Healthy, quick and flavorful Cilantro lime chicken, rice and beans cooked in one pan. 
If you’re a fan of Mexican food, you’re going to fall in love with this one pan cilantro chicken and rice. It’s one of the easiest dishes to cook and makes a great weeknight dinner in under 45 minutes.
The chicken, rice and beans are all cooked in one pan so the flavor of the chicken gets soaked up into the rice. The rice is also packed with fresh flavors of cilantro and lime and the addition of beans makes this one pot meal complete. This also means that there’s no clean up required!
You can easily serve this as a chipotle burrito style bowl by topping the chicken and rice with tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, salsa, sour-cream and a drizzle of lime.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4-5 chicken thighs skin on or off
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 4 cloves of garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin</span>
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika</span>
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup black beans rinsed, drained (optional)
- 1 cup uncooked Jasmine or basmati rice
- 1 tablespoon lime juice freshly squeezed
- 1/4 fresh cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat until hot for 2 minutes. Add olive oil to pan. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper on both sides. Place chicken skin side down on pan and cook for 5-6 minutes or until golden and crispy. Flip and cook on other side for 5-6 minutes.
- Add onions to pan and cook along with the chicken until the onions are golden and soft (2-3 minutes). Stir in garlic, salt, pepper, cumin and paprika and cook for just 30 seconds. Add water and cover until water boil, slightly reduce heat and simmer chicken for 10 minutes. Add black bean and rice. Cover the skillet with the lid and simmer for 15 minutes, covered, until the rice is cooked through.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet. Mix in the 1 tablespoon of lime juice and fresh cilantro into the cooked rice. Taste, and add more salt and/or another small amount of lime juice.
- Serve with fresh tomato salsa, avocado, lettuce, sour-cream or guacamole!
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It was very good. The only change I made was I used stock instead of water.
I made this today for dinner and it was delicious! The rice/beans were perfect but I needed to add a bit more seasoning to the chicken. Will definitely make this again!
Simply Perfect! I’m definitely making this again next weekend.
This dish was incredibly tasty! I followed the recipe exactly just opted to leave out the salt as I am on a low sodium diet. I did opt to leave the skin off and it still came out kind of oily. The rice was a bit soggy. I used basmati rice and made sure to rinse it properly. Not sure why my rice doesn’t come out fluffy. Will use a little less water next time. Hope that fixes the problem.
I made this recipe with Chicken breast. They came out a bit dry, but the overall recipe was delicious. Loved the rice/bean combo.
I have made this twice! It’s so delicious! I used minute rice with this and regular rice. I feel the minute rice is better only because I’m horrible at making regular rice lol definitely making more often!!
The rice was hard still. Not enough water. Ruined the whole recipe
The rice to water ratio works every time. Did you cover the pan and reduce the heat to stop the water from over evaporating?
How can I use long grain brown rice in this?
Brown rice takes a long time to cook so I’m not sure it would work in this dish. If you do give it a try and it works out, please let us know!
Is it precooked beans?
Love this recipe! Super easy to make, super yummy, and is great for meal prep
I made this last night and it was so, sooo good! My 3 little ones each had 2 bowls and raved over it. I had the leftovers for lunch today and it was just as delicious as the night before. Adding sour cream, salsa & extra cilantro was a nice touch. Definitely a keeper!
can I use long grain rice?
Yes, feel free to use jasmine rice.
I tried this and it is amazing! Thanks for posting.
Do you use boneless or bone-in chicken thighs? It doesn’t specify and I would imaging the cooking time would vary greatly/
The chicken thighs are bone in but bone out work great too!
I’ve made several recipes — great stuff. Wondering which pan you’re using in the photos. Do you have a list of all pans you use in your kitchen?
Thanks,
Jared
Thanks so much, Jared! I used the Calphalon 3-Qt. Saute Pan With Cover for this recipe. I don’t have all the pans I use in my shop but I will add them soon! Please check out the shop to see my kitchen Must-haves.
https://gimmedelicious.com/shop/