Healthy Chicken Rice and Broccoli
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Chicken Rice and Broccoli is a delicious meal that comes together in one pot, and in just 40 minutes! With protein, whole grains, and veggies, this chicken and broccoli recipe is healthy comfort food at its best.
On nights when you don’t feel like cooking (or doing a lot of dishes), a one-pot chicken recipe like this can be your new go-to! It’s easy to make, and because you only use one pan, clean up is a breeze.
We tested this recipe in our kitchen over 7 times to get the perfect ratio of ingredients. There’s just enough rice and broccoli to balance with the pieces of chicken breast.
This dish is very hearty. With 47g of protein per serving, fiber, and healthy carbs from the rice, it will definitely keep you feeling full!
Liz’s Tips for this Recipe
- Be sure your skillet or pot is deep enough. This recipe has a lot of ingredients and you’ll need a large pot to hold all of them! This is our favorite pot for one pot meals.
- Wait to add the broccoli! The broccoli gets added towards the end so it doesn’t overcook and get mushy.
- Use freshly grated cheese. Avoid using parmesan cheese from the green container… the fresh stuff tastes so much better!
If you like chicken and broccoli recipes, make Chicken And Broccoli Stir Fry or Chicken Broccoli and Rice Casserole next!
Ingredients
The ingredients are all basic kitchen staples, but in case you need them, here are some substitutions:
Ingredient Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute this with avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless, skinless chicken thighs or even chicken tenders.
White Rice: Brown rice should work as a white rice substitute in this recipe, but it will take longer to cook, and you will need to use more broth.
We don’t recommend using cauliflower rice because it can be very soggy, but you can stir in frozen or fresh cauliflower rice at the very end to add in extra veggies.
Broccoli: You can use either fresh or frozen broccoli. If you buy pre-cut broccoli florets and they’re large, you may want to give them a rough chop first.
Broth: Broth and stock are interchangeable, so you can use beef broth, chicken broth, or vegetable broth. We like to use low sodium or salt-free broth.
Dried Spices: Feel free to use a tablespoon of fresh parsley or basil instead of dried.
Parmesan Cheese: Parmesan 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 or nutritional yeast if you’d like.
How to Make Healthy Chicken Rice and Broccoli
This is just a summary of the steps involved in making the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card for the full instructions, or click on the Jump to Recipe button, below.
- Sauté the chicken in oil until the edges start to brown. Add onion and garlic and cook for another few minutes.
- Stir in the broth, rice, and spices. Cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the broccoli and cook for 5 more minutes, until the rice is tender and the broccoli is tender-crisp
- Sprinkle with parmesan cheese before serving.
Serving Suggestions
This chicken and broccoli recipe makes a complete meal in itself, so no other sides are necessary. However, for more veggies, you could make some roasted Brussel sprouts or roasted lemon parmesan asparagus.
storage
Refrigerator: In an airtight container, refrigerated leftovers will last for up to 4 days.
Freezing: You can freeze the fully cooked meal for up to 3 months. Be sure to use freezer-safe containers. The rice may get a little mushy when frozen, but it will still taste delicious after you warm it up.
Reheating: You can reheat your meal in the microwave or in a skillet or pot on the stove. If reheating on the stove, lightly spray your pan with olive oil and cook over medium heat until everything warms through. If the leftovers seem too dry, add a splash of chicken broth or water to the pot if you’d like.
Other healthy Skillet Dinners
For more recipes with easy prep and clean-up, check these out!
- Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls – healthy comfort food, with much less prep work!
- One Pot Taco Skillet
- Unstuffed Peppers
Healthy Chicken, Rice and Broccoli Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into small cubes
- ½ cup onion diced
- 2 tablespoons garlic minced
- 1 cup long grain white rice dry
- 3 cups broccoli florets about 10 oz
- 3 cups chicken stock low or no salt
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat a large Dutch oven or other pot over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to the hot pan.
- Add chicken to the pan and sauté for 7-10 minutes, until the edges start to brown. (The chicken doesn’t have to be completely cooked because it will continue to cook)
- Add onion and garlic to the pan with the chicken. Saute for an additional 5 minutes.
- Stir in rice, spices and broth (leave the cheese til the end!) Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes. (Pro Tip: to speed up cook time, microwave your broth until warm before adding to the pan)
- After 10 minutes, add broccoli. Stir together, cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle with parmesan cheese before serving.
I loved this recipe. Not too cheesy for those of us that can’t handle a lot of cheese but love the taste of chicken, broccoli and cheese dishes. I added shredded carrots in my recipe for more vegetables and it worked very well.
Loved this meal and my husband (who’s afraid of anything healthy lol) liked it too! Thank you for including macros with your recipes, you have so many great ones!
Yay! Glad everyone enjoyed it!
Delicious, high protein and one pan!!! Awesome!
Sooo good!! Followed the recipe exactly! Kiddos and husband approved 😁
So easy and delicious! I used frozen broccoli just becuase it’s what I had and it turned out great, just let it cook a little longer to fully warm the broccoli.
Yay! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
So yummy! Next time I’ll cook at medium heat. Everything cooked quicker than expected at medium-high, and rice browned on the bottom after adding broccoli and cooking another 5 min. But still delicious, the Parmesan is a must! I used violife vegan Parmesan and it was perfect. I’m wondering if this recipe can be doubled successfully w out having issues w the rice?
So glad you enjoyed it! I think it would probably be fine to double, but you’d have to make sure you have a big enough pan!
Just tried this for the second time on lower heat, but still had the rice burn at the bottom when adding broccoli. Is there something I’m missing with this step? Not sure what else I could do!
Are you stirring it? That should prevent the rice from sticking. Maybe try turning down your oven. Different pot’s conduct heat differently. If you’re using a thinner pot (like a stainless steel) they tend to stick easier in my experience. Something like cast iron also seems to stay hotter and cook quicker. I’d just keep stirring, or if you could add a little more broth if you’d like, or try turning down the heat a bit.
This recipe turned out so well! It was so easy to follow and delicious. We topped ours with some shredded cheese instead of parmesan and the whole family loved it.
Yay! So glad you all enjoyed it. Thank you so much for trying!
The whole family loved this!
So glad to hear that, Melissa!
Nice family recipe.
added half a block of 1/3 fat cream cheese and 2 slices American cheese at the end – and instead of all the spices I did 2 tbsp of an Italian bread dip blend. I also processed the broccoli so it was small pieces (my kiddos aren’t the fondest of broccoli) and wow this is a repeat! Came together in about 25 minutes on a busy weeknight. Exactly what I needed!
This is such a good idea! I have to try it with the cream cheese – yum!!
This was so good & easy! Ended up using a rotisserie (cooked) chicken that I added toward the end and frozen broccoli & fresh cauliflower and everything pretty much the same and we all loved it! Oh, we had some fresh basil I used as well and fantastic!