Chicken with Collards and Rice

I’m always on the lookout for things to do with my favorite cut of chicken: boneless chicken thighs. This is recipe is an altered version of Chicken-and-Collards Pilau from Southern Living by way of myrecipes. I found it strangely difficult to follow; also I didn’t believe the rice quantities, and I didn’t have the extra veggies on hand. I did have some vegan sausage I wanted to use up, and I ran out of basmati and had to use half sushi rice.

Serves 3–6.

Ingredients

• 6 oz. vegetarian or real sausage
• 1 ¼ lbs. boneless chicken thighs, cut bite-sized
• olive oil and/or chicken fat
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• ½ tsp. dried coriander (optional)
• 2 cubes frozen fresh coriander (optional)
• 3 c. chicken or other broth
• 4 c. chopped collards (packed)
• 1 ½ c. white rice
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes (heaping)

Directions

1. Fry the onions in the oil or fat in a dutch oven.
2. Add garlic and fry briefly.
3. Add sausage and more fat if needed, and cook 5–10 minutes, depending on package instructions.
4. Remove sausage but not fat from pan.
5. Preheat oven to 350°.
6. Add chicken, more fat if needed, and all spices except red pepper. Fry until it looks cooked.
7. Return sausage to pan.
8. Add broth and bring to a boil.
9. Add all remaining ingredients (collards, rice, red pepper). Return to a boil.
10. Cover and bake 20 minutes, stirring at 10 minutes.

Variants

The original recipe included a cup of chopped celery and a cup of chopped carrots. I didn’t miss either, though I might shred some carrots sometime for color.

If replacing collards with kale, note that kale doesn’t pack as tightly and increase quantities accordingly. In general when substituting other dark leafy greens, try to include at least some flavorful ones like dandelion or mustard greens.

You can replace the chicken with turkey tenders and/or more sausage (preferably real sausage in the latter case).

You can replace the boneless chicken with cut-up bone-in chicken or small parts like legs, wings, or organs.

You can replace the collards with spinach, but put it in when there are 10 minutes left.

You can replace the rice with orzo, but put it in when there are 10 minutes left.

You can replace the sausage with chopped up lunch meat or hot dogs.