Pesto 'Chicken' Rice

Pesto 'Chicken' Rice

This one is a proper weeknight hero in our house. Pesto 'chicken' rice sounds simple, and it is, but the flavours are really something. You've got herby, garlicky pesto running through every grain of rice, little bursts of sun-dried tomato, and that satisfying chewy texture from the plant-based chicken that makes it feel like proper comfort food. We keep coming back to this one because it's on the table in 30 minutes and it never fails to impress. Make it tonight, you won't regret it.

Cook: 30 min
Serves 4

Before You Start

  • Food processor (to blitz bread for breadcrumbs, if making from scratch)
  • Microplane or fine grater (for lemon zest)
  • Saucepan with lid
  • Frying pan
  • Make vegetable or plant-based chicken-flavoured stock

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp sun-dried tomato oil - from the jar
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 160g plant-based 'chicken'
  • 50g sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1 x 165g jar of plant-based pesto
  • 150g basmati rice
  • 150ml water
  • 150ml vegetable or plant-based chicken-flavoured stock
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 50g panko or Italian breadcrumbs - (alternatively you can make your own by blitzing up any stale or toasted bread you have lying around)
  • 1 ½ tbsp Nooch
  • 2 tbsp oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes
  • sea salt
  • cherry tomatoes
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • drizzle of balsamic vinegar
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • plant-based butter
  • Nooch to serve
  • rocket

Method

1

Prepare the vegetables

  • Peel and finely slice the onion
  • Peel and grate the garlic clove
  • Chop most of the sun-dried tomatoes into small chunks
  • Make your stock and set aside
2

Cook the 'chicken' and vegetables

  • Warm the oil in the saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and a pinch of salt and fry for 2 minutes, or until starting to soften
  • Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute
  • Add the sun-dried tomato chunks and chicken to the pan and stir for 2 minutes
  • Add the pesto and stir for 2 minutes
  • Remove the fillings from the pan onto a plate, and keep warm covered in foil, or in the oven on a low heat (around 100˚C)
  • Don’t clean the pan
3

Prepare the rice

  •  Rinse the rice under cold water
  • Add the rice to the pesto pan, cover with the water and stock, and sprinkle in a pinch of salt
  • Put a lid on the pan, put the pan on the stove, turn up the heat and bring to the boil
  • When the water/stock hits boiling point, reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer and cook for 12 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed
4

Make the cheesy crumbs

  • Warm the oil in a frying pan over medium heat, and fry the breadcrumbs until golden and crisp
  • Zest half a lemon
  • Off heat, stir in the herbs, Nooch, lemon zest, and salt and pepper to taste
  • Set aside
5

Finish and serve

  • Take the lid off the rice pan, add the chicken, onion and sun-dried tomato mix back in, and stir gently to combine
  • Add a generous knob of plant-based butter into the pan, and stir into the rice to melt through
  • Add salt and pepper to taste
  • Spoon the pesto chicken rice into bowls, season with nooch, a squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, then garnish each bowl with a handful rocket drizzled with balsamic vinegar, some halved cherry tomatoes and serve

Tips & Variations

  • Swap the 'chicken': We love this with chunks of pan-fried tofu or a drained can of butter beans if you don't have plant-based chicken to hand. Both work brilliantly and soak up the pesto really well.
  • Get the rice right: Rinse your rice before cooking to get rid of excess starch. It makes a real difference to the texture and stops it going stodgy. Trust us on this one.
  • Make your own pesto: If you've got a blender, a handful of basil, some pine nuts, garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and olive oil takes about 2 minutes and tastes incredible. Henry almost always does this if he has fresh basil in the fridge.

Why This Works

The trick here is building flavour from the bottom up. Frying the onion and garlic first, then adding the sun-dried tomatoes before anything else, means all those rich, slightly caramelised flavours get into the rice as it cooks. The pesto goes in at the end so it stays bright and fresh rather than cooking down to nothing. That combo of deep base flavours and punchy herby finish is what makes this one really sing.