Chicken and rice, street cart style from Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites (page 178) by Deb Perelman

  • pita bread
  • chicken thighs
  • ground coriander
  • ground cumin
  • harissa paste
  • lemons
  • mayonnaise
  • dried oregano
  • paprika
  • tomatoes
  • turmeric
  • distilled vinegar
  • ground cloves
  • basmati rice
  • chicken stock
  • yogurt
  • iceberg lettuce
  • hot sauce

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • mirsaidi007 on January 22, 2021

    As everyone says, this is excellent. Way better than the halal trucks here in DC. The only change is that I grill the thighs (meaning the rice can cook as the chicken does) and I triple the marinade so I can baste the chicken as it grills. I also add grated garlic to the yogurt. And Tapatio instead of harissa is *chef's kiss*

  • Devons on January 03, 2021

    Excellent. Good for casual supper and good for guests as well. Note: double the marinade. Also, to quickly cook chicken without mess / spatter, put the chicken on sheet pan into oven at 450 convection for 20 min.

  • sofull on November 16, 2020

    My most frequent repeat recipe. The marinade is perfect and it's such an easy flavorful and low maintenance dish to make. Love it.

  • mamacrumbcake on October 14, 2020

    Delicious! Everyone who eats it loves it. A family favorite.

  • Dms02 on June 20, 2020

    This was a perfect dish. Used bone-in thighs and grilled them. Would be perfect to scale up for entertaining a crowd. Used fresh cilantro and oregano in the marinade as I had it on hand.

  • Dms02 on June 20, 2020

    Incredibly flavorful. I had bone-in thighs and so I cut the skin off then marinated them and grilled them. This marinade was perfect. The rice was super tasty. LOVED this recipe and will make it again for sure. It would be great for a crowd.

  • TrishaCP on March 15, 2020

    I found this recipe through a recipe search of my collection (most buzzed about chicken recipes) and I am glad that I did. This was great! I marinated the chicken for two nights due to my schedule and it was very flavorful. For the rice, I had leftover rice (maybe two cups) that I cooked in the chicken pan with the spices. This was tasty, but I’m looking forward to cooking the rice per the recipe next time.

  • julesamomof2 on February 19, 2020

    Delicious, and a fun dinner to make and serve. I marinated the meat for about 3 hours which was fine, and I did make my rice separately to save time. As others have said, the recipe as written makes way too much rice, but that's easy to halve in the future. The two sauces (esp. the harissa) make the dish complete. I bought pita, but with all that rice I didn't even serve it.

  • KaraCooks on February 14, 2020

    This was voted #1 repeat recipe on the Food52 cookbook club so I had to try it. I LOVED the simplicity of this dish and it was YUMMO!! This would be a great make-ahead dish for a crowd. Wouldn't change a thing except I didn't cook the rice right in the chicken pot the first time (because I didn't read the entire recipe) but I would try it next time.

  • Bloominanglophile on October 22, 2019

    I noticed this recipe had been getting a lot of good reviews, so I did a google search and found a recipe. This is a nice all-in-one meal. I did use a smaller lemon, so would increase the amount of juice I use next time. The chicken also needed a slight increase in salt--maybe a 1/4 teaspoon more next time. Otherwise, a very good meal for a weeknight.

  • jenmacgregor18 on October 16, 2019

    This is really amazing. It's a straightforward prep with delicious results. The marinade on chicken is fantastic. I And for such simple ingredients, the rice is killer too. I did have to increase the olive oil to 1/4 cup and use a whole lemon so the marinade would cover all my chicken. I agree with others--tons of rice. Next time, either 1/2 the rice or double the chicken.

  • Rachaelsb on June 13, 2019

    Strong dinner! Chicken is delicious, loved the yogurt sauce, rice perfect complement. Really lives up to its name. Will definitely be making again

  • Rutabaga on September 30, 2018

    As others have said, this is pretty great. I made it with homemade pita, doubled the amount of rice, and tripled the amount of chicken, as I was feeding about eight people, and was hoping to have leftovers. Yes, this makes a massive amount of rice! Because of the pita, I really didn't need to double the rice, but it will be easy to use it for other purposes later in the week. The flavors are subtle, but work together really well, and I love the tangy yogurt sauce. While I didn't have harissa, any kind of hot sauce is a welcome addition if you like it spicy. This is one of those ideal meals for a family or other group that always everyone to customize their food.

  • anya_sf on September 11, 2018

    My family loved this so much, they ate *all* the chicken. I made extra rice, but we didn't end up needing it, even though we didn't have pita bread. We could have used more sauce, which we poured on everything. I used 2 pans: one for rice, one for chicken. Next time I'll try the rice cooker for the rice and use less broth so it's fluffier. I added cucumber to the salad and omitted the onion. Everything benefited from extra salt.

