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
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Sally says
Hi there, should I cook longer if the chicken is frozen? Or defrost first?
Also, I have an Instant Pot that just get easily gets burn warnings. It seems like some do and some don’t – probably a heating element error or something because my friends have even tried mine in disbelief and it burns for them, too. I appreciate the tips to avoid that – I’ve destroyed many prior meals because I have one of the finicky ones!!
Lorena Grater says
I recommend defrosting the chicken first. Oh yes, some Instant Pots are really “moody”. In that case I always recommend frying the onion/garlic in a pan instead of the pot and then add all ingredients to the cold pot.
Lora says
The prep time on this was way off. 5 minutes? Took me well over an hour. That needs to be changed.
Lorena Grater says
Did you use a pressure cooker? And did you wait for full natural pressure release? In an hour the food will burn in the pressure cooker.
Eli says
She was stating that prep took an hour, not the cooking time
Big D says
Made this recipe for the first time. It was delicious! I liked the details about how to stack the food so that it didn’t burn – that should help me in other recipes to. Thanks!
Heather Cook says
Hi, One of the changes I have made is incorporating black forbidden rice in my diet because of obesity. As I noted in your chart for cooking different rices, this rice takes longer. Can I sub black rice & just increase the cooking time?
Keryn says
Hi, just wondering if this can be done in a slow cooker? I don’t have a instapot. I do have a thermablend maybe this is similiar?
Lorena Grater says
https://greenhealthycooking.com/crock-pot-chicken-and-rice/
RW says
How to amend for cooking in slow cooker/crock pot?
Lorena Grater says
https://greenhealthycooking.com/crock-pot-chicken-and-rice/
Loretta says
This recipe is DELICIOUS! Loads of flavor! Made for the first time tonight. Hungry eaters so doubled the recipe of boneless chicken thighs (2.5 lbs) and brown basmati rice (2 cups) in a 6 qt. Instant Pot. Saw in previous comments to cook 2 minutes longer for basmati rice so cooked 24 minutes. Cooked perfectly! Once everything is chopped, meat seasoned and ingredients all lined up and ready, went together very quick and easy. Watch the video she offers. Will help the process go more smoothly. Done and DONE!
Paula says
Love this recipe, a staple at home for sure!!
Marie says
Followed the instructions perfectly including reading all the tips about burn warning. Nope. Burned. Rice to liquid ratio isn’t right. Ruined dinner.
Lorena Grater says
I’m really sorry to read that. It seems like some Instant Pots are especially finicky. I have 2 Instant Pots and have never gotten the burn warning on either of them no matter what I do so it’s super hard to recreate the problem The rice to liquid ratio is exactly as needed. In my Instant Pot Rice post I go into the science of rice cooking and have nothing but 5-star reviews from people. Everybody is successful with the 1:1 ratio. Unfortunately, this chicken and rice recipe is the problem for some people and I just cannot pin point why. I’m really sorry your dinner was ruined I wish I could be of more help.
Herve says
I’ve done this recipe numerous times and never burned it. Curious. Are you at a high elevation?
Experienced cook says
I did not find it flavorful. Will have to figure out how to fix! Smells good while cooking but very flat
Lorena Grater says
Did you add enough salt and pepper? Both spices are crucial to make it flavorful. If it is bland you did not add enough seasoning.
Elena says
Can I use chicken breast with bone and brown rice?
Lorena Grater says
I don’t recommend it as brown rice needs 22 minutes on high pressure and chicken breast dry out after such long pressure cooking times, regardless of if they’re attached to the bone still or not.
Paula says
My instant pot says it must have a least 2 cups of liquid…..this recipe doesn’t have enough liquid. What do I do?
Lorena Grater says
If you have an 8-quart you need at least 2 cups yes, so you’d have to double the recipe. A 6-quart comes to pressure with just 1 cup.
Cynthia says
This dish was so flavorful and delicious, we shared with family and friends and all are in agreement that it is a recipe to keep and treasure. Thank you Lorena!
Nancy says
If I wanted to make the recipe(s) with 1/2 the rice, would I then just use 1/2 the water? The recipe sounds wonderfully flavor filled.
Lorena Grater says
Yes, you would have to reduce the water as well and keep the 1:1 ratio. I’m not sure if it will work though. Every time I try to cook less than 1 cup of rice it doesn’t work in my Instant Pot. The good thing is, this recipe is great for freezing. You could make a regular batch and then freeze half for another day.
Jennie says
Lorena, do you think that using long grain rice vs basmati for this recipe would be doable – if so, any changes necessary? We have everything else on the ingredient list in house (yaay), so I’m eager to give it a go! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. :)
Cheers
Lorena Grater says
Hey Jennie, yes absolutely. No problem at all. Simply add 2 minutes of high-pressure cooking time to ensure the brown rice is properly cooked through.