• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Living Lou

Simple, fresh and flavorful recipes.

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Contact
    • Work with me
    • Press & Media
    • Send me a Message
  • About

Home » chicken » One Pot Curried Chicken and Rice with Kale

One Pot Curried Chicken and Rice with Kale

Published: Nov 16, 2015 · Modified: May 27, 2020 by Louisa Clements · This post may contain affiliate links

This post may contain affiliate links

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
Jump to Recipe
45 minutes 34 Comments

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.

Get dinner on the table quickly with this one-pot recipe for curried chicken and rice with kale. | livinglou.com

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.

Get dinner on the table quickly with this one-pot recipe for curried chicken and rice with kale. | livinglou.com

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

Author: Louisa Clements
3.94 from 15 votes
Pin Print
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 45 minutes
servings icon
Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, excess fat trimmed
  • ½ tsp salt, divided
  • 1 ½ tsp curry powder, divided
  • 2 tsp olive oil, divided
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • 3 cups packed thinly sliced kale
  • 1 cup long grain white rice
  • 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

  • Season chicken with ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp curry powder and pepper.
  • Heat a large saute pan over medium-high. Add 1 tsp 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 tsp curry powder, smoked paprika and ¼ tsp 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.
Did you try this recipe?Leave a comment + rating and let me know what you think!
Filed Under: chicken, Dinner Recipes, easy, gluten free, quick recipes

Let me know if you give this one-pot curried chicken and rice with kale a try.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Review Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Rate this recipe: ☆☆☆☆☆

Comments

  1. Vandria

    October 18, 2022 at 11:24 pm

    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.
    ★★★★★
    Reply
    • Louisa Clements

      October 20, 2022 at 9:56 pm

      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. :)
      Reply
  2. Ann F.

    July 17, 2022 at 6:24 pm

    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.
    ★★★★★

    5 stars

    Reply
    • Louisa Clements

      July 23, 2022 at 12:21 pm

      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!
      Reply
  3. Grace

    March 19, 2020 at 6:39 am

    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.
    ★★★★★

    5 stars

    Reply
    • Louisa Clements

      March 22, 2020 at 6:39 pm

      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.
      Reply
  4. Jay

    May 08, 2019 at 11:48 pm

    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
    Reply
    • Lou

      May 12, 2019 at 10:08 pm

      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.
      Reply
  5. Jon

    April 09, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    Can you make this with curry paste instead of powder?
    Reply
    • Lou

      April 10, 2019 at 6:06 pm

      Hi Jon, yes you could use curry paste instead of powder, I would use about 1 tablespoon of curry paste to replace the powder.
      Reply
  6. Roxton

    April 09, 2019 at 7:16 pm

    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.
    Reply
    • Lou

      April 10, 2019 at 6:06 pm

      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.
      Reply
  7. Jeanne

    April 09, 2019 at 11:57 am

    Can I double the recipe and use a crock pot?
    Reply
    • Lou

      April 10, 2019 at 6:05 pm

      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).
      Reply
  8. Nyisha

    April 09, 2019 at 9:56 am

    Is the 1050 calories for the whole 4 servings?
    Reply
    • Lou

      April 10, 2019 at 6:04 pm

      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!
      Reply
  9. Glenn

    April 20, 2018 at 2:58 am

    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.
    ★★★★★

    5 stars

    Reply
    • Lou

      April 23, 2018 at 11:08 pm

      So glad you enjoyed this Glenn and that it worked with the thighs and breasts! Thanks for letting me know. :)
      Reply
  10. H

    November 03, 2016 at 7:35 pm

    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!
    Reply
    • Lou

      November 09, 2016 at 7:48 pm

      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! :)
      Reply
  11. Emily

    October 24, 2016 at 10:51 am

    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!
    Reply
    • Lou

      October 26, 2016 at 9:14 pm

      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!
      Reply
  12. Rockie

    April 30, 2016 at 6:30 pm

    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.....♡
    Reply
    • Lou

      May 01, 2016 at 12:39 pm

      I'm so glad you loved it, Rockie! It's one of my favourites too, love the added veggies – great idea!
      Reply
  13. Taylor

    January 23, 2016 at 10:48 am

    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 ;)
    Reply
    • Lou

      January 25, 2016 at 7:39 pm

      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.
      Reply
  14. Stacey

    January 19, 2016 at 2:08 pm

    I love one pot recipes and curry! This recipe is on the menu this week for sure :) Thanks
    Reply
    • Lou

      January 21, 2016 at 9:29 am

      Thanks Stacey, let me know how it goes :)
      Reply
  15. Platter Talk

    January 19, 2016 at 11:47 am

    This dish is a wonderful (and almost sneaky) way to introduce kale into a every-day type of meal; thanks so much for sharing!
    Reply
    • Lou

      January 21, 2016 at 9:30 am

      Thank you! The kale works perfectly here and it's such a great way to add extra veggies to your diet.
      Reply
  16. april

    January 19, 2016 at 10:11 am

    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!
    Reply
    • Lou

      January 21, 2016 at 12:02 pm

      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 :)
      Reply

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I'm Lou!

Hi, I'm Louisa Clements & welcome to Living Lou. I've been creating simple, fresh & flavorful recipes for the modern kitchen for 12 years.
Learn More

Let’s connect

Living Lou

Copyright © 2023 Living Lou | Privacy

  • Home
  • All Recipes
  • Contact
  • About

Footer