Get dinner on the table quickly with this easy and healthy, gluten-free recipe for one pot curried chicken and rice with kale. This post contains affiliate links.
One-pot meals are the best kind of dinner in the world, don’t you think? At least if you’re the cook (which I’m going to assume you are since you’re here to get this one-pot chicken recipe). I love cooking but the cleanup portion…not so much.
This curried chicken and rice with kale cooks in one pot which means cleanup is minimal and the recipe is super simple and flavourful. So voila, one-pot curried chicken and rice with kale is your new life-saving dinner recipe.
There are certain ingredients that have a bad reputation, and I think rice is one of them. It can be pretty plain and boring if you don't add additional flavours to it. I’m always experimenting with ways to change up rice because it’s one of those staple, pantry ingredients that I always have on hand.
It seems to find its way into my lunch or dinner at least a couple of times a week whether it’s rice loaded with bell peppers, budget-friendly rice and beans or rice with a kick of cumin and cilantro.
Can you use brown rice in this one pot chicken and rice?
I definitely try to eat more brown rice than white rice, but because brown rice takes longer to cook, I opted to use long grain rice in this one-pot chicken recipe. The rice and chicken cook in the same amount of time. If you’re looking for a brown rice recipe, I love making brown rice mujaddara.
The flavours of this dish come from curry powder and smoked paprika which are added to the rice and kale mixture and also sprinkled on top of the chicken thighs before they are seared off. For this recipe you’ll need a large saute pan (which is one of my must-have kitchen tools).
Can you use skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs for this recipe?
For this recipe you’ll want to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. The first time I tested this, I used chicken thighs with the skin on because I love the crispy sear you can get on the skin. However, because of the added fat from the chicken skin, the rice and kale ended up being a little on the greasy side. Switching out the cut of chicken was such a simple fix to get this recipe just right.
There aren’t many things in life that can be fixed with one simple change, are there? That’s part of what I love about cooking so much; if there is a problem with a recipe, 99.9% of the time there is a concrete solution. You can’t say the same for this messy and wonderful and complicated existence, can you.
How to make one pot chicken with rice and kale
This one-pot curried chicken recipe is done in two parts. The first is searing the chicken, this will not only build flavour, but it will also make your dish more pleasing to the eye (we all know that chicken thighs aren’t exactly the most appetizing looking food). Next, you cook out your onions, garlic and spices, and finally the kale and rice get added with chicken broth. The chicken thighs are added back to finish off cooking.
The final touch is a squeeze of lemon juice.The lemon juice is integral as the acidic element is a trick to brighten flavours (I use lime for this same reason in my ginger scallion soup recipe).
One-pot Curried Chicken and Rice with Kale
Pin PrintIngredients
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, excess fat trimmed
- ½ teaspoon salt, divided
- 1 ½ teaspoon curry powder, divided
- 2 teaspoon olive oil, divided
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 cups packed thinly sliced kale
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Season chicken with ¼ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon curry powder and pepper.
- Heat a large saute pan over medium-high. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to pan, sear chicken for 3 minutes per side. Remove to a plate and reserve.
- Add remaining olive oil and onion, cook, stirring often, until browned, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, 1 teaspoon curry powder, smoked paprika and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Cook for 30 seconds. Add kale and rice, cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently until kale is slightly wilted.
- Pour in chicken broth, stirring to scrape up brown bits from bottom of the pan, bring to a boil (it should boil almost immediately). Return chicken to pan on top of rice and kale.
- Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed and chicken and rice are done cooking.
- Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.
Let me know if you give this one-pot curried chicken and rice with kale a try.
Lea Denson
Was planning on making curry chicken tonight and had some extra kale I wanted to use up and I came across your recipe. Should I add more liquid if I put in some potatoes?
Louisa Clements
Hi Lea, apologies for the delay. I have never made this with potatoes, I think if you’re adding them and the rice, then yes I would add a little bit more water. Let me know it turns out!
Wesley Burditt
Enjoyed this, next time I am going to bump up the curry.
Louisa Clements
Thanks Wesley, so glad you enjoyed! You can definitely add more curry powder!
Katie Elliott
So good! My whole family loved it and we will definitely be making it again. I used pre cooked rotisserie chicken instead and added zucchini and hempseeds.
Louisa Clements
I am so glad you and your family enjoyed this!
Josh
INCREDIBLE. I am relatively new to cooking (just started about 6 months ago) and got bored with the recipes I had. I have never been drawn to curry before but thought it looked great and the reviews all loved it. I wasn’t feeling excited about the dish and then I made it. I AM IN LOVE. This is a new staple. I live alone and only cook for friends or my boyfriend a few times a week. So I had plenty of leftovers. And they were just as delicious over the next few days. It felt good to have something healthy and easy to heat up so I wouldn’t get lazy and order out. Thank you! Great recipe! P.S. I saw people added Mushrooms. I’d love to add mushrooms and peas. If I do so, when is a good time to add them to the pot?
Louisa Clements
Josh, I am so glad that you enjoyed this! Your comment has absolutely made my day! For the mushrooms, I would add them at the same time as the onions, you’ll want to make sure that they release most of their liquid before you add the other ingredients! For peas, because they cook so quickly, you can just stir them in at the end. Thank you so much for leaving a review, it is so appreciated! Let me know how it goes with the mushrooms and peas!
