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Chicken with Black Beans and Rice
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Chicken with Black Beans and Rice

This hearty, slightly spicy one-pan dish is even better the second day.
Course Main Course, Poultry
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, about 1/2-pound each
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 cup uncooked white rice
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 cups chicken broth, homemade (or reduced-sodium, if store-bought)
  • 1 10- ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilies (we like Ro-Tel Original)
  • 1 15- ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (optional—see Kitchen Notes)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Instructions

  • Trim excess fat from chicken thighs and season them generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large, lidded skillet over medium-high flame. Add chicken skin side down and sauté until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Turn chicken, reduce heat to medium and cook for about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate (they won’t be cooked through—that’s okay, they’re going back in the pan later).
  • Add onion to pan and cook, stirring frequently, until it just starts to soften, about 3 minutes. Don’t let it brown—reduce heat if needed. Add rice to pan and cook, stirring frequently, for another 3 minutes. Clear a space in the middle of the pan and add garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 45 seconds.
  • Add broth and tomatoes to pan and stir to combine. Nestle chicken thighs into the rice. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes.
  • Remove chicken to a plate and add beans, cilantro and lime juice to pan, stirring to combine. If the rice has absorbed too much liquid, stir in a little water. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
  • Return chicken to pan and cover. Cook until everything is warmed through, about 5 minutes.
  • To serve, spoon rice and beans mixture onto plates and top with a chicken thigh.

Kitchen Notes

Cilantro, love it or hate it. Apparently, dislike of cilantro is a genetic thing. If you don’t like it, leave it out. If you do like it, it does add a nice, subtle note to the dish.
Liz's Crockery Corner. This plate is slightly a mystery because it's unmarked, but we're comfortable in saying that it was made in America, and probably in New York State, in the first half of the 20th century. The original inspiration for this pattern, white with heavier green bands, came from plates made by the Buffalo Pottery company, founded in 1901 in Buffalo, New York, by J.D. Larkin, a soap manufacturer who was one of the pioneers of mail-order sales and marketing gimmicks—gifts with purchase. Each Larkin product—from Boraxine soap powder to Jet harness soap—came with a certificate redeemable for one piece of premium china. In the 1920s, the company began shifting its production to commercial-grade ware. Plates like this one were used on trains and in coffee shops, hotels and diners all over the country for decades. A lot of this classic stuff is still out there, still in use, because it was made to last—it's sturdy and it's heavy. Variations on this pattern—white with dark green bands—were made by several American potteries in the 20th century—Buffalo, Homer Laughlin and Syracuse are the ones you will often find, in a dazzling array of shapes and sizes—bowls, coffee cups, platters, mugs, soup plates—we even have a little baked potato dish we are especially fond of. BTW, Buffalo Pottery still exists, as a subsidiary of Oneida, and it still manufactures commercial-grade china.