Instant Pot Chicken and Rice is the perfect comfort food all year round! Make it entirely in the electric pressure cooker to save on dishes!
Either chicken breast and white rice or chicken thighs and brown rice. You’ll see, this instant pot chicken and rice will become your new favorite dinner recipe!
The Instant Pot is my new obsession! I experiment a lot with “all-in-one-pot” meals with it and jump in the air with joy when I finally get it right.
Unfortunately, it requires loads of trials and errors until I hit the perfect cooking time and pressure and pressure release. You are lucky though, I do all the testing and you can simply follow the recipe enjoy Instant Pot Chicken and Rice made to perfection :)
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
Use this amazing electric pressure cooker and watch the magic happen! No, they’re not paying me to say that, I’m just the most satisfied customer on the planet!
Ever since making instant pot rice for the first time I found out it cooks SO MUCH BETTER than in a regular pot! It turnes out freakin’ fantastic!
The advantage of a pressure cooker, is that water doesn’t evaporate, you cook the grains with less water and avoid any kind of mushiness.
Now, exactly this is why the Instant Pot is perfect for cooking chicken and rice at the same time. Since there is little water involved the chicken “sits” on the rice, as opposed to being submerged in water.
You basically steam the chicken breasts or chicken thighs and they come out super duper tender and juicy. Boiled chicken breast or chicken thighs are horrible if you ask me and steamed is the absolute best for moist, juicy meat.
Instant Pot Chicken Breasts and Rice
The original recipe initially was for chicken breasts and white rice in the Instant Pot and I tested it extensively!
Some people haven’t had success with the recipe though and after trouble shooting with them we came to the grain of the problem. Here the list of things you have to pay special attention to:
- Preheat the Instant Pot and sauté garlic and onion in order to bring the instant pot to the right temperature before the high pressure cooking process.
- Do not use chicken breasts much larger than 6.5 oz (180g). If your chicken breasts are bigger I recommend cutting into 1″ cubes to ensure they cook through.
- The sealing knob has to be in the sealing position and the IP has to come to high pressure without any air coming out of the knob. If there is air or any noise coming out it means the sealing ring isn’t positioned properly and needs to be adjusted.
- After the 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.
- If your pin dropped before the 10 minutes the pot most likely didn’t get to high pressure. After the 10 minutes natural pressure release there should still be quite a bit of pressure to be released.
Instant Pot Chicken and Brown Rice / Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Rice
I’ve had many people ask for versions of the original recipe with brown rice. And I’ve had people ask for versions with chicken thighs instead of breasts so I went in the kitchen and cooked Instant Pot chicken and rice about 10 thousand times in many different variations.
I finally got the formula!! YAY!!! I finally have the answers to your Instant Pot Chicken and Brown Rice questions and to your Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Rice questions. And guess what, they are answered with ONE recipe.
I used basmati brown rice and I used bone-in chicken thighs! The brown rice / chicken thigh version was even better than the chicken breast / white rice version. I am SO happy you asked me to experiment. All your questions and comments always lead to further improvements of recipes on my blog.
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Questions
If you have ANY questions left about how to make Chicken and Rice in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker, please let me know in the comments below. Happy to go back in the kitchen and experiment.
If you aren’t successful with my recipe, please let me help you troubleshoot. I’m sure we can make this work together. I want you to be successful with my recipe!
If you were successful and liked the recipe please make sure to rate it so I know it’s working for you :)
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 2 5oz / 10 oz chicken breasts / bone-in 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
- 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 breasts (or remove skin of chicken thighs and season) with salt and pepper on both sides and set aside.
- Peel and dice carrot, wash and dice celery, wash, deseed and dice bell pepper.
- Wash and spin dry cilantro and cut off the stems for the most part and then blend with a cup of room temperature water in the blender or with an immersion blender.
- Preheat Instant Pot by pressing the "sauté" button.
- Peel and chop onion and garlic. By now, the instant pot is probably hot. Add ghee or bacon fat and sauté onion and garlic in it until it starts slightly browning. Stir often. Make sure no bunt 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 stir to remove all bits from the bottom.
- Add rice, salt and pepper to Instant Pot and then pour cilantro water on top. Give it a quick stir. Add diced vegetables in one layer 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 5(-8) minutes high pressure for chicken breast / white rice version OR 22 minutes for chicken thigh / brown rice version. >>> READ THE NOTES SECTION FOR TIMING PLEASE!
- Once the Instant Pot beeps telling you the 5 minutes are over, allow for 10 minutes natural pressure release (set a timer to not miss the moment). Then release the remaining pressure manually for chicken breast / white rice version. Or let pressure release naturally completely on its own for chicken thigh / brown rice version (might take about 15-20 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 what to pay attention to in order to succeed to avoid any error messages from the pot.
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Paula says
This is a staple in our home. Always full of flavour and so easy to make.
I NEVER get the burn issue, maybe I’m sautéing quicker (onions in as soon as I see sign of ghee melting?) and I add the garlic for 1min when the onions are almost done and quickly add the rice and stir for a bit.
Love love love
David Moore says
Can I use Par Boiled rice? How would this affect cook time?
Lorena Grater says
I haven’t tried it myself but I’ve had others tell me they cook parboiled rice for 7 minutes on high pressure + full natural pressure release. So I would try 7 minutes.
DP says
This came out Incredible! And so simple ! My instant pot always gives me a burn signal, so I followed your directions to prep everything before, deglaze and put everything in as fast as possible. I was waiting for a burn signal because of the reviews I read and it never came! Was so delicious and my family loved it. Also I didn’t have so much cilantro so I blended it all with the stems and the flavor of the cilantro is so nice! Wish I had extra for garnish. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Lorena Grater says
OMG YAAAAAY!!! You cannot even imagine how happy this makes me. I’ve been adding notes and more notes and more notes to this recipe in the hopes I could help people avoid that pesky burn warning. I’m so so so happy it worked!!!
