspoons chili powder, 4t Italian seasoning and 4t black pepper. Divided the spices up into the 4 packs. Was this not right???
I mixed the spices separately for each packet (1 tsp of each). I wasn’t clear on how to do it.
I agree– with a tsp of chili power, 1 tsp Italian seasoning and 1 tsp Black pepper in EACH packet, we all but burnt off our taste buds. I ended up having to wipe off the spices from the chicken. Should I be cutting the spices in half or something?
The chicken came out great! Great taste and wasn’t dry. I used The brown instant rice and soaked it for five minutes. The rice was a bit hard not sure if it was undercooked or overcooked.
Just delicious and easy. Next time I might add some oil to the broccoli. A hit!
Rachael Ray always uses a particular stock instead of water with her rice so could a chicken stock be used in place of the water
Sounds great! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Can you cook this on the grill?!
could I slice up potatoes to use instead of the rice? Just wondering if they would be over or under cooked. And if so, what potato would you recommend? I can’t wait to try your recipes. I found your site by accident and everything looks soooo good!
Potatoes should work just fine! I would use any type and slice or chop them into small bite-size pieces because the chicken will cook faster than the potatoes.
Do I cook the rice first?
No need to! Use quick cook rice and it will cook with the chicken and broccoli 🙂
Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Could these go in the freezer uncooked and then be pulled out later for cooking?
I haven’t tried freezing them and don’t know how the rice and foil would freeze so I honestly can’t say.
What can I use instead of Chilli powder? That does not agree with my acid reflux lol
You can replace it with paprika, or any spice blend. Just be sure to avoid blends with added salt!
Can you used FROZEN vegg?
do you pre cook the rice and then let soak or no\?
Can you make ahead and freeze these?
I made this tonight and it turned out great and my family liked it. The only things different was use white rice & frozen broccoli and it still turned out great.
Could this work with leg quarters? Trying desperately to use the 90 lbs of leg quarters my husband bought because they were on sale.
I would not recommend this recipe with chicken legs because they take a long time to cook. For that many chicken legs, I would just roast them on a sheet pan or freeze them.
That looks delicious.. Can’t wait for more…
can I Use fish like salmon instead of chIcken?
Made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious. Kid and husband approved.
Can this be done in tge grill
would it work in airfryer?
Im confused. In step 2 you say to divide the rice onto 3 of the foil sheets, but tHis recipe makes 4 packets. Is one packet meant to be without rice?
Sorry about that Pam. This recipe makes 4 packets. I’ve updated the post!
Making these tonight do i have to put a pan under them or could i have them cook on the rack which is best??
You can place them right on the oven rack if you’d like but I like to use a sheet pan to hold any juices that might escape.
Is there something else we could use other than rice?
You can use quinoa or replace the rice with more veggies!
Could you make These ahead and bake them the next day?
Yes, you can prep the chicken and veggies, wrap them up and bake when needed.
This sounds yummy! Making my grocery list now. One question: I am just not a fan of chili powder. (I TRIED!) Is there a subStitute you’d recommend?
You can leave it out or use hot sauce or sriracha if you’d like!
Made this tonight and my very picky daughter and I both loved it. Husband is not a fan of brown rice, but that’s his problem! 🙂 maybe next time, i’ll make one packet with white rice.
My new favorite quick and easy chicken recipe! Love the combo of spices and the easy cleanup. I used pre-cooked regular brown rice and frozen broccoli florets with chicken tenderloins. 👍
Yum sounds delicious! Thanks for the feedback, Pamela 🙂
Did you precook the rice and then put in the over or just soak it in water and then cook it in the oven with the other ingredients?
This recipe is easy to makes and us great tasting. Very esst cleanup. Definitely going to make again.
Yes, no clean-up is my favorite part!