One-Pot Chicken and Rice with Cuban Inspired Flavors
Juicy dark meat chicken and rice simmered with bacon, onions, garlic and peppers, served with black beans, peas, and cilantro for a simple, homey one-pot meal that’s packed with the flavors of the Caribbean.
Most cuisines from around the world include some version of chicken and rice, cooked together in wine or broth, with vegetables, herbs and spices. These dishes are often the kind of simple one-pot comfort food that leaves everyone at the table feeling cared for and content.
This version of chicken and rice incorporates some of the flavors of Cuban cuisine (cumin, cilantro, garlic, onions, and peppers) along with a few untraditional ingredients (beans and bacon). Everything simmers together in one pot, for a meal that is simple and packed with flavor.
While most traditional chicken and rice dishes use bone-in, skin-on chicken, this recipe uses boneless, skinless chicken thighs, ensuring that a delicious, warm, comforting meal will be on the table in under an hour.
Use canned black beans or dried – the choice is up to you.
I would pretty much always rather cook up some dried beans than use canned beans for a couple of reasons…
- Dried beans are significantly less expensive than canned
- Cooked dried beans are less likely to cause uncomfortable intestinal gas
- Cooking beans from scratch gives you complete control over flavor
While you do need to plan ahead – soak the beans overnight and then let them simmer for a few hours the next day – the actually hands-on time to prepare a pot of beans is about 5 minutes. I’m not even joking.
So, a pot of slow cooked black beans is my first choice for this dish.
Having said that, I use a can of black beans more often than not, because I often find myself deciding to make this dish about an hour before I want to be eating it. 🙂 It’s delicious either way.
The incredible flavor of Aleppo Pepper
This recipe might be full of Cuban flavors, but there is nothing “Cuban” about Aleppo Pepper. The spice is named after the city of Aleppo in Syria, although with all the turmoil in the region, most of the Aleppo pepper available today comes from Turkey and a handful of other places.
Traditionally, Aleppo pepper is used to season meat or beans, or sprinkled over salads and vegetables. But, it can be used in place of any other variety of dried red pepper. In this dish, I’ve used it along with the more traditional Cuban spices of cumin, garlic, and oregano to add a little bit of smokey heat without going overboard.
The thing I love most about Aleppo Pepper is how much flavor you get for the amount of heat the pepper packs. Aleppo is about half as hot as crushed red chili flakes but packs double the flavor. Ask anyone in my family, and they’ll tell you I have a remarkable habit of going overboard with chilies and peppers, creating dishes that are so spicy we all have steam coming out of our ears. I just love the flavor of peppers so much that I tend to get a bit carried away. (Sometimes, more than “a bit” carried away.)
With Aleppo pepper, I can add twice as much and get four times the flavor without burning off our tastebuds. 🙌 Even though it’s not a spice used in Cuban cooking, it’s SO GOOD in this dish, I just couldn’t bear to leave it out.
Aleppo Pepper can be difficult to find in most supermarkets, but it readily available online.
Want a real treat??? Serve this with Homemade Tortillas.
Homemade tortillas will forever ruin you from ever enjoying the standard supermarket variety again. Just warning you now. They are surprisingly easy to make, especially if you have a standing mixer to knead the dough for you. You literally dump all the ingredients into the mixer bowl, let the mixer knead the dough until it’s soft and pliable, divide the dough into balls, roll them out and cook them like pancakes in a skillet.
When our son moved into his first apartment at the age of 19, he immediately asked for a standing mixer as his next birthday gift just so he could make tortillas. Just like his mother, he made them often because once you try them, packaged tortillas will simply no longer do.
This is the homemade tortilla recipe I’ve been using for the past 20 years.
Besides homemade tortilla, do you know what else goes really well with Cuban Chicken and Rice? A tall, refreshing Perfect Cuban Mojito. Cheers!
Meal Plans that Include Cuban Chicken and Rice:
More warm and cozy comfort food recipes:
- Free-Style Creamy Chicken and Rice
- Asian Short Ribs {Slow Cooker or Oven Braised}
- Black Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce
- Cheese Enchilada Casserole
- Classic Double Crust Chicken Pot Pie
- Tamale Pie with White Beans, Chorizo and Salsa Verde
If you give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or take a picture and tag it #alittleandalot on Instagram.
Cuban Chicken and Rice
Juicy dark meat chicken and rice simmered with bacon, onions, garlic and peppers, served with black beans, peas, and cilantro for a simple, homey one-pot meal that's packed with the flavors of the Caribbean.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lb thick cut bacon (about 6–7 slices), cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium or large yellow onion, peeled and diced
- 1 red (or any color) bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp Aleppo pepper (or chili powder)
- 1- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 1/2 cups (15 oz) black beans, drained (see note)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed saucepan or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring often, until the bacon is crisp. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate.
- Remove all but 2 tbsp of fat from the pan and return the pan to the burner. Turn the burner down to medium heat. Add the diced onion and bell pepper, and cook until the vegetables are soft and the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste, minced garlic, cumin, oregano, Aleppo pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, black pepper, and rice. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes longer to toast the rice and the spices.
- Pour the broth into the pan and turn the heat up to high. Add the bacon and the chicken thighs back to the pan, nestling them down into the broth. When the liquid begins to boil, cover the pot and lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
- Stir in the beans and frozen peas. Cover the pot and remove it from the heat. Let sit covered for 5 minutes to cook the peas and warm the beans.
- Taste, and adjust seasoning, adding more salt if desired. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
Notes
If you don't have Aleppo pepper, ground chipotle pepper powder can be used instead. Chipotle pepper tends to be hotter than Aleppo pepper, so use half as much, adding more if desired, to attain the desired level of spiciness.
If you’d like to use cooked dried black beans instead of canned, these slow simmered black beans take about 5-minutes of hands-on time if you cook them in the slow cooker and produces richly flavorful beans.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 627Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 224mgSodium: 1779mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 9gSugar: 4gProtein: 60g
This is so good and easy! I’m going to have great lunches this week with the leftovers. Healthy, tasty, satisfying and easy – this recipe is a keeper.
I’m so glad you liked this recipe Lynn! I feel like it’s even better reheated the next day, so yes – you’re going to have a good lunch or two this week. 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know you liked this recipe! xo