This slow-cooked dinner was totally awesome, but I don’t feel the recipe is worthy of Recipage honor since I’m not all that sure what the perfect measurements are. However the concept is easy enough that I thought I’d share anyways – and hopefully you can make it work in your kitchen.
My idea was to cook rice underneath chicken and vegetable so that the whole dinner was in one pot. It worked well, but we had to add more liquid during the cooking process, hence the imperfect recipe.
1 cup of rice + 3.5 cups of liquid + 1 more cup halfway through cooking
We buy the herbed chicken from The Organic Butcher here in town. LOVE it. To make this yourself, you could rub rosemary, thyme, olive oil and salt on some bone-in chicken breasts. I wonder if there is an extra secret ingredient to their rub – it’s always better than anything I do myself.
Brussels sprouts snuggled up to the chicken
4 hours on high [plus that pause to add more water] and the rice was cooked, the chicken fall-off-the-bone and the Brussels tender.
All-In-One Chicken + Rice
- 1 cup long grain brown rice
- 4.5 cups water
- 2 large chicken breasts, herbed to your liking with rosemary, thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper
- 1 pound of Brussels sprouts, halved (or any vegetables you like!)
Layer as seen above and cook on high for 4 hours.
I enjoyed mine with a dollop of Greek yogurt on the side. We ate all of the chicken but had plenty of rice + sprouts to save for a side dish the next night.
{ 52 comments… read them below or add one }
Perfection! I hate having to precook any crockpot stuff. I feel it defeats the purpose sometimes of being convenient!
This sounds great. I wonder if they brine the chicken or simply just season it more heavily with salt and that is the difference your noticing? Interesting!
I love crockpot meals, and chicken with rice is a perfect combo. IM wonderinf if I could use bone in or boneless chicken.
I think either
Love this idea! Only having to clean one crockpot is so much easier than multiple dishes. I wish we had more local butchers around where I live. You always seem to have the freshest ingredients to cook with and I’m a little jealous
This came at the perfect time! I need good crockpot recipes for my grandparents when they come home because Grandma can’t cook anymore. I know they’d love this! (Me too!)
This looks awesome. I have never thought to cook brussel sprouts in the crockpot! Thanks for sharing
I love brussel sprouts! This recipe looks great.
I love one-pot meals because I HATE doing dishes. Easy clean up = Happiness! I’d love to experiment with different veggies and different grains (maybe quinoa)!
That herb rub always looks so flavorful! I will have to try to recreate it sometime. It’s inspiring that you have found ways to get quick healthy meals on the table, even though I’m sure it’s not easy with a little one. I have been reading since almost the beginning, and just wanted to say that I love your new blogging style, mostly because I can tell it works great for your family!
LOVE all-in-one recipes!! Such a great time-saver.
Question, though: How did the Brussels sprouts turn out? Whenever I try all-in-oners in the crockpot, my veggies take on this poignant bitter flavor. I’ve had several bad experiences with carrots and cauliflower, so I’ve shied away from these types of recipes. What’s the secret? Or am I the only one who experiences this?
Hmm…they weren’t bitter but they were reallllly cooked = sort of mushy. I prefer them roasted, but this way wasn’t bad – just a change.
Crock pot meals are so awesome, but I must admit, the thought of mushy, overcooked Brussels sprouts just does nothing for me. I’m curious if the rice was mushy too? I’ve never cooked rice in my crock pot, except in soup, where I don’t mind if it’s mushy. Also, did the chicken have enough seasoning on it to flavour the rice and veg, or did you add salt and pepper?
The chicken was pre-seasoned, so there was lots of flavor in it that also came off into the rest. Mushy veggies don’t bother me in a recipe like this – or a soup. I expect them.
Do you think this would work with couscous? it’s what is in my pantry, that’s why i’m wondering
I think it would work with anything that has to be cooked in liquid – use the recommended amount plus extra that might evap through the edges of the top
Hi Halley & Kath,
I have to jump in re: couscous in the crockpot versus rice – couscous only takes five minutes to cook in boiling water usually, so I think that cooking it for 4 hours in the crockpot would just turn it into mush. I googled some other recipes that use couscous with a crockpot dish & they said to cook the couscous separately.
Halley, if you’re looking to use the couscous, you could do the chicken in the crockpot with some extra veggies as a base, such as carrots & onions, since the “base” of rice won’t be there to keep the chicken from burning or sticking to bottom of the crockpot. Then just cook the couscous separately.
Good point! I wasn’t thinking about it being quick cooking!
That rice looks ridiculously good, I should suggest this to my mom, she has a similar (maybe the same?) slow cooker!
