Recipe Post: Ranch Chicken Thighs and Rice

I’m taking it easy today—no gym for me. So in today’s blog post, I’m going to do that other thing I promised: share recipes! We’ve worked hard this week; let’s celebrate with a yummy dinner.

This is a gem I found on Recipezaar.

Ranch Chicken Thighs and Rice

Ingredients

·     4 chicken thighs

·     ½ cup ranch dressing

·     ½ cup dry bread crumbs

·     ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

·     2 tbsp. cornmeal

·     1 tbsp. Italian seasoning

·     salt and pepper

·     1 cup long-grain white rice

·     1 tbsp. butter

·     2 cups chicken stock

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pour ranch dressing into a small bowl. In another small bowl, combine bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, cornmeal, and Italian seasoning.

Pull the skin off the chicken thighs. (Trust me, you won’t miss it.) Lightly sprinkle the skinless thighs with salt and pepper. Dredge each thigh through the ranch dressing and then through the breadcrumb mixture. Place in a lightly greased glass baking dish.

Bake thighs at 375 for 45 minutes. You don’t need to turn them; just let them hang out in the oven.

Meanwhile, boil 2 cups of chicken stock and 1 tbsp. butter over high heat. Add 1 cup of rice and stir. Turn the heat down to low and cover. Let rice cook for 20 minutes. (Don’t lift the lid at ALL while it’s cooking.) After 20 minutes, remove lid and fluff rice with fork.

Serve chicken and rice with steamed vegetables (I personally prefer green beans, broccoli, or spinach with this meal.)

Of course, you can make this healthier by using fat-free ranch dressing and omitting the butter in the rice…but why would you want to?