As this unusual summer draws to a close, it’s time to start moving into new routines for fall. Having a routine dinnertime can be so helpful when the world feels like it has turned upside down. Connecting with your loved ones over a great meal on a regular basis can help provide a sense of stability, normalcy, and gratitude for the simple things in life. Easy recipes like this One Pot Lemon Artichoke Chicken and Rice will make getting back into a dinnertime routine a breeze. 30 minutes, one pot, and you’re done! And don’t forget to get your family or roommates involved—the cooking process can be just as fun and therapeutic as the meal itself!
This post is sponsored by ALDI. Ingredient prices and availability may vary. Visit ALDI on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram.
Grocery shopping at ALDI has been crucial to helping me get back into a routine among all the chaos this year. The small size of the store makes it easy to just get in, get out, and on my way, all without sacrificing selection. They’ve got all my grocery basics, tons of fresh produce (organics, too), and plenty of fun specialty and seasonal ingredients that inspire me to make delicious and flavorful meals, like this Lemon Artichoke Chicken and Rice.
For this easy one pot meal I combined the briny flavor of artichokes with bright fresh lemon, a pinch of red pepper flakes for a little kick, and a light sprinkle of salty feta to give every bite a little pop. And yes, you can get all of these ingredients at ALDI, even the artichoke hearts and feta (their specialty cheese selection is top notch)! It’s the classic and comforting combination of chicken and rice dish with an elevated flavor twist.
What Type of Pot Should I Use?
You will need a pot or skillet that has a tight fitting lid for this recipe. I used a 3 quart covered deep skillet, but a Dutch oven will also work well. You could even make this in a rice cooker, if your stove top rice cooking skills still need a little work! Just add everything to your rice cooker, give it a brief stir, and set it to the regular rice cooking cycle.
Tips for One Pot Rice Recipes
As with all “one pot” recipes, having good cookware is key. Using a good quality pot or pan that heats evenly will ensure that your rice cooks thoroughly and evenly without burning. Avoid thin or lightweight cookware as these can tend to cause hot and cold spots that don’t cook evenly.
Make sure to let the chicken and rice “rest” for about 5 minutes after turning off the heat. This allows the steam to redistribute throughout the rice, producing a more even texture and loosening any grains from the bottom of the pot.
Use a pot or pan that is close in size to your burner. Using a pot that is too wide for the burner may cause the outside edges to under cook.
What Can I Serve on the Side?
I consider this a “one pot meal” that is filling and diverse enough that it wouldn’t necessarily require a side dish, but if you want to up the vegetable content of your meal, a simple side salad of mixed greens, grape tomatoes, and a light vinaigrette would be a perfect light side. And yes, you can get all the ingredients for an awesome side salad like that at ALDI! ;)
One Pot Lemon Artichoke Chicken and Rice
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.43)
- 1 lb. Kirkwood Fresh Chicken Breasts (boneless, skinless) ($2.49)
- 2 Tbsp Carlini Extra Virgin Olive Oil ($0.23)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 tsp Stonemill Dried Oregano ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp Stonemill Crushed Red Pepper ($0.02)
- ¼ tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 12oz. jar Tuscan Garden Quartered Artichoke Hearts ($2.59)
- 1 cup Earthly Grains Long Grain White Rice ($0.25)
- 1.5 cups Chef's Cupboard Chicken Broth ($0.45)
- 1 oz. Emporium Selection Feta Cheese Crumbles ($0.55)
Optional Garnish
- 2 Tbsp chopped parsley ($0.10)
Instructions
- Zest and juice the lemon. You'll need about 2 Tbsp lemon juice and ½ tsp lemon zest (plus some for garnish).
- Drain and roughly chop the artichoke hearts. Mince the garlic. Cut the chicken breast into ½-inch pieces.
- Add the olive oil to a deep skillet or Dutch oven and heat over medium. Once hot, add the chicken pieces and sauté over medium for about 2 minutes (it will not be fully cooked at this point).
- Add the minced garlic, oregano, red pepper, and salt to the skillet with the chicken. Continue to sauté for about one minute more.
- Finally, add the artichoke hearts, uncooked rice, chicken broth, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, and ½ tsp lemon zest to the skillet. Stir briefly to combine, place a lid on top, then turn the heat up to medium-high.
