Six fifteen on a weeknight. One clean skillet, a pound of chicken tenders in the fridge, a kid asking for the second time what’s for dinner, and zero interest in breading anything. The fix is seven ingredients, one pan and 25 minutes: a can of chicken broth, a can of Rotel and a cup of raw white rice go into the skillet, the raw tenders go on top, and shredded cheddar goes over the whole thing at the end. It was posted years ago by a home cook in the Dallas, Texas area who goes by mrsmwp, and she described it as dump and cook. Nothing gets chopped. Nothing gets browned. The rice cooks in the same liquid that seasons the chicken.
Seven Ingredients, And Two Of Them Are Seasonings
The full shopping list: 1 pound of raw chicken tenders, one 16 ounce can of chicken broth, one 10 ounce can of Rotel, 1 cup of uncooked white rice, 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. That is the entire recipe. Prep runs under five minutes by the author’s own count, and there is one pan to wash when you’re done.
Plenty of weeknight chicken recipes advertise a short ingredient list and then quietly ask you to dirty a cutting board, a mixing bowl and a sheet pan. This one does not. The broth and the Rotel go straight from the can into the skillet, the rice gets stirred in, and the chicken goes on top raw.
Use a large, deep skillet that has a lid. A 12 inch pan with a glass cover is ideal, because you can watch the liquid level without lifting anything and letting the steam out.
Use The Tenders, Not Breasts
mrsmwp is blunt about this one: “You really need to use the tenders NOT chicken breasts for it to be the best.” She is right, and the reason is physics, not snobbery. Tenders are thin and roughly the same thickness end to end, so they cook through in exactly the 20 minutes the rice needs. A whole breast is thick at one end and tapered at the other, so by the time the fat end is cooked the rice has gone to mush or the liquid has cooked off.
If tenders are not what’s in your fridge, cut a large breast into chunks. One cook who did that scaled the rice back to 3/4 cup and the broth to 1 1/2 cups, and ran the heat at medium low for about 18 minutes.
Most one pan chicken and rice recipes ask you to sear the chicken first, set it aside, toast the rice in butter, then nestle the chicken back in. That version tastes deeper. It also takes three more steps and a plate for the half cooked chicken. This one skips all of it on purpose.
The Rotel Is Doing All The Seasoning
Swap in plain canned tomatoes and the dish falls apart. The author says so herself: “if you just use regular canned tomatoes it will be bland.” Rotel is diced tomatoes with green chilies, and the chilies are the only real flavor in the pot besides the broth and the cheese.
The heat is mild but it’s there. That’s why the recipe tells you to go easy on the black pepper when you season the chicken. Taste at the end and add more pepper then if you want it.
No Rotel in the pantry? Salsa works in its place, and so do fresh diced tomatoes with a minced jalapeño in late summer when the garden is going. It’s the same logic as a burrito skillet, where a well seasoned liquid does the job a marinade would.
Where It Goes Wrong
Scorching is the one failure worth guarding against. At least one cook followed the recipe and ended up with a burned layer stuck to the bottom of the pan. Medium high heat under a lid for 20 straight minutes is aggressive, especially in a thin skillet.
Bring it up on medium high until the liquid is bubbling, then drop to medium or medium low for the rest of the time. Use the heaviest skillet you own. Leave the lid on and resist stirring, because the rice needs trapped steam to cook evenly, and stirring just drags raw grains up out of the liquid.
Start checking at 15 minutes. The chicken is ready when it’s opaque all the way through, which a thermometer reads as 165°F. If the rice still has a hard bite but the liquid is gone, add a splash more broth, put the lid back on and pull the pan off the heat for a few minutes.
It Wants More Seasoning Than The Recipe Admits
The honest verdict from people who have cooked it: fast, genuinely easy, and a little flat if you stop at garlic powder. A common fix is cumin, and it’s the right one. A teaspoon stirred into the broth before the rice goes in changes the whole pot.
The other repeat additions are black beans and corn, drained and stirred in with the rice. Together they turn a thin chicken and rice skillet into something closer to a burrito bowl, and they stretch 1 pound of chicken across more plates. Smoked paprika, seasoned salt and red pepper flakes all show up in people’s versions too.
Onion is the interesting omission. mrsmwp leaves it out deliberately to keep prep near zero, not because it doesn’t belong. If you have five extra minutes, sauté half an onion, a clove of garlic and a chopped green pepper in the skillet first, then pour the liquid in on top. That’s the single best upgrade to any of these easy weeknight chicken skillets.
Swaps That Actually Work
Brown rice is fine, with one adjustment: it needs about 45 minutes instead of 20, so plan accordingly and check your liquid partway through. Quinoa works in place of the rice as well. Chicken stock can stand in for the broth with no change to the method.
Cheddar is the default, but it’s not a rule. One cook has a Greek version planned, with feta instead of cheddar, chickpeas instead of beans, oregano and a squeeze of lemon, which makes a completely different dinner built on the same few minutes of work. Dehydrated onion, a pinch of turmeric for color and a pat of butter at the end, with less cheese, is another direction people take it.
