Follow our step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe for making one of our favorite, Southern classic comfort foods. It doesn’t have to be cold and snowy outside to enjoy this warm and filling dish, but it certainly helps. Only a few ingredients are needed to make this timeless classic. It’s truly something all the family can enjoy. Printable recipe included.
Southern Chicken and Rice recipe:
I am honored to have recently been selected to test and review cookware, from the new line of cookware, produced by OXO Manufacturing Company.
If you’re not familiar with them, OXO makes over 800 innovative products covering every room of the home, featuring their Award Winning Cooking Tools and Accessories. They are based out of New York City.
OXO has just introduced a couple of new lines of cookware, including their Non-Stick, Non-Stick Pro, and 3 ply Stainless Steel PRO sets of cookware. I’ll give you a link in just a minute so you can take a look for yourself.
I was given the opportunity to select a piece of cookware that I’d like to try and review, and was asked to provide a recipe that I’d like to prepare in that particular piece of cookware.
I saw no need to hold back, and I went for the biggest and brightest piece of cookware in the entire set. I selected the OXO Stainless Steel PRO 5 Qt. Casserole + Cover piece, and said that I’d like to prepare one of my favorite comfort food dishes that Mama use to prepare – Chicken and Rice.
With all the cold weather, freezing rain, ice, and even some snow we’ve had here in the South recently, I figured a big pot of Chicken and Rice would warm up the day, and would be a great way to test out the 5 Qt. Casserole + Cover piece from the 3 Ply Stainless Steel Collection.
I’ll provide you with the full step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe for making Chicken and Rice in the steps below, and I’ll give you a good look at this new piece of cookware from OXO, along with some of my personal thoughts and comments on how it performed. Keep reading.
Straight out of the box, I was impressed with the overall “feel and quality,” of the cookware that I was now holding in my hands. I was eager to get started, and I hope you are as well.
So, if you’re ready for another great Southern Classic, that is good any time of the year, not just for cold weather, then let’s get in the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking!
Full Disclosure: This recipe post is sponsored by OXO and their Award Winning Cooking Tools.
More about that in a minute. Let’s get started with the recipe.
Chicken and Rice: You’ll need these ingredients.
After opening your package of chicken, you might need to remove any pieces that are sometimes packed inside the cavity of the bird. They aren’t always included, but you’ll want to check before proceeding. If you find them, set the parts aside for the moment. We’ll use them later down the recipe.
These parts are usually the neck bone, liver, gizzard and sometimes the heart. Some companies include them with the purchase of a whole chicken and others might remove them. They’re good for making gravy, but we’ll be including them in the boiling process of the whole chicken to add flavor to the broth.
Rinse the chicken under cold running water. Give it a gentle scrubbing with your hands, both inside and out. Also, check for any pin feathers that might still be attached to the skin. Remove them if you see them.
This is the new “Stainless Steel PRO 5 Qt. Casserole + Cover” from OXO. Isn’t it all shiny and neat looking?
I wanted to use this for the entire recipe, but I was afraid it wasn’t quite deep enough to hold the chicken and the extra water I wanted to add to make the stock. It’s a really AWESOME cooking utensil though, and I’ll tell you more about it in just a moment, but first, we need to get the chicken on the stove and start it cooking.
Place the chicken in a large stock pot. Add the neck and other parts that were removed. I used a 16 quart stock pot for this particular part of the recipe. It was really too large for what I needed, but we’ll work with it.
Add cold water, enough to cover the chicken by about one inch.
Remove the outer skin from your onion, then split the onion in half.
Toss both halves of the onion into the stockpot with the chicken and water.
Add the Salt.
Add the Black Pepper.
Place the pot on your stove top. Start out on Medium-High heat to quickly bring the water up to a low boil.
After the pot begins to boil, place a cover on top of the stock pot and REDUCE the heat to Medium-Low.
The chicken will need to simmer for about one hour, or until the chicken is fall off the bone done.
When the chicken is done, turn off the heat, and let the chicken sit in the broth for another 30 minutes.
OK, let’s tell you a bit more about that new OXO Stainless Steel Pro 5 Qt. Casserole while the chicken is cooking.
