Curried Chicken Skillet With Cauliflower & Rice

How about an all-in-one Curried Chicken Skillet With Cauliflower & Rice today? There’s nothing like a one-pot meal for an easy (and flavor-packed!) weeknight dinner, and this chicken curry really hits the spot on a chilly evening. Change up your normal weeknight meal routine!

In grand Sunday Scratchups style (your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales and affordable ingredients), boneless skinless chicken breast and cauliflower are both going on sale at ALDI this week — and this easy curried chicken & cauliflower is a great dish to try out when cauliflower is seasonally on sale.

Curried Chicken Skillet With Cauliflower & Rice

Ingredients

– for the chicken & cauliflower

1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
Black pepper, to taste
Sea salt, to taste
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets
1/2 a medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne (omit or cut down if you’re sensitive to heat)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

– for the rice

1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
2.5 cups chicken broth
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (preferably full-fat whole milk yogurt)
Juice of 1/4 a lemon
Green onion, parsley, or cilantro to taste (chop for garnish)

Directions

Season chicken on both sides with sea salt & pepper, then chop it into bite-sized pieces.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken, onion, garlic, and cauliflower, then saute for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in spices and saute for another two minutes.

Stir in rice and broth and bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and stir in the yogurt. (Note: Full fat yogurt is less likely to curdle and adds extra creaminess here; but if you can only find low fat it’s fine, and still tasty even with a little curdling — mine did a little; still good. 🙂 )

Cover the skillet with a tightly fitting lid and let everything simmer over medium-low heat for 25 minutes, or until rice is done and has absorbed most of the liquid.

Remove skillet from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Replace lid and let chicken curry sit covered for 5 more minutes to thicken up (it will still be goopy; you want some sauce in the mix here), then serve your chicken cauliflower curry skillet topped with chopped green onion, parsley, or cilantro.

Note: This was tasty as written, but next time I’d probably add in a little ginger as well — I just didn’t think of it at the time. As written, this recipe also has a slight crunch to the cauliflower — so, if you like yours soft, either cut it into smaller pieces so it cooks more quickly, or pre-cook slightly.

45 minutes ’til dinner!

You just need 45 minutes to make this shortcut curried chicken skillet recipe, which is both super filling and super flavorful. I served ours with naan because I found a pack on half off clearance at ALDI, but the rice makes this one pot curry filling enough by itself — And, if you don’t serve yours with naan, the curried chicken itself is naturally gluten free. So good, and the leftovers make a great lunch the next day, too.

Curried Chicken Skillet With Cauliflower & Rice, printable recipe

5 from 5 votes

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Curried Chicken Skillet With Cauliflower & Rice

Total Time

45 mins

 

You just need 45 minutes to make this shortcut curried chicken skillet recipe, which is both super filling and super flavorful.

Course: dinner

Servings: 4

Author: Rachel Singer Gordon

Ingredients

- for the chicken & cauliflower

• 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
• Black pepper to taste
• Sea salt to taste
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets
• 1/2 a medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (omit or cut down if you're sensitive to heat)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- for the rice

• 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• 2.5 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (preferably full-fat whole milk yogurt)
• Juice of 1/4 a lemon
• Green onion, parsley, or cilantro to taste (chop for garnish)

Instructions

1. Season chicken on both sides with sea salt & pepper, then chop it into bite-sized pieces.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken, onion, garlic, and cauliflower, then saute for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in spices and saute for another two minutes.

3. Stir in rice and broth and bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and stir in the yogurt. (Note: Full fat yogurt is less likely to curdle and adds extra creaminess here; but if you can only find low fat it's fine, and still tasty even with a little curdling -- mine did a little, still good 😉 )

4. Cover the skillet with a tightly fitting lid and let everything simmer over medium-low heat for 25 minutes, or until rice is done and has absorbed most of the liquid.
5. Remove skillet from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Replace lid and let chicken curry sit covered for 5 more minutes to thicken up (it will still be goopy; you want some sauce in the mix here), then serve your chicken cauliflower curry skillet topped with chopped green onion, parsley, or cilantro.

Recipe Notes

This was tasty as written, but next time I'd probably add in a little ginger as well -- I just didn't think of it at the time. As written, this recipe also has a slight crunch to the cauliflower -- so, if you like yours soft, either cut it into smaller pieces so it cooks more quickly, or pre-cook slightly.

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