After you crush your run of the day, you return home victorious. You open your fridge and look in dismay. You can’t find any proteins to snack on.
The usual answer is a smoothie, and on a hot day that still does the job. Most nights, though, I’d rather sit down to a plate of chicken and rice, and I’d rather it came out of one pan so the dishes don’t take longer than the run did.
So the list below is all chicken and rice, from arroz con pollo and chicken fried rice to biryani and a cheesy chicken bake. Nearly all of them cook in a single skillet, pot or baking dish, and the rest are bowls you build from rice you already have.
Arroz con Pollo
Brown bone-in thighs skin side down in a deep skillet or Dutch oven, then soften onion, bell pepper and garlic in the fat they leave behind. Stir in long grain rice with a little tomato sauce, cumin and a pinch of saffron (or a packet of sazón), pour in chicken broth, set the thighs back on top and cover. About 25 minutes on low heat.
A handful of peas and some green olives at the end, if you like them. I do.
Chicken Fried Rice
Cold, day-old rice is the whole trick. Fresh rice steams and clumps, and leftover rice fries. Diced chicken goes into a hot pan first, then out, then carrots, peas and scallions, then the rice, pushed to one side so you can scramble 2 eggs in the empty spot. Soy sauce, a little sesame oil, chicken back in.
If you cook the rice a day ahead for this, FSIS says to divide leftovers into shallow containers so it chills fast, rather than putting a deep pot of hot rice straight in the fridge. A bowl like this one is about what a big skillet makes for 2 people.
Chicken Shawarma Rice Plates
Toss bite-size chicken thighs with cumin, coriander, paprika, a little cinnamon, garlic, lemon and olive oil, and sear them hard in a big skillet until the edges darken. Pull them out, toast a cup of rice in the drippings, add 2 cups of broth, then set the chicken back on top, cover and keep it on low for about 18 minutes.
The chicken should read 165°F, which is the number on the USDA’s safe temperature chart for all poultry. Then pile it up, with a cucumber and tomato salad, sliced avocado, warm pita and a drizzle of garlic yogurt sauce.
Chicken Pilaf
Pilaf is more of a method than a recipe. Toast the rice in butter until it smells nutty, add onion, chicken pieces and a little cinnamon and allspice, then broth at about 1 and 3/4 cups per cup of rice. Cover it and keep the heat low for 18 minutes.
Then the part people skip: take it off the heat and leave the lid on for 10 more minutes. Fluff it with a fork and toss in some toasted almonds.
Hip Stretches While the Rice Rests
Those 10 minutes with the lid on are about how long a cool-down stretch takes. The hip flexors are a group of muscles that move and rotate the hip, and as a result of daily activities (and plenty of miles), these muscles sometimes become shorter and tighten up. That can limit even the simplest of moves and make them painful. A few to try:
- Knees to chest. Start by lying flat on the floor. Pull your knees close to your chest and hold for no less than 30 seconds. Repeat 2 to 4 times. Some people prefer to rock back to front or side to side.
- Seated butterfly. Sit on the floor with your feet together and your knees pointed outward. Straighten your back and lean slightly forward to feel a stretch on your inner thighs. Hold for at least 15 seconds and repeat 2 to 4 times.
- Supine pigeon. Lie down and bend both knees, then cross your left leg over your right thigh. Pull your right leg toward you to deepen the stretch and hold for 5 to 10 seconds before switching. It’s a good option if you have bad knees or overly tight hips.
- Standing lunge. Take a step forward with your left leg and slowly lower your body until your right thigh is parallel to the floor. Hold for 30 seconds, then switch legs.
Remember, the shorter the muscle, the shorter the stride. And they only take a few minutes.
Cheesy Chicken Bake
The rice goes in the baking dish with everything else on this one. Spread a cup of long grain rice in a greased glass dish and pour in 2 cups of hot broth.
Lay chicken breasts on top, spoon a sauce of cream cheese, garlic and Parmesan over them, and cover it all with shredded cheese, like this one. Cover with foil and bake at 375°F for about 45 minutes, then uncover it for the last 10 so the cheese browns. The chicken should hit 165°F.
Chicken Thighs in White Wine Over Rice
Skin-on thighs browned in a skillet, then white wine, garlic and a little broth to make a pan sauce. Spoon it over rice so none of the sauce goes to waste.
Chicken Curry With Yellow Rice
Bite-size chicken thighs, onion, garlic and ginger in a deep skillet, then a couple of spoonfuls of yellow curry paste, fried for a minute before a can of coconut milk goes in. Let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the sauce coats a spoon.
