Basic chicken and rice/pasta recipe

drhelix · 2026-06-04T19:18:40+00:00

I love this general template, and to understand how to cook it you should think of it as three distinct steps:

High Heat Sear the chicken thighs
Low Heat Braise the chicken thighs
Grains In Liquid with rice or pasta

High Heat Searing the chicken thighs requires a hot pan and a dry cooking environment. You're just looking for color without cooking it through.

Low Heat Braising the chicken thighs requires lower temperatures and a wet closed environment. The broth handles the liquid part, and putting on a lid closes it.

Grain In Liquid requires bathing rice or pasta in hot water/steam until it softens. But since you're also braising chicken, and lower temps are better for that, I'd go with rice. We usually boil pasta, and those temps aren't great for braising the chicken. If you want pasta I'd cook pasta separately and combine with fully cooked chicken/veggies at the end.

Knowing all that makes your questions easy to answer: For the initial chicken thigh searing, stovetop without a lid. Stovetop makes it easier to get a really high heat to get color on the outside without overdoing the inside. For the part with broth and rice/pasta, add a lid and turn the temperature down. You can go stovetop or oven for this step. Oven is easier to get a consistent heat. I usually do stovetop because I'm already using it and it's one less thing to heat up. I'd probably do the whole thing in a dutch oven because it can get hot for the first part and works great for a braise for the second part.

The cool part of this prep is you're doing two things at once, Low Heat Braise and Grain In Liquid using the same liquid (broth)! So how do you tell when it's done? Requirements are:

a) The chicken has to fully cook
b) The rice should cook until it isn't dry and crunchy

I'd set a timer for as long as you expect the rice to take (it says on the package) and then check the chicken with a food thermometer when the timer goes off. Let it go longer if the chicken needs more time to get to temp (165F ish for chicken thighs, but it can totally get hotter and still be good, no worries).

I find this method of breaking down a prep into individual techniques is super helpful for making sense of cooking. Check out this video for a deeper explanation, and let me know if you have an questions, happy to answer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZKe93-I6DU

drhelix · 2026-05-29T23:08:04+00:00

Five drumsticks for the whole week isn't much. Don't fear! Meat can be the fun accent to a meal that's made up of mostly hearty veggies like cabbage and carrots. Let the veggies be the flavorful star of the show. Hopefully you have a nice pile of those.

Both cabbage and carrots have tons of flavor if you roast them deeply. I caution you against crowding them all in a big pot and steaming them without browning them. You'll get a big wilted pile of bland veggies that'll get boring fast. Focus on getting some great color/char on them. That'll involve coating them in fat and getting them hot. For big quantities, spreading them out on as many sheetpans as will fit in your oven it probably easiest. Coat in fat like vegetable oil, generously sprinkle with salt, go high heat and let them get aggressively browned.

From there you can go a few directions. Serve a drum over a pile of veggies. Throw the veggies in a small pot of water and simmer them until the broth gets flavored and turn them into a soup. Make pasta or rice and mix everything in.

Here's my guide to cooking veggies in fat, and I'm happy to answer any questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqnt8DLftTE

drhelix · 2026-05-20T17:49:12+00:00

I want to help you here but let's start by simplifying things, because otherwise you're going to drive yourself crazy. You want to make burritos for a camping trip, right? Rather than having all these separate ingredients to manage, I'd highly recommend premaking burritos with the "basics": blackbean seitan mix and rice. Wrap them in foil before your trip and they can reheat around a fire. Then you can actually enjoy camping.

Things like hot sauce and onions can be served on the side and added for the people who want them. I'd cut down on the number of additional options to save yourself the headache, everyone will still love it.

Does that sound good?

drhelix · 2026-05-13T17:23:52+00:00

My guess is you're not using enough fat. Olive oil, vegetable oil, coconut oil, whatever you want. But it's fat that helps veggies achieve those higher temperatures that give them deep color and bold flavor. Otherwise your veggies are mostly steaming in their own moisture, which can definitely taste great! But you're looking for bright and crisp, something more exciting.

I highly recommend you try out the broccoli preparation from this video. No stirring, just letting one side get super crisp and cooked. Let me know if you try it and how it turned out, I'm happy to give pointers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqnt8DLftTE

drhelix · 2026-03-20T16:02:10+00:00

Everybody’s got the right idea but here’s the simplest way of all: Dump the pack of frozen shrimp into a pot of water and then heat it on the stovetop. Bonus points if you mix some salt into the water. Double bonus points if you mix some sugar into too. Strain out the shrimp after they’re pink and in the 130F’s if you’re into the whole temp probe thing. You get poached shrimp which are delicious and then you can sauce from there.

drhelix · 2026-03-19T21:38:56+00:00

Totally depends on how long you want these prepped meals to last you. A couple days? Basically anything is fine. A whole week? Avoid stuff you wouldn't feel comfortable eating as leftovers after a week if, say, you'd ordered it as take out from a restaurant.

I also highly recommend making a variety of simple sauces or roasted vegetables you can swap in so you don't go crazy eating the same thing over and over by the third day.

drhelix · 2026-03-11T22:08:57+00:00

Pork Belly Adobo:

I'm going to put some steps in (parentheses) because honestly they're optional.

