7:30 Sharp · Dinner card

Chicken & Chorizo Baked Rice

7:30

A wide dish of red-gold rice studded with chorizo coins, chunks of chicken, and bright green peas, brought to the table with the foil peeled back in front of her, has all the energy of paella with none of the pan-shaking. The oven cooks the rice. You pour broth over some things and cover them. That is the whole technique, and it is why this dish has never gone wrong in the history of home kitchens.

Cost for two

$27

Active

20 min

Hands off at

7:25

Allergens

None of the top 9, Check labels: cured chorizo sometimes contains milk (lactose) and broth cartons sometimes contain soy or wheat

Shopping list · aisle order

Produce

1 Yellow onion
1 Lemon

Meat & Seafood

1¼ lb Boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 ring Cured Spanish chorizo

Pantry & Canned

1 bag Long-grain white rice
1 carton Chicken broth
Smoked paprika

Frozen

1 bag Frozen peas

Pantry (you probably have these)

Salt, pepper, olive oil

Gear

One 9×13 baking dish (glass or ceramic), foil, a liquid measuring cup or a mug you can microwave, a probe thermometer, a phone timer. No skillet, no pot.

The 7:30 Timeline

5:30	T-120	Unpack. Read this page once.
6:15	T-75	Chicken: pat dry, cut each thigh into 3 chunks. Into a bowl or onto a plate with 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon oil. Toss.
6:22	T-68	Chorizo: peel off the casing if it has a papery one. Cut into coins as thick as a pencil.
6:27	T-63	Onion: peel, cut into rough ½-inch pieces.
6:32	T-58	Into the dish: 1 tablespoon oil, the onion, the chorizo, 1 cup rice (dry, not rinsed), 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon salt. Stir with your hand until the rice is orange. Spread flat.
6:37	T-53	Chicken chunks pushed down into the rice, spaced out, tops just showing. Cover the dish tightly with foil. Fridge.
6:40	T-50	Cut the lemon into wedges. Measure 2¼ cups broth into the mug or measuring cup; fridge.
6:45	T-45	All the cooking work is done. Dishes done, counters wiped. Starter and spritz made.
7:00	T-30	Oven to 425°F, rack in the middle. Dish out of the fridge onto the counter.
7:10	T-20	Shower.
7:20	T-10	Music on, lights down, table set. Microwave the broth 3 minutes until steaming. Peel back the foil, pour the broth evenly over the rice, foil back on tight.
7:25	T-5	Hands off from here. Dish in, middle rack. Timer: 40 min. Apron off, apartment check, spritz pitcher and glasses out.
7:30	T-0	She arrives. She arrives. Nothing on the stove needs you. The apartment smells like paprika. Pour the spritz. It covers the next twenty minutes with the starter.
7:45	T+15	Starter out.
8:05	T+35	Timer goes. Pull the dish. Lift the foil: liquid gone, rice tender? Scatter 1 cup frozen peas over the top, foil back on, 5 minutes on the stove.
8:10	T+40	Probe a chicken chunk: 165°F. Squeeze a lemon wedge over. Bring the dish to the table, peel the foil off there.

Chicken & Chorizo Baked Rice · Method

1Pat the thighs dry with paper towels. Cut each one into 3 chunks. Any shape is fine.
2Toss the chunks with 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon olive oil until orange all over.
3If the chorizo has a papery outer skin, peel it off with your fingers. Cut the chorizo into coins as thick as a pencil.
4Peel the onion and cut it into rough ½-inch pieces.
5Put 1 tablespoon oil in the 9×13 dish. Add the onion, chorizo, 1 cup dry rice, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, and ½ teaspoon salt. Stir with your hand until the rice grains are orange, then spread it flat.
6Push the chicken chunks into the rice, spaced apart, so the tops just show.
7Cover the dish tightly with foil, pressing it down around the rim. Refrigerate.
8Cut the lemon into 4 wedges. Measure 2¼ cups broth into a microwave-safe mug or measuring cup and refrigerate it.
9At 7:00, turn the oven to 425°F with a rack in the middle. Set the dish on the counter, still covered.
10At 7:20, microwave the broth for 3 minutes until it steams. Peel the foil back, pour the hot broth evenly over the whole surface, and press the foil back on tightly. Hot broth is what makes the timer reliable.
11At 7:25, slide the dish onto the middle rack. Set a 40-minute timer.
12At the timer, pull the dish. Lift a corner of the foil: the liquid should be gone and a grain of rice from the edge should be soft between your teeth.
13Scatter 1 cup frozen peas straight from the bag across the top. Put the foil back on and leave it on the stovetop 5 minutes; the peas heat through and turn bright green.
14Probe a chicken chunk: 165°F. Squeeze a lemon wedge over everything.
15Carry the dish to the table and take the foil off in front of her.

Is it done? No experience needed

Thermometer: 165°F in the center of the largest chicken chunk. No thermometer: cut the biggest chunk in half; white all through, no pink, no wet-looking center. The rice has no visible liquid, a grain from the middle of the dish is soft with no hard core, and the chorizo coins have gone dark red with a slick of orange oil around them.

The #1 way to screw it up

At 8:05 the rice is still wet and crunchy in the middle, because the foil was loose and the steam escaped, the broth went in cold, or the oven runs cool.

Recovery

Microwave ½ cup water in the mug for 90 seconds, pour it over the rice, put the foil back on as tight as you can, and give it 10 more minutes at 425°F. Then the peas, then the 5-minute rest. She has a spritz and a starter; 8:20 is an honest dinner time. Do not stir it, and do not put it on the stove; that is how baked rice becomes glue.

Plating

Serve from the dish at the table, or spoon a tall mound of rice into the middle of a wide shallow bowl for each of you, digging deep so every serving gets chicken and chorizo. Lift a few chorizo coins and chicken chunks to the top with the spoon so they show, and let the peas stay scattered where they fell. Set a lemon wedge on the rim, drizzle a thread of olive oil over the rice, and pinch a little smoked paprika onto the rim of the bowl.

Vegetarian swap

Swap the chicken for one 15-oz can of chickpeas (drained) and the chorizo for a red bell pepper cut into strips, and double the smoked paprika, which is what was carrying the chorizo's smoke anyway. Use vegetable broth. Same dish, same hot broth, same 40 minutes covered, same peas and lemon. It is a vegetable paella; less meaty on the plate, so be generous with the peas and put the lemon wedge front and center.

What to pour

Wine. a Spanish Tempranillo — Campo Viejo Rioja, about $11; or Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel, about $10, if you want something juicier against the paprika.

Beer. Estrella Damm or Modelo Especial, cold.

No alcohol. lemon soda over ice with an orange slice, the zero-proof cousin of what you would drink on a terrace in Seville.

The practice run. Cook this once on a weeknight for yourself before the real night. Twenty dollars of groceries buys you the one thing the card can't: having done it before. 730sharp.com