Lebanese chicken and rice is a delicious combination of luscious rice cooked with ground meat and spices, shredded chicken and toasted nuts. All come together to make a dish packed with great flavors and textures. Best of all, while it might seem fancy, it's a lot easier than you might think.
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I've long been drawn to foods from the Levant region, and was most definitely in food heaven when we visited friends living in Jordan a few years ago. The fresh salads like tabbouleh and fattoush, tender grilled meats and creamy labneh and hummus were all so delicious.
I've had similar feelings from visits to Israel, where we enjoyed some of the same dishes and discovered new ones like roasted eggplant with tahini and shakshuka hummus.
While Lebanon is sadly still on my to-visit list, I do hunt down or make Lebanese food fairly often. We were so glad to find a great Lebanese restaurant near where we lived in Melbourne. The person who always served us was such a vibrant character and had such passion for the dishes from his country. And for good reason.
In general, I was familiar with all that we had there, but this dish - riz a jej - was a new one to me. This fragrant rice dish, topped with chicken and toasted nuts is sometimes described as Lebanese dirty rice. But really, it's very much it's own dish. The person in the restaurant said it was one of his favorites, and it soon became one of ours. So much so, I had to make it at home.
I've drawn on this Simply Leb recipe and Food 52 recipe in making this and we all found this so delicious. While it may seem like this dish is a little complex, you can do a lot ahead. So the hands-on work before eating is really not bad.
Make ahead options
This dish has three components - the seasoned, meaty rice, the chicken on top and the nut garnish. You don't want to skip any of them, trust me. But the good news is you can make two out of the three ahead.
The topping for this dish is toasted nuts. You can, if you like, make them slightly healthier by dry frying or toasting under the broiler/grill. But the more traditional way is to cook them in oil. And, I have to say, they taste so incredibly good it's worth that little extra oil.
You can make the nuts a day or two ahead and store them in an airtight container at room temperature.
The other part you can make ahead is the chicken. In fact, it's a great way to use leftover roast chicken or bought rotisserie chicken. However, if you don't use leftovers, the traditional way to cook it is poaching. And this is really easy to do while you cook the rice since you can leave it to itself.
The one part that is a little more hands on is cooking the rice, but it, too is easy.
Cooking tips
As I say, while there are a few components, this is generally a pretty easy dish. A couple tips, though:
- Pay close attention when you cook the nuts. It doesn't take long for them to go from just brown to burnt, both cooked under broiler/grill or in a skillet/frying pan. So, give them your full attention. If you cook them in oil, drain them on kitchen paper to save them being too oily.
- Give yourself time to shred the chicken. It doesn't take all that long, but you don't want the rice to become cold while you do it. So, I recommend you cook the chicken slightly before then shred while the rice cooks. Then cover to keep it warm or, if needed, warm it in a skillet with a little warm stock to keep it moist.
- Find Lebanese spice mix (or make your own!) You don't need a lot of spice in the rice and meat mixture, but you don't want to skip it. Lebanese seven spice (baharat) gives a lovely balance of aromatic spices and a little pepper. It really adds to the end flavor of the dish. And it's easy to mix up yourself, too.
- Don't skip the butter in the rice. It might seem strange to add extra fat in after softening the onion and browning the meat, but this extra butter adds a little extra richness to the rice. It's worth it.
Serving suggestion
You can layer up the different parts of the dish either on a large platter to serve from, or you can make individual plates with each component. Serving on a platter is more typical.
This is the kind of dish that would generally be a main after a range of mezze dishes to start (such as hummus, baba ghanoush and others). Or, you can go straight to main and enjoy more, of course. Either way, this is really good with some salad on the side, particularly fattoush.
Lebanese chicken and rice is a celebratory dish, and it's easy to understand why. But it's also not as difficult as it might appear and makes a wonderful meal any time you choose. Fantastic flavors and textures - be sure to try it soon.
Try these other tasty chicken dishes:
- Chicken saltimbocca (with prosciutto and sage)
- Musakhan (Palestinian sumac chicken)
- Peruvian roast chicken (pollo a la brasa)
- Plus get more main dishes and Middle Eastern recipes in the archives.