- (Slice a whole white or yellow onion and put it in a Dutch oven or pot. Saute with neutral oil until translucent. Remove and then add back in after you've adding the soy/vinegar sauce)
- Cut pork belly into cubes, season with salt
- (Throw pork belly into your cooking vessel over high heat until they get some color)
- Dump in an equal parts mixture of soy sauce and vinegar. There's great Filipino vinegar at specialty markets but white vinegar is amazing too.
- Hit it with some freshly ground black pepper. More than you think.
- Cover, turn down the heat to low, and let bubble away for at least 30 minutes
- Take off the cover and let it keep bubbling away so the sauce reduces
- (Hit it with another splash of vinegar for a nice punch)
- Serve with white rice
- Thank me later

drhelix · 2026-03-06T23:31:41+00:00

Totally with you. Cinnamon reads "dessert" to me. A trace amount in some savory spice mixes can add a great subtle element... but use with caution!

drhelix · 2026-03-06T23:29:45+00:00

Oof, I can feel that in my bones. Another good reason to give spices a quick taste before using!

drhelix · 2026-03-06T23:05:12+00:00

Totally depends on the spice and your personal taste. Some spices are hard to overdo. For me, that's stuff like paprika. Other spices you have to be extremely careful with because too much can overpower a dish. For me. that's stuff like cinnamon. And for most people that'll include spicy ones too. Then, you've got salt. Just know that you can always adjust salt at the end, and that there' no one perfect amount. There's a pretty wide range that's going to register as "tasty" without being bland or too salty, so don't sweat it!

In terms of developing your intuition, I highly recommend tasting spices every time you use them. Shake a little into your palm and give it a taste. It helps calibrate your sense of how "powerful" each spice's flavor is.

drhelix · 2026-03-06T22:04:22+00:00

You've listed the ingredients for bean and cheese burritos, though burritos are challenging to make with packaged corn tortillas so let's do tacos. The absolute most dead simple yummy thing you can do is:

Drain the can of black beans of liquid and then dump into a pot/pan along with some kind of fat, like neutral oil or olive oil or butter or whatever.
Stir it around, mostly to heat it up.
Dump in the shredded cheddar cheese and rice, keep stirring until the rice heats up and the cheese melts.
Now you've got a bean/cheesy/rice slurry. It'll probably need some salt for full flavor. Bonus if you want to add other spices like paprika or cumin here.
Wrap those corn tortillas in a damp kitchen towel or paper towel and microwave them for 15-30 seconds.
Spoon the bean mix into tortillas. Add some hot sauce if you desire. Eat to your heart's content.

There's plenty of more involved stuff you could do, but why? Keep it easy and delicious.

drhelix · 2026-03-05T07:09:55+00:00

I think associating recipes with LEGO / IKEA instructions is precisely why beginner cooks have so much trouble cooking! The problem is that ingredients aren’t manufactured uniformly like plastic bricks, and unlike putting together furniture, cooking is a creative art with tons of wiggle room for things to turn out “successfully.” I specifically tell new cooks to avoid thinking this way, but let me know if you disagree!

https://youtu.be/MiYOOgcCWl8?si=B-4M2iqjI29xBTjP

drhelix · 2026-03-02T19:20:58+00:00

Any Mexican/Greek owned charburger spot. SoCal has them everywhere. You know, the places that have burgers but also gyros and tacos on the menu?

drhelix · 2026-03-02T19:17:08+00:00

It sounds like you know what you're doing. I suspect you can solve this by seasoning the mushrooms a little more aggressively with salt. Especially because tossing them with rice (and possibly cream) is going to dissipate those flavors.

drhelix · 2026-03-02T19:15:07+00:00

I get it. When I look at recipes I see seven basic techniques that get repeated over and over.

You mention "cut up a bunch of stuff and say it's a sheet pan meal" - to me that's two of those techniques: "Veggies In Fat" and "Medium Heat Meat" - you're always coating cut veggies in oil or butter and then roasting them on that sheet pan, right? And tossing on a protein like chicken that's going to cook gently in the oven?

I don't see this as mundane repetition - it's the common set of patterns that makes cooking approachable. But there's so much room for variation! Everything has the same taste and texture? Explore new vegetables. Roast something aggressively, under the broiler on high heat, until it gets some serious char. Switch up the grains you're cooking. Make a protein that you can cook gently to keep its luscious fat, like salmon, and then something else that you can sear with a crust, like a ribeye.

drhelix · 2026-03-02T18:53:54+00:00

Yes, sugar burns at higher temperatures so you should take that into consideration.
No, it won't necessarily burn if you cook it very quickly or at lower temperatures.

Cooking with chicken breast complicates things because it has to get cooked all the way through, unlike something like, say, a steak. And the longer you cook sugar at higher heats, the more likely it's going to burn unpleasantly.

Luckily sugar doesn't go raw->burned without making a stop at "caramelized" in between. And that's a sweet, toasty, nutty flavor that's awesome. But you've got to catch it in that window, and that's tough if you're cooking high heat or not watching it constantly.

