Hearty + Healthy {Chicken, Veggies + Brown Rice}

I love meals that have protein, vegetables and carbohydrates all in one dish. This dinner is hearty, simple and requires hardly any clean up. It does take some time, but most of the time is just the chicken and veggies baking in the oven. As an added bonus, this recipe serves four and costs under $10.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 cup of brown rice
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• chicken (2-3 drumsticks, 2-3 thighs)
• 1/2 a large white onion
• 1 medium sweet potato
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of green beans (frozen)
• 4 large carrots
• 1 small bunch of parsley
• Olive oil
• Salt, pepper, thyme + paprika

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, get a 13″ x 9″ pan and add the brown rice and chicken stock. Season the stock with 1/2 tsp of thyme and a pinch salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the pan, lightly spray with EVOO and season with salt, pepper and paprika. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for half an hour.

While the chicken and rice mixture is baking, gather your vegetables.

Give them a quick chop.

{clockwise starting from the top: rough chop the onion, scrub the sweet potato and leave the skin on, mince the garlic, cut carrots on a bias)

Then coat a nonstick pan with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Add onion and saute until opaque (about 5 minutes).

Once your onions are opaque, add the sweet potato and minced garlic. Each time you add a new ingredient to the pan, don’t forget to add a little more salt and pepper (and oil, if needed).

Once the sweet potato has cooked for around 5 minutes, add the sliced carrot.

Now that everything is in the pan, try not to stir too much! Cooking the vegetables stove top before roasting them in the oven helps give them crispy edges and incorporates the caramelized onion flavor.

After 30 minutes of baking, pull the chicken and rice mixture from the oven.

Add the vegetables. Then, cover the pan once again with aluminum foil and continue baking for 20-25 minutes.

After 20-25 minutes has passed, add the green beans and place the uncovered pan back in the oven for just 10 more minutes. Then, unless you’re having people over or writing a blog post, you’re done! This dish can go straight from oven to table.

However, if you’d like to plate it, I like to put the chicken aside, spread the rice and vegetable mixture over a serving dish, then place the chicken on top and sprinkle with parsley.

This dinner can either serve four, or in my case, it’s a great dinner for two and makes a fabulous lunch for us the next day.

Here’s a quick cost breakdown:

Grand total: $9.48

Cost per serving: $2.37

This recipe is definitely one to keep in your repertoire. Not only is it inexpensive and healthy (bursting with beta-carotene and fiber), but the ingredients are so convenient. Even if you don’t have these exact vegetables on hand, they can always be substituted with others, so long as they require roughly the same cooking time.

Hope you enjoy!