This lemon chicken rice and squash is the perfect summer meal! It's quick, easy, and has SO much flavor. The marinated chicken bakes on a sheet pan with the zucchini and yellow squash, and the seasoned lemon rice comes together while the chicken and vegetables are in the oven. Really, you can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less!
I love sheet pan meals--cooking most (if not all) of the meal on one pan at the same time makes cooking so simple. If you are looking for other sheet pan meals to add to your rotation, check out these chicken shawarma bowls with tzatziki, chimichurri steak and rice bowls, or these sheet pan chicken fajitas.
How to Make Lemon Chicken Rice and Squash
Marinate the Chicken
The most important part of this recipe is the marinade. Baking chicken in the oven has a tendency to turn out dry. By either marinating or brining beforehand, chicken stays EXTREMELY moist and full of flavor!
Make the marinade with some olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, Italian seasoning, parsley, salt, pepper, and a little bit of sugar. These flavors blend together together creating the perfect summer Italian-inspired meal! Both the rice and vegetables also add to these simple, fresh flavors.
Then, pound out the chicken until it’s ½ inch thick (about half the distance between your first and second knuckle on your middle finger, if you don’t have a ruler on hand). This will break down the fibers in the meat, making it more tender. The chicken will also bake evenly when it’s all the same thickness. If you don’t have a meat tenderizer to pound the chicken, use a rubber mallet. I’ve done this many times when I don’t have a meat tenderizer on hand! I usually cover the chicken with plastic wrap so I don’t have to worry about getting meat juice all over it.
You can also slice the chicken breasts lengthwise (like a hamburger bun). Either way, you want the chicken to be thinner in order to shorten its bake time. This will keep the chicken moist, and give the chicken the same bake time as the vegetables. However, I do prefer to pound chicken instead of slicing it to control its thickness and to make the meat even more tender.
Make sure to marinate the chicken for a MINIMUM of three hours, and up to eight hours. If you let the chicken marinate longer, that’s okay, just don’t marinate longer than twelve hours; the acid in the marinade will break down the meat fibers too much, making the chicken mushy.
Bake the Chicken and Squash
Preheat the oven to 425° Fahrenheit. Add the sliced zucchini and yellow squash to a baking sheet and toss it with olive oil, salt, and pepper until they're well coated. Spread out the vegetables in an even layer.
Lay the marinated chicken on top of the vegetables in one layer, rubbing some of the excess marinade on the chicken. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. If you have a meat thermometer, you'll know the chicken is done once it has reached an internal temperature of 165° Fahrenheit. Remove the chicken and squash from the oven, and let the chicken sit for 10 minutes before slicing it, cutting against the grain.
Cook the Rice
In a sauce pan, melt the butter on medium heat. Add the diced yellow onion and saute for about 3-4 minutes, or until translucent. Make sure to stir frequently, butter tends to burn easily. Add the minced garlic, lemon zest, salt, Italian seasoning, and long grain rice, and mix well. Saute for 1-2 minutes, and then add the chicken broth.
Turn the heat up to high, and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Cover the sauce pan with a lid, and turn the heat down to simmer. Let the rice cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until all of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off the stove, and fluff the rice with a fork. Then, gently mix in the lemon juice and fresh parsley. You can use about one teaspoon of dried parsley instead, but fresh will taste much better!
Serve the rice with the sliced chicken and vegetables immediately, and top it all off with some parmesan cheese. You can even add more fresh parsley, if you'd like.
If you try out this this lemon chicken rice and squash recipe, I’d LOVE to hear about it. You can leave a comment below the recipe box, or if you post a picture on Instagram, be sure to tag me! Getting any feedback on my recipes is both rewarding AND helpful as I write and edit recipes in the future. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast
- 2 small zucchini, sliced
- 2 yellow squash, sliced
- 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
Marinade
- ½ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoon dried parsley (or 2 tablespoon fresh parsley)
- 2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
Rice
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- 2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 ½ cup long grain rice
- 2 ¾ cup low sodium chicken broth
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
Instructions
Marinade
- Mix together the marinade ingredients (except the chicken) in a large bowl. Pound out the chicken* using a meat mallet until it’s about ½ inch thick, then put them in the bowl, fully covering them in marinade.
- Cover the bowl and put in the refrigerator for at least an hour, but ideally 3 to 8 hours.
Sheet Pan Chicken and Squash
- Preheat the oven to 425° F. On a large baking sheet, toss the zucchini and yellow squash with the olive oil, salt, and pepper until well coated. Spread out the vegetables in an even layer.
- Lay the marinated chicken on top of the vegetables in one layer, rubbing excess marinade on the chicken. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through (has reached an internal temperature of 165° F).** Remove from the oven, and let the chicken sit for 10 minutes before slicing the chicken, cutting against the grain.
Rice
- In a sauce pan, melt the butter on medium heat. Add the diced yellow onion and saute for 3-4 minutes, (until translucent), stirring frequently. Add the garlic, lemon zest, salt, Italian seasoning, and long grain rice, then mix well. Saute for 1-2 minutes, and then add the chicken broth.
- Turn the heat up to high, and bring to a rolling boil. Cover with a lid, and turn the heat down to simmer. Let the rice cook for about 15 minutes, or until all of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat.
- Fluff the rice with a fork, then mix in the lemon juice and fresh parsley.
- Serve the rice with the sliced chicken and vegetables, topped with some parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
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