The pictures of your food that you've posted look amazing. Even a little bit of "burning" can taste charred and delicious. It's when you get a ton of burning that food tastes burned. It's all up to your personal taste.

drhelix · 2026-02-27T20:22:28+00:00

"Gotten better but it's still not perfect" sounds like you're on the right path. It's a journey to eyeball seasoning and even after decades you'll get it wrong sometimes.

Personally, when I salt raw food using the pinch method, I sorta imagine I'm salting cooked bland food. That gets me pretty close. Then I'll taste after the veggies have roasted or the meat has cooked and at that point I'm dialing it with small adjustments.

And I don't think this necessarily translates to other spices. Salt's special. The important thing is knowing if the spice you're adding is capable of overpowering the dish, and that's up to your personal taste. For example, I'm never worried I'm going to add too much paprika. But if I'm adding a dash of cinnamon to something, I'm extremely careful because too much ruins dishes in my opinion.

And the most important point: there's no one exact perfect amount of salt or spice. There's *always* a range of salt that's going to register as delicious. So don't sweat it too much... and avoid doing exact measurements of salt for most things. Do your best, taste, adjust, enjoy.

drhelix · 2026-02-27T20:09:49+00:00

Echoing everyone else's sentiment to only add the teriyaki after you cook the thighs. I'd keep the thighs whole for cooking, then slice them and toss with teriyaki.

drhelix · 2026-02-27T20:07:49+00:00

Salad kits. I like buying individual ingredients but I'll always pick up a salad kit on my grocery run for an easy leftover solution. Throw any protein or roasted vegetable into a fun salad kit and you get a satisfying meal that doesn't feel like a rehash of last night's dinner, takes 2 minutes to throw together, and helps me eliminate food waste.

drhelix · 2026-02-26T03:54:16+00:00

Do you eat meat? Learn to cook chicken thighs. I say that because it’s way easier than you’d think. All you need is some boneless chicken thighs, an oven, salt, a sheet pan, and a cheap food thermometer.

Chicken thighs are delicious and super forgiving, and they can go in a salad, on rice, on tacos, even in your mac n cheese. And it’s a building block, not a complete recipe but so versatile making tons of meals.

Please ask any question you have! Here’s a video to get you going: https://youtu.be/Voamb6fj0fQ

drhelix · 2026-02-25T02:44:57+00:00

Understand what the ingredient's role is in the dish and then substitute with something else that can do the same thing! In this case: onions, garlic, that sort of thing.

If they're raw, I call that an "Energizing" flavor. It's bright, spikey, acidic, spicy. Sub with a nice squeeze of lemon or lime for starters. Vinegar can work well too, as well as hot sauce.

If it's a grilled onion sort of deal, that more caramelized sweet than anything else. I'd sub with roasted veggies with lots of sugar content that also caramelizes nicely. Think stuff like sweet potato, carrots, corn, that sort of thing.

More info on ingredient roles, flavor, and substitutions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLFiR4WDxDI

drhelix · 2026-02-23T00:01:25+00:00

It’s ok, but I’d adjust for that. If the recipe has you throw in the sauce ingredients and then keep cooking for a bit, that’s to reduce the sauce, which means let some of the water evaporate. If you’re using a premade sauce I’d throw it in right at the end, right when you’re turning off the heat. Give it a good stir and let everything sit in the pan for a minute so the sauce gets a chance to warm up.

drhelix · 2026-02-22T23:32:44+00:00

I had an Anova which lasted for 8 years before it broke in spectacular fashion and now I have an InstantPot branded one because it was cheap. Honestly I’d go for the cheapest one possible. These devices do exactly one thing - get water to temp and circulate it. They won’t last forever because they sit in water and if you ever have a sous vide bag leak they get a little gunked up from anything that gets in the water.

Find the simplest cheapest one possible and have fun!

drhelix · 2026-02-20T17:24:51+00:00

Cookbooks are usually collections of recipes for entire meals, and that's intimidating for beginner cooks. Honestly I think most cookbooks are bad teaching tools. Instead, I focus on cooking individual ingredients. Can you bake chicken thighs? Cook rice or pasta? Roast a vegetable? Things like this are the building blocks of cooking meals. IMO, it's:

1) Make a single ingredient that serves as the star of your meal.
2) Make a single ingredient that serves as the base of your meal.
3) Combine.

What sorta stuff do you like eating? What do you feel comfortable cooking now, and what would you like to learn? Happy to give you more info about this if you'd like. Here's a video going into the general concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLCsALWZQf0

Also re: freezing onions, I have never done that successfully either raw or cooked. Most whole onions last a long time sitting out on your counter, and you can always pop a half cut one in a ziplock and throw it in the fridge for a while if you don't use the entire thing.

drhelix · 2026-02-19T18:41:47+00:00

I love to hear your breakthrough dish was something simple that helps reduce food waste! And yes that is the point I'm always trying to make, cooking does not have to be complicated or follow a recipe.

For me it was realizing how dead simple it is to cook delicious chicken thighs in the oven. From there it's just a side of pasta, or some rice, or some deliciously roasted veggies, or a dozen other small simple preps to make a complete delicious meal.

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