Usually on my weekday off I spend the afternoon cooking, and prepping meals for the next few days, but seeing as how I’ve been under the weather (just a bad cold) since last night, that just didn’t happen today. In fact, it was a bit of a struggle just to figure out what to cook for dinner.
After staring at my open pantry for way too long, I decided that I had an overabundance of rice and canned beans. I had some chicken already thawing in the fridge, so I decided that black beans and rice with jerk chicken was going to be on the menu tonight!
There’s just something about warmly spiced chicken, it’s the perfect comfort food for a cool, grey day. The jerk chicken in this recipe is sautéed in coconut oil so it gets a nice, seasoned crust on it, then transferred to the Crock Pot so it can finish nice and slow. The result is tender, juicy goodness that you’re going to love.
The black beans and rice recipe is one I modified from the back of a Goya rice bag many years ago and have been making ever since. It’s really easy and doesn’t take too many ingredients, so it’s perfect for those days when you forgot to go to the grocery store. It’s pretty filling by itself and goes great in burritos or with diced sausage or ham for a quick main dish.
Here’s what you need for the rice:
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp Cajun seasoning
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cups beef stock
For the jerk chicken:
- 2 tbsp coconut oil (or any kind of oil)
- 2 tbsp jerk seasoning
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/4 cup Shock Top or Blue Moon
To get started melt your coconut oil over medium high heat and add the chicken breasts. Season the chicken with 1 tbsp of jerk seasoning, and flip after about 5 minutes. Cook the other side for another 5 minutes and when your done it should look like this:
Mmmmm, tasty chicken. Don’t be tempted to try it yet though, because unless your chicken was very thin it’s probably not done. No Salmonella today!
Turn off your stove, but leave the pan on the burner so your chicken can continue browning while you prep your Crock Pot. Spray your Crock Pot with Pam or use a liner (always my first choice), and turn on high. Add the beer, honey and remaining jerk seasoning to the Crock Pot and stir. Add the chicken breasts and any tasty coconut oil and browned bits that are left in the pan. Cover and cook on high heat for 4 hours.
My chicken breasts were so big, I had to cut them in thirds halfway through cooking because I was afraid they weren’t going to soak up all the tasty juices. Use your judgement though… if you buy normal sized chicken you may not need to.
When your chicken only has about 30 minutes left you can go ahead and start your black beans and rice.
In a nonstick saucepan add oil, onions and garlic and sauté over medium heat until the onions are softened. Add uncooked rice and sauté another two minutes. Add the stock, cumin, Cajun seasoning and black beans and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Let stand for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.
Serve your jerk chicken over a generous portion of your black beans and rice and drizzle with any of the beer glaze that’s leftover. It’s delish.
This makes a lot. Trev and I both had our fill and we have enough extra for us to both take leftovers tomorrow. Yay- y’all know I love leftovers!
Making A Maven 