Chicken Legs & Herbed Rice
Bone-in legs roast on top of the rice so it cooks in the juices and the skin crisps. One dish plus the steam oven, about 45 minutes, mostly passive.
One dish + steam oven · ~45 min (mostly passive) · serves 4 · this week’s chicken Bone-in legs roast on top of the rice so it cooks in the juices and the skin crisps. No onion/garlic.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken legs, bone-in, skin-on (~1–1.2 kg)
- 300 g long-grain rice
- 1 leek, sliced
- 1 carrot, finely diced (visible — kids like it)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 600 ml stock (homemade or additive-free)
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley or dill, chopped
- ½ tsp salt + pepper (plus a little for the skin)
- 1 head broccoli
Method — by station
Start the rice in an ovenproof pan on the hob, lay the legs on top, then the whole pan goes into the steam oven. The chicken leads the timing — broccoli joins late.
🍳 On the hob — ovenproof pan (~6 min)
- Melt the butter with the oil; soften the leek ~4 min.
- Add the carrot and rice; stir 1 min to coat. Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer.
🔥 In the steam oven (~35–40 min)
- Pat the legs dry, season the skin, and lay them skin-side up on the rice. Don’t stir once they’re on.
- Combi ~200 °C, 35–40 min, until the skin is golden and the chicken reaches 75 °C at the thickest part / juices run clear.
- Put the broccoli in for the last ~12 min only.
🍱 To assemble
- Fork the lemon and herbs through the rice.
- For the 1-year-old: pull the meat off one leg, check carefully for bones and cartilage, and shred. Lift out their rice before salting.
- Season the rest. Box rice + a leg (or shredded meat) with the steamed broccoli.
Notes
- For extra-crisp skin, sear the legs skin-side down 3–4 min in the same pan before step 3.
- Chicken keeps 3 days; reheat in the steam oven, lid off, with a splash of water/stock so the rice doesn’t dry.
- Sizes vary — go by temperature, not the clock. Bigger legs may need a few minutes more.