Lebanese chicken and rice
Ingredients
For nut topping
- ¼ cup slivered almonds or can use halved blanched almonds
- 2 tablespoon pine nuts
- 3 tablespoon cashews
- 1 tablespoon olive oil approx
For chicken
- 1 lb chicken breast or can use boneless thighs (see notes)
- ⅛ onion
- 2 stems parsley
- 1 bay leaf
For rice base
- ½ onion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ lb ground beef or lamb beef or lamb mince
- 2 teaspoon Lebanese seven spice (baharat)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 ½ tablespoon butter
- 1 ¼ cups long grain rice eg basmati
- 2 cups chicken stock
Instructions
For nut topping (can do ahead)
- Warm the oil in a small skillet/frying pan over a medium head and add the nuts, one kind at a time (since they can take different times to cook). Keep a close eye on them as they cook and turn occasionally so that they cook on each side. The nuts can take around 1 - 4 minutes depending on the kind and size. Once the nuts are brown but not burnt, remove from the skillet, draining excess oil, then transfer to kitchen paper to remove any more oil.
- Add the next kind of nut to the oil and repeat until all are toasted. If you don't seem to have enough oil as you add the second or third kind of nut, add a little more. These can be made a day or two ahead and stored at room temperature
For chicken (can do ahead)
- If using fresh chicken, place in a pot and add the onion, parsley and bay leaf. Add water so that the chicken is covered by a good 1in/2-3cm, cover then place on a medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat slightly to simmer/low boil and cook for around 10 minutes, testing now and then, until the chicken is cooked through (if using an instant-read thermometer, you are looking for around 165F/74C in thickest part). Remove from cooking water.
- If cooking as you are about to eat, start cooking the meat and rice as the chicken is poaching and then keep chicken warm and shred before serving. If you make it ahead, let cool then refrigerate to store a day or two.
For rice
- Dice the onion into a relatively small dice.
- Warm the oil in a Dutch oven or other relatively large pot with a lid over a medium heat then add the onion. Cook for a few minutes to soften the onion.
- Once the onion is translucent but not browning, add the ground beef/lamb. Cook the meat, turning and breaking up the chunks regularly.
- Once the meat has browned, add the Lebanese seven spice, salt and pepper and stir to mix through. Add the rice and butter and mix both through the meat so that the butter melts and the rice becomes well coated.
- Add the stock to the meat and rice mixture, cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat so that the liquid simmers rather than boils and leave to cook, covered, until all the liquid has been absorbed.
- Serve the meat and rice mixture topped with the chicken and then some of each of the toasted nuts. You can either place all on one platter to serve from or layer up each on individual plates (a platter is more typical). Great served with salad on the side.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Remember to pin for later!
Melissa says
We have just been getting into Middle Eastern cooking and my family loved this dish! It was so good! Thank you!
Caroline's Cooking says
So glad to hear you enjoyed! And glad to hear you have been exploring the cuisine of the region - there are certainly many wonderful dishes to try.
Lisa says
So much flavor in this dish and I love that you can make part of it ahead of time.
Caroline's Cooking says
Thanks, and yes it does make it easier being able to make some of it ahead!
Joyce says
Nice! Lebanese have most beautiful selection foods . Make sure it’s moist and Morish tasting most importantly! Our food brings love to our family at the table . Every day! That’s why we SHOW OUR LOVE THROUGH OUR FOOD . What Lebanese people are good at . It all starts at home .! Thank our mums for the humble beginnings. X nsw JS
Caroline's Cooking says
Thanks, I agree some lovely dishes for sure!
Andrea says
The combination of nuts in this chicken and rice sounds divine. Can't wait for my family to taste this.
Caroline's Cooking says
It's a lovely combination - hope they all enjoy!
Beth says
Wow! I enjoyed learning about the history of this tasty dish! I know this is going to be a hit with my family! Pretty sure the nuts will be the first to be gobbled up!
Caroline's Cooking says
The nuts are certainly one of my kids' favorite parts! Though they enjoy it all.