  • mrsmadam on August 27, 2018

    This was spot on! Even the chicken-averse SO raved. He devoured the salad. Well, actually he devoured everything. I made a half recipe for the two of us and yes, there was more rice leftover than chicken but I won't change a thing next time.

  • averythingcooks on August 23, 2018

    We really enjoyed this and I will definitely make it again. I halved the amount of rice and, after toasting the rice & spices in the chicken pan, added the broth and poured it all into my rice cooker. I also halved the white sauce and added minced garlic. My only issue (or question I guess) is how "around 6 boneless chicken thighs" weigh 2 pounds? I had 4 thighs to use up and added a chicken breast to bring the meat to JUST over 1 pound. I also used the full amount of marinade for this quantity. I've made a note in the book (yes - I do write in my books :) so it's not a huge deal for the future but still curious re: this notation in the ingredient list.

  • hirsheys on May 19, 2018

    I give this version the slight edge to the very similar and yummy Halal chicken from Serious Eats, though the rice from the Serious Eats recipe is far superior, in my opinion. I didn't love the flavor of this one and it came out mushy. Next time I will use that recipe for the rice (and use a rice cooker to make it.) The rest of the dish is pretty similar, honestly, though this marinade is easier (no blending involved) and I preferred this white sauce. I may add a small amount of garlic next time (per chowhound). I also thought that the mixture of harissa and hot sauce really made the dish.

  • westminstr on May 10, 2018

    Like everyone else, we really enjoyed this. I did 1.5 pounds of boneless thighs with the full amount of marinade (marinated overnight), otherwise followed instructions, and the chicken was delicious! We skipped the rice and served w pita. I made my own garlic yogurt sauce instead of the one in the book, and my own salad (romaine w cucumber & tomato, dressed w olive oil & lemon juice). I did follow instructions for the easy hot sauce. Everything together made a great meal. O loved it, E would have preferred her chicken plain (but loved the salad). I don't think anyone missed the rice.

  • stef on May 03, 2018

    We loved it. Two changes. Marinated chicken thighs went on a sheet pan and baked in a 400f oven for 20 minutes, nice and tender. I sauteed the olive oil and spices in my instant pot, then put in 1 cup of rice and 2 1/4 cups stock, 8 minutes on pressure cook quick release, rice came out well and just the right amount for us. Will be repeated often.

  • sosayi on May 03, 2018

    Chiming in to say this dish was also a hit in our house. A few changes: rice cooked in rice cooker (with brown basmati), which worked well; used 1.25 lbs chicken breast, but with same amount of marinade; doubled both sauces; combined chopped tomato, onion and cilantro into a quasi salsa, and used to top the lettuce. Pita seems superfluous here, but maybe if you cut down on rice amounts, it would be needed.

  • stockholm28 on March 09, 2018

    I loved this dish and it will definitely be repeated. It takes a bit too long for a weeknight dinner as you cook the chicken and rice in the same pan, but not at the same time. I agree that it makes a massive amount of rice and I would cut the rice down next time.

  • ddenker on February 12, 2018

    We loved this dish and want to make it again. We halved the rice (which was a good move), but made the mistake of making too much chicken (2.5 lbs) and think we should only do 1-1.5 lbs in the future. We would also like to make half the sauce. Then again, we have a three year old and one year old who aren’t really helping us tackle the amount of food we cook up every night! Flavors of the chicken were great and the sauce was delicious.

  • EmilyR on January 28, 2018

    Brought me back home to NYC. The amount of rice is massive and could likely be halved. Although the quantity was very plentiful, it wasn't a heavy meal. I appreciate how it's flexible and adaptable to whomever is mixing it together and their individual preferences. The white sauce is deceptive, because it seems like there's cheese somewhere, which is a good thing. I used chicken breast as preference.

  • Dannausc on January 21, 2018

    Sooo good! My wife and I both loved this dish! Too much food for 4 people, easily feeds 6.

  • clcorbi on November 13, 2017

    Yum. Deb has hit the nail on the head with this one. In fact, the result was better than any street cart chicken I've ever had. I was so pleasantly surprised that the white sauce really tasted like the kind I've had on my street cart gyros before! I let my chicken marinate for three hours and the flavor was very nicely developed. This recipe makes a large amount of rice. I chose not to wipe my pan out before cooking the rice, and instead incorporated the chicken fat and little crispy bits into the rice grains as they toasted. I would do that again because the result was super chicken-y and rich tasting. I agree with Deb's head note that this would be a good dish to serve at a party, since you can heap the components on a platter and it's virtually guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser.

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