Thai coconut chicken casserole

This Thai coconut chicken casserole is made with pieces of chicken, baked in one dish with Thai spices, rice and coconut milk. It's mild enough for the entire family and packed with distinctive Thai flavours, but if you would like a bit more heat you can spice it up with extra chilli.

Jump to:

• One pan Thai coconut chicken
• What you will need
• What to do
• What to serve with Thai coconut chicken
• Thai coconut chicken FAQ
• Save for later
• Other recipes
• 📋The recipe

One pan Thai coconut chicken

This recipe for Thai coconut chicken came about quite by accident. I was looking for something different to make for supper and came across a recipe for Thai coconut chicken, which had the most amazing photos and looked so appetising.

Unfortunately, on reading the recipe it turned out that the chicken was simply boiled in coconut milk with hardly any spices and the thin cooking liquid was simply poured over the pieces of cut-up chicken like a thin soup. Not my sort of food at all! But it does show how misleading food photography can actually be.

But it did give me the idea, and this Thai coconut chicken casserole is the result. It's made with pieces of chicken nestled on a bed of rice which has been mixed with savoury fried onions. Then it's covered in tasty coconut-flavoured stock and oven-baked until the chicken is tender and the rice is perfectly cooked.

This chicken is packed with flavour, thanks to being marinated in a combination of Thai spices. It is also fall-apart tender after being baked in the oven. But the best bit of all is that the chicken and rice are all baked in one dish, making this the easiest one-dish meal I've ever made.

And if you've never baked rice in the oven in coconut milk, then you are in for an absolute treat. The coconut milk turns the rice into creamy deliciousness, almost akin to risotto.

I normally serve this chicken casserole with Chinese garlic green beans, which I cook separately, but there's absolutely nothing stopping you from nestling a handful of green beans and a few broccoli spears in amongst the chicken as it bakes.

I hope you agree with me that this Thai coconut chicken casserole makes the perfect easy family supper.

Oh, and if this isn't quite what you are looking for, why not take a look at this French onion chicken casserole?

Let me show you how easy it is to make.

What you will need

Equipment

The main piece of equipment you will need is a casserole dish that you can use both on the hob and in the oven. I have a cast iron dutch oven which is perfect. The heavy lid keeps the steam in the casserole as it cooks, making sure the rice and chicken cook perfectly.

And I haven't tried this myself yet, but there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't make this dish in a tagine instead. A tagine keeps the moisture inside the dish ensuring juicy meat.

If you don't have either of these you can simply use a large casserole dish, covered tightly with tinfoil to keep the steam in.

Ingredients

This recipe will feed at least 4 people as a main. And any leftovers will make absolutely delicious chicken sandwiches for lunch the next day.

**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this Thai coconut chicken casserole on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**

Chicken pieces - I used a small whole chicken which I cut up into pieces. If you prefer you can use ready-cut chicken drumstick or thighs, chicken breasts, or a mixture of cuts depending on your family's preference. You will need at least two drumsticks or thighs, or one whole chicken breast per person.

Onions - these should be diced to approximately half an inch in size.

Stock - you can use either chicken or vegetable stock. Use a stock cube or stockpot to make it if you don't have fresh stock.

Coconut milk - this gets mixed with the stock. You will need one cup of stock and one cup of coconut milk so if you use a 400-gram can of coconut milk you will have some left over. However, you can pour any leftovers into a sturdy plastic bag and freeze for another meal.

Jasmine rice - Jasmine rice has a fragrant flavour that pairs well with Thai ingredients. If you can't get it, then basmati rice makes a good substitute.

Fish sauce - this adds a savoury element to the dish and is often used in Thai cooking. It doesn't smell too good when it comes out of the bottle, but don't let that put you off. It doesn't taste at all fishy when added to this dish.

Garlic and ginger - these should be finely minced. You can use fresh garlic and ginger if you prefer, or for convenience use ready-minced from a jar.

Lemongrass paste - to my mind this is an essential ingredient in any Thai dish. It adds sweet yet savoury notes, with a hint of citrus. I can rarely find lemongrass stalks in my local supermarkets so I tend to cook with bottled lemongrass paste.

Thai green chilli paste - I normally use the supermarket's own brand as it is not too hot. You can use your favourite brand. Depending on the heat of the brand of green chilli paste you use, you may like to add a few extra dried chilli flakes. I wanted a mild-flavoured dish so I didn't add extra chilli.

Oil - this is used for softening the onions. Use sunflower oil or other neutral-flavoured oil if possible. Olive oil will not be suitable as the flavour is too strong.

Salt - for seasoning and to your own taste. I normally add a small amount of salt to the chicken marinade, and also to the stock in which the dish is cooked.

Extra vegetables

I served this dish with vegetables that I cooked separately. If you would like to make this a true one-pan meal, why not arrange some green beans and broccoli spears in the casserole dish with the chicken and rice before it goes into the oven?

What to do

In a nutshell, here are the steps for making this Thai coconut chicken casserole. The preparation only takes 10 minutes.

• Combine the marinade ingredients and rub it onto the chicken pieces.
• Saute the onions then stir in the rice and stock.
• Add the chicken pieces to the rice mixture.
• Optionally, arrange additional vegetables amongst the chicken pieces.
• Cover and oven-bake for 30 minutes.

And here are the details:

You may optionally arrange green beans and broccoli florets in amongst the chicken before baking.

You may like to garnish the casserole with freshly chopped coriander before serving].

What to serve with Thai coconut chicken

Because this dish already contains starch in the form of rice, you will only need a side dish of vegetables. Obviously, if you have cooked your vegetables in the same dish you won't need anything extra.

If you do need a side vegetable, the coconut chicken goes particularly well with these Chinese garlic grean beans, or you may like to serve it with a side of peas, or even a fresh green salad.

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Thai coconut chicken FAQ

Save for later

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Other recipes

If you enjoyed this Thai coconut chicken casserole you might like to try some of my other chicken recipes:

View my chicken recipes page for all of these and similar recipes.

📋The recipe

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