Ease into fall with this easy and comforting chicken and rice dish. Overall it’s a savory dish, but the touch of maple lends balance and cohesion to the overall flavor. This healthy baked maple chicken recipe was shared with us by Whole Foods.
Special Diet Notes: Baked Maple Chicken with Pear Pilaf
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, and soy-free.
Baked Maple Chicken with Pear Pilaf
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This isn't a sweet dish. But the maple has a warm flavor that it imparts on the chicken, which melds well with the pear pilaf.
Author: Whole Foods
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: American
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (about 3½ pounds), cut into 8 pieces
- 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 rib celery, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1½ cups brown and wild rice mix
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 organic Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F.
- Place the chicken pieces in a roasting pan or on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Coat the chicken with 2 teaspoons olive oil, sprinkle with pepper and ¼ teaspoon salt; bake 45 minutes or until cooked through.
- Remove from oven and brush the chicken with maple syrup.
- Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat the remaining olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add onion, celery and garlic and cook until golden, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Stir in rice and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 35 minutes.
- Stir in pears, thyme and remaining salt and continue to cook 10 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.
- Serve rice with chicken.
3 Comments
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I made this meal the other night for my husband and I. It was very easy to make and the rice went amazingly well with the chicken. I had never had wild rice before and will definitely be incorporating that into our regular meals from now on.
The only downside to this recipe was that my husband does not like sweet stuff and the pears made the rice a little on the sweet side. Next time, I will make it without the pears, but we loved it!
Thanks for the feedback Ashley – wonderful that the rice and chicken paired well for you. I love wild rice, too!