One Pot Caribbean Jerk Chicken & Rice for a true flavor explosion! Chicken thighs baked to crispy perfection on a bed of fragrant rice and beans come together in a dash for an easy weeknight meal.
Who doesn’t love a good one-pot meal? Less prep, less cleaning, and it’s on your table in about an hour. Plus, the way the chicken juice seeps into the rice and flavors it is heavenly. 😇
I cook this jerk chicken and rice recipe in an oven-proof skillet because it can go from stovetop to oven without messing up an extra pan. That said, you could easily use a Dutch oven.
The Secret to Insanely Good One-Pot Jerk Chicken and Rice
I’m all for saving time in the kitchen, but one ingredient is worth spending a little time making at home: homemade jerk spice. Most store-bought blends don’t even come close to the flavor of this homemade version, and you can customize it to your preferences. 😋
What You Need
- Chicken – Any cut of chicken will work here, but chicken thighs are the juiciest and most flavorful.
- Rice – Any long-grain rice, basic white rice, jasmine, and basmati will do. Even brown rice works, though you may need to adjust the cooking time.
- Beans – Kidney beans add flavor and extra protein to this dish, making it extra satisfying.
- Broth – For extra flavor, I cook the rice in chicken broth instead of water.
- Coconut Milk adds creaminess and a tropical undertone.
- Seasonings – Garlic, onion, thyme, bay leaves, white pepper, Creole seasoning, chicken bouillon, paprika, scotch bonnet pepper, and green onion to garnish are fantastic.
How to Make One-Pot Caribbean Jerk Chicken & Rice
Chicken Thighs
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ (177℃).
- Rinse the chicken thighs and pat them dry—season with salt (about 1½ teaspoons) and bouillon powder.
- Season – Then, rub both sides of each piece with a generous amount of jerk seasoning.
- Sear – Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to a skillet, Dutch oven, or oven-safe pot. Then add chicken thighs skin side up, and brown for about 3 minutes on each side, being careful not to burn it. Take the chicken out of the pan and set aside.
Vegetables, Rice, and Beans
- Clean Pan – Wipe the pan with a paper towel or napkin to remove any burned bits from the pan.
- Saute – Add another 2 tablespoons of oil, followed by onions, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf, and sauté until soft but not golden, 2-3 minutes.
- Assemble – Then, add the rice and beans. Next, add all the remaining ingredients: chicken stock, coconut milk, paprika, white pepper, jerk seasoning, salt, and bouillon. Add the chicken back to the pot and bring everything to a boil.
- Bake – Place the pan in the oven and cook, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is done.
- Serve – Remove from oven, allow to rest a minute, garnish with chopped green onions if desired, and serve.
Recipe Variations
- Try a different protein. Instead of chicken, try it with pork or shrimp. You can also swap out kidney beans for a different kind of bean if you’d like. 🫘
- Turn the heat up (or down). If you don’t enjoy spicy food, leave the hot pepper out. But if you’re a heat seeker, dice the scotch bonnet and prepare for the burn. For somewhere in the middle, add the scotch bonnet whole.
- Add more veggies. Chopped bell peppers, peas, carrots, or other veggies are delicious and nutritious.
Tips and Tricks
- For faster cooking, make a ½-inch slit in the chicken thigh meat on both sides before searing.
- Rinse the rice to remove excess starch for fluffier results. ☁️
- An instant-read meat thermometer ensures the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165℉ (75℃). 🌡️
Make-Ahead Instructions
To make this dish ahead of time, let it cool and refrigerate it in an airtight container for 1-2 days. Or freeze it for up to 3 months. Then, thaw, reheat, and enjoy!
Serving and Storage Instructions
Serve one-pot jerk chicken and rice piping hot, fresh out of the oven, and garnished with chopped green onions.
Refrigerate leftover chicken and rice in an airtight container for 3-5 days. To reheat this dish, pop it back in the oven set to 350℉ (180℃) for 10-15 minutes or until heated through. Add a couple of tablespoons of water or broth to prevent drying. Or pop individual portions in the microwave.