The yellow rice next to it on this plate is jasmine rice cooked with a pinch of turmeric and a bay leaf. If you’d rather keep it to one pan, stir the rinsed rice right into the curry with an extra cup of broth and keep the lid on for 20 minutes.
That Metallic Taste After a Hard Workout
Here’s one that comes up after hard intervals more often than you’d think. If you’ve ever finished a tough workout with a metallic, blood-like taste in your mouth, physicians aren’t exactly sure why it happens, but they have a few theories, and it usually means you’re doing more than your body can handle right now. A few ways to avoid it:
- Pace your workouts. You won’t get that metallic taste if you’re running at comfortable levels, and intense workouts and long runs shouldn’t make up every day of your week.
- Give yourself time to recover between hard sessions. A day of rest after an interval workout is part of the plan, not a break from it.
- Stay hydrated. A dry mouth can increase the metallic taste, and drinking water keeps the linings of your nose and throat moist, which helps in dry or cold weather.
- Keep up with your oral hygiene. Loose or worn-out fillings can produce that same metallic taste when you grind your teeth through a hard effort.
- Know when to get it checked. If the taste shows up during every workout or keeps getting more intense, or you have shortness of breath or chest pains, speak with your physician as soon as possible.
Lemon Herb Chicken and Rice
Chicken pieces rubbed with garlic, lemon and herbs and roasted in one pan until the skin crisps and the thickest piece reads 165°F. Serve with rice and pour the pan juices over the top.
Chicken Stir-Fry With Rice
Everything laid out before it goes in the pan, which in my book is the only way to stir-fry without burning something while you hunt for the soy sauce. Chicken thighs, red pepper, snap peas, carrots and broccoli, a bowl of cooked rice, and the sauce bits lined up in little dishes.
Slice the chicken thin and cook it first in a very hot wok or skillet, then pull it out. The vegetables go in by how long they take, carrots first and snap peas last, then the chicken goes back in with soy sauce, garlic, ginger and a little sesame oil. Serve it over the rice.
Banana Flower Fried Rice With Chicken
Banana flower (sold as banana blossom, fresh at Asian markets or canned in brine) has a mild, slightly artichoke-like taste and shreds into thin strips that soak up whatever sauce is in the pan. Soak the shredded flower in water with a squeeze of lime so it doesn’t darken.
Fry it with diced chicken, garlic and a sliced chile, then add day-old rice and finish with fish sauce and a little soy. This makes a single serving, so double it for 2.
Portions and Swaps If You’re Watching Calories
Losing weight happens when you burn more calories than you consume. Running helps with the burning part, but eating at a calorie deficit is the other half of it. However, cutting down on food can actually make you hungry, and losing weight will be more difficult. When you eat a pre-run and a post-run meal with some real nutrition in them, you’re less likely to find yourself craving sugar and junk later.
With chicken and rice, that mostly means small swaps rather than a different dinner:
- More vegetables, a little less rice. Fold extra broccoli, peas or peppers into the pan and scoop a smaller pile of rice onto the plate.
- Brown rice, or a half and half mix of brown and white, in the dishes that simmer long enough for it.
- Breast instead of thigh in the skillet dishes if you’re counting, though thighs forgive a few extra minutes better.
- Half the cheese on the casseroles. It still browns.
It’s not magic, and it takes time. Switching some of the high-calorie stuff for vegetables and fruit is most of the battle.
Chicken Fajita Rice
Strips of chicken tossed with chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika and garlic, seared hard in a big skillet with sliced peppers and onions, then pulled out while rice cooks in the same pan with broth and a spoonful of tomato paste. Lay the chicken and peppers back over the top for the last 5 minutes so they warm through without going soft.
Teriyaki Chicken and Rice
Bottled teriyaki is fine, but the homemade kind is only soy sauce, a little brown sugar or honey, garlic, ginger and a spoonful of cornstarch stirred into water to thicken it. Sear sliced chicken thighs in a skillet, pour the sauce in and let it bubble until it turns glossy and clings.
Spoon it over white rice with steamed broccoli and sliced scallions, more or less like the plate in the photo. Keep the heat at medium once the sauce goes in, since the sugar scorches fast.
Chicken Burrito Bowls
A burrito bowl is mostly an assembly job. Cilantro lime rice on the bottom, then sliced chicken, lettuce, black beans, corn, salsa, cheese and a lime wedge, more or less like the bowl here.
