If you are like me, you lead a busy and hectic life. Most days, it’s all we can do just to make sure that we get out of the house on time and make sure that we have clean clothes to wear!
Dinner is usually not on my radar, until it’s actually TIME for dinner, then I am scrambling for something to make that isn’t complicated and doesn’t need a ton of ingredients that I don’t have in my pantry or fridge.
This is where the BEST tropical chicken and rice dinner comes in. Raising our own animals for meat, we always have chicken in the freezer, but there are only so many ways to serve chicken. I buy rice in bulk, so I usually have that and frozen vegetables, so piecing these items together with a few other pantry staples was the key.
The meal
I usually use boneless/skinless chicken breast for this dish; I do not like to skin the meat and I am lazy about removing bones, so boneless and skinless is a must for me, but you can make this dish with whatever chicken/turkey you have and like.
When in season, I use fresh peppers and vegetables, but as this post is going out in February, my produce is also coming from the freezer.
The rice component is versatile, serving as either a platform or a side dish for the meal, you get to choose. I am not a fussy cook, plain and simple are my go-to’s, so have it any way you like it.
What you will need to make this meal
The star of the show is the chicken and as I said before, you can use whatever cut of meat you prefer. I have used leg quarters for this dish, but your cooking method will differ slightly from using boneless/skinless chicken breasts.
Rice is up next and I usually go for brown rice. We buy bulk, in 25lb bags and keep it in a bucket with a Gamma lid in our storage room for easy access. The brown rice offers fiber and is more satisfying than plain white rice.
Bell peppers; I like to use a variety of colors and right now in the grocery stores you can get packs of tri-color peppers; red, yellow and orange. I like to put a lot of color in our food, to make it visually appealing, and you know, eat the colors of the rainbow.
Onions are a big part of almost every meal we have and in this dish I use red or purple onions. I believe this variety to be not only colorful but they have a slightly milder taste that goes well with this lighter meal.
Lemon pepper is gives this dish a nice twang in the sauce; it’s not immediately obvious, but you know it’s something.
Pineapple gives this meal it’s tropical flare and a touch of brown sugar rounds out the list, adding a hint of smoking sweetness to the pineapple.
Making the BEST tropical chicken and rice dinner
*This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click on and make a purchase from a link in my post, I may receive a small commission at NO extra charge to you. This helps to support this page and the content on it.
There are options for how to cook the chicken; I usually opt to thaw my chicken in the morning and then cut it in to chunks, sauteed in a cast iron skillet with butter, until golden brown and medium heat, but this will depend on your stove and how hot it runs, so adjust accordingly.
While the chicken is cooking in the pan, I put the rice in the Instant Pot with lime juice, some garlic, water, salt, butter ( can also use coconut oil) and cilantro. I cook on the rice setting and do a natural release.
When the chicken is almost done, I add the peppers and onions. If you are using frozen you will want to thaw the vegetable first and discard the water; you want the meat and vegetables to sautee not steam. If using fresh peppers and onions, cook with the chicken until desired doneness. I like our vegetables to be tender not crunchy.
Once the chicken is golden brown, no longer pink inside and the peppers and onions are tender, I turn the heat to low and mix the sauce.
In a separate bowl mix together the juice of the pineapple, brown sugar, lemon pepper, salt/pepper and arrowroot powder, until there are no lumps. (If you do not have arrowroot powder you can use corn starch as a thickener).
With your skillet on low/medium, pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables, stirring until thickened. The sauce should coat everything in the pan with a nice glaze. Right before serving, add the pineapple to the skillet and stir just until the pineapple is heated through. If you cook the pineapple in the dish, it will lose all flavor.
Fluff the rice in your Instant Pot with a fork and serve. The chicken can go either on top of the rice or on the side. Squeeze a little extra lime juice over the dish and viola, dinner is served!
(Your side dish for this can be ANYTHING you like! I often will serve this will sauteed green beans, oven roasted broccoli or just by itself).
Ingredients & Notes
- 1-2 chicken breast
- 2T butter
- 2c of dried rice
- 2c of water or chicken/vegetable stock
- 2T of butter/coconut oil
- 1tsp of minced garlic OR 1 fresh garlic clove minced
- 2 bell peppers/2 small onions sliced into strips OR (1 bag of frozen peppers & onions)
- I 20oz can of pineapple chunks in natural juices
- 1T brown sugar
- 1.5tsp lemon pepper
- 3T lime juice (more for garnishing the dish)
- 2T dried cilantro OR 1 bundle of fresh cilantro finely chopped
- arrowroot powder OR cornstarch
- salt & pepper to taste
**If you do not have an Instant Pot, cook the rice however you normally would, remembering the 2:1 ratio for stove top cooking. The Instant Pot is a 1:1 ratio for pressure cooking.
**If you do not have lemon pepper, use lemon juice or extra pepper and lime juice. It won’t be quite the same, but will be fine in a pinch.
Make it
Place your rice, water, garlic, butter, 3T lime juice, cilantro, 1tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper in the Instant Pot. Use the RICE option on the cooker and a natural release.
While the rice is cooking, place a heavy pan on low/medium heat and chop the chicken into chunks. Melt 2T of butter in the skillet and place the chicken chunks in the pan to sautee until golden brown, turning on all sides to cook evenly. The chicken should no longer be pink inside and should almost fall apart.
When the chicken is almost done, add the pepper and onion strips to the pan. Continue to sautee everything together until the chicken is cooked all the way through and the vegetables are tender. This may take upwards of 10-15min depending on your stove.
As the chicken and vegetables finish cooking, in a separate bowl, drain the juices from the can of pineapple. To the bowl add the lemon pepper, brown sugar and arrowroot powder. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir this together until there are no lumps of powder.
Once the chicken mixture is done, pour the sauce into the pan and stir until thickened. The sauce should become shining and glaze like. Reduce heat to simmer and add the pineapple chunks, just to heat through.
Fluff the rice with a fork when it is done, and serve immediately with the tropical chicken.
Let us know if you try this recipe!
If you like this content, check out this previous post:
Hidden Farm Life – All about farm living
Find us:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hiddenfarmlife
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYlXg9IvLUHABMrtAj10jKg
Instant Pot I use: https://amzn.to/35mJhmf
Lodge cast iron skillet: https://amzn.to/35AoBHb
Hidden Farm Life
PO Box 215
Windsor, PA 17366