Your dinner nights will come together effortlessly with this easy Instant Pot chicken and rice recipe.
This method quickly cooks up tender and plump rice that’s infused in warm flavors and accompanied by shredded chicken and crunchy veggies that makes each mouthful an exciting adventure. Made with pantry staples, it’s a budget-friendly comfort food that you can easily whip up for everyone to enjoy.
Is This Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Healthy?
Yes, it is.
We paid special attention to the ingredients and their portions so that important dietary components don’t exceed standard limits. As a result, there is only around 1.7 g saturated fat and 549 mg sodium in each 483-calorie serving.
Additionally, with chicken as the main ingredient, the dish provides approximately 30 g complete protein—a relatively decent amount. Chicken is also a good source of other essential nutrients, such as vitamins B6 and B12, selenium, zinc, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and many others.
Along with the chicken and rice, we also included bell peppers, carrots, and green peas. These veggies and legumes supply you with dietary fiber, known for being beneficial to colonic health and lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Ingredients You'll Need
You won’t have any trouble gathering the ingredients for this recipe—you’ll probably find most of them already available in your fridge and pantry! Take a look at this list to see what you’ll need:
- Chicken: We went with chicken breasts, but you can also use the thighs, tenders, or any other meat cut that you prefer. Just make sure they’re boneless and skinless to minimize the preparation as this recipe requires shredded meat.
- Rice: You can use any of your preferred varieties. We went with long-grain white rice, which is long and slim with a fluffy yet slightly chewy texture.
- Vegetables and Legumes: This recipe is quite flexible, so you can use anything that you have at your disposal. Since they will be slow-cooked, we recommend something with a firm texture so that they won’t turn completely mushy. We used red bell peppers, carrots, and green peas, for crunchy bites and a mild sweetness.
- Liquids: Liquid is an absolute essential when it comes to cooking rice. While water is the most common choice, we thought chicken broth and white wine would be preferable since they could infuse the dish with a subtle warmth and a delicate fragrance.
- Aromatics: This is another essential for this recipe. The thyme, garlic, and onions’ sharp and peppery aromas give the dish a fragrant undertone that deepens the overall flavors.
- Spices: Since chicken and rice are pretty mild-flavored, we added salt, black pepper, paprika, and chili powder to the dish. This is just enough to enhance the natural flavors and induce a subdued spicy kick without making it too overwhelming.
What Types of Rice Work Best for This Dish?
Almost any rice variety would work for this recipe, although you might need to adjust the cooking time accordingly. Since there are quite a few to choose from, we’ve narrowed it down to these three for you to consider:
- Basmati Rice
You might like this variety if you prefer your rice to be al dente and separated, but still a little tender. This Indian rice is known for its nutty and floral notes, giving the dish a subtle fragrant undertone that goes especially well with intense flavors.
- Jasmine Rice
This widely popular type of rice is tender, fluffy, and slightly sticky. As the name suggests, it carries a delicate floral fragrance, accompanied by a pleasantly mild sweetness.
- Brown Rice
Brown rice has a deeper flavor profile than white rice, with a more earthy and nutty taste. Texture-wise, it’s a little chewy with a firm bite.
It’s important to note that it does take a bit longer to cook than white rice—almost twice the time—and requires more liquid.
How to Store and Reheat the Leftovers
Instant Pot chicken and rice can last for up to 3 days when kept in airtight containers in the fridge. You can reheat the leftovers on the stovetop over medium heat, or just simply use the microwave.
What to Serve With
With its filling quality and extraordinary taste, this dish makes an excellent main dish. Serve it with one of the following salads to create a flavorful meal for all your busy weeknights:
More Delicious Instant Pot Chicken Recipes to Try
This soup is creamy, rich, and bursting with flavors and textures from chewy-soft chicken, fluffy dumplings, and fork-tender root vegetables. It’ll warm you up and comfort your soul.
Puns aside, this crack chicken recipe is pretty tasty. It's a chicken sandwich with burger buns, shredded chicken tossed in a cream sauce, and cheese. We think the burgers would be better with a mayo slaw, but they were already delicious.
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe
Your dinner nights will come together quickly with this easy-peasy budget-friendly Instant Pot chicken and rice recipe. This method cooks up tender and plump rice that's infused with warm flavors and accompanied by shredded chicken and crunchy veggies that make each mouthful an exciting adventure.
- cook TIME 28 mins
- prep TIME 7 mins
- total TIME 35 mins
- COURSE Main dish
- CUISINE American
- SERVINGS servings
- CALORIES 483 kcal
INGREDIENTS
- 14 oz skinless boneless chicken breast
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
- 4 oz carrot (diced)
- 2 oz red bell pepper (diced)
- 2 oz onion (diced)
- 2 oz green peas
- 1 fl oz white wine
- 1 tbsp garlic (minced)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups unsalted chicken broth
- 1 tsp thyme (chopped)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tbsp parsley (chopped)
INSTRUCTIONS
Prep:
Dice the carrots: Cut off the ends then use a peeler to remove the skin. Crosswise cut the carrot into thirds then slice each third into strips. Gather the strips, turn them on a horizontal position and slice them crosswise into small cubes.
Dice the bell peppers: Lengthwise slice the sides of the bell peppers, discard the core, then cut each slice into large strips. Line the strips horizontally and slice them into large cubes.
Dice the onion: Slice the onion in half lengthwise then lay the cut-side down vertically and thinly slice, leaving the root intact. Turn the onion horizontally and push the knife crosswise in between the slices. Finally, thinly slice it lengthwise into small cubes.
Mince the Garlic: Bash the side of the knife onto the cloves to remove the skin, then slice them into thin slices. Chop with a rocking motion over the sliced pile until the pieces are finely minced.
Chop the thyme: Remove the leaves from the stems then gather those leaves into a pile and rock a knife in a chopping motion over them a few times until they are finely chopped.
Chop the parsley: Slice off the stems then repeat the same motion as the thyme.
Cook:
Sauté the aromatics: Set Instant Pot to “Sauté” mode, wait for it to heat up (should take around 3 minutes) then add 2 oz onion and 1 tbsp garlic and sauté with 2 tbsp olive oil for 2 minutes until fragrant.
Add the veggies & seasonings: Add 4 oz carrot, 2 oz red bell pepper, 2 oz green peas, 1 tsp thyme, 1 fl oz white wine, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 1/2 tsp chili powder, and 1 tsp paprika and continue stir-frying for 2 minutes.
Add the rice and broth: Add 1 1/2 cup uncooked long-grain rice and continue stirring for around 30 seconds. Then add 2 cups unsalted chicken broth and swirl around to distribute the broth evenly.
Add the chicken: Add 14 oz skinless boneless chicken breast then close the lid, seal the valve, and pressure cook on low pressure for 12 minutes.
Shred the chicken: When the timer ends, move the valve to “Venting” and let the steam release for 5 minutes or longer, if needed. Once all the steam has been released, carefully open the lid, and shred the chicken with forks. Gently fluff the food to mix everything together.
Garnish and serve: Garnish with 2 tbsp parsley and serve.
NUTRITION
Tuyet Pham
Head Chef, Culinary Consultant
Luna Regina
Writer, Author
- SriyaniQuick and flavorful chicken rice.