Instant Pot Chicken and Rice is the perfect one-pot dinner recipe. A delicious comfort food to enjoy all year round! Make either chicken breast and white rice or chicken thighs and brown rice.
Save on time and dishes with this quick and easy recipe made entirely in the electric pressure cooker. Two of my most popular Instant Pot recipes are Instant Pot Rice and Instant Pot Chicken. So I decided to combine the two and make a one-pot meal out of both.
The advantage of a pressure cooker is that water doesn’t evaporate. Grains like rice and chicken can be cooked together perfectly because you use less water for the rice while the chicken sits on top and gets cooked with just the steam. The result is a super-duper tender and juicy chicken and fluffy rice.
If you don’t have an Instant Pot though, you can still enjoy this delicious recipe by making regular 1-Pot Chicken and Rice on the stove.
Instant Pot Chicken Breast and White Rice
The original recipe initially was for chicken breasts and white rice cooked together in the Instant Pot. After extensive testing, I found the right amount of cooking time to achieve fluffy rice and juicy chicken. After 5 minutes high-pressure and 10 minutes natural pressure release, the chicken is JUST cooked. It won’t be dry but it shouldn’t be pink at all, just white.
It’s important to note that if your pin drops before the 10 minutes, the pot most likely didn’t get to high pressure and the chicken might be undercooked. Double-check before you start that the sealing knob is in the sealing position, and no air or steam comes out of the knob.
Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Rice
Some people asked me for versions of the original recipe but using either brown rice instead of white, or chicken thighs instead of breasts. After what feels like a million test trials, I finally got the formula. Yay!
Brown rice takes triple the time to cook than white rice and would dry out the chicken breasts in the process. The secret is to use bone-in chicken thighs with brown rice. The result was absolutely amazing.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Chicken – use chicken breasts or chicken thighs. I recommend using chicken breasts no bigger than 6.5oz (180g). If too big, cut them into 1” cubes to ensure they cook through. If using chicken thighs, go for bone-in skinless thighs.
- Cilantro – you’ll need 1 whole bunch of fresh cilantro to make the flavorful cilantro water for the rice. I suggest you don’t replace it, but if needed, you could use parsley. Just keep in mind that it has a slightly stronger flavor.
- Avocado oil – I recommend using a high-smoke point fat, such as avocado oil, ghee or bacon fat. This is important so the fat doesn’t burn at the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Onion – use one small white or yellow onion.
- Garlic – you will need two cloves.
- Rice – use white basmati or brown basmati rice depending on what piece of chicken you’ll be cooking. I don’t recommend using any other type of rice because they need different cooking times on the Instant Pot.
- Carrots – a staple in many rice recipes. 1.5 or 2 medium carrots should yield a cup when chopped. You can also use baby carrots.
- Celery – when cooked, celery adds great flavor. For this chicken and rice recipe, you will need 2-3 celery stalks.
- Red bell pepper – the more veggies the better. I love red bell pepper for its color and texture. Orange or yellow bell pepper work great too.
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
- Season Chicken – add sea salt and pepper generously to both sides of chicken breast or chicken thighs. Set aside.
- Prep Veggies – peel and dice the carrots. Deseed and dice the red bell pepper, and dice the celery. Also, finely chop a medium onion and two cloves of garlic.
- Prep Cilantro Water – add a bunch of cilantro and 1 cup of room-temperature water into a blender. Blend until completely smooth and no bits of cilantro are left.
- Preheat Instant Pot – press the “Sauté” button on the panel to preheat the pot.
- Sauté Onion and Garlic – once the Instant Pot display says “hot”, add a drizzle of oil or fat and then add the chopped onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent.
- Add Remaining Ingredients – this is a very important step and you need to work fast! Once the onion and garlic are ready, add the rice, season with salt and pepper, then add the cilantro water. Give a quick stir, then add the diced vegetables on top of the rice (make sure not to mix them in). Then, place the chicken on top of the veggies and close the lid immediately. The reason for this is to avoid too much water from evaporating so you don’t get the nasty “burn warning” on your Instant Pot. (See my tips to avoid the burn warning below).
- Set the Instant Pot – Seal the pot lid and turn the pressure valve to the “sealing” position. then press the “Cancel” button. Now press the “Manual” button and select 6 minutes high pressure if you’re cooking chicken breast with white rice. Or select 22 minutes high pressure if you’re cooking chicken thighs with brown rice instead.