Here’s another look at the OXO Stainless Steel 5 Qt. Casserole + Cover pot.
OXO lists the dimensions for this piece at: 13.8″ x 10.2″ x 6.1″
Weight is listed at: 5.2lbs.
I really liked the sturdy, well built “feel” of this pot as I held it in my hand. I’d easily call this the “fanciest” piece of cookware that I’ve ever owned. I love my black cast iron skillet, but it can’t do everything in the kitchen. I’ve got some older pieces of cookware, but nothing like this, so I’m excited to be adding it to my kitchen here at Taste of Southern.
This is a 3-ply piece of cookware, meaning it has a “heat radiant aluminum core, fused between 2 layers of stainless steel which ensures even cooking from every side,” according to OXO.
It’s a very attractive piece of cookware, and I can see it becoming a staple piece that I’d pretty much just leave out on my stove top all the time. It’d be great for making pasta, some favorite sauces, and lots of other things.
You aren’t going to find any flimsy handles with screws that work loose on this OXO cookware.
If you’re like me, you’ve reached for a screwdriver more than one time to try and tighten up the handle or the knob on the lid to a cook pot. That’s not going to EVER happen with this stuff.
The handles are designed to stay “cool to the touch”and offer a very comfortable grip. You can just feel the strength in them when you lift up a full pot from the stove top. Those heavy brads will hold the handles on for as long as the pot exist. Nice!
The same type of brads are used on the lid handle as well. Handles on both the lid and the pot are very sleek looking, with a gentle curve that is easy on the hands.
Here’s a little closer look at the lid handle. Very stylish, don’t you think?
I like the little logo on the lid.
The lid itself is made of clear tempered glass. I like glass lids. That way, you can see what’s happening inside the pot without losing the heat.
You’ll find a stainless steel rim around the outer edge of the lid. It’s built so that it fits nice and neatly inside the pot.
Looking straight down inside the pot you’ll see the slightly angled sidewalls, well, maybe you can tell from the picture. Trust me, they are there. The rounded bottoms on the inside make it easier to stir ingredients inside the pot.
OXO says the pot is made of scratch resistant materials and is oven safe up to 430F degrees.
All of the OXO Stainless Steel Pro Cookware is Dishwasher safe, works on all types of stove tops, including the induction types, and comes with a LIFETIME WARRANTY. What more could you ask for?
OK, I think our chicken is done, let’s get back to the recipe.
We let the chicken cook at a low simmer for just about an hour. I used a pair of tongs to lift the bird from the water, then scooped out the onion. Just leave all the broth in the pot for the time being, we’ll need it shortly.
It was still fairly warm, but not too hot to go ahead and pull the meat off the bones. You could chop the onion up and save it for the finished dish, or just discard it, choice is yours.
Carefully pick the meat away from the bones, removing and discarding the bones and the skin.
Remove all the meat and skin from the bones. Be sure to pick through it carefully, removing any small bones, gristle, or unsightly dark pieces that you might find. Nothing is worse than biting down onto a small bone in your Chicken and Rice. Trust me on this one. Discard the bones, skins and other pieces you don’t want in your dish.
I really liked the measurement markings inside the new OXO Stainless Steel 5 Qt cooker. The lettering is printed in black on the inside of the pot, and very easy to read. It has both quart and liter measurements.
Time to put this piece of cookware to work… and to the test.
Instead of dragging out the measuring cup to measure out 8 cups of stock, I just easily filled the OXO 5 Qt. cooker up to the 2 Qt. mark that was on the inside of the pot.
Can you sort of see that rolled edge on the top of the pot? It will make it easy to pour liquids out of the pot with drip free ease. I think OXO pretty much thought of everything I needed with this one.
Place the stock on your stove top over Medium-High heat. Bring the stock up to a low boil.
Add the totally bone free, and gristle free, pulled chicken pieces to the stock.
I added the entire box of Uncle Ben’s Rice to the pot. It was just a little bit over the 2 cups that the recipe calls for.
Gently stir the rice and chicken together.
Cover the pot, REDUCE the heat, and let the pot simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the rice is done.
