Cajun Chicken and Rice Skillet

This Cajun Chicken and Rice Skillet is an easy one pot meal that’s hot, hot, hot!  Of course, if you don’t like the heat, you can turn it down with less cayenne pepper.

This dish is a take off of a Cajun Dirty Rice. I slightly modified a spice mix recipe from a cookbook I love – Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen (affiliate link).  It’s a very spicy mix, so if you have a tender tongue you may want to cut back on the cayenne pepper!

For today’s rice dish I used chicken breasts because that’s all I had in the freezer, but I think the addition of some andouille sausage would be welcome in here as well.  If you wanted to omit any protein and just make this a Cajun spiced rice side dish, go for it!  I realize this isn’t the prettiest looking thing you could eat but boy is it full of flavor.  If you want a more colorful dish, add different color bell peppers, or even carrots.

Wake up your tastebuds with this Cajun Chicken and Rice Skillet, it’s a nice change of pace!

Cajun Chicken and Rice Skillet

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• 1 C. diced red bell pepper (about 1/2 lg. pepper)
• 1 C. diced onion (about 1/2 lg. onion)
• 1 C. sliced celery (about 3 sm. stalks)
• 2 Tbls. oil
• 2 Tbls. butter
• 1 1/2 C. rice (I used Uncle Ben’s converted rice)
• 3 C. chicken stock, heated

For the spice mix:

• 2 tsp cayenne pepper (use 1 if you want less heat)
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 1/4 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. dry mustard
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. corriander
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• Garnish: chopped, fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Combine spice mix ingredients and set aside.
2. In large saucepan, heat oil and butter or medium high heat. Add chicken and veggies and stir/saute a couple minutes, Add spice mixture and continue to cook a couple minutes more. If it looks too dry, add more butter or oil.
3. Add rice. Stir to combine, then add hot chicken stock.
4. Cover pan, reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes, until rice is cooked and broth is absorbed.
5. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

Notes

If you want more chicken/veggies than rice, increase the amount of chicken/veggies or use only 1 cup rice/2 cups stock.