Lebanese chicken and rice (also known as riz a djej) is an easy recipe that is the ultimate Middle Eastern comfort food! This Middle Eastern chicken and rice is cooked with toasted pine nuts and Lebanese spices and is a quick weeknight recipe!
Lebanese Chicken and Rice
Every Sunday as a child, after church we would head over to my Papa and Sittie's (grandmother's) house. Usually the afternoon was spent playing at their house with siblings, or helping Sittie in the kitchen. She was always so patient, even when I would stick the spatula into the blender, or make a shapeless and unappetizing meat pies. I'm sure she and my mom instilled the love of cooking into me.
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Nearly every week we would have a homemade Lebanese meal in the evenings. These were some of the greatest memories of my formative years. What to find out more about Lebanese cuisine?? Check out this article >> What is Lebanese food
Lebanese chicken and rice is one of the simplest, easiest (and tastiest) rice dish recipes you don't have to slave over in the kitchen. Chicken and rice are the given ingredients, and the toasted pine nuts are something you can't cut out. Here is a simple tutorial for how to toast pine nuts and where to find them.
Ingredients for Lebanese Rice and Chicken
The ingredients for this Lebanese chicken with rice recipe are very simple and easy...
- chicken breasts (or rotisserie chicken or even leftover turkey)
- chicken stock
- pine nuts
- whole grain white rice
- ground cinnamon
- salt
- pepper
How to make Middle Eastern Chicken and Rice
Arabic chicken and rice is always simple and has several defining ingredients like ground cinnamon and pine nuts.
Start by boiling the chicken in 5 cups of water for about 30 minutes until it is cooked through. Remove the chicken and shred it. Set it aside for later and make sure to save the water. You can use shredded chicken you have in the freezer or a rotisserie chicken if that makes it easier, just use about 4 cups of liquid instead.
Put the rice, pine nuts and spice into to pot of water and cook on medium heat for 20-25 minutes until rice has soaked up all the water and is tender. I like to add 1 can of chicken stock or chicken broth also, for more depth of flavor. I usually make my own and keep it in the freezer.
5 minutes before serving, add the shredded chicken to heat through.
I love to serve this Lebanese Chicken and rice recipe with Lebanese stewed green beans and homemade pita bread!
This recipe, the rice comes out more wet than dry and is kind of sticky. If you want it to be more of a dry rice, either add more rice and spices to it, or simply omit some of the water.
If you are using rotisserie chicken or leftover turkey and you don't have to boil the chicken, use about 1 cup less of the water than the recipe calls for.
Do I have to use pine nuts in this Lebanese rice recipe?
Pine nuts really are a key and distinct ingredient in this recipe. If you absolutely can't get access to any pine nuts, or can't use them for some reason, you could substitute sliced almonds for the pine nuts. If you are using that as a substitute for pine nuts, I would recommend toasting the almond slices as well. But do remember, that you will be changing the flavor of the dish pretty significantly if you use a pine nut substitute.
Is this Lebanese chicken rice recipe different than hashweh chicken?
Yes, this is different than Lebanese hashweh rice. If you want to make hashweh chicken and rice, all you need to do is make my recipe for hashweh and add it to the rice and chicken at the end. YUM!
There is another Lebanese recipe that I want to point out also, it's made with freekeh grain instead of rice. You can check it out here Freekeh with Chicken.
Shop kitchen items from this recipe
Check out these other popular recipes from A Pinch Of Adventure!
- Sheet Pan Mediterranean Chicken and Rice
- How to toast pine nuts
- Baklawa (Lebanese walnut baklava)
- Spicy Lebanese potatoes
- Fattoush Salad
- Lebanese Stuffed Squash (Cousa)
- Baked Kibbeh
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Lebanese Chicken Rice
Ingredients
- 3 Chicken Breasts
- 5 cups Water
- 1 cup Chicken Stock
- 1 ½ cups White Rice long grain
- ¼ cup Toasted Pine Nuts
- 2 teas Salt
- ¼ teas Ground Black Pepper heaping
- ¼ teas Ground Cinnamon heaping
Instructions
- Boil the chicken in water for approx 30 minutes or until cooked through
- Remove from water and shred, set aside
- In the same water add rice, spices, pine nuts and chicken stock
- Simmer on medium heat until rice soaks up water and is tender
- 5 minutes before serving add the chicken to heat through
- Serve with Lebanese green beans and enjoy
Beth Shields
Sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Emily A
Thank you!
ปั้มไลค์
Like!! Great article post.Really thank you! Really Cool.