This photo will give you a better look at the rim around the tempered glass on the lid, and the really neat handles. Sharp huh?
We can keep a close watch on the rice with this clear glass lid as well. (I’m liking it more and more as I go.)
Check the rice after 15 minutes to see if it’s cooked to your liking.
Add the butter.
Note the remaining liquid in the chicken and rice. I like it a little “juicy,” but the rice is going to keep absorbing liquid even after it’s removed from the stove top. Keep the remaining stock from where you boiled the chicken close at hand, so you can add more if needed.
Stir the butter into the chicken and rice, until it’s fully melted.
Now is the time to taste the recipe to see if it needs more salt, or perhaps more black pepper.
I suggest you add seasonings lightly, if at all. It’s easy to add more to taste once you serve it to your family or guests.
Serve it up while it’s still warm.
You can probably see how it’s already soaked up most of the liquid that was still in the pot.
I probably added about 2 more cups of the stock from where I boiled the chicken. This required me to add a bit more salt and a bit more black pepper.
I didn’t use it here, but you might want to add some chicken bouillon to the stock if it doesn’t have a lot of taste to it. Mama would have cooked this with and old hen instead of a small frying chicken like this. The older hen’s seemed to have added more flavor to the stock. Don’t be afraid to adjust the taste with some chicken granules, cubes, or bouillon of some sort if desired. Make it your own.
Enjoy!
A very special THANK YOU to OXO for providing me with this beautiful Stainless Steel PRO 5Qt. Casserole cooker with the tempered glass lid. I’m honored that you selected me to test it out, and very happy with the results I received from working with it.
I found that the handles were a bit warm after cooking the Chicken and Rice dish, but not too hot that I couldn’t easily pick it up from the stove top and place it on the counter next to the sink. Tender hands might still need to use a pot holder.
OK, maybe, just maybe, I don’t have those rugged hard working hands of most men. Perhaps that’s why I thought the handles were just a tad warm to the touch. I’ve had a few callouses in my day, but admittedly, not very many. Just saying. (Smile)
In Summary:
I found the OXO cooker to be very, very well made. It would be hard to imagine it ever coming apart on you. The pot just has a good firm feel when you pick it up, like it’s going to do the job you’re about to place in front of it.
It was super easy to clean up afterwards. Just a light rinse was about all that was needed, but I did wash it out well. Don’t forget that it’s dishwasher safe, so you can just place it in with the rest of your dishes for quick and easy clean up.
At first, I questioned the lack of a vent in the lid, not really sure whether it actually needed one or not. The lid fits inside the pot pretty snug, but not so much so that steam from the simmering rice couldn’t escape a bit.
There was just an ever so slight bit of tarnishing inside the pot from where it sat on my burners. I could just lightly see the rings from the burner, but I assume that’s pretty typical with pots such as these. Don’t forget, I use that black cast iron skillet for most of my cooking, so cooking with stainless steel is sort of a new experience.
I’d still give it a great big A+ for cooking with.
The one very minor drawback for ME, was the light reflections from cooking with it in my kitchen and trying to take photos of my work. For that reason, and that one reason only, given the choice, I would probably purchase the Non-Stick PRO line of OXO cookware over this stainless steel.
Oh I’d love to have this stainless steel set for cooking with family and friends, it just presented some odd images when trying to line up a shot a time or two.
I hope you’ll click this link, and check out all of the great line of OXO’s Award Winning Cooking Tools and Accessories.
You can take a look at the complete 13 piece set of Stainless Steel OXO Cookware by clicking here.
Disclaimer: Now for the required stuff. OXO provided me with this OXO Stainless Steel, 3 ply Casserole Cooker plus Cover, to use in the Taste of Southern kitchen. They invited me to submit a recipe idea, and select the piece of cookware from their collection that I would most like to work with. They have not offered any payment for my review and comments on their cookware, and all the comments posted herein are totally mine. Other bloggers participated in similar reviews, but I do not have any knowledge as to who they are or what recipes they will prepare with their chosen pieces of cookware. Thank you again to all the fine folks at OXO for allowing me to participate in this program. #OXOcookware