- Allow the broth to come up to a full boil, then turn the heat down to low or just above low to reduce the broth to a simmer. Let the chicken and rice simmer for 15 minutes without lifting the lid or stirring. After 15 minutes, remove the skillet from the heat and let it rest, undisturbed, for five minutes more.
- Finally, lift the lid, fluff the rice with a fork, and gently redistribute the chicken and artichoke hearts throughout the rice. Top the skillet with crumbled feta, another pinch of lemon zest, and chopped parsley (if desired). Serve hot and enjoy!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Love “one pot” rice dishes? You might also love my One Pot Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Rice! Or head to our One Pot Meals category to see all of our delicious one pot recipes.
How to Make One Pot Lemon Artichoke Chicken and Rice – Step by Step Photos
Here is everything you need to make this super simple One Pot Lemon Artichoke Chicken and Rice (all purchased from ALDI!).
Start by zesting and juicing a fresh lemon. You’ll need about 2 Tbsp lemon juice (that’s about half the lemon) and ½ tsp lemon zest, plus some for garnishing.
Drain one 12oz. jar of quartered artichoke hearts, then roughly chop them into smaller bite-sized pieces. Mince four cloves of garlic.
Cut one pound boneless, skinless chicken breast into ½-inch pieces.
Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to a large skillet or Dutch oven and heat over medium. Once hot, add the chicken pieces and sauté for about 2 minutes (the chicken will not be fully cooked at this point). Add the minced garlic, 1 tsp dried oregano, ¼ tsp crushed red pepper, and ¼ tsp salt to the skillet with the chicken. Continue to sauté for one minute more.
Add 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice, the chopped artichoke hearts, 1.5 cups chicken broth, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, and ½ tsp lemon zest to the skillet.
Stir the ingredients briefly to combine.
Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the broth to come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low or just above low to lower the broth to a simmer. Allow it to simmer for 15 minutes without lifting the lid or stirring. After 15 minutes, remove the skillet from the heat and let it rest with the lid in place for 5 more minutes.
After allowing the chicken and rice to rest for five minutes, lift the lid, fluff the rice, and gently stir to redistribute the chicken and artichokes throughout the rice. Garnish with another pinch of lemon zest and some chopped parsley, if desired.
Serve hot and enjoy!
Looks like a good one. I always keep a jar or two of artichoke hearts in the pantry and boneless skinless chicken breast in the freezer! Must try!
Has anyone tried this with an Instant Pot? That’s my “go-to” cooking tool, anymore.
I’m planning on trying it tonight. I’ll cook the chicken and seasonings on “Saute” then add the chicken broth and deglaze the pot. Turn off the Saute function, add the artichokes and the rice and lemon. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and seal it up, then cook it on the Rice setting for maybe 12 minutes, followed by NPR for maybe 10 minutes.
I’m curious as to how the recipe turned out using your Instant Pot, Amber.
Tofu, Veg broth.
Small servings.
I only have frozen artichoke hearts. They aren’t brined. Are there any seasonings I should add to account for the “tuscan” flavor?
This looks sooo delicious! I can’t wait to make it!
I’m not sure about that, I’d probably need to do some testing. The most notable flavor that would be missing without the brine is the acidity from the vinegar. But honestly, the broth, lemon, and feta are great flavors in this dish already so I bet it would still be awesome just using them as-is.
I made this tonight and it came out great! I increased each of the spices by just a smidge, and the flavor is awesome even with plain, frozen artichoke hearts. Thanks for this excellent recipe!
What could I use in place of feta? Don’t have that on hand.
I guess it depends on what you do have on hand? The feta lends a nice salty pop of flavor to the dish, so you’d want to look for something that can add a similar quality.
This inspired me to do…a completely different recipe! I made your Artichoke and Spinach sandwich melt yesterday and had leftover filling. I also have leftover rice from a couple of days ago. So tonight I’ll combine the two leftovers with a bit of chicken broth and see what happens in the microwave.
I’ll try this actual recipe in a few days. Like you I love Aldi’s but there isn’t one very close. So whenever there’s a car trip I look for Aldi’s along the way and stock up.
I love how you improvised!
