This easy recipe for sweet wine chicken and rice takes this comfort food supper classic to a new level of elegance with the addition of wine and tarragon. The wine helps make a delectable sauce that sinks into the rice….winner, winner, chicken dinner!
This simple little recipe for sweet wine chicken and rice was born out of our strict “No Ingredient Left Behind” rule (more on that later) and it will have you thinking in a whole new way about chicken and rice. It’s amazing how the addition of just a couple of different ingredients – in this case sweet white wine, sweet onions and a little tarragon – can take an ordinary recipe to whole new heights. Ready to ooh-la-la your chicken? Let’s make it!
Now about the “No Ingredient Left Behind” rule – it’s pretty much what it sounds like. If we buy an ingredient that is in any way perishable and we don’t use all of it for whatever recipe it was purchased for, it goes on a little notepad that is hanging on my fridge. Then on the weekend when I am figuring out what I am going to be making for the next week’s suppers I look at that list, and I start with the leftover ingredients.
The leftover ingredient that inspired this particular recipe was this.
Yep, that is a bottle of very nice Reisling, which is, you guessed it, a sweet white wine. It’s the Southern daughter’s favorite, so we always make sure to have some around when she comes to visit. She inevitably eventually has to go home (sob!) and this last time she left behind the better part of this bottle of wine. Being a red wine girl myself, I decided to see what I could do with it.
And voila! As it turns out, when you simmer chicken in white wine and fresh tarragon and sweet onions, and then serve it over rice with that pan sauce poured all over it, you take chicken and rice to all new heights.
So hurray for leftover ingredients of all kinds, and (say it with me) winner winner, chicken dinner!
Sweet Wine Chicken and Rice
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop and Oven
- Cuisine: French
Ingredients
- 4 bone-in chicken breasts or thighs
- 1 cup flour, season with a pinch each of salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 sweet onions, peeled and cut into eighths
- 2 cups sweet white wine (I like Reisling!)
- 2-3 stalks of fresh tarragon, plus extra for garnish
- 4 cups freshly cooked rice
Instructions
- Dredge chicken in seasoned flour.
- Heat butter and oil in a large deep skillet and sear chicken on both sides until browned. Remove from skillet.
- Add wine to skillet and bring to a simmer, scraping any browned bits up from the bottom of the pan.
- Return chicken to pan, skin-side up. Tuck onion pieces around chicken, sprinkle on salt and pepper and nestle tarragon stalks around chicken.
- Bring to a simmer, cover pan and cook for 45 minutes or until thermometer registers 160.
- Serve over rice, ladling sauce over the top.
Elaine says
was this supposed to also go into the oven?
Hi Elaine, and no, it cooks up all on the stovetop! :)
Theresa Murphy says
From one red wine girl to another, I hear ya on not wanting to waste ANY wine, regardless of color. This looks to be a perfect solution. I may have to buy some white wine on purpose just for this chicken dish.
Do it, my fellow red wine lover! :)
Leesie says
Tarragon is my favorite herb in my garden. This sounds just as delightful as it is easy!
I am a fellow tarragon-lover – can’t wait until it is fresh herb season in my garden again!