Cooking in parchment, or en papillote, is typically associated with French cuisine—al cartocchio is the Italian take—but here the technique is used to steam chicken, veggies and rice in a sauce that draws heavily from the Asian pantry. The results are light yet flavorful and come together in just 35 minutes.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 35 min |
| Active: | 15 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 chicken tenders, about 1 pound
- Kosher salt
- 5 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoon sambal or chili-garlic sauce
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced, greens and whites kept separately
- 2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
- 8 ounces snow peas, trimmed
- 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, caps sliced and stems discarded (about 12)
- 3 cups frozen brown rice
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Position 2 racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Cut four 16-inch long sheets of parchment paper. Fold each sheet in half and open like a book. Divide the pieces of parchment between 2 baking sheets (2 pieces per sheet).
- Trim away the tendon attached to the thicker part of the tenderloin with kitchen shears and discard. Sprinkle the chicken all over with 3/4 teaspoon salt.
- Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, sambal, scallion whites, ginger, and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl. Place snow peas and shiitakes in a medium bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce mixture.
- Mound 3/4 cup brown rice on each parchment sheet, placing it on one side of the fold, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon water. Top with the vegetables, and two chicken tenders per serving, tucking as many of the vegetables as possible under the chicken. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the soy sauce mixture evenly over each serving of chicken. (You should have some left over for drizzling later.)
- Fold over the top half of the parchment, crimping and overlapping small folds along the open edge to seal tightly. Bake until the parchment puffs, 18 minutes; chicken will be cooked through. Transfer the packets to plates and let stand 2 minutes. Avoiding the hot steam, carefully cut open the packets. Drizzle remaining soy sauce mixture over the chicken and rice. Top with scallion greens, cilantro, and sesame seeds.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 370 |
| Total Fat | 9 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 1 grams |
| Cholesterol | 85 milligrams |
| Sodium | 1000 milligrams |
| Carbohydrates | 42 grams |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 grams |
| Protein | 33 grams |
Reviews
Love this recipe! I make it a lot.
This was very very good. My guests ate everything in the packet. I did marinate the thighs (didn’t have breasts) for 20 minutes in a lemongrass marinade. Cooked jasmine rice with coconut milk the day before to make it easier since we don’t care for brown rice. Also put shredded coconut in the rice for texture but not necessary. Four stars instead of five because the snow peas are too delicate to cook that long and turn mushy and ugly color and in order to evenly divide the veggies in the packets, they should not be mixed ahead. The sauce is delicious.
6/2/23. I’ve made this twice now and it’s still a hit. I used chicken tenders this time and still prefer the thighs. I substituted carrots sliced on the mandolin for the snow peas and they worked well but need a little extra seasoning of lemon pepper. I’ll use more mushrooms and fewer carrots next time. I followed the directions of 16” of parchment both times but that is too much. Cut it down to 14” and cut it to the traditional heart shape and it was perfect. I made the packets 6 hours ahead and refrigerated them and the 15 minutes cook time was perfect. It helps the seal if you beat an egg with 1T water and brush all the parchment edges. Served it again with the Spicy papaya mango grape salad. Yummy.
This was easy to put together and cleanup was a breeze. I did not have chicken tenders and used chicken breasts instead, so they were not very tender. I salted the chicken lightly. Everything else was done per the recipe. My husband really liked it. Even though I used low sodium soy sauce I thought it was a bit salty. Overall it is good enough to make again.
This was wonderful! The flavor was consummate and it was elegant to serve. It was neither bland nor too spicy. Thank you for the fun idea! Definitely making this again soon.
Chicken wasn’t flavorful… pretty bland. The rice and peas were great though.
Made this for dinner last night. Made exactly as directed and was delicious. Will be making again. Easy to make and easy cleanup. Thanks for the recipe.
I made this recipe to the exact items and measurements – it was over spicy and so salty we couldn’t eat it. We are fans of recipes from food network so this was surprisingly and disappointingly inedible.
The music is too loud and distracting. I am trying to read the recipe and the music just put me. Not everyone enjoy the same music, if I want music I go to music channel.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was great! It was extremely flavorful. I’m not a fan of mushrooms and my daughter doesn’t like them either. However, this combination was so good we actually ate the mushrooms and didn’t eat around them. I didn’t prepare frozen rice ahead of time so I just cooked the parchment packs without the rice and used fresh cooked brown rice. When I transferred the chicken and vegetables to the plate, I placed them over the rice and then poured the sauce all over it from the pack and the rice soaked it right up. I will definitely be making this again!