Skillet Chicken with Black Beans and Rice

Happy Wednesday! 

I'm mid-vacation week and looooving it!

I started off the weekend back in Northern VA celebrating Lunar New Year with the ol' Asian Invasion - and am now back to spend the rest of the week working on home improvement projects, well thinking about working on them, most likely just laying around drunk from the joy of not having to know what day/time it is. 

This morning I woke up and in my Instagram research, happened upon this recipe from one of my faves - The Candid Appetite, and it was simple and quick (under an hour!) enough to throw together for a lunch with coworkers. It was a hit and is absolutely getting added into my dinner/meal prep rotation!

I am always looking for recipes that use chicken thighs/drumsticks - they are not only super cheap at the store, but I feel they're the most flavorful. This recipe also doesn't require any plan-ahead, so the dry rub and searing really helps seal in the flavor and this dish is FLAVOR-TOWN.

Oh, and it's all made in one skillet. A joy much like finding a dress with pockets.

See my recipe with edits below!

And I serve it exactly like this - smack dab in the middle of the table, serve-yourself!

You Will Need:

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

4 bone-in, skin-on drumsticks

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

4 Tablespoons olive oil

1 red onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 medium tomato, diced

1 cup white rice (I used basmati)

2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2 bay leaves

2 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 lime, sliced

In a large bowl, combine the chicken with 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, paprika and smoked paprika until evenly coated. In a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat add oil. Once hot, brown the chicken in two batches - about 5 minutes on both sides to sear the chicken (it will finish cooking in the oven). Remove chicken and set aside on a plate.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Turn heat down to medium and in your skillet, stir in the onion and garlic and cook until softened and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the bell pepper and tomato and add rice and 1 teaspoon of salt, cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the black beans, bay leaves and chicken stock, stirring evenly to combine. 

Bring your liquid to a simmer and then nestle chicken in a single layer, cover with a lid and bake in the oven until liquid has absorbed and rice has softened*, about 20-25 minutes. Check to make sure the chicken is good through. 

Once done, remove from the oven, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, then top with fresh cilantro and slices of lime!

*Since I used basmati rice, it did take some extra coaxing to get the liquid to soak up completely. I took my skillet out of the oven in 25 minutes and needed to get the liquid to cook quickly so I finished cooking mine on the stovetop with the lid off, until the liquid was evaporated.

Enjoy this one, folks! It's a tasty one! I'm off to go bake a pan of staycation brownies!