Marry Me Chicken and Rice {Dump & Bake}

Marry Me Chicken and Rice is the ultimate Dump & Bake recipe. Throw the ingredients in the oven together and out comes the delicious creamy, tomatoey dish we all know and love. This easy version is perfect for a midweek winner chicken dinner.

A cooked one pan dish with creamy chicken and rice, with basil over the top, ready to dish up.

Since I realised I could make chicken and rice recipes, each with a slight twist, I have made sure there’s at least one Dump & Bake recipe on my meal plan every single week.

You might have guessed this one was coming… I give you, Marry Me Chicken and Rice.

We love Marry Me Chicken and we LOVE a one pan bake, so this is the best of both!

Why you’ll love this easy Marry Me Chicken and Rice recipe

⭐️ Super easy – quick prep then oven bake

⭐️ Comforting meal in one pan

⭐️ Tasty, creamy, tomatoey joy

A close up of a rice and chicken dish with sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan sprinkled on, garnished with basil leaves.

Tip on cooking rice

As with all of my one pan recipes, whether it’s with pasta, rice or potatoes, the cooking time can vary depending on your oven temperature and ingredients.

The type of dish you use can change the cook times too, with ceramic baking dishes taking longer than metal baking trays to cook rice, for example.

When cooking rice with stock in the oven, you need to keep an eye on your rice and add extra stock if things are drying out a little too soon.

While my cooking times are accurate at the time of testing, these are for guidance, and you may need to make a judgement call a little with these kind of dishes.

Marry Me Chicken and Rice Ingredients

The ingredients of for making an easy chicken and rice dinner laid out on a table.

Chicken – This recipe uses 4 breasts, cubed. You can either cut them up yourself or buy pre-chopped for reducing the prep time even more.
Sun dried tomatoes – The type in an oil-filled jar, not the very dry ones.
Tomato puree – You’ll need a tablespoon for this.
Herbs – Dried oregano and paprika from the spice rack.
Rice – I use Tilda basmati rice for these bake recipes (I used long grain in this one as I’d run out here!) for this recipe, and cooking times below are based on this type. You can use any you like, but bear in mind different cooking times. Yours might take longer – for example, brown rice will. Whichever you go for, rinse and drain it before cooking.
Hot chicken stock – Again, the measurements are based on the rice I use, so you may need to add extra if yours dries up quicker.
Double cream – Also known as ‘heavy cream’ outside the UK.
Parmesan – Grated yourself or pre-grated is fine. Grana Padano is a good, slightly cheaper alternative to Parmesan if you prefer.
To season – Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
To garnish – A small bunch of basil.

How to make Marry Me Chicken and Rice

Raw ingredients including chicken cubes, rice, sun-dried tomatoes and herbs, in an oven dish, ready to cook together in the oven.

1. Mix all of the ingredients, apart from the double cream and parmesan, together in a baking dish.

A jug of stock being poured over an oven dish with chicken, tomatoes and rice in.

2. Add in your hot stock, then stir and season and cover with foil. Bake as per the full recipe below.

A hand with spoon stirring an oven dish fulled with chicken, rice and stock.

3. Give everything a good stir, cover again and bake for longer until the rice is cooked though and the chicken hot throughout.

A hand pouring cream into an oven dish of cooked chicken and rice.

4. Stir in the double cream and parmesan, scatter over the basil leaves and squeeze over the juice of half a lemon before serving.

Leftovers

In the fridge You can keep this recipe in the fridge for 3 days.

In the freezer You can freeze this. Just wait until it’s totally cold and then put it into a freezer-proof container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost thoroughly before reheating in the microwave or or the hob. It may need a little extra water.

Be sure to follow cooked rice food safety guidelines (i.e. do not leave it hanging about at room temperature, cool it very quickly and then reheat fully until piping hot before serving). If you’re thawing frozen rice, make sure it’s fully defrosted.

To prepare in advance

Dump and Bake recipes are perfect for when you are low on time or energy, but if you want to reduce the time and effort even more at dinner, you could chop everything and put it into your pan (apart from the liquid), then keep it in the fridge, covered, until it’s time to cook (cooking time may need a little longer if the ingredients are chilled).

Add the liquid just before cooking and continue with the rest of the recipe method.

More adaptations of Marry Me Chicken…

Chicken

Marry Me Meatballs

One Pot Pasta

Marry Me Chicken Orzo {One Pot Recipe}

Under 30 minutes

Marry Me Chicken Pasta {One Pot Recipe}

Slow Cooker Chicken

Slow Cooker Marry Me Chicken

FAQs

Where does ‘Marry Me Chicken’ come from?

I became aware of it to start with on Pinterest and Tik Tok. I looked at lots of online recipes and discovered that this chicken-in-a-vaguely-Italian-style-cream-sauce was coined by American food publication Delish, because it was even better than Ina Garten’s much-loved ‘Engagement Roast Chicken’ recipe (who is a national foodie treasure in the US) – according to Today.

I decided to have a go at it, but with my own tweaks that I thought it needed, while keeping the main ingredients in common with the original: chicken, cream, sun dried tomatoes and parmesan.

While I love the chicken recipe on its own, the flavours are so adaptable, which is why I’ve adapted it so many times, and why this all-in-one meal is so achievable.

Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.

Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).