What Goes With One Pot Caribbean Jerk Chicken & Rice
This dish goes beautifully with fried plantains and Caribbean coleslaw. A sorrel drink might cool down the heat from the scotch bonnet. Or, if you are feeling like an adult beverage, a pina colada works just as well. 😉
More Caribbean-Inspired Recipes to Try
Watch How to Make It
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This blog post was originally published in June 2015 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video
One Pot Caribbean Jerk Chicken & Rice
Ingredients
Jerk Chicken Thighs
- 2½-3 pounds (1-1.5k) chicken thighs (about 5-6)
- 1½ teaspoons (8g) salt
- ½ teaspoon (2g) chicken bouillon (optional)
- 1-2 tablespoons (12-24g) jerk seasoning
One Pot Jerk Chicken and Rice
- 4 tablespoons (60ml) canola oil
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 small bay leaves
- 2 cups (360g) uncooked long grain rice
- 1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk (1¾ cups)
- 1 15.5-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon (5g) white pepper
- 1½-2 teaspoons (8-10g) Creole seasoning (or jerk seasoning)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2-2¼ cups (470-530ml) chicken broth (or water) If using 6 chicken thighs, I use 2 cups of water
- 1 teaspoon (4g) chicken bouillon (optional)
- 1 whole scotch bonnet pepper (optional)
- 1 teaspoon (6g) paprika (optional)
- 1 green onion for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉/177℃.
- Wash chicken thighs. For faster cooking, make a ½-inch slit into the meat on either side of the bone and pat dry with a paper towel—season with salt (about 1½ teaspoons) and bouillon powder.
- Rub both sides of the thighs with a generous amount of jerk seasoning.
- Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to a skillet, Dutch oven, or oven-safe pot. Then add chicken thighs skin side up, and brown for about 3 minutes on each side, being careful not to burn it. Take the chicken out of the pan and set aside.
- Wipe the pan with a paper towel or napkin to remove any burned bits from the pan.
- Add another 2 tablespoons of oil, followed by onions, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf, and sauté until soft but not golden, 2-3 minutes.
- Then, add the rice and beans. Next, add all the remaining ingredients: chicken stock, coconut milk, paprika, white pepper, jerk seasoning, salt, and bouillon. Add the chicken back to the pot and bring everything to a boil.
- Place the pan in the oven and cook, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is done.
- Remove from oven, allow to rest a minute, garnish with chopped green onions if desired, and serve.
Tips & Notes:
- Feel free to replace the jerk seasoning with Creole, taco, or your favorite spice mix.
- For faster cooking, make a ½-inch slit in the chicken thigh meat on both sides before searing.
- Rinse the rice to remove excess starch for fluffier results. ☁️
- An instant-read meat thermometer ensures the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165℉ (75℃).
- Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.
Jamie says
This recipe is to die for! Thank you Imma for sharing, it’s a new favorite. I used brown rice instead of white rice because that’s what I had on hand, and increased the bake time a bit. Worked like a charm. Will be sharing the recipe with family and friends. Thanks again!
Mary says
This was SO AMAZING! Made it for a second time tonight, and my husband’s reaction has always been the same, “This is really good, and so flavorful!” This recipe is a keeper! Thank you!
Pollie Tolson says
Yum! Another delicious recipe. I used whole grain Brown Rice. Therefore I used 3 1/4 cups chicken broth and cooked longer 40 to 45 minutes. I use my cast iron Dutch Oven. My favorite recipe site. Thanks for another fantastic meal.
Stormy Dog says
This is simply delicious and I make it quite often.
Stephanie says
This. Is. So. Good!!! I’ve made this quite a few times and am finally giving it a review. The recipe is perfect as is. So flavorful and the perfect one pot meal!
The only thing I’m still working on is getting the liquid to rice ratio and timing right when using brown rice. Trying tonight with 4 cups of liquid to 2 cups of brown basmati rice and covering it for a bit first. Let me know if you’ve done this and have any tips!
ImmaculateBites says
Sorry don’t have any tips for using brown rice . I have only used white rice .
Dan says
It’s cold and rainy here today and thought this would be a perfect meal. This is my fourth time making this and we all love it!
