This hearty baked chicken recipe with rich and creamy pumpkin rice is definitely a Fall dish to remember!
I have a treat for you today, folks: Baked Chicken with Pumpkin Rice! This has to be the juiciest baked chicken I’ve ever made, and the rice is so savory and satisfying that you will fall in love at first bite. I think I should tell you that I went through a range of emotions about this recipe before getting to the point of eating it. I will share them with you now so you can hopefully learn from my misconceptions and skip right to the “Oh wow this is good!” part at the end. Here was my thought process for this one:
- I decided to make baked chicken and rice, but I wasn’t too excited about it since it sounded a little boring.
- I got the idea to add pumpkin to the rice, which perked me up a bit, but I still thought it would be boring.
- Since I wasn’t enthusiastic about the recipe, I put off making this dish until the “sell by” date on the chicken gave me no choice but to cook it for dinner.
- Finally, I prepared the recipe, put it in the oven, and hoped for the best.
- An hour into baking, I removed the foil and saw that there was still A LOT of liquid left in the pan. I was sure it was a flop and started to consider our take-out options.
- After another 30+ minutes of baking, I was very happy to see that the liquid had all been absorbed! Plus, the chicken was cooked to the perfect temperature even after all that time in the oven. My hope was restored, but how would it taste?
- I took a bite of the pumpkin rice, and it was creamy, savory, and delicious. I cut into the chicken, and juices flowed out. What I thought would be humdrum was actually WOW!
I will never think baked chicken is boring again now that I have tried this version. I hope this chicken with pumpkin rice will become one of your family’s favorite fall dinners!
Want another great baked chicken recipe? Try this one!
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 90 minutes |
| Servings |
-5
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- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 onion diced
- 1 1/4 c. wild rice blend (I used brown and wild rice, but white rice is fine too.)
- 2 1/2 c. chicken broth
- 1/2 c. whipping cream
- 1/2 c. pureed pumpkin
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 2-3 lbs. bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (or breasts and legs)
- seasoned salt
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13" baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and saute until starting to brown, 5-8 minutes. Add rice, and saute 3 minutes longer, then transfer rice mixture to prepared baking dish.
- Whisk together chicken broth, whipping cream, pumpkin, chili powder, and salt. Pour over rice mixture.
- Arrange chicken pieces skin-side up over rice mixture, and sprinkle very liberally with seasoned salt. Cover tightly with foil, and bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes.
- Remove foil. There will probably still be a lot of liquid left in the pan at this point. Return uncovered pan to oven, and bake for 30-45 minutes longer, or until almost all liquid is absorbed and chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. (A digital probe thermometer will be your best friend for this part.) Enjoy!
Ashley says
I made this last night. It was fantastic. There is a smooth creamy texture to the rice with a very subtle hint of pumpkin (you wouldn’t know it was there unless you were told). The chicken turned out super moist too (I did use boneless skinless chicken breasts to be a little more diet friendly). Will definitely be making this one again. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Andi Gleeson says
Thank you so much, Ashley! You reminded me that I really need to make this again to take better photos, and it will make for a tasty dinner for us too. Take care :)
Hester says
Not a big fan of pumpkin but I am looking for new recipes to try. This sounds delicious. Thanks.
Andi says
I have a similar recipe coming tomorrow that doesn’t use pumpkin. Check back for that one! :) Thanks, Hester!
Justine says
This might be a silly question, but if you use four boneless, skinless chicken breats, would the bake time still be the same?
Andi says
Hi, Justine! That’s not silly at all. I’m afraid the boneless, skinless chicken will get too dry if you bake it long enough for the rice to cook. I would try using white rice or quinoa instead of brown/wild rice because it cooks faster. The liquid amounts should be the same, but I think the baking time will be reduced by about half. Another option would be to not add the chicken until the “remove the foil” step, and cook it until the chicken juices run clear. Hope that helps, and thanks for your question!