- Release Pressure – once the Instant Pot beeps, wait for full natural pressure release. This can take anywhere from 15-25 minutes until the safety pin drops on its own.
- Shred Chicken and Serve – when the Instant Pot chicken and rice is finished cooking, open the lid and shred the chicken using two forks. Then mix everything together and serve immediately. Sprinkle some chopped cilantro on top and dive in!
Tips To Avoid The Burn Warning
Sometimes Instant Pots can be finicky and give you the Burn Warning even when you think you made everything right. After some trial and error, I found some tips that will help you avoid the burn warning:
- Don’t skimp on the fat for sautéing the onion and garlic. Be generous.
- After sautéing the onion and garlic, make sure there are no burnt bits and pieces stuck to the bottom of the pot. If necessary add a splash of water and deglaze the bottom with a wooden spoon to scrape everything off.
- Have ingredients already measured out and ready to go so no time is wasted. This is especially important for the diced vegetables. Have them chopped and all in one bowl ready to add.
- Once you add the rice, add the cilantro water immediately and stir. Do not let the dry rice sit on the hot bottom of the pot without liquid for more than 5 seconds.
- Do not mix the vegetables and chicken in the cilantro water. Let them sit on top of the rice.
- Put the lid on quickly. The longer it takes to close the pot, the more liquid evaporates. This increases the chance to get the burn warning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! As long as you choose the right cooking time to ensure either are well cooked through it is perfectly safe to cook both at the same time.
Yes! As long as you make sure chicken reaches 165F internal temperature it is 100% safe to add to the Instant Pot.
If you add dry or rinsed rice to an already preheated or hot Instant Pot and don’t add liquid to it at the same time or very quickly after your rice will immediately stick to the bottom and start burning.
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
Equipment
- instant pot
Ingredients
- 2 5oz / 10 oz chicken breasts / bone-in skinless chicken thighs - (Either 2 five-ounce chicken breasts if you are making the recipe with white rice. OR. 2 ten-ounce bone-in chicken thighs if you are making the recipe with brown rice.)
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 cup water - (at room temperature, not cold!)
- 1/2 Tbsp ghee or bacon fat or avocado oil
- 1 small diced onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup white basmati rice or brown basmati rice - (choose white or brown depending on the type of chicken you are using)
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced red bell pepper
- Salt
- Pepper
- cilantro for garnishing
Instructions
- Generously season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides and set aside.
- Peel and dice carrot, dice celery, deseed and dice bell pepper.
- Add cilantro and room-temperature water into a blender and blend until completely smooth.
- Peel and chop onion and garlic.
- Preheat Instant Pot by pressing the “sauté” button.
- Once the Instant Pot's display says "hot": add fat or oil, chopped onion, and garlic, and sauté until translucent. Stir often. Make sure no burnt bits of onion or garlic are stuck to the bottom of the pot. If for some reason there are, deglaze by adding a tablespoon or two of water and scrape with a wooden to remove all bits from the bottom.
- Now work fast: add rice, salt and pepper to Instant Pot and then pour in cilantro water and give it a quick stir. Add diced vegetables on top in one layer (do not mix in!) and then top with seasoned chicken breasts. Then IMMEDIATELY close lid to avoid water from evaporating (<-important!)
- Turn venting knob to "sealing", hit "cancel" and then "manual" and adjust to 6 minutes high pressure for chicken breast / white rice version OR 22 minutes for chicken thigh / brown rice version.
- Wait for full natural pressure release. This means once the pot beeps don't do anything. Don't touch the valve and instead just wait for the safety pin to drop on its own. This can take anywhere from 15-25 minutes.
- Open the pot and enjoy the smell! Then use two forks to shred the chicken. Mix it all and serve immediately with some fresh cilantro sprinkled on top.
Notes
- *Please read the blog post section where I go into detail about what to pay attention to in order to succeed to avoid any error messages from the pot.
- nutritional info is for white rice and chicken breast.
Nutrition
Grandma’s German Potato Salad
Stuffed Chicken Breast Recipes
Instant Pot Vegan Chili
Tricia says
If the thighs are boneless/skinless will they cook properly with the white rice option/settings?
Lorena says
I haven’t tried but I would assume so, yes. Maybe, just in case, cut the thighs up into 1″ pieces?
Vlpjohnson says
I’ve made this recipe several times (chicken thigh/brown rice version), and it always turns out delicious! It has become part of my rotating menu, so thank you!