Cook the chicken and rice on the weekend and these come together in about 5 minutes on a weeknight. Cooked chicken keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge and 2 to 6 months in the freezer, per the FoodSafety.gov cold storage chart, so freeze the extra portions rather than pushing your luck.
Cajun Chicken and Rice
Diced chicken goes into a hot cast iron skillet first, and gets left alone until it browns on a couple of sides. Then sliced andouille, then the onion, celery and bell pepper, garlic and a good spoonful of Cajun seasoning. Rice, a can of diced tomatoes and broth go in, lid on, 20 minutes.
Taste it before you salt anything. Between the sausage and the seasoning blend, it’s usually salty enough already.
Seared Chicken With Rice and Mushroom Salad
More of a plate than a recipe. Sear seasoned chicken breasts in a big skillet and set them aside, then use the same pan for sliced mushrooms and, after that, a can of drained chickpeas until they crisp a little. A scoop of plain rice with some parsley and a few dressed greens finish the plate.
Hainanese-Style Chicken Rice
Poach a whole chicken (or a few bone-in thighs) gently with ginger, scallions and garlic, then use that broth to cook the rice, which gets fried in a little chicken fat and garlic first. That’s where all the flavor is.
Serve the sliced chicken over the rice with cucumber, a ginger scallion sauce and some chili sauce on the side. Plain, gentle food, in a good way.
Keeping Your Stomach Calm on Long Runs
Plain chicken and white rice is about as mild a dinner as there is, which is why I’d lean on it the night before a long run. Stomach pain after running is a common complaint with runners, and it can usually be chalked up to 2 things, abdominal muscle cramps and gastrointestinal distress. A few ways to keep your stomach on your side:
- Don’t eat or drink too much right before a run. It’s one of the biggest culprits behind side stitches, too.
- Hydrate before you head out the door and throughout your run, especially in hot weather or on a long run. If there are no water stops along your route, carry a water bottle or invest in a good hydration belt.
- Baby your gut before a long run. Cut back on fiber and stick to plainer foods like bananas, apples and bread (white rice belongs in that group too, in my book).
- If you’re cramping, hurting or vomiting after a run, take a long, hard look at your fluid intake.
- Find what works for you. It may take some experimenting, but once you find it, stick with it.
Chicken Biryani
Biryani takes longer than most of this list, but it’s still one pot. Marinate chicken in yogurt, garlic, ginger and garam masala for at least an hour, then cook it down with a lot of slowly browned onions.
Parboiled basmati goes over the top in a layer with saffron milk, mint and cilantro, then the lid goes on tight and it steams over very low heat for 25 minutes. Don’t stir it until you serve it.
Chicken Adobo With Rice
Filipino adobo is chicken thighs braised in soy sauce and vinegar with a lot of garlic, bay leaves and whole peppercorns. Simmer it for 30 to 40 minutes, then let the sauce reduce until it’s glossy.
Lift the chicken out when it’s done and keep about half the sauce in the pan. Add a cup of rinsed rice and enough water to make 2 cups of liquid, which tames the vinegar, then cover it for 18 minutes and set the chicken back on top.
When Running Leaves You Hurting
Long distance running is a sport that contains risk. Unfortunately, runners of any serious mileage caliber can claim a few injury stories, and some of them can be serious enough to derail your training for a significant amount of time if they aren’t handled with the proper care. If you find yourself with one, take the proper precautions (which usually include rest, ice and a trip to the doctor).
Plantar fasciitis affects the arch of the foot and the heel. It is caused primarily by tight calves, but also by improper footwear, over training and not stretching enough before or after a long run. Rolling your arch along a frozen water bottle works out the muscle and ices the inflammation at the same time. With IT band trouble, a brace shouldn’t be used to ignore the problem, since running past the pain can cause serious problems, and it is best to see a doctor if you have those symptoms. The problem with shin splints is that they disappear a few miles into your run, but big problems can resurface later. If you start feeling that sting, consult a doctor and rest until you are pain free and fully recovered.
I think nearly every injury can be traced back to muscle weakness and inadequate rest periods, but that is just my two cents. Rest days still need dinner, which is sort of the point of a pan of chicken and rice.
Chicken Paprikash Over Rice
Paprikash is Hungarian, and the paprika is the whole sauce, so use a fresh tin of sweet paprika and plenty of it. Cook a lot of onion down in butter, stir in the paprika off the heat (it scorches fast), then add chicken thighs and broth and simmer for 30 minutes.
Sour cream goes in at the very end, with the pan off the heat, so it doesn’t break. Rice in place of the usual dumplings.