Instant Pot chicken and rice is a delicious and simple supper that you can make all in one pot. 👉🏻Pin this recipe here.👈🏻
Don’t worry, internet friends! If you do not have an Instant Pot, I already have stove top instructions for this recipe here: one pot chicken and rice.
But if you don’t have an Instant Pot yet…why not? You should really look into getting one. See my full Instant Pot product review video here. But in short, I am loving mine. #NotSponsored
This post may contain affiliate links, which pay a referral fee to me at no additional cost to you. My full affiliate disclosure can be seen here.
Okay, back to this Instant Pot chicken and rice. It is such a quick and easy dinner!
And it’s a complete one pot meal with your protein, starch and veggies all in one pot. True comfort food!
How to make Instant Pot chicken and rice
First, gather your ingredients. For tastiest results, always use the best quality ingredients you have access to.
Ingredients
To make this Instant Pot chicken and rice recipe you will need the following:
- boneless skinless chicken thighs
- cooking spray
- shallots
- carrots
- mushrooms
- garlic
- uncooked white jasmine rice
- chicken stock or broth
- fresh thyme leaves (half the amount of dried works well as a sub)
- salt and pepper
Cooking on sauté
Instant Pot chicken and rice is every bit as good as the original stove top recipe. I did have to strategize a little to get the cooking times for all the ingredients to line up. Here is how I did it.
Generously salt and pepper the raw chicken thighs. Spray the inner pot with cooking spray, or add the oil. Using the sauté setting (normal level), preheat until the display reads “hot.”
Use tongs to put chicken in the pan (watch out for oil splatter!) Sear chicken thighs, 4 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside chicken on a plate.
Add 1/4 cup broth to deglaze the pan, scrape the bits with a wooden spoon (do not skip this step!). If there are any stuck on spots, be sure and lift those away from the pan with a wooden spoon.
Add shallot, mushroom and carrots, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic, and continue to cook for another minute.Add remaining chicken stock, rice, thyme and stir together.
Add chicken on top of the mixture, and do not stir them in.
Pressure cooking
Close the lid and lock it, setting the valve to sealing. Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes, and allow the Instant Pot to release naturally (do not use the quick release lever) for 10 minutes. Quick release the remaining pressure.
Once any remaining pressure is fully release, remove the lid carefully.
Use two forks to shred the chicken, and stir the pot. It is really tender and will basically fall apart.
Serving tips
Sprinkle with some additional fresh thyme or parsley, if you prefer. Serve immediately. You could leave the chicken thighs whole if you prefer, as shown above.
Or you can do what we do at my house and shred them with two forks. Since they are so tender, they are pretty easy to shred.
Preventing scorching
Heads up, I did revise this recipe as of 8/20/2018 after several complaints about scorching and/ or not coming up to pressure.
The remedy? In the revised instructions below I added some additional chicken stock, and I cut off the NPR (natural pressure release) time at ten minutes by quick releasing any remaining pressure, rather than letting it depressurize fully.
It worked out great for me, three times in a row. So I am considering it blog worthy to publish these updated instructions.
I love that this worked so well in the pressure cooker! Y’all let me know if you try it.
FAQ’s for Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
I would not recommend it. Some people have had good luck with this, but I have had mixed results. For best results, I recommend fully thawed chicken.
Yes, as long as it has a similar cook time to jasmine rice. For example, white basmati rice should work well in this recipe. Brown rice may not work as well since it typically has a longer cook time.
I probably would not recommend it. Why? Chicken breasts have a significantly lesser cook time, and they would likely dry out.
Yes! I have many recipes that do this. For this particular recipe, I recommend the sauté as written in the recipe instructions. This will give you best results.
Of course! The dish is already delicious as is, so don’t worry if you do not have any. But if you want to add some, it will be delicious.
More Instant Pot Recipes You May Enjoy
- Instant Pot whole “rotisserie” chicken
- Instant Pot “baked” sweet potatoes
- Instant Pot classic beef chili
- Instant Pot red beans and rice
- Instant Pot chicken breasts
- Instant Pot chicken thighs
- Instant Pot pasta e fagioli soup
- Instant Pot hard boiled eggs
- Instant Pot spaghetti (one pot)
- Instant Pot chicken recipes
- Instant Pot oatmeal (pot in pot method)
See ALL of my Instant Pot recipes here.
Tools Used to Make This Recipe
This post may contain affiliate links, which pay a referral fee to me at no additional cost to you. My full affiliate disclosure can be seen here.
- Instant Pot – my favorite electric pressure cooker
- Cutting board
- Chef’s knife
- Wooden spatula and/or wooden spoon
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Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
Instant Pot chicken and rice is a delicious and simple supper that you can make all in one pot. It is SO delicious and easy!
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs (up to 1.5 pounds works)
- cooking spray (I used avocado oil spray, but a tablespoon of oil of your choice works)
- 3 small shallots diced
- 1 cup carrots diced
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 2 cloves medium fresh garlic minced
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked white jasmine rice rinsed and drained (Do NOT skip the rinsing. Rice will likely scorch if not rinsed!)
