Name: Broccoli & Cheddar Chicken Skillet
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 lb chicken thighs; 1 small yellow onion (diced); 3-4 cups broccoli (chopped small); 2-3 garlic cloves (minced); 1½ cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth ); 1 cup jasmine rice; 1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)

Broccoli & Cheddar Chicken Skillet

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This broccoli & cheddar chicken skillet is our new go to! Thomas has been putting together skillet meals because they are healthy, quick, and simple. Realistically, putting dinner on the table with our three little ones can be a challenge these days. For this skillet recipe, we combined some of our favorite ingredients. Broccoli, cheddar and chicken. The result was delicious and even the kids loved it, which was a huge win! An easy meal to throw together that’s one pan, very simple, and full of flavor!

Overhead view of broccoli & cheddar chicken skillet in a cast iron with a white background and a tan oven mit in the bottom right corner.

What you need to make broccoli & cheddar chicken skillet + substitutions:

Chicken thighs- Thighs are a great alternative to chicken breasts when you want more intense rich flavor. Chicken breasts work fine too. We did boneless and skinless thighs, but you could also do it with them on as well!
Broccoli- We used broccoli from our garden for the first time and it was fun and tasty!
Jasmine rice- We use jasmine rice for everything so that’s what we used for this meal! If you wanted to do brown rice, it would just change the cook time. We haven’t tested it out ourselves.
Yellow onion- Yellow onions are our go to cooking onions because they are able to handle high heat. Once they are cooked, they release a sweet flavor and add such a nice flavor to this dish.
Garlic cloves- A perfect flavoring agent to add aroma and deliciousness.
Chicken Broth- Cooking the rice in chicken broth makes it so much better. If you’ve never tried it, you must. It’s a game changer and adds a great taste as well! You could use vegetable broth as well.
Cheddar cheese- We used already shredded cheddar cheese because that’s what we had. However, I prefer buying a block of cheddar and shredding it myself! It tastes fresher and is just more delicious in my opinion. The cheddar cheese is rich and creamy and adds a great depth of flavor to this broccoli & cheddar chicken skillet.

Tips for making it:

We used our favorite Lodge cast iron! We use cast irons for the majority of our cooking. I love that it’s non-toxic and lasts forever! It also helps give your body iron which is pretty amazing. It’s great for cooking and is safe to put in the oven!

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5 from 5 votes

Broccoli & Cheddar Chicken Skillet

Cook Time30 mins

Course: Main Course

Keyword: broccoli, chicken, dinner, easy dinner, healthy, one pan meal, skillet, weeknight dinner

Servings: people

Ingredients

1 lb chicken thighs
1 small yellow onion diced
3-4 cups broccoli chopped small
2-3 garlic cloves minced
1½ cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 cup jasmine rice
1 cup cheddar cheese shredded

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375F degrees.
Pat dry your chicken thighs with paper towels. Season each side of your chicken thighs with sea salt and pepper.
Heat your cast iron with about 1-2 tbsp avocado oil. Once it's hot, add in your chicken and cook on each side for about 5-6 minutes. Remove from the pan.
Next, add in the chopped onion and cook for 3-4 minutes. Pour in the garlic and broccoli. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Saute for 5-7 minutes until the broccoli softens.
Pour in the chicken broth. Bring to a light boil. Pour in the rice and mix around.
Add the chicken on top of the mixture, and put the pan into the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the pan, sprinkle the cheese all over the top. Put back into the oven for an additional 5-8 minutes to melt the cheese. Make sure the chicken is cooked through by reaching an internal temperature of 165F degrees.
Remove from the oven & enjoy!