This simple Peruvian inspired one pot chicken and rice dish is a fun pressure cooker dinner to pair with the Disney movie, The Emperor’s New Groove. It’s got a few unexpected ingredients like mint and butternut squash paired with tomatoes, garlic, and lime.
Table of contents
I’m sharing another addition to my kid’s movie themed dinners, this time traveling to Peru with a movie inspired by one of my favorites, The Emperor’s New Groove!
Inspiration
Note: This section has been added by reader request. Feel free to scroll or jump to the bottom using the jump to recipe button at the top or the table of contents above.
For this dish, I was inspired by the blend of cultures that are found in Peru like the Spanish, African, Chinese, French and Japanese (sources here and here). With that I decided to do a play on arroz con pollo, an incredibly versatile classic dish you can find across South America.
One of the classic variations of arroz con pollo in Peru is distinctive because of it’s green colored rice. The green rice is made by blending cilantro (and sometimes a bit of spinach) together and using that in place of some of the liquid the rice cooks in.
I really love the bright colors in this dish with it’s greens, oranges, and reds! With those bright colors comes some fun flavors from the tangy lime, to the slightly sweet butternut squash, and the savory garlic and ginger.
The combo of flavors and colors is a great way to entice kids to try something that might be new or something they have previously rejected like butternut squash.
For more tips on introducing kids to new foods see my guide to raising world food explorers.
Ingredients you need
Grocery list:
- Chicken thighs
- Fresh ginger
- Diced tomatoes
- Butternut squash
- Lime juice
- Cilantro
- Mint
Pantry staples
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Long grain white rice
- Chicken stock
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
Substitutions you can make
What can I use instead of chicken thighs?
You can substitute 1.5 lbs of duck breasts instead of the chicken thighs. Duck breasts are similar to chicken thighs since both are dark meats. If you’ve never had duck breasts before this is a fun recipe to try them out in.
What can I use instead of butternut squash?
Instead of using butternut squash you could use carrots or fresh pumpkin, when available.
Other recipes you may like:
How to make this
- Chop chicken thighs into 1 inch cubes.
- Make sure the inner pot is in your pressure cooker and set the saute setting on medium heat.
- Add olive oil to inner pot and saute onions and garlic for 4-5 minutes until onion is soft. Then, add the ginger and cook for 1-2 additional minutes.
- Next, add the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes until outside beings to brown.
- Cancel saute setting.
- Add the diced tomatoes, squash, rice, chicken stock, salt, pepper, and lime juice. Stir to mix.
- Set pressure cooker to manual setting on high pressure for 11 minutes. Make sure valve is set to sealing.
- Once cooking is finished, switch valve to venting and wait for the pressure cooker to complete release pressure. Remove lid.
- Stir in chopped cilantro and mint before serving.
Tips and tricks
How to peel fresh ginger?
The easiest way to peel ginger is to use a spoon. Flip the spoon upside down and use it to scrape away the skin.
If you find yourself with leftover ginger, you can keep ginger in the freezer in a freezer Ziploc bag. Whenever you need ginger, peel as you would normally and grate whenever you need it.
Tips for cutting butternut squash
Cutting butternut squash can be a big pain! Here are a couple tricks I use to make it a little easier:
- Cut the butternut squash in half right above where the bottom gets bigger and then cut those halves into smaller sections to work with.
- Use a vegetable peeler to cut off the skin. This will be much easier when you have cut it into smaller sections.
- Save time chopping butternut squash and buy pre-cut from the produce section. This will save you a LOT of prep time.
Tips for cooking with kids
Kids can be very out off by fresh herbs. One way you can help them be more excited about fresh herbs is to allow them to cut them!
Kid’s sized safety scissors are very handy for cutting up fresh herbs and it gives them a chance to practice those fine motor skills.
