This chicken with swiss chard dish goes well with steamed rice or any kind of pasta noodles. I’ve been trying to clean up my diet and have been eating a lot of chicken and greens (typical kale for me). I love Swiss chard and love cooking it with chicken. I find that most people don’t know how to cook it. In this recipe, I will show you how to prepare it easily. The best part? It’s super tasty and makes the perfect dinner!
Related post: Chicken With Yellow Rice Recipes
One-Pot Chicken and Rice with Swiss Chard
To change up the flavors in this dish, try using parsnips in place of the carrots and an equal amount of spinach instead of the Swiss chard.
Everyday Food editor Sarah Carey teaches you how to make chicken, rice, and vegetables all in one pot.
Recipe Summary
Prep: 30 mins
Total: 55 mins
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Ingredient Checklist
- 4 chicken leg quarters (about 2 pounds total), patted dry
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 bunch Swiss chard (10 ounces), stems cut into 1/2-inch pieces, leaves torn into 2-inch pieces
- 1 small yellow onion, diced small
- 2 medium carrots, diced medium
- 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest, plus wedges for serving
- 1 1/2 cups basmati rice
- 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Directions
Instructions Checklist
- Step 1 Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook until browned on both sides, 12 minutes, turning once. With tongs, transfer chicken to a plate.
- Step 2 Reduce heat to medium and add garlic, chard stems, onion, and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chard stems and onion are translucent, 4 minutes. Add chard leaves, lemon zest, and rice; cook for 1 minute. Add broth and bring to a rapid simmer. Reduce to a simmer and season with salt and pepper. Arrange chicken, skin side up, on top of rice mixture and cook, covered, until chicken is cooked through and liquid is absorbed about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit, for 5 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.
Related Post: Crockpot Chicken With Onion Soup Mix
Cook’s Notes
If you don’t have basmati, use your favorite long-grain rice. Simply substitute an equal amount of Carolina, converted, or even jasmine rice. Each type will cook in the same amount of time.
Creamy Garlic Swiss Chard Chicken
This Creamy Garlic Swiss Chard Chicken is low carb and uses up a vegetable that not many people use – Swiss chard! This is a delicious Swiss chard recipe.
How to Make Creamy Garlic Swiss Chard Chicken
I have a confession. Or three hundred confessions, really, but let’s start with just one.
Summer cooking isn’t my thing. I mean it is, but I honestly would rather eat burgers every single night of summer and then come up with a fancy new cocktail recipe instead of a new supper recipe. Or a toasted tomato sandwich and salad. I’m sure that you can see what I’m getting at.
Summer is the time for easy cookin’. Burgers, sandwiches, and salads, with produce straight from your garden as the accompaniment. Summer here in Edmonton is so flipping short that I honestly don’t want to spend time in the kitchen cooking up a storm. I want to toss together a salad from the garden and sit outside in the evenings.
However Autumn is another matter. About this time of year, I am ready to get back to cooking. So what do I do? I covered chicken in cream sauce, of course!
How to Get the Most Tender, Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Thighs Tips & Tricks
- Bake the chicken thighs to at least 185 °F. Trust me. Try it once and you’ll realize that you’ve been under baking chicken thighs your entire life. I did and let me tell you that I wish I had known this earlier! You are going to love how oven-baked chicken thighs turn out when they are cooked properly! Chicken thighs are also so forgiving that if you overcook them to 200 or so it doesn’t even matter.
- Use bone-in chicken thighs. Not only are they cheaper ( you have to pay for someone’s time to remove those bones remember!) the bone adds flavor to the result.
This recipe came about because I had Swiss chard to use up from my garden and I came out of my non-cooking summer mode. Briefly. I love Swiss chard. I especially love it drowned in a garlic cream sauce. Swiss chard can be pretty boring, let’s face it. Sometimes it’s hard to get excited about eating our greens, no matter what vegan bloggers tell you. Greens can be acidic, tough, and let’s face it, not exciting.
No friends, I can’t get excited over a Swiss chard recipe that is a quinoa salad with a side of kale dressing, topped with the tears of unicorns and other magical vegetarian creatures.
But I can get excited over this Swiss chard recipe!
You can use a LOT of Swiss chard in this recipe, which is the point of a good Swiss chard recipe – you’re looking to use it up! I was feeding some low carbohydrate carnivores with this recipe and they loved it, even with the Swiss chard. so it’s a keeper!
chicken thighs with braised swiss chard
Crispy, juicy chicken thighs with creamy braised swiss chard is a meal I keep coming back to. Perfect to serve over potatoes or white beans and top with crispy mushrooms for an extra pop.
ingredients
chicken thighs
- Chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on
- Real sweet cream butter (stick), cut into small, thin squares or cubes
- a small lemon, thinly sliced
- fine sea salt
- celery seed
- coriander seed
- fennel seed
- Sesame seed
- olive oil
- Fresh flat-leaf parsley, dill, or fennel fronds
braised swiss chard
- garlic halved crosswise
- Olive oil
- fennel bulb, thinly sliced
- shallot, thinly sliced
- dry white wine
- rainbow swiss chard, ribs and stems removed, leaves torn
- good-quality vegetable stock, like Zoup.
