Name: Roast Chicken and Tomato Rice
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Ingredients: 1 whole free range chicken; 1.5 cups jasmine rice; 3 cups chicken stock; 400 mls tomato passata or pasta sauce; 1 teaspoon minced garlic; 1 teaspoon brown or white sugar; 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (optional); Herbs optional (see notes); 50 grams butter optional; Olive oil; Salt & pepper

This Roast Chicken and Tomato Rice is simple and speedy! It uses pantry staples and tastes delicious.

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Years ago I created One Pot Chicken and Coconut Rice and you guys LOVED it! It is on many peoples regular meal plans. I was inspired to do something similar, where the rice and the chicken cook together, but with different flavours. This is where the Roast Chicken and Tomato Rice was born. I have used a whole chicken but you can absolutely use Marylands (legs) or drumsticks. I love the flavour that the rice takes on with the chicken being cooked on top like this. It is so delicious!

This recipe uses a whole free range chicken, chicken stock, butter, long grain rice, balsamic vinegar, tomato passata or pasta sauce, seasoning and herbs if you have some on hand. See below for my notes about herbs.

How to make Roast Chicken and Tomato Rice :

Preheat oven to 220 degrees fan bake. Start with your chicken, take a very sharp knife, we are going to cut the chicken so it takes less time to cook. Place chicken on a board and cut right through the middle of the backbone, to open the chicken out. Now lay it flat, you may need to push it down a little to flatten it out.

Take your knife and cut slits on the thighs and drumsticks. It looks great and helps them cook evenly.

If using butter, push this under the skin on the breasts. Between the meat and the skin. Rub the chicken with oil and season well.

For the tomato rice, heat the passata/pasta sauce, along with the chicken stock, sugar, balsamic and herbs in a pot over a medium heat. We are heating this mixture now so it takes less time to come up to temperature in the oven.

Once hot, add the rice and tomato mix to the roasting tray. Place the chicken on top. Scatter over herbs if using.

Place in the oven and turn the oven down to 180 degrees fan bake. We want the oven to be nice and hot to speed up the cooking. Cook for 40-60 minutes until rice and chicken are cooked. Time depends on size of chicken, the dish used, and the oven. IF rice gets too dry you can add a little more water. I have never had to do this but each oven is different.

If you are looking for more recipes using chicken check out my posts for One Pot Chicken & Coconut Rice and Creamy Garlic Chicken .

Common questions about Roast Chicken and Tomato Rice:

What shall I cook this dish in? The dish that you use is important as it needs to be able to get up to heat. I use a relatively thin metal tray with high sides. A roasting dish. If you are using something different, allow extra time for cooking. Alternatively you could cook with a lid on to get to temperature. IF USING A CERAMIC DISH it will take longer and MAY need more liquid. Please remember all ovens are different and all dishes are different. You may have to play around with this recipe to find the exact time & liquid needed to cook the rice and chicken through.

Lets talk herbs. I used Rosemary, you could use thyme, parsley or sage. If using softer herbs such as sage or parsley I would cut these and stuff under the skin and under the chicken carcass so that they infuse the chicken but do not burn.