Haitian Chicken and Rice, Made Simple

This meal is straight from the heart and full of flavor. Over on my cooking channel, Toni Meals, I am making one of our go to Haitian dinners. Chicken marinated in homemade epis, seared, baked, and served with sauteed cabbage and rice. Simple, real, and rooted in tradition.

The whole thing is only a few minutes, so you can watch it while your rice cooks.

Chicken and rice is what my grandmother put in front of me, and it is what I put in front of my four now. Nobody asks what is for dinner when the house already smells like epis.

Watch: Haitian Chicken & Rice made simple

What this dinner actually is

• The epis does most of the seasoning. One marinade and the whole plate tastes seasoned, not just the outside of the chicken.
• Sear then bake means you are not standing over it. The pan gives you the color, the oven finishes it while you deal with everything else, and the cabbage cooks down in that same window.

The secret is the epis

If you watched the video, you heard me say it. The flavor starts with epis, the green seasoning base of herbs, garlic, onions, and peppers that lives in a jar in every Haitian fridge, including mine. The chicken sits in it, the pot gets built on it, and that is where most of the flavor in this dinner comes from.

I get asked all the time where I buy my epis. My love, we do not buy epis. I am putting my whole epis recipe on the blog soon, jar and all. And the legume recipe is here too.

Most of what goes into my jar comes off the beds out back. Parsley, thyme, scallion, hot peppers.

What You Need

I season by nose, so nothing in the video has a number on it. I sat down and worked out what I actually use, and these are close. This feeds six. Season to your house and your pan.

The chicken

• 4 pounds chicken. Whatever cut your family eats and whatever was on sale that week. Legs and thighs are what I usually grab
• 1/3 cup homemade epis. The green seasoning base of herbs, garlic, onions and peppers. This is the flavor, so do not be shy with it
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons oil for searing
• 1 large onion, sliced. Half goes in the pan with the chicken, half goes in the cabbage

The cabbage

• 1 medium cabbage, about 2 pounds, chopped. Sauteed until it cooks down. It goes soft and sweet and it stretches the plate
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper to taste

The rice

• 3 cups long grain white rice. Cook it however your house cooks rice. Start it first, it is the thing everybody waits on
• 4 1/2 cups water or broth. Broth if you have it
• 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon oil for the pot

How I Made It

1. Marinate the chicken in epis

The chicken sits in the epis. Hands in the bowl, get it into every piece.

Epis, salt and black pepper, all of it at once. At least 30 minutes. Overnight if you planned ahead.

This is the step people rush. Give it time in the epis and the seasoning gets all the way into the chicken instead of sitting on the outside.

2. Start the rice

3 cups rice, 4 1/2 cups water or broth, a teaspoon of salt and a spoon of oil. Bring it up to a boil, cover it, drop the heat low, about 20 minutes.

Start it first. It is the thing everybody ends up waiting on.

3. Sear the chicken

One pan, hot, and lay the chicken down.

3 tablespoons of oil over medium high heat, about 4 minutes a side. Do not crowd the pan. Two batches is fine.

You are after color here, not doneness. The oven handles the rest.

4. Bake it

Into the oven until the chicken is cooked through.

375 degrees, 35 to 40 minutes. Half the sliced onion goes in the pan with it. Dark meat is done at 175 degrees in the thickest part, and that is where it goes tender instead of rubbery.

This is the quiet part. Go handle the rice, wipe the counter, answer whoever is calling your name.

5. Saute the cabbage

While the chicken is in the oven, get the cabbage down in a pan and let it cook down.

2 tablespoons oil, the other half of the onion first, then the cabbage, salt and pepper. About 12 to 15 minutes until it is soft.

6. Serve it over rice

Chicken, cabbage, rice.

Spoon whatever is left in the pan over the top. Do not leave that behind.

Leftovers, and the second dinner

Cool it down and it keeps in the fridge about 4 days. The chicken sits happily next to the rice in the same container.

Rice dries out in the fridge. When you reheat, sprinkle a little water over it and cover it. It comes back soft.

The chicken freezes about 3 months. Freeze it with any pan juices you have left, that is what keeps it from going dry.

Cabbage does not freeze well. Eat that part first.

What people ask me

How long should the chicken sit in the epis?

As long as you can give it. Overnight if you planned ahead. If you did not plan ahead, give it what you have while the oven heats.

Can I skip the sear and just bake it?

You can, and it will still be dinner. But you will miss the color and that browned bottom of the pan. I would not skip it.

Is it spicy?

Not by default. Epis is not spicy on its own. The heat is up to you and the Scotch bonnet you add or do not add.

Will my kids actually eat this?

Mine do, and I have four with four different opinions. Chicken, rice and something green is a plate kids understand.

Make it this week, then come tell me in the comments how your house smelled. And subscribe to Toni Meals for more meals real families actually eat, straight from the garden when we can manage it.

Toni

Toni Meals on YouTube | Rooted In J's | My Amazon storefront