Turkish Chicken & Rice Traybake Recipe – Tavuk Kapama

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Every home should have one: A go to chicken and rice traybake recipe that guarantees to satisfy every time. In Turkey, that recipe is called tavuk kapama.

Over the years, our tavuk kapama has developed and been tweaked here and there.

So much so that, these days, what we actually have a is a fırında sebzeli tavuk kapama – chicken and rice traybake with vegetables.

And depending on mood – or what odds and ends of vegetables we have in the fridge or freezer – those vegetables can change on occasion.

That’s the beauty of this dish.

But we do have two essential veggies that always feature: Onions and peppers.

Our Take On Tavuk Kapama

The Turkish verb ‘kapamak’ means to cover or to close.

So tavuk kapama is chicken that is covered or closed in with rice.

Chicken Thighs Not Chicken Breast

Chicken breast will be too dry for this traybake recipe, so it’s best to use chicken thigh.

Traditionally, tavuk kapama generally uses chicken drumsticks. But for ease of eating – and taste (I’m not a fan of drumsticks) – we use skinless, boneless thighs.

If you have family or friends dining with you who love drumsticks you can do a mix of the two. Keep the whole family happy!

The cooking time is the same.

We love an easy recipe! And this is one of our favourite chicken recipes.

The Chicken Traybake Spices

Once you’ve done this chicken and rice traybake a few times, if you’re anything like us, you’ll be reaching for spices from the spice shelf and sprinkling them over your chicken pieces as you see fit.

Even adding extras here and there.

And it’s just a case of rubbing them all over your chicken pieces so that they’re evenly coated.

In the recipe card below, we’ve put exact amounts as a guide. But as the late, great British chef, Keith Floyd said, cooking is not a science.

Go with what you feel.

In our recipe we use Turkish chicken spice mix.

This is widely available in Turkey from spice stalls on local markets and specialist spice shops.

Outside of the country you’ll be able to get this from Turkish or Middle Eastern supermarkets or online.

We also like to pour a drizzle of nar ekşisi over our chicken pieces for more Turkish Mediterranean flavours.

Into The Oven

We start to preheat our oven whilst we colour the chicken pieces on each side.

Once they’re seared, your oven should be ready and you can start on the next stage of your chicken and rice traybake.

We place our chicken thighs in a single layer into a large roasting dish, leaving the chicken juices behind in the frying pan.

Now, the observant amongst you will have noticed that some of these photos are of our chicken and rice traybake in a circular ovenproof dish and some in a square glass dish.

That’s because we really do make this often and we use whichever oven dish is to hand – and I’m a prolific taker of photographs so this recipe is not a one-off photo shoot.

Both dishes are approximately 30 centimetres in diameter and our quantities for the recipe fit perfectly.

• 180-200 grams of white rice (we use Jasmine rice) is now sprinkled between the gaps of the chicken thighs. US readers, this approximately 1 cup of rice. There’s no need to be completely exact with the amount of rice.
• And now we pour 600 millilitres of hot water or chicken stock (chicken broth) over the top of the rice and the chicken and place it in the centre of the oven.
• This is not traditional but for extra nutrition and colour, we add a spoonful of turmeric (zerdeçal) to our hot water, hence the warm, sunny yellow colour.

Now For The Vegetables

Altogether, our Turkish chicken and rice dish is going to take 45 minutes to cook in the oven.

And once we’ve placed it on the middle shelf, this is when we crack on with our vegetables.

As we said above, we always have peppers and onions in our traybake.

And there’s always other frozen or fresh ingredients such as mushrooms (as in our photos above), garden peas or green beans.

We chop our vegetables, add a little olive oil to the chicken juices in the frying pan and fry the veggies for a few minutes on medium to high heat until they start to colour and soften.

In the past, we have tried adding the raw vegetables straight to the chicken and rice but we find frying first gives extra texture and extra flavour.

By now, your chicken and rice will have been cooking for 15-20 minutes or so, depending on how fast you chop your veggies.

We remove it from the oven and add the vegetables and chicken juices to the baking dish, gently pushing some beneath the surface and leaving others on top to get nice and toasted.

Then it all goes back into the oven for the remainder of the cooking process (20-30 minutes) until the chicken and rice cooks and the stock is absorbed.

Time To Serve Up Your Chicken Traybake

After 45 minutes, we remove our fırında sebzeli tavuk kapama from the oven and leave it to stand for a few minutes.

We like to garnish it with chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, coriander or basil and – sometimes – pitted black olives.

And, naturally, this Turkish chicken and rice traybake is extra tasty with side dishes of silky smooth natural süzme yoghurt.

Turkish Chicken & Rice Traybake Recipe – Fırında Sebzeli Tavuk Kapama

Okay, let’s get cooking.

If you love chicken and rice recipes, you can also check out our recipe for the famous Turkish street food, tavuklu nohutlu pilav – chicken and chickpeas with rice.

And if you want to try more Turkish dishes at home, why not try some of our Turkish recipes from our growing collection?

Afiyet Olsun!

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