Chicken Cook-up Rice

Chicken cook-up rice is a delicious dish of sautéed chicken, black-eyed peas fresh herbs and rice simmered in coconut milk. This Guyanese one-pot meal is typically made for New Year’s Eve (Old Year’s Night) but can be enjoyed year-round.

Guyanese Cook-up Rice

Traditionally cook-up rice is cooked outdoors over a coal pot or wood burning stove. This method of cooking added a bit of smokiness to the cook-up rice, a flavor that I long for often.

In versions of cook-up rice, you may find meat, poultry, smoked fish, and sometimes dried shrimp. Carrots and other root vegetables are often added as well. Most Guyanese make cook-up rice on Saturdays as it is an easy, uncomplicated, comfort food and can go a far way if unexpected visitors show up at your door.

Why You’ll Love This Chicken Cook-Up Rice Recipe

• Convenient: This is a one pot rice dish so everything cooks in one vessel, which means the cleanup is super easy.
• Comfort Food: With plenty of rich flavors, this hot meal is super satisfying and comforting.
• Versatile: This Carribean cook-up rice is made with chicken but you can use a variety of meats and spices. Find my red meat based recipe here.

What is Cook-Up Rice?

Cook-up Rice is a traditional Guyanese one pot meal. In Guyana, we make cook-up rice on Ole Year’s Nite (New Year’s Eve). Guyanese around the world eat cook-up rice at midnight on New Year’s Eve as a way to ring in the new year with prosperity.

Making Bush Cook-Up in Guyana!

As children growing up in Guyana, my brother and I made many “bush cook-ups.” A bush cook-up is a variety of cook-up rice, that neighborhood children sneak off to make, often when they are left unattended by parents. I remember one such day when my mother went down to the city center (went to town) to shop and left my brother and I at home with clear instructions not the leave the house. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to have a “bush cook.”

We quickly called our neighborhood friends and instructed them to bring one ingredient each for the cook-up rice. Together with a “little bit of this and a dash of that” and my mom’s best pot we made the most delicious cook-up rice over a wood-fueled flame in our backyard.

However, the pot became engulfed with flames and was completely ruined. You don’t even have to ask about the whooping we got when my mom returned home. But to be honest, it was totally worth it!

Ingredients for Chicken Cook-Up Rice

This dish comes together with some pantry staples, Guyanese spices, and your choice of meat.

• Chicken thighs: Diced into 1-2 inch pieces. You can also use half of a whole chicken butchered like I did here.
• Dried black-eyed peas: soaked over night, drained and rinsed.
• Jasmine rice: washed and drained
• Coconut oil: Use this or another oil for cooking.
• Freshly made coconut milk: This is best for cook-up rice. I buy grated frozen coconut, add water, blend it, and then strain for easy coconut milk. However, you can also used canned coconut milk diluted with 1:2 cups milk to water ratio.
• Onion: Diced.
• Tomatoes (optional): Diced.
• Fresh Thai Basil: Finely chopped. Use Guyanese Marridman poke basil if you have access to it.

Seasoning for the chicken

• Garlic cloves: Or use 1 tablespoon of granulated garlic instead.
• Scallions: 1-2 for a seasoning blend.
• Dried thyme: I highly recommend using Guyanese thyme.
• Brown sugar: This adds some sweetness to mellow the savory flavors.
• Seasoning: Season simply with ground black pepper and salt.
• Cassareep: This main ingredient is Guyanese pepperpot is also used in marinates for meats. It gives the chicken a deep brown color and which also transfers to the dish.

See recipe card for quantities.

Soak Dried Beans

Do you soak your peas before cooking? Soaking beans and even grains before cooking, helps to break down some of the hard-to-digest sugars and proteins making it easier on the gut. Soaking your beans over night also speeds up the cooking process.

To soak your beans, check and remove damaged beans and debris. Then rinse thoroughly. This can be done in a wire mesh sieve. Then add the beans to a bowl and cover with water. Sometimes I add hot water to speed up the process. Soak the beans overnight, then drain and rinse and your beans are ready for cooking.