Vegetarians at the table have made it with Quorn tenders laid on top straight from frozen. For a stovetop night when you want something sweeter, cubed chicken in a honey garlic glaze is another quick stovetop option, and the oven route is a sheet pan with chicken and vegetables roasted together.
What To Put Next To It
The recipe ends with five words: serve with a nice salad. A Caesar does the job, and so does a chopped cucumber, tomato and onion salad, which plays better against the chilies. Warm tortillas, sour cream and hot sauce on the side make it a build your own situation for picky eaters.
Leftovers hold up for a few days in the fridge, which makes this worth cooking even if you’re feeding one person. Reheat with a splash of broth so the rice loosens back up.
Chicken carries the American weeknight for a reason. Americans ate about 104 pounds of chicken per person in 2025, against about 59 pounds of beef and 49 pounds of pork, according to USDA figures compiled by the National Chicken Council, and the deciding factor is speed as much as price. If your stove is tied up, the same seasonings on a sheet pan with broccoli and red pepper gets you a similar dinner in about 40 minutes.
Is this the best chicken and rice you will ever eat? No. Seared chicken and toasted rice will beat it every time. But it’s the one you’ll actually cook at 6:15 on a Tuesday with one pan and no plan, and on that night it beats cereal, delivery and a 40 minute oven preheat by a mile.
The Easiest Chicken Dinner Ever (One Skillet Cheesy Chicken and Rice)
Course: DinnerCuisine: American4
servings5
minutes20
minutesSeven ingredients, one pan, 25 minutes, and nothing to chop or brown.
Ingredients
1 lb raw chicken tenders
1 (16 ounce) can chicken broth
1 (10 ounce) can Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies
1 cup uncooked white rice
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Garlic powder, to taste
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste (go easy, the Rotel has a kick)
Optional: 1 teaspoon ground cumin, or 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Directions
- Pour the can of chicken broth and the can of Rotel into a large, deep skillet that has a lid. Use the heaviest pan you own, since a thin skillet is what scorches. Set it over medium high heat.
- Stir in the cup of uncooked white rice and spread it into an even layer across the bottom of the pan. If you are adding cumin or black beans, stir them in now. Do not rinse the rice first.
- Lay the raw chicken tenders on top of the rice in a single layer, without overlapping them. Sprinkle the tenders with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Go light on the pepper, because the green chilies already bring heat.
- Cover the skillet and cook for 20 minutes. Once the liquid is bubbling hard, drop the heat to medium or medium low so the bottom layer of rice does not burn. Leave the lid on the whole time.
- Resist the urge to stir. The rice needs trapped steam to cook evenly, and every lift of the lid lets it out. Peek through a glass cover at 15 minutes if you want to check the liquid level.
- Check the chicken at the 20 minute mark. It is done when it is opaque all the way through, which reads 165°F on a thermometer. If the rice still has a hard bite, add a splash more broth, cover and give it a few more minutes off direct heat.
- Remove the pan from the heat and sprinkle the shredded cheddar over the top. Stir lightly, just until the cheese melts slightly into the rice. You want streaks of melted cheese, not a fully blended sauce.
- Let it sit a couple of minutes so the rice settles, then serve straight from the skillet. A green salad on the side is all it needs. Warm tortillas, sour cream and hot sauce make it a build your own dinner for picky eaters.
Notes
- Brown rice works but needs about 45 minutes instead of 20, so check your liquid partway through and add more broth if the pan runs dry.
- If you only have chicken breast, cut it into chunks and scale back to 3/4 cup rice and 1 1/2 cups broth, cooked on medium low for about 18 minutes.
- Do not substitute plain canned tomatoes for the Rotel. The green chilies are carrying the seasoning, and without them the pan turns out bland. Salsa is a better stand in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I use chicken breasts instead of tenders?
A: You can, but cut them into chunks first. The recipe’s author insists tenders are what make it work, because they are thin and even and finish in the same 20 minutes the rice needs. One cook who used a cut-up breast pulled the rice back to 3/4 cup and the broth to 1 1/2 cups and cooked on medium low for about 18 minutes.
Q: What if I don’t have Rotel?
A: Salsa is the best substitute, and fresh diced tomatoes with a minced jalapeño work too. Plain canned tomatoes are the one swap to avoid, since the green chilies are doing most of the seasoning in this pan.
Q: Why did the bottom of mine burn?
A: Medium high heat under a lid for a full 20 minutes is a lot for a thin skillet. Bring the liquid to a bubble on medium high, then drop to medium or medium low, use your heaviest pan, and keep the lid on instead of stirring.
Q: How do I make it less plain?
A: Cumin is the single best addition, stirred into the broth before the rice. After that, black beans and corn bulk it out into something closer to a burrito bowl, and sautéing half an onion, a green pepper and a clove of garlic in the pan first adds about five minutes and a lot of depth.