Looks yummy! Anytime I try to cook rice in my slow cooker it turns out really mushy. Any tips?
I love Brussels sprouts! Never though to put them in the crockpot!
That looks so delicious and healthy!
I know what you mean with seasoned butcher meat always being tastier than home-seasoned. What on earth could the secret ingredient be? Garlic and onions, maybe?
Salt, I imagine. Anytime something tastes really good it has lots of salt or butter in it. I haven’t ever purchased pre-seasoned meats so I don’t know that for a fact. Just going on the ingredient list of most processed foods. I love to read label.
I wouldn’t call this a processed food… It’s from a local butcher and made from fresh ingredients. But a brine might be the secret
That may be true. We all have our levels of what we allow others to do to our food. It is processed to me simply because someone else added something to it. But it may not be a problem for others. I have some issues with a few herbs and need to know what is in or on my food.
Yum. Thank for you for this recipe! I am always looking for healthy crockpot recipes and this fits the bill.
I need to dust off my crock pot and make this stat!
i definitely think it’s worth a little tweaking to get a one dish recipe! i am over washing dishes. i’ve been feasting on smoothies all week and i’ve fallen in love with only having to wash the blender.
dinner looks delicious. i wonder if you could redo this veg-style with tofu… i bet tempeh would work.
How simple and delicious! (But I think I’d have to try it with freekeh!) And bone-in chicken breasts are definitely the way to go.
I am in love with my slow cooker lately. It took me until the end of winter to finally break it out, but now it gets used at least twice a week! There’s nothing better than walking into the house and being greeted by the delicious smell of what’s been cooking away all day!
I cannot believe your brussel sprouts didn’t stink to high heaven
after being in the crock pot! Kudos!! I made some, or overcooked some once
and a stinky diaper had nothing on those things! Haha
Love your blog BTW!!
Thanks for this
I’m gonna do this with quinoa perhaps 
This is how we always made chicken and rice growing up. We’d just pick the chicken off the bone and stir it back in. Very similar recipe to yours. We’d start out with a 1:4 ratio of rice to water and add a bit more if needed. Sometimes we would, sometimes not. I think it depends on the moisture that comes out of the chicken and veggies mostly.
This is the healthiest and simplest recipe of yours, Kath. I am going to buy the ingedients this weekend to cook it for my family. Thank you for the post.
I don’t eat chicken but this does look good. I may try my crockpot more often!
Wow, I’ve never made anything like this in my crock-pot but I’m going to keep this in mind. Could you use boneless chicken breasts (and add the rub)?
I never even thought to try that! Rice in a crock pot=Great idea
So simple…filled with yummy ingredients…thanks for sharing!
I’m [almost]drooling over here! This sounds and looks so tasty and wholesome~did the rice end up with enough flavor though? I’m BIG on lots of bold flavors.
I thought so
great and simple recipe!
This looks amazing! I love chicken and rice, but I’ve never tried it with brussels sprouts before, sounds great
Now I just have to convince my mom to buy that crock pot we’ve all been wanting so much…
Gotta get the crock pot out now! Never thought to try brussel sprouts in it, great idea!
yum!
btw, saw this & thought Matt would enjoy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/how-beer-gave-us-civilization.html
fun, thanks!
Gonna try this at home. The brussel sprouts are just too adorable!
This looks like a great recipe, and I love herbed chicken. The convenience of the crock pot is so wonderful!
Did the chicken you used have skin on it? I’m looking forward to trying this for dinner this week. Most of the bone in chicken I’ve seen seems to have skin. Thanks!
Yes it did
It was hovering at 98 degrees F in my kitchen today (I live in Asia) so trying out a crockpot recipe made sense. I put 1.5 cups brown rice mixed with a sliced onion in my very basic crockpot– then poured 3 cups of water over the rice, then I tossed 7 chicken legs (with bone and skin) with olive oil, fresh oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, minced garlic, paprika, a cup of sliced carrots and some shitake mushrooms plus some salt and pepper in a bowl and then put it on top of the rice/water mix. Cooked it in the crockpot for about 3 hours… served it with steamed asparagus –delicious! Thanks for the idea, Kath.
I made this with short grain brown rice, 6 boneless skinless thighs, and carrots. I put in 4 C of water and it was too much–the result was still yummy, but the rice was mushier and more of a stew consistency than I wanted. Thanks for the idea! Next time I’ll use less water and add as needed. I also stirred in lemon juice and fresh parsley at the end, which made it nice and fresh.
Any idea how long to cook if I want to cook on low? I am gone for more than 4 hours and would love to dump it and come home to it if I could cook it for say 8 hours on low?
I think the general rule is to double the high to get to the low? I’m not all that sure though.