Chicken and Cauliflower Rice
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Chicken and cauliflower rice make for a quick and delicious dinner. It’s a bit like a casserole with sweet roasted red peppers and juicy olives, layered over cauliflower rice and topped with crispy chicken thighs. It’s an all-in-one meal loaded with flavor, ready in just 40 minutes!
This chicken and cauliflower rice recipe is one I make often because it’s easy, a little different, and full of bold Mediterranean flavors. It comes together with minimal effort, but still feels exciting and satisfying every time I make it.
I love cooking it for Sunday dinner, then portioning the leftovers into containers for the next day. It makes an excellent grab-and-go lunch that I actually look forward to eating.
Ingredients notes
This chicken and cauliflower rice is meal full of veggies!
- Olives: we use green manzanilla olives in this recipe but you can use other olive varieties like castelvetrano, cerignola, or kalamata olives. Pitted or unpitted both work, but pitted olives are easier to eat.
- Roasted red peppers: roasted red peppers taste sweet and smoky. Homemade ones are the most flavorful, but you can also buy them in jars at the grocery store.
- Chicken thighs: we use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, but you can also use chicken breasts if you prefer. You can use skinless chicken, but we love the crispy skin!
- Cauliflower: you’ll need about 8 cups of chopped cauliflower florets so look for a large head of cauliflower. You can also buy bagged cauliflower rice at the grocery store in the produce section or frozen aisle.
Other ingredients you’ll need are extra virgin olive oil, onion, fresh garlic, tomato paste, smoked paprika, sea salt, and chicken stock (or chicken broth).
Recipe tips
Here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind when making this chicken and cauliflower rice:
- When cooking the chicken, leave it in one place until you flip it to keep it from sticking, and for that irresistible extra crispy skin!
- Use a box grater or food processor to make the cauliflower rice. You can use a sharp knife to chop the cauliflower florets, but a food processor or box grater certainly helps. If you’re short on time, buy it bagged from your grocery store.
- Use pitted olives for a less messy dinner situation. Don’t get us wrong, we love olives with their pits, but when it comes to dinner, pitted olives make things a lot more enjoyable.
Variations to try
While we love this chicken and cauliflower recipe as-is, try one of these delicious ideas to mix up the flavors, or make it your own:
- Make it spicy: add a pinch of cayenne pepper or some chopped chipotle peppers in adobo to the tomato paste sauce.
- Add cheese: we kept it dairy-free but you can easily add some crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese after nestling in the chicken. Yum!
- Try it with a different meat options like shrimp, eggs, or tofu. They all work great!
What to serve with chicken and cauliflower rice
Enjoy this chicken and cauliflower rice casserole on its own or with some crispy roasted potatoes or garlic butter rice for a more hearty meal. It also pairs well with a big kale salad, or more veggies like roasted broccoli, or sautéed green beans with garlic.
Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- 2 cups manzanilla olives (coarsely chopped – we like to leave several whole. See notes)
- ½ medium onion (minced)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
- 4 roasted red peppers (chopped)
- 8 bone-in chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoons sea salt (more to taste)
- 2 cups chicken stock (divided)
- 1 large cauliflower (chopped into small pieces (about 8 cups))
Instructions
- Heat the 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until it is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook until the tomato paste starts to darken and turns fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes and red peppers and let them cook for a few minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan while they cook.2 cups manzanilla olives, ½ medium onion, 3 cloves garlic, ¼ cup tomato paste, 1 cup cherry tomatoes, 4 roasted red peppers
- While the onions are cooking, start the chicken. Sprinkle the smoked paprika and sea salt over both sides of the chicken. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat in a non-stick frying pan. Add the chicken to the pan, skin side up, and cook for 5 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the skin is crispy.8 bone-in chicken thighs, 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoons sea salt
- Add the cauliflower and chicken stock to the pan with the onions and mix together. To the same pan, add the chicken skin side up, and all the pan juices then bring the pan to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pan, and let the chicken simmer for 10 minutes then remove the cover and simmer for another 5 minutes until it is fully cooked and most of the liquid in the pan is gone.2 cups chicken stock, 1 large cauliflower
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
More chicken and cauliflower recipes
For more inspiration, check out all of our chicken recipes!
I did the onion and olives in oil, added chicken … broth, tomato paste and tomatoes! Water and a chicken buillion cube.
I did not add the cauliflower as the kids don’t like it. Tasted great!!
amazing. I should have done chicken separately, but was short on time. still tasted awesome
Hi Kristen! What’s the serving portion for the olives and cauliflower rice? Can’t wait to try this!
I’ll have to measure next time I make it but I would guess about 1 1/2 cups.
They’re the best, aren’t they? Congrats on your Whole30!!
I recieved your email this morning and made this for lunch and I’m sure happy I did. It was delicious. I’m going to do it backwards and have leftovers for dinner. Thank you!
That makes me so happy to hear!!!