Vandria
This is one of my favorite meals. I’m planning to make for a friend who is recovering from an operation. Do you have any recommendations on how I can make this in advance as I would need to drop it off about two hours before they eat.
Louisa Clements
I’m so glad that you enjoy this recipe, Vandria! I think you can just prepare it as is and recommend they heat it up in the oven. :)
Ann F.
I made this recipe with legs and thighs. My family could hardly wait until it was done, the aroma was amazing. They absolutely loved it. Their only request was for me to make more kale and rice. I loved the fact that it was a one pot meal.
Louisa Clements
I’m so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Ann! The rice and kale is one of my favourite parts–can easily double if you have a big enough pot! Happy cooking and thank you for taking the time to leave a review, it is much appreciated!
Grace
I made this last night and it was delicious! I too added mushrooms. I must admit it was the first time I cooked rice this way which was fabulous to not be waiting for it to finish cooking! I think we can get our teen to eat this since the lemon takes away any bitterness the kale may have…we’ll see.
Louisa Clements
Thanks Grace, I’m so glad that you enjoyed this recipe! It’s such a simple way to cook rice and other ingredients. Thanks for leaving a comment & review! :) Happy cooking.
Jay
Has anyone made this after having stopped directly after searing the chicken? I have 4 children and had to stop making this dish right after I seared the chicken and I’m curious if anyone else has done this or what the opinion is of continuing the dish the following day. I presume it will be perfectly fine since it is a one-pot meal but thought I’d ask to see if anyone has experiences doing exactly that. Thanks.
Jay
Lou
Hi Jay, I’ve never tried it myself, but I imagine it will be fine if you continue cooking the chicken the following day! Always check that it’s reached an internal temperature of 165F.
Jon
Can you make this with curry paste instead of powder?
Lou
Hi Jon, yes you could use curry paste instead of powder, I would use about 1 tablespoon of curry paste to replace the powder.
Roxton
This sounds good. Can it be made with curry paste instead of powder? I have some yellow curry paste I need to use up in the next couple of months.
Lou
Hi Roxton, thank you! Yes you could use curry paste instead of powder, I would use about 1 tablespoon of curry paste to replace the powder.
Jeanne
Can I double the recipe and use a crock pot?
Lou
Hi Jeanne, you can definitely double the recipe but I would not recommend making this in a crockpot. In my experience, rice does not cook well (it ends up being quite mushy).
Nyisha
Is the 1050 calories for the whole 4 servings?
Lou
Hi Nyisha, I’m not a dietician or nutritionist so I can’t speak to the nutritional of calorie information of a dish. I have heard of people using My Fitness Pal to calculate calories. I hope that helps!
Glenn
Prepared this dish with bone in skin on thighs and breasts. After searing the chicken i removed some of the juice/fat from the pan before adding the onions,etc. it wasnt greasy at all. Really quite a delicious meal. Thanks.
Lou
So glad you enjoyed this Glenn and that it worked with the thighs and breasts! Thanks for letting me know. :)
H
This is amazing! I would even go so far as to leave out the chicken and add more veggies next time. Perfect for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. I made mine with chicken breasts cut into large pieces but next time I will make the pieces much smaller and just mix it all together to simmer. Will definitely use this…lots!
Lou
Thank you so much! I’m thrilled that you loved the recipe — I’m working on a new veggie-loaded version of this too, so keep checking back! :)
Emily
I love one pot recipes like this! Do you think it would work with wild rice instead of white rice? I make a few similar dishes, but always cook the wild rice separately. It would be so much easier (especially for clean up!) to do it all in one pot! Thanks!
Lou
Hi Emily, thank you! The one thing with wild rice is that it takes longer to cook than regular rice, so if you do try with wild rice, I would recommend adding the chicken and kale back to the pot when there are 20 minutes left to cook the rice. Let me know how it goes!
Rockie
I am going to eat this every day for the rest of my life, I added mushrooms, red pepper, and carrots along with everything else and this is just the perfect recipe…..♡
Lou
I’m so glad you loved it, Rockie! It’s one of my favourites too, love the added veggies – great idea!
Taylor
I am always gravitating towards one-pot meals, and I eat a ton of rice every week too. I’ve been trying to switch to quinoa to switch things up but rice is just so hearty and comforting when it’s spiced up like this! I love the simplicity of this recipe and that it’s still got all your food groups. When in doubt, always add some kale ;)
Lou
Thank you Taylor! I love one-pot meals as well and rice is such a versatile grain but you have inspired me to create a one-pot quinoa dish sometime soon.
Stacey
I love one pot recipes and curry! This recipe is on the menu this week for sure :) Thanks
Lou
Thanks Stacey, let me know how it goes :)
Platter Talk
This dish is a wonderful (and almost sneaky) way to introduce kale into a every-day type of meal; thanks so much for sharing!
Lou
Thank you! The kale works perfectly here and it’s such a great way to add extra veggies to your diet.
april
I was going to buy skinless and boneless chicken thighs yesterday since the regular ones was out of stock! I totally understand how skin on and bone in can make a meal a bit greasy. Next time I’ll try the skinless ones out. Thanks for the tip! I wish I would’ve bought them now. Love your chicken recipe it looks and sounds delicious!
Lou
Yes, depending on the dish the extra skin and fat can definitely add to the grease factor! Let me know if you give it a try :)