Buffalo Chicken and Rice
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Buffalo Chicken and Rice is an easy one pot meal your whole family will love. Gluten free, high protein, delicious and done in under an hour!
When you need an easy one pot dinner that tastes amazing, this Buffalo Chicken and Rice is for you! This easy one pot dinner is secretly healthy, packed with protein and tastes just like Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip.
Tender chicken and rice cook together in one pan for a no fuss meal that’s loaded with flavor. Drizzle with extra buffalo sauce and cheese for an absolutely delicious dinner!
This rice skillet makes 4 large dishes. It’s great for pairing with some roasted veggies for meal prep.
liz’s top tip for buffalo chicken and rice
- To speed up cook time, put your chicken broth in the microwave and warm it up! This will make the dish cook quicker.
Ingredients
This is our favorite pan for one pot meals.
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil or melted butter.
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders. We like chicken breasts best! Make sure to cut them in tiny pieces.
White Rice: Brown rice should work as a white rice substitute in this recipe, but it will take much longer to cook, and you will need to use more broth. Do not substitute 1:1 with cauliflower rice because it can be very soggy and will not absorb the broth but you can stir in frozen or fresh cauliflower rice at the very end after the rice has cooked to add in extra veggies.
Broth: Broth and stock are the same thing! You can use any broth or stock interchangeably. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth, especially with this recipe because buffalo sauce is salty.
Buffalo Sauce: This is our absolute favorite buffalo sauce! Look for one without added sugar. You may be able to use hot sauce, but the flavor will be different.
Dried Spices: Feel free to use a tablespoon of fresh parsley instead of dried.
Cheese: Cheese adds so much flavor to this recipe. You can omit it, but we don’t recommend it! Feel free to substitute with dairy free cheese if you’d like. We recommend freshly grating cheddar (It melts so much better) – no pre-shredded cheddar cheese!
Add Veggies: Broccoli or green beans would be a good addition to this recipe. Add them during the last 3 minutes of cooking.
How to Make Buffalo Chicken and Rice
- Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Saute chicken for 8-10 minutes.
- Add onion, garlic and celery to the pan with the chicken. Saute for an additional 3 minutes.
- Stir in carrots, rice, broth, buffalo sauce and spices (leave the cheese and yogurt til the end!) Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once the rice has cooked, stir in cheddar cheese. If you’re adding yogurt, you can stir it in now. You can drizzle with extra buffalo sauce or ranch dressing could be good too!
What to Serve with this Recipe:
This buffalo chicken rice blow is a hearty meal in itself. If you want more veggies, you could serve this with some Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Roasted Lemon Parmesan Asparagus, or frozen veggies (I love frozen green beans!)
I also like to stir in thawed frozen cauliflower rice or fresh cauliflower rice at the end of this cooking to add extra veggies. To garnish, we usually drizzle extra wing sauce and sprinkle with green onions.
Storage
Storing: The leftovers will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months. We like these containers for freezing!
Rice can get a little mushy when frozen, but it will still taste delicious.
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave or on the stovetop in a skillet. We recommend reheating on the stovetop as chicken can get a funny texture when microwaved.
Other healthy one pot dinner recipes:
Looking for other easy meals? Check out these Healthy Dinner Recipes. Click here to grab our free one pot dinners cookbook.
Buffalo Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into small cubes
- 1 cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced onion
- 2 tablespoons garlic minced
- 3 cups chicken broth low or no salt
- 2 cups grated carrots
- 1 cup dry long grain white rice
- ½ cup buffalo sauce
- 3 teaspoons dried parsley
- 3 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup cheddar cheese
- 1 cup nonfat greek yogurt optional
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add olive oil to the pan.
- Add chicken to the pan and saute for 8-10 minutes, until the edges start to brown. (The chicken doesn’t have to be completely cooked because it will continue to cook for at least another 15 minutes.
- Add celery, onion and garlic to the pan with the chicken. Sauté for an additional 3 minutes.
- Stir in chicken broth, carrots, rice, buffalo sauce and dried spices. (Leave the cheese and yogurt til the end!) Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Pro Tip: to speed up cook time, microwave your broth until warm before adding to the pan)
- Make sure to stir the rice every few minutes to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Once the rice has cooked, stir in cheddar cheese. If you're adding yogurt, you can stir it in now. You can drizzle with extra buffalo sauce!
Video
This had so much flavor! Delicious! It was pretty spicy for us, So I may use less buffalo sauce next time, or maybe a different brand of sauce! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Do you think there would be a way to do shredded chicken breast in this? I’m trying to figure out how I could make that work
I haven’t tried it, but I think you could probably just skip the browning of the chicken, and add shredded chicken and it would be fine! Let me know if you try it 🙂
One of the best new recipes I’ve tried in a while. Thanks so much for what you do!
Delicious, easy recipe. Makes enough for a few dinners and lunches. Will definitely be making again.
This has become my favorite Clean Eating Couple recipe! I am a huge fan of buffalo but also a vegetarian so it can be hard to come by. Plant-based chicken usually has a gross texture but the option I found at Whole Foods mixed into this recipe wasn’t bad! I also substitued for brown rice which took some experimenting but YUM nonetheless! Last time I added 1/2 a cup of non-fat greek yogurt to make it a little creamier and less spicy but this time I added the full cup. So easy to meal prep, too. I also drizzled bleu cheese dressing and crumbles on top. Highly recommend!
Would I be able to sub instant brown rice?
I’m sorry but I haven’t tried that so I don’t know how that would impact the cook time. Different types of rice need more/less broth and more/less time for cooking so I’m really not sure how this would work!
I’ve been looking for an easy and healthy meal and came across this account! This was a delicious meal with just the right amount of flavor and spices. Very filling and healthy!
So happy you enjoyed it!
What do you think about cottage cheese instead of the Greek yogurt?
I haven’t tried it but I think it would work!
This recipe is so good!!!! I was hesitant to try and I’m so happy that I did. I also added non fat greek yogurt which I couldn’t even taste but made it creamy and gave it more protein.
So glad you liked it, Jillian!
Great for meal prep, freezes and reheats well!
So glad you liked it, Grace!
This was really tasty! I added more yogurt because I like a mild spice. Great flavor, quick, simple ingredients, and I love that it’s in one pot! Perfect week night meal. Will make again!
So glad you liked it!
So good! It really hit the spot when I was craving buffalo chicken dip!
So glad you liked it!
My husband and I loved this! My husband in particular is a huge Buffalo sauce and wings fan, and had so many good things to say about this recipe! It had the right amount of spice, not too strong but definitely flavorful.
My husband and I loved it! We added the Greek yogurt and had it on it’s own with a side salad!
So happy you both liked it, Jess! Thank you so much for trying it!