To learn more about soaking peas and beans and tips on how to soak different kinds of beans, check out this article from spendwithpennies.com

How to Make Chicken Cook-up Rice

Marinate Chicken for Chicken Cook-Up Rice

When making cook-up rice, I use either green seasoning as my marinade or a combination of dry herbs. Either works. It depends on what you have on hand and how much time you have available for prep.

If using green seasoning blend together some garlic, scallions, thai basil and half of the diced onions until finely chopped. Then add the green seasoning along with the brown sugar, salt, black pepper and cassareep to the diced chicken. Mix to combine, then cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or over night if time allows.

Sear the Chicken

To make chicken cook-up I add coconut oil to a deep pot on medium heat. When the oil is hot, the diced onions and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the onions are translucent and start to brown on the edges. Then I add the tomatoes followed by the marinated chicken.

Cook the chicken, stirring often until any liquids cook off and all of the sides get a good sear before moving on to the next step.

Cook the Black-Eyed Peas: Two Methods

There are two different ways to cook black-eyed peas for a chicken cook-up. The first is to cook it separately with just some water and a pinch of salt. You can do this one the stove top or pressure cook it until tender, then add it to the pot with the chicken.

The second is to cook the peas in the pot with the chicken by adding the soaked and drained peas to the seared chicken, then adding enough water to cook the peas until tender.

Next add the rice to the peas and chicken, followed by the chopped basil. Mix to combine then cook for a few minutes, to toast the rice a bit. This helps the rice to make the rice less clammy in the finished dish. Then add the coconut milk, stir to combine and bring up to a boil .

Cooking the Chicken Cook-up Rice.

Once the dish begins to boil, reduce the heat to the lowest possible heat, then cover and let the chicken cook-up rice steam until the rice is fully cooked. Then uncover and fluff the rice with a fork to combine all of the ingredients.

Fluffing the Chicken Cook-up Rice

When my mom makes chicken cook-up rice, she stirs the pot constantly for even cooking. I no longer make cook-up rice like this. I cook the rice undisturbed over a low flame.

Then I use a fork to fluff the rice and mix everything together. Therefore creating a perfectly cooked and loose cook-up rice. If you like softer clammy cook-up rice, mix your rice together with the spoon instead of the fork.

Storage

Leftover cook-up rice tastes even better the next day! Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To reheat it, place it in the microwave.

Tips for the Best Chicken Cook-Up Rice

• Remember to soak dried beans. This helps them cook faster, even if you soak them in boiling water, while you prep your other ingredients it will make a significant difference in the cooking time.
• For the best results, marinate your chicken for at least 30 minutes before cooking. This tenderizes the meat and makes it even more flavourful.
• Sear the chicken. This will prevent the chicken from having a boiled or “fresh” taste as Guyanese people often say.
• Cook the chicken before adding the vegetables. I used to cook my onions, garlic, and tomatoes first then add the chicken. Then my mom was visiting earlier this year and when making her chicken cook-up rice, (which is amazing, by the way) she seared the chicken first. When I asked why she did it this way, she said the seasoning first made the chicken too wet and it didn’t get the sear she wanted. She actually said, “It doan [don’t] fry up good when you do it that way!” So now I do it her way and what do you know, it is way better than my way!
• Rinse your rice. This removes debris and surface starch but it and also reduces the level of naturally occurring arsenic in rice by up to 30% (according to the FDA). Read more about why it is important to rinse your rice by clicking here.
• Dilute the coconut milk with water. When used without diluting, the cook-up rice gets an overly fatty flavor and is too rich.

Recipe Variations

• Meat: I use chicken but you can use brisket, salt beef, pigtail, oxtail, or fried fish.
• No Beans: Don’t like black-eyed peas? Swap it for pigeon peas. If you want to skip peas and beans altogether, try cook-up rice with spinach.
• Parboiled Rice: When I first started making cook-up rice on my own, I used parboiled rice because it was the easiest to cook with and most forgiving. Now that I have mastered my cook-up rice making I use Jasmine rice which is my favorite rice to use for cook-up rice.
• Spicy: If you want to add some spice, add wiri wiri peppers. Scotch bonnet peppers, serrano peppers, or jalapenos will work as substitutes, depending on how hot you want the dish to be.

Frequently Asked Questions