- 2 cups chicken stock or broth divided ( I use 1/4 cup for deglazing the pan)
- 2 Tablespoons fresh thyme leaves chopped and divided (or 2 teaspoons dried)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
-
Generously salt and pepper your chicken thighs.
-
Spray the inner pot with cooking spray, or add the oil.
-
Using the sauté setting (normal level), preheat until the display reads “hot.”
-
Use tongs to put chicken in the pan (watch out for oil splatter!)
-
Sear chicken thighs, 4 minutes on each side.
-
Remove and set aside chicken on a plate.
-
Add 1/4 cup broth to deglaze the pan, scrape the bits with a wooden spoon (do not skip this step!). If there are any stuck on spots, be sure and lift those away from the pan with a wooden spoon.
-
Add shallot, mushroom and carrots, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
-
Add garlic, and continue to cook for another minute.
-
Add remaining chicken stock, rice, thyme and stir together.
-
Place the chicken thighs on top of the mixture, and do not stir them in.
-
Place the lid on, and lock it, setting the valve to sealing.
-
Cook on manual high pressure for 8 minutes, and allow the Instant Pot to release naturally (do not use the quick release lever) for 10 minutes. Quick release the remaining pressure.
-
Once any remaining pressure is fully release, remove the lid carefully.
-
Use two forks to shred the chicken, and stir the pot.
-
Serve immediately.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Do NOT skip rinsing the rice first! This will remove some of the starch, and will prevent scorching/ sticking to the bottom.
Nutritional information is approximate and was calculated using a recipe nutrition label generator.
I do not recommend using frozen chicken for this recipe.
If you want to substitute types of rice, make sure the substitute you choose has a similar cook time to white jasmine rice (ex: White basmati should work well in this recipe.)
If you are using very large chicken thighs, you may want to cut them in half. Just for reference, my thighs were about 4 thighs equaling 1 pound of weight (about 4 to 5 ounces each). It doesn’t have to be exact, but I just wanted to give y’all a heads up, since I have seen some really huge thighs at the store (ex of huge: 2 thighs equaling 1 pound of weight).
Note: Instant Pot chicken and rice originally appeared on A Pinch of Healthy 11/4/2016.
Alycia says
I’ve made this quite a few times, and my family loves it, but the last few times I made it I get the burn message. I don’t do anything different. I always have to finish it off in the oven which is super inconvenient. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong? 🤷🏻♀️
Danielle Terry says
Can minute rice be used! It’s all I have in hand atm.
Suzie beard says
Have made this Twice now. Delicious!! My husband wants it twice a week. Fine with me because it’s so easy to make. But I need to double or triple the rice. How much pressure time do I need to add?
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Amazing to hear, Suzie!💖🙌🏻 Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating.
Jessica Aboughoushe says
Husband LOved this recipe…literally ate sooo much. So thank you!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay, Jessica! Thank you for that feedback.💖
Yukti Arora says
so tasty rice recipe i loved it, so keep posting.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay, glad to hear you enjoyed it!💖
Debbie says
It turned out amazing! I followed the recipe
Word for word but i also got the burn message and used additional broth and tried again but still got a burn message. It was all cooked tho and I love how the instant pot sends you that burn message before the entire
Thing burns! 😃 I just know I need to use more broth but the flavor and taste is amazing! 😋 Pretty good for my 4th time using the instant pot 💕😍
Nancy says
This was the first time I used the instant pot and I chose this recipe. It turned out great. I would like suggestions on what other vegetables can Be added with the cook time. I read that someone added celery successfully. What other vegetables can be added?
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay Nancy! I am so glad you enjoyed it. I have not tested it with other veggies, but let me know if you try something else.
Tandy says
this was a little drier than i’d like for it to be. maybe better with more liquid added?
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Hi Tandy! Yep, I would recommend to just just add a bit more stock next time👌🏻
James says
I really enjoyed making this recipe and i hoped i could add some of my own experience.
1) Choice of rice – I tried basmati which cooked a little too quickly and became a bit mushy. I’ve experimented since and found that this cooks to perfection in 4 minutes, so i’d definitely try again with jasmine rice.
2) The keep warm function – a fickle function when trying to have no excess liquid remaining. This will cause the rice to burn so it’s worth switching it off for this one.
3)elevation – The general rule of thumb is that for every 1000ft above the first 2000ft above sea level to increase your cooking times by 5%. So if the recipe is written at sea level for 10 minutes of cook time and you were for example living in Albuquerque, NM (~5000ft), you might find that 11.5 minutes would work better.
Thanks again for the recipe
Mike Ritchie says
This was our first recipe in our new Instant Pot and it turned out beautifully. We used about 1.3lbs of chicken and an extra 1/4 cup of broth (added two full cups after the quarter cup used for the veggies). No burning, and everything was great. Compliments from the family!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay Mike! 🙌🏻 I am so very happy to hear that! Enjoy that Instant Pot. Thank you for taking the time to circle back and leave a rating.🙏🏻
Thomas says
Got the burn message as well. I followed the instructions exactly as you wrote them.