Lorena says
thank you so much for coming back and leaving your feedback! It means the world to me :)
Amy Lee says
Can I make the chicken thighs with the white rice? Any changes needed if I do?
Lorena says
I’m afraid that won’t work because chicken thighs need more than 5 minutes to fully cook through and white rice will become mushy if cooked for longer than 5 minutes on high. You’d have to cook both separately. I recommend, preheating your oven to 400 F and cook rice and veggies in the IP (3 mins on high + full natural pressure release only), and at the same time put your chicken thighs salted and peppered in the oven for 25 minutes. Both should be finished almost at the same time. Rice will be a bit quicker but you can leave it at keep warm function until the thighs are ready, then add thighs with juices to instant pot and shred and mix and serve.
Erica Cheek says
I’ve made this both ways multiple times and its a lovely dish. I get everything prepped before I turn the instant pot on and it works great for quick week night dinners.
Lorena says
I’m so happy to read you like it :D Prepping everything ahead of time is definitely a smart idea!
Gabrielle says
I switched out the cilantro water for chicken broth to add flavour (usually pilafs are made this way and its so much more flavourful). I was really excited by the meal, but I wish I’d read the comments b/c I also kept getting burn warnings. I wish your instructions didn’t suggest mixing in the rice. I wonder if the veg below the rice would be better? I ended up cooking it in a stove top and adding a LOT more liquid to unstick the rice from the bottom. It was actually pretty yummy and flavourful – but the chicken was dry b/c of the strange mix of trying to regain pressure without burn warning and eventually finishing it on the stove top. It ended up way trickier than anticipated.
I will likely try to find another recipe for a variation more similar to mine (aka with broth and not “cilantro water”) in the future.
Lorena says
It makes me so incredibly sad to read when people get the burn warning :( I’ve literally tried EVERYTHING to recreate the problem and it doesn’t happen with any of my two Instant Pots. I don’t know if there are some pots that are more sensitive than others. I just don’t know how to help anymore. I’ve even contacted Instant Pot themselves and asked for advice but upon reviewing my recipe they don’t understand themselves why some people get the burn warning
Wade says
I have made this many times before seeing this recipe and I get the burn warning when I have too much chicken and too much rice. Cooking in smaller portions 2 cups of Rice and no more than 4 thighs prevented my burn notice
Lorena says
Thank you sooooo much for the tip. That’s one thing I haven’t considered yet. Ha! That’s crazy!
Twojay Dhillon says
Fantastic recipe! I ended up using pre-marinated chicken thighs (they were on special at the grocery store) and popped a sliced Fresno pepper in there for a *tiny* kick.
I am actually rotating through three of your recipes (this, the white chicken chili, and standard chili) during the weekdays and then grilling on the weekends. Your IP recipes are pretty much perfect for meal-prepping. Thank you so much.
For anybody not getting the results from this recipe: it really is all about getting the lid on ASAP. Prep your ingredients and have them next to the IP so you’re not fussing about while the steam escapes.
Lorena, if you update your website anytime soon, could you please separate your Instant Pot recipes from the others :)
Lorena says
I’m so happy you like my Instant Pot recipes and yes, you’re spot on with the putting the lid on FAST. I suspect that is the main thing that’s causing issues. Thanks for the feedback on getting my blog organized. This is definitely something on my to-do list. I’m just trying to find out how to do this the best way to not jeopardize my website traffic. I will figure it out eventually. For now I recommend entering “instant pot” in the search bar and that way all the instant pot recipes will be listed.
jyn says
I admit I am a novice at using the InstaPot, but that was the very reason this recipe interested me. It was a tried and true supposedly fool proof dinner if I followed the instruction, which I did to the letter. I did chop the veggies larger as it was clear they would be mushy if I did a small dice. Perhaps the chicken breast white rice recipe works better, but the the short grain brown rice/chicken thighs did not work for me at all. I eat a lot of cilantro for health reasons and like the flavor, but this just tasted weird. The veggies were mushy. The rice was undercooked and the whole meal which I expected to be chicken with fluffy rice was a soupy under cooked mess. I really did follow the recipe perfectly and I let the InstaPot cool down for 20 minutes on its own before I let the rest of the steam out. In a mad effort to salvage the dinner, I took the chicken out (which was perfectly cooked) and added another cup of white basmati rice, set the cooker to 7 minutes and will let it cool down for 10 on it’s own before I let the rest of the steam out. Just opened the container and unfortunately it was a no go. Just a gluey unpalatable mess. Sorry did not work at all for me.