Muskie says
So I made this chicken recipe and ended up having I double the rice recipe, because of the huge family! It was all for the best though because we have leftovers wich will give my mom more time for studying :) she’s relived for that and keeps marvelling at all the time I’m saving her by making these meals. And I couldn’t have done it without this amazing recipe, she’s even more pleased as I am with the fact that our whole family is coming together to eat the meals. As for this recipe, it was a complete success. The scent coming from the baking chicken was utter bliss! The family kept flocking toward the messing kitchen stressing me out but even I couldn’t help myself from opening the oven and inhaling the heavenly aroma! I’ve never made this kind of recipe before and wasn’t sure how the rice would cook going in raw as it did but 1hr and 45minutes later it was the creamiest most delicious rice I think I have ever had, and I no doubt got severeal compliments and it just brightened my day :) thank you so much for posting this recipe I will DEFINITELY be making this again. Maybe sometime in the fall :)
Andi says
I’m thrilled to hear that you guys liked it so much, Muskie! You are turning into quite the chef, and you are a good writer too. Maybe you are a future blogger :)
Muskie says
I’m a 14 year old girl and this summer I’ve taken on making dinners for my family of 8 :) I’ve looked through a lot of your recipes and I’m planning on re creating several including your a orange poppyseed yogurt cake. And I would love to make this chicken dinner as well :) I only have a couple questions, 1. When you add the rice to the skillet in step 3 do you add the rice already made or raw? And for the orange poppy seed cake I wanted to know if you can substitute the orange for lemon? Or does the orange add to the sweetness of the cake? Thanks and I really adore your blog!
Andi says
Wow, Muskie! I’m so impressed that you are cooking for your big family! I’m sure they all appreciate your help. For the pumpkin rice, you put the rice in uncooked. That’s why the cooking time is so long, but once you get it in the oven all the work is done. I don’t actually have an orange poppyseed cake, so I think you must have seen that one somewhere else. Even though I haven’t seen the recipe, I bet lemon would be great too! Keep up the great work in the kitchen, and let me know if you have any other questions. Thank you!
Muskie says
Oh thank you so much! And yes I did see that recipe on another blog haha sorry, I’m making this for dinner tonight and will comment on how it goes thanks for the recipe:)
BeckyB says
Hey Andi,
I just made this last night and it was AWESOME! I loved what you wrote about your thought process about getting around to making this. Thanks for not chickening out
because me and the hubby ( or the pants- I love that) thought it was a keeper!
Loved it!!! Thank you.
Andi says
Hi, Becky. I’m so glad you liked it! I should make this again soon to take new photos. I don’t think it looks as good as it tastes because I was running out of daylight when I took these pictures. Thanks so much for taking the time to come back to leave me a comment. This made my night :)
Bella says
Can I substitute the cream for anything else I don’t have the cream ?
Andi says
Hi, Bella! Do you have half and half? If not, you could try stirring 2 tbsp. melted butter into 1/2 c. milk and using that instead.
Sarah says
Thanks for posting this. My husband and I really liked it. I was worried about the long cook time but it came out perfect. Thanks again!
Andi says
This made my night, Sarah! I’m so glad you guys liked it! I thought the cooking time would be too long for the chicken too, but didn’t it turn out juicy?? That’s why I wrote all my misgivings and concerns in the post because I was worried too until I tasted it :) Thanks so much for your comment!
Lisa says
I just made this dish and it is still melting in my mouth and I am so happy!!! It is most fabulous…thank you so much for creating it!! My family is going to love me…sorry I’m not saying a word about you….hehe.
Andi says
Hi, Lisa! I am so happy that you enjoyed this as much as we did! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know how you liked it. I don’t mind if you tell your family it was your original recipe ;) Have a great week!
Jen W. says
This sounds so amazing! I want to try making it but I would have to avoid saying pumpkin to the hubby and kids or they would immediately not want to try it. So glad I found this on the Saturday Dishes Hop.
Andi says
Thanks, Jen! If you hide the can of pumpkin, they will never know! I think it adds a nice flavor, but there is not enough pumpkin in there to give away your secret ;) Thanks so much for coming over! If you are still in the mood for the party, we have a new recipe link party that is still going strong here.