Beatrice says
I want to make this for my boyfriend, and he will definitely want a couple of scotch bonnets in there. I see they are optional, the ingredients list says to leave them whole. Do you just nestle them into the rice and bake it? Wouldn’t that make the one spot really hot while leaving other spots with no spice? Some instructions on how to use the peppers would be awesome! Thanks!
ImmaculateBites says
I usually just throw it in and after the rice , let it sit for about 5 minutes or more and thoroughly mix. It’s usually not that hot , for the most part I let the heat seekers smash the pepper in their individual plates, with the rice before eating .
This is what I would recommend ;Pierce a couple of scotch bonnet peppers and throw it in the rice when cooking. It will give it more heat . Hope this helps.
Candace says
I made two versions. I’m vegan so I used vegan drumsticks and veggie broth. I also added okra green onions and chives. Really good. Then I made the regular version for my husband. Thanks for the recipe
Alicia says
Hi love your recipe can you use chicken breast and if so what will be the time for it
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Alicia,The same amount of time works . Give it a few more or less depending on the size of the breast.
Cee says
Tried this recipe for the first time and am in love! I messed up at the grocery store and forgot to get coconut milk, so had to use the half and half that was in my home instead. This still tasted great, and I used chicken broth to bring more of the flavor back to caribbean jerk. Thanks so much!!
Michelle says
I’ve made this several times and love it. However I got an instantpot and wanted to know can the recipe as is be used in the instantpot
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Michelle, I haven’t tried it in an instant pot .So can’t give you any specific details and measurements. If you do make it let me know how it works out for you.Thanks
Joanne says
I tried this recipe in the Instant Pot and it was delicious. I just used the cook time for the Jamaican Rice and Peas recipe – 21mins.
Yuna says
This was the perfect comfort food for a cold winter night! I used the homemade jerk seasoning by Imma for the chicken and the rice. I was worried the rice would stick to my dutch oven, so I rinsed the starch off of it several times. I’m not sure if I needed to do that, because the coconut cream in the milk probably helped prevent sticking anyways. The chicken and the rice cooked perfectly in the oven. Thanks for this recipe!
Elena says
Let me first say this was really really good!! My husband had 2 plates. I used my 12 inch cast iron pan and did 4 thighs and 2 drums (that’s how I seal chicken before freezing). I will be honest, coming from a West Indian home I was a bit apprehensive of baking rice in the oven uncovered. That being said I decided that instead of using my conventional gas oven, I would instead use my counter top oven. I choose to do this because my counter top oven has a bunch of settings (toast, air fryer, convection, etc.). I decided if I was going to do the uncovered way I should use the convection oven that way I know it would cook evenenly throughout. Good call on my part. The rice in this was AMAZING and perfectly cooked!! I didn’t alter the recipe itself so much except I used gungo peas instead of the red kidney beans and I added a couple of whole pimentos to the pot when I poured in the liquid. Imma, thanks for another great recipe!!
Elena
Lilly M says
This is the best rice I have Ever had! Can’t wait to make again!
Erin Brewster says
Okay, the only thing I can say is, “Wow, wow, wow!” This is so stickin’ good. It’s all I can do to not eat the whole pot before my family gets home for dinner. My only finding is that the ingredients would not fit in my 9” cast iron skillet. I had to transfer the rice mixture to a Dutch oven before adding the chicken back in. Do you do Jollof Rice too? Lol
imma africanbites says
Wohooo! Thank you, Erin for taking the time to let me know. You know I’m a fan of baked rice ( 😉 ) lol. You can check the baked jollof rice here >>> https://www.africanbites.com/jellof-riceoven-baked/
Chinale says
OMG my mouth is so happy right now. It cooked the rice PERFECTLY and tastes amazing even without the homemade jerk (Mama was too busy at work to do all that today!). So glad I found this site as I am interested in exploring more culturally African foods. Thanks for sharing with your readers!
Carly says
This dish is amazing and so easy to do! I used to spend hours in kitchen making this & now I make it in 45 minutes and it tastes soo good. A real hit with the whole family..
imma africanbites says
Glad it turned out wonderful you and your family, Carly! And thanks for dropping by.