Lorena says
Jyn, I’m so so sorry to read this. I’ve had a couple of people have trouble with the chicken breast/white rice version because their Insant Pots would show burn warning but never anything like you’re describing. I’d love to trouble shoot with you. What kind of Instant Pot do you have and how much rice and how much water did you add? Also, how long did you set the Instant Pot to? Did you make sure “high pressure” was on, not low pressure? There should absolutely be NO water left after the natural pressure release. If the rice to liquid ratio is 1:1 the rice should absorb absolutely all liquid if enough high-pressure cooking time was set. Undercooked rice means too little cooking time or not enough pressure or both at the same time. I don’t quite understand why you added white rice. Did you brown rice not stick to the bottom and burn then? Did you watch the video instructions?
Lily says
Mushy veggies. Rice okay. Chicken was flavorless. I would definitely recommend a large chop for the veggies over anything that resembles a small dice, otherwise they are just so super mushy. I also recommend (highly) using chicken or veggie broth rather than plain water to give the chicken flavor. I also feel that this recipe kind of misses the boat in the sense that I go to my instant pot for easy, low cleanup meals. Needing to use a blender, as well as all of the chopping and whatnot, made this a pretty big hassle for little payout. I could get better and easier results from a $1 packet of seasoned rice from the store.
In the end, this wasn’t very cheap, wasn’t very easy, and wasn’t very good. Pass.
Lorena says
I’m sorry to read this Lily. I definitely don’t recommend cooking any of my recipes, non of them compare to $1 packet of seasoned rice.
Linda says
Made this last night and it turned out great, thank you so much for this great recipe! I followed the directions exactly, except I made the recipe one and a half times in my 8 quart IP, using brown rice and chicken thighs. I always love sauces for garnish, so I made a healthy green goddess sauce ( Avocado, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, cilantro, garlic, green onion, salt and pepper ), and it was a perfect addition to pile on top!
Lorena says
I’m so so happy you like it :D
Mary says
Hi, so I made an alternate version of this for my kids; but instead of laying the cubed chicken breasts on top I mixed them with the rice then added the water. Does that make a difference?
Thanks!
Lorena says
As long as all the rice is submerged in the water it should be fine. The reason I place the chicken on top is so all the rice is submerged in liquid and cooks through properly.
Eddie says
Can I double the thigh/brown rice recipe in one Instant Pot or will it be too crowded to cook well/evenly? Making for a potluck party
Lorena Graeter says
In a 6-quart or 8-quart you can definitely double it.
Tammy says
Is it ok to use chicken broth/stock in place of water. And I am using long grain brown rice. Should I adjust cooking time. Thanks
Lorena says
Absolutely! You can use broth interchangeably with water. No need to adjust anything.
Tracy says
What about boneless, skinless chicken thighs? Could I substitute those for the bone-in?
Lorena says
Hi Tracy, yes those work fine, too. As long as it’s brown chicken meat it’ll work.
Betty says
Can I add more chicken breast without adding g more water?
Lorena says
Yes, absolutely. No problem at all. Make sure to add all in one layer. If you stack the chicken you’ll have to increase the cooking time a little.
Lana says
I don’t have an Insta Pot but I do have a pressure cooker so I followed your recipe but used the pressure cooker and the only thing I found was it needed more spice. It came out absolutely delicious! Thank you for helping me make dinner something new.
Lorena says
Yay, I’m happy you liked it :) A fantastic spice that goes with this is “ají amarillo”. It’s a Peruvian chili and like no other chili in the world :)
Gigi says
Thank you so much for this easy and healthy recipe. I made the brown rice/tights combination and I have never had made a brown rice as soft and tights sabe juicy as this recipe. I made 1.5 cup rice, seasoned thighs with my sofrito and added a small can of carrots and peas because I didn’t have carrots on hand. To the people complaining not all the instant pot are the same, if you don’t know yours then you’ll have to play a little bit to find the perfect way to make the recipe. I follow the instructions and I Hasbrouck marvelous results. Even my hubby loves the food. He usually don’t like brown rice and he even went for seconds.
Lorena says
I’m so happy to read this Gigi! I’m so glad everything worked out fine and your family enjoyed it :)
Becky says
I can’t find short grain brown rice. If I use regular brown rice, do I need to adjust the time?
Lorena says
No, you’ll be fine. It should work the exact same way :)