- butter
- fine sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg
- Parmesan, finely grated
- Fresh flat-leaf parsley, dill, or fennel fronds
See the Chicken thighs with a braised greens recipe card for quantities.
how to make these chicken thighs with braised greens
First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the garlic heads crosswise to expose the cloves.
Tightly wrap the cut garlic heads in aluminum foil with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt.
Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until the cloves are soft and beginning to brown. Once finished, set aside for later.
Chicken Thighs
Before I begin, I always cover my workspace with a layer of freezer paper and a few paper towels. Doing so helps make it easier to clean up later, then prep the butter, lemon, and seasoning.
Depending on the size of the chicken thighs, you’ll need one thinly sliced lemon round and one to two thin-sliced pats of butter per thigh.
Hint: Place butter slices into the freezer until firm before prepping the chicken.
Lightly grind whole coriander, fennel, celery, and sesame seeds into a spice mill until reaching a flaky, sand-like consistency.
Pat the chicken thighs as dry as possible. Next, season both sides of the chicken with an herb paste: celery, salt, coriander, fennel, sesame seed, and just enough olive oil to make a paste, then rub it all over, making sure to get it into all of the crevices.
Using your finger, disjoint the skin from the muscle by sliding it underneath the skin. After, stuff thinly sliced lemons and pats of butter underneath the skin to sit directly on top of the muscle.
Tightly fold any excess skin to the underside of the thighs. It’s unnecessary to tie them with butcher twine, but it may be helpful.
Coat a large, wide stainless steel or enamel cast-iron braising pan with a slight drizzle of olive oil. Carefully place each piece of chicken skin side down into the cold pan. Once they are all in, turn the heat to medium.
Leave the chickens alone to sear the skins until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Rotate the pan to encourage even browning, if needed.
When they release from the pan, flip them over and crisp any skin on the bottom or sides, ensuring all the skin has browned. I cover the pan with a lid to help with splatter but watch the heat, so the bottom of the pan doesn’t burn.
Remove onto a clean baking sheet and set them aside in a war zone. Turn the burner down to a lower temperature, letting the pan cool slightly before moving on.
Braised Swiss Chard
To the chicken fat, sweat the finely chopped fennel over medium to medium-low heat until it just starts to soften, then adds the shallots, cooking until translucent, slightly golden, and everything easily crushes with the back of a spoon.
Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its paper shell, coating the vegetables with the garlic paste.
Hint: if you have tons of fat left in the pan, remove the excess leaving the chicken drippings before adding the wine.
Pour in white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Bring the wine to a simmer and reduce it by half before continuing.
Then, pour in the heavy cream. The heavy cream will slowly break down, coating the swiss chard in fat and begin to caramelize.
Start adding the greens to the pot by the handful, wilting slightly before adding more. At this point, generously season with salt.
After the last handful, stir in 3/4 cups vegetable stock. Bring the broth to a simmer, then situate the chicken thighs into the pan.
Note: spend the extra money on high-quality vegetable stock (or use homemade). My favorite is Zoup brand vegetable stock. I’ve tested this recipe with cheap broth, and it was fine, but it made a difference.
Cover the pot partially with a lid, and simmer until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches a minimum of 175 degrees F.
While the chicken is cooking, the liquid will reduce by half, but if the chicken needs more time or the pan seems too dry (it should be saucy, but not soup), add the other 1/4 cup of vegetable broth, then continue simmering the chicken.
Remove the chicken to a warm plate, then add a tablespoon of butter with the Parmesan to the braised Swiss chard. The sauce will thicken slightly after incorporating the cheese, about 5 minutes.
Freshly grate nutmeg and sprinkle in fresh herbs. Season with more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve with potatoes or white beans.
Substitutions
Kale – you can make these chicken thighs with braised greens using any hardy green in place of the Swiss chard. I’ve even used spinach. Just remember, you’ll need way more than you think.
How to Serve the Chicken Thighs with Braised Swiss Chard
My favorite way to serve the chicken thighs with braised swiss chard is over-cooked white beans or topped with crispy mushrooms.
Add cooked beans – stir in drained canned white beans with the Parmesan cheese. Alternatively, precook dried white beans and use the bean broth in place of the vegetable broth.
Crispy mushrooms – for extra umami, top the dish with crispy mushrooms.
To make crispy mushrooms, sliced mushrooms of your choice; I like shitake or oyster mushrooms and dry them well with paper towels.
Heat a pan over medium-high heat. Add a high smoke point oil, like grapeseed, to the pan. When the pan is hot, add the mushrooms.
Cook, tossing until the water releases from the mushrooms and the edges crisp. Take the pan off the heat, then stir in a tablespoon of butter. Lastly, season with a pinch of salt.
Equipment
An electric spice grinder is best used when ground fresh, the spices add texture when ground medium-fine. Coupled with a cast-iron braising pan helps to make crispy skin.
Storage
Suitable for 2-3 days.
Related Post: Slow Cooker Chicken With Potatoes
Top Tip
Cooking dark meat: The residual heat will cook the meat another 5 to 10 degrees. However, according to America’s Test Kitchen, the final internal temperature of the chicken needs to reach a minimum of 175 degrees F for tender dark meat, ideally closer to 195 degrees F, because it has abundant connective tissue.
The longer, slower, and more gently it cooks, the more connective tissue liquefies. Allowing dark meat to cook at an internal temperature between 140 degrees and 195 degrees for an extended period gives collagen extra time to break down.