See more tips for cooking with kids
Do you follow Jonesin’ For Taste on Facebook? Stop by, say hi, and let me know what kinds of recipes you want to see!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken thighs boneless and skinless
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups butternut squash chopped
- 1 ½ cups long grain white rice
- 2 3/4 cups chicken stock
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- ¼ cup fresh mint chopped
Instructions
- Chop chicken thighs into 1 inch cubes.
- Make sure the inner pot is in your pressure cooker and set the saute setting on medium heat.
- Add olive oil to inner pot and saute onions and garlic for 4-5 minutes until onion is soft. Add ginger and cook for 1-2 additional minutes.
- Add chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes until outside beings to brown.
- Cancel saute setting.
- Add the diced tomatoes, squash, rice, chicken stock, salt, pepper, and lime juice. Stir to mix.
- Set pressure cooker to manual setting on high pressure for 11 minutes. Make sure valve is set to sealing.
- Once cooking is finished, switch valve to venting and wait for the pressure cooker to complete release pressure. Remove lid.
- Stir in chopped cilantro and mint before serving.
I too am Peruvian, and can understand where “Cindy Says” is coming from when she says that she was drawn to this recipe title. Even though you did say in the description that this is a “Peruvian inspired” chicken dish, it can be a bit misleading to someone who just reads the title and scrolls straight down to the recipe list & instructions. That said, I think it would have been more accurate for you to use “Peruvian Inspired…” in your recipe title and would have been cool to read what/how you were inspired by what Peruvian dish to give your audience (especially the Peruvian ones… lol) a better idea of why you created your own variation. I can only speak from my own upbringing and experience that I believe you may have been looking to the traditional Peruvian “Arroz con Pollo” (Chicken and Rice), which, without a doubt, every country, let alone, every family has their own take on this very universal chicken recipe.
In Peru, it is made with pureed/blended cilantro, or “culantro” as it is called there, to which some cooks add green pepper, &/or spinach to the mix…or not, along with water or chicken stock (usually from the chicken that some cooks boil before sauteing or frying for this dish…again, there are traditional approaches and variations on that to this recipe). Without getting into more detail into that recipe, this delicious “green juice” is added to the uncooked rice at the end of the cooking process and that is what makes our chicken and rice dish green. My mom used to make another variation of this dish which uses red peppers as the juice (not cilantro) and would create a beautiful “tomatoey orangy red” rice colored dish which my siblings and I loved even more than the green one. I haven’t tried your dish yet, but it does sound delicious, and even though I will be using carrots instead of the squash (that’s what I have on hand), I will be giving it a go today. This is my first time visiting your site and will be checking out your other recipes as well. Blessings…
I can totally see where you are coming from Jennie and appreciate your comment. I will add inspired to the title and the recipe name so that there is no longer any confusion. My inspiration was the classic arroz con pollo but simplified a bit for young/picky eaters. The addition of the cilantro puree sounds delicious! I will make a note and try to find a recipe for it to link to so that people can make it to add to the dish separately if desired. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!
Can this be made in a crockpot? If so, what adjustments would I need to make?
Hi Ann, I’ve never tried making this in the crockpot so I cannot say for sure how it will turn out. Based on research I would say to increase the water to 3-4 cups water/chicken broth and instead of cutting up the chicken put it on top whole. Cook for 2.5-3.5 hours. I would also use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts to handle the longer cooking time. Do let us know how it turns out. Best of luck! Jade
As delicious as it is, Its not Peruvian in anyway and being Peruvian I was drawn to this recipe title right away.
Hi Cindy, I’m glad you enjoyed the chicken and rice but am sorry you felt it wasn’t Peruvian. What sort of ingredients or flavors did you feel were missing?
I love that chicken thighs are in this dish. They add so much flavor to dinner.
What a great recipe! There is so much flavor – it’s a keeper for sure!
I loved the addition of lime! And such a perfect dinner in the Instant Pot that everyone loved!
This recipe was a huge hit with my family! I loved how easy it was to put together in my Instant Pot. Perfect for a night where would have normally grabbed take out for dinner!
Wow, this is the best recipe ever! So good and delicious!