Love this dish, which isn’t surprising since I loooove lemon, artichoke, and feta. I also love Aldi for the same reasons you do, and appreciate having some recipes I know I can easily fully source from the store.
Thanks Beth! This was just we needed tonight: easy, quick and delicious.
“Serving: 1g ・ Calories: 409.48kcal”
Surely you don’t mean one gram of this delicious dish contains over 400 kcal? I know Americans get a bit confused by the metric system but one gram would be like five grains of rice :-)
Sorry about that, the recipe plugin sometimes does weird things with autofilling the fields and I guess it defaulted to grams for that one! Fixing now. :)
I almost passed this recipe up as artichoke is hard to get and expensive where I live. I then remembered I have bought it at a good price from Aldi and decided to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised, once I looked, that it was conceived with Aldi products. Love, love, love Aldi. I am glad you did a sponsored post from them.
This looks great! Would the cooking time or amount of liquid change if I used quinoa instead of rice?
Yes, you’d probably need to customize the cooking time and liquid for the quinoa. I’d need to test it first before offering specific advice, but you can always check the cooking instructions on your package of quinoa and use that as a starting point. :)
Hey Beth,
did you write this? It sounded so off to me! I love your recipies and your writing, but I don´t come for the ALDI commercial.
Yep, I wrote it. ;) I don’t do sponsored posts often, only when it’s a company that I truly love and recommend. I only do 2-3 per year, despite getting requests for brand partnerships on a daily basis, and ALDI is one of the companies that I feel I can honestly promote. Sponsored posts one way that I can pay to keep this site running and keep delivering free recipes to you.
Hi Beth, this was easy and DELICIOUS. I’m fortunate that there’s an Aldi about a half mile away from me, and I love it! Thanks for always making me look good in the kitchen..
Thank you for posting all of your wonderful recipes here :) I just made this for dinner tonight and it was terrific. I read your site ALL the time and many of your recipes are on heavy rotation at my house. As a long time reader, I wanted to say I’m happy to see you get sponsored (and with Aldi – how perfect for this site!)
Aldi is supposed to open in Phoenix. Can’t wait to check it out
Lol yeah you come for the free recipes. Beth, loved this post and recipe. Thanks!
Maria, why such a sourpuss? Did you try the recipe? I did! And bought all my ingredients and a different store because it was closer. And let me tell you, it’s as delicious as anything I’ve tried from Beth and I’ve tried A LOT. So maybe try this F R E E recipe before casting judgment upon our sweet Beth who works her @$$ off for us cheap foodies.
This looks great. My daughter is vegetarian and I am wondering what I could substitute the chicken with? Chickpeas?
Thank you!
I was wondering the same! I’m not vegetarian but I try to limit my meat consumption to 1lb a week. My first thought was chickpeas, but then I thought white beans would probably be really yummy with the lemon
I’ve tried this recipe with chickpeas and it turned out great! The chickpeas work really well with the rice, artichokes and lemon.
Some others have had great suggestions so far, but I vote for chickpeas! :) You might also check out my Spanish Chickpeas and Rice, which is very similar to this recipe, but happens to be vegan.
Love this recipe, and love that you’re working with Aldi–the budget cook’s best friend. You won’t find the variety of items there as you will in a large supermarket, but you will find quality produce, dairy products, meats, chocolate, and some short term spectacular finds. If you see something unusual you think you might like, grab several because you won’t see them again soon–I wish I’d bought 10 bags of the frozen elote corn a couple of months ago instead of the 2 I grabbed. It really doesn’t matter much, because there are new and interesting bargains every week.
Anyway, the ingredients for this recipe are always available. I added a couple of Tablespoons of chopped Kalamata olives and sundried tomato for a little color and some broccoli on the side–there’s plenty of flavor without those boosts. Thanks, Beth, for another winner.
YUM! I love those extra add-ins! :)
Would substituting brown rice work?
you’d need a way longer cooking time and more liquid, so most likely no.
As Jo mentioned, you’d need more liquid and a longer cooking time, which may end up over cooking the chicken. I’d need to test it before offering specifics for that substitution.
Aldi has quick-cooking brown rice! Cooks in 15-20 jobs like white rice and uses the same amount of liquid! Tastes great, too.
Oops, spell check is my enemy. Minutes, not jobs. I swear it just puts in whatever it wants lol