Elaine says
I wonder if you used frozen chicken breasts and brown rice that had pre- soaked 8 hours and was drained precooking if you might not like it. After soaking and draining the rice I add water to the proper volume of both the rice + liquid. Light fluffy brown rice. Love my instant pot. The rest I do the same.
Allen says
Does the chicken have to be thawed out to cook WITH rice, or can it be frozen?
Lorena Grater says
I’ve never tried this recipe with frozen chicken so I don’t know if it works, I’m sorry. I’ve tried pressure cooking frozen chicken in another recipe before and not a fan at all of the texture so I never tried again.
Lisa says
If I use boneless skinless chicken thighs does it change the time???
Lorena Grater says
No, same timing :)
Megan Lonsdale says
After three burn warnings, I’m giving up and putting this in the oven. I’d pass on this one! And, I definitely didn’t have any stickage after sauteeing the onion and garlic, so that wasn’t the issue…
Lorena Grater says
I am so sorry to hear that Megan. Once you had the burn warning once you can’t get the pot up to pressure again it will most definitely keep giving you the burn warning every time. You have to avoid the warning from the beginning. Did you watch the video? Did you work fast once the water was added? Did you put the lid on fast enough so not too much water evaporates in the meantime? Did you make sure to add veggies and chicken “on top”, not mixed in?
Kressy says
Could you share the crockpot directions. Thanks
Cassie says
What would you do different if you want to double the recipe?
Lorena Grater says
You simply double all ingredients but keep the pressure cooking time the exact same :)
Amanda Langpap says
Have made this numerous times and it is always delicious. I always have the cilantro water ready and everything chopped, chicken season and ready to go before I start cooking anything, just like your video. We absolutely love it!
Jana says
I’ve tried this recipe twice and got the burn warning both times. First time I just ended up finishing it on the stove, second time I just kept adding water and scraping. I can’t give up because the taste is so good! But the other methods are ruining the mouth feel a little from what’s intended – first was decent but second was soggy. I’m trying it again this weekend and just going to do the sautéing in a pan on the stove and then add all to the IP. I don’t mind that it defeats the purpose of ease a little. I really want this to work!! 🤞🏼
Lorena Graeter says
Hi Jana, I’m so sad to read you had the burn warning. Quite a few people have the exact same problem. I have tried to replicate and mine (I have two) have never shown me the burn warning with anything. So I don’t know if it’s just faulty (lol) or simply not as sensitive. I recommend you have everything on hand in bowls so you can work really really fast. Scrape the pot or even deglaze really really well once you finished browning the onion and then remove the inner pot and add rice and cilantro water and give a quick stir, then add veggies and chicken and then place the pot in the instant pot again and close it. I’d love to know if this worked. Did you watch the video? I add everything very fast and don’t let any liquid evaporate.
Frauke Facchini says
Hi Lorena,
What would be a good and flavorful substitute for the cilantro? Unfortunately, we have that gene that makes cilantro taste like soap. Parsley or a mix of parsley and basil or a little sage mixed in?
Thank you,
Frauke
Lorena Graeter says
Hi Frauke, I recommend basil only. Parsley in such big amounts can be pretty bitter. Basil will be perfect though.
Mike Gray says
I am a disabled bachelor that has outlived all estimates of my life span so “healthy” is of zero interest to me!
When able, one of my favorite meals was 4 Tyson boneless, skinless breasts, cup of white rice, can of condensed cream of mushroom and same of celery. 1 or 2 packs Onion Soup mix and 6-8 hours in the crockpot. Heavenly, IMHO, but portions are too large and cook time a real bummer.
It would be so wonderful for this dying old man to be able to enjoy this again now and then!!!!!!!!!!!!! Need to figure out how to adapt to a 6 q Instant Pot!!!!!!!!!!
Any suggestions would surely come from an angel !!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks!
Lorena says
Hi Mike, is the cream of mushroom and celery very thick? Also, how large are the cans? How many ml or oz? Is the end result a risotto-style rice (very creamy and mushy)?
Candace C says
I make this by putting rice on bottom of instant pot, then I put one pack of onion soup mix over the rice. I add 1 cup chicken stock and mix it all together. I then place my chicken on top. I put on can of cream of chicken soup over it all. I cook on high pressure for 8 minutes then let pressure release on its own for then minutes. I then release the pressure, shred the chicken and mix it all together. The rice texture is more creamy. Now, before I start I rinse the rice, then it is not as creamy. Hope this works for you.
Lisa Nelson says
I got the “burn” notice which was really disappointing. I read the comments, but I still wasn’t sure what to do. I added another cup of water and I got the burn notice again but this time it cooked the food. The chicken was dry. There wasn’t a ton of seasoning (I added extra salt and pepper). My husband had seconds though. I would rate this as just okay and likely wouldn’t make it again.
Lorena says
I’m so sorry to read that :( I’m not entirely sure why some people get the burn warning. I’ve never gotten the burn warning with either of my two instant pots with none of my recipes so I can’t replicate and figure out what it could be. Were your onions burnt to the bottom? Did you work fast after adding the rice and liquid to put on the lid really really quickly? Salt and pepper are essential for all my recipes. Salt is what makes or breaks a recipe. I just cannot recommend a certain amount because everybody has different taste and what I consider “just right” might not be enough for some and too much for others.