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Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

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Instant Pot chicken and rice is a delicious and simple supper that you can make all in one pot. 👉🏻Pin this recipe here.👈🏻

Instant Pot chicken and rice

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!
Instant Pot chicken and rice cooked in one pot

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.

Instant Pot chicken and rice cooked in one pot

Use two forks to shred the chicken, and stir the pot. It is really tender and will basically fall apart.

Instant Pot chicken and rice cooked in one pot two hands shredding chicken with forks


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

Can I use frozen chicken thighs?

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.

Can I use another type of rice?

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.

Can I use chicken breasts in this recipe?

I probably would not recommend it. Why? Chicken breasts have a significantly lesser cook time, and they would likely dry out.

Can you put raw chicken in the Instant Pot?

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.

Can I add parmesan cheese?

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

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.

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Instant Pot chicken and rice
4.14 from 90 votes
Print

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!

Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword instant pot chicken and rice
Prep Time 12 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Time to come to pressure 8 minutes
Total Time 32 minutes
Servings 5
Calories 340 kcal
Author Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy

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

  1. Generously salt and pepper your chicken thighs.

  2. Spray the inner pot with cooking spray, or add the oil. 

  3. Using the sauté setting (normal level), preheat until the display reads “hot.”
  4. Use tongs to put chicken in the pan (watch out for oil splatter!)

  5. Sear chicken thighs, 4 minutes on each side.

  6. Remove and set aside chicken on a plate.

  7. 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.

  8. Add shallot, mushroom and carrots, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

  9. Add garlic, and continue to cook for another minute.

  10. Add remaining chicken stock, rice, thyme and stir together.

  11. Place the chicken thighs on top of the mixture, and do not stir them in.

  12. Place the lid on, and lock it, setting the valve to sealing.

  13. 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.

  14. Once any remaining pressure is fully release, remove the lid carefully.

  15. Use two forks to shred the chicken, and stir the pot.
  16. 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).

Nutrition Facts
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
Amount Per Serving
Calories 340 Calories from Fat 36
% Daily Value*
Fat 4g6%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Cholesterol 86mg29%
Sodium 109mg5%
Potassium 496mg14%
Carbohydrates 51g17%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 2g2%
Protein 22g44%
Vitamin A 4430IU89%
Vitamin C 8mg10%
Calcium 54mg5%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Note: Instant Pot chicken and rice originally appeared on A Pinch of Healthy 11/4/2016.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Courtney says

    5 stars
    This is a family favorite, even my toddler gobbles it up! I probably make it twice a month and I’ve never gotten a burn message.
    Thanks for a delicious recipe!

    Reply

  4. Rachel says

    I really wanted to like this recipe and I wanted to be fair, so I’m actually writing this after my THIRD attempt making it. I’m sorry, this is an utter flop. It’s obvious by the comments that this recipe does NOT work for a majority of the people that try it. The burn warning is completely unavoidable, even after rinsing rice, adding more stock, and changing the pressure release. Not only is dinner completely ruined (burned and mushy rice), but also it’s going to take all night of soaking to get this instant pot clean again. Very frustrating and infuriating. If you can’t figure this out, then why is this recipe still up on your site?

    Reply

    • Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says

      I am so sorry to hear that, Rachel. I can’t figure out why some people have this problem. It is very frustrating for me as well. It is still on my site because most people like it and have been able to make it over and over successfully, including myself and my family. That’s not to say you are doing anything wrong. Are you by chance using an 8 quart? Some people have made it fine in an 8 quart, but most people having trouble seem to be using an 8 qt. That is the only correlation I have been able to find.

      Reply

      • Stacie says

        I found this information:
        If using newer versions of Instant Pot, especially 8-quart capacity models, we recommend removing the inner pot and letting it cool off for 5 to 10 minutes before moving on to the pressure cooking stage. This will help prevent a potential burn warning.
        Hopefully, this will help some people.

        Reply

    • Stephanie Gunnoe says

      I’ve made this recipe successfully a minimum of 12 times. I have an older 6qt instapot. Maybe it’s the larger newer ones that are getting the burn notice.

      Reply

  5. Brittany says

    I used parboiled rice and this turned out perfect. I typically use parboiled in the instant recipes to avoid a burn notice. Obviously this changes the recipe, but it still turned out delicious.

    Reply

  8. Brittany says

    5 stars
    I’ve used this recipe for the last 3 years, it is my go to when I didn’t plan for dinner because I always have the ingredients required handy. I’ve never received a burn notice, but I find that the newer instant users seem to get those notices. I just had to say this recipe is a keeper and depending on our mood I’ll even switch up the rice and use yellow and add more veggies.

    Reply

  9. Theresa says

    4 stars
    I just made this for first time tonight in 6 at instant pot. I used 2 c fluid instead of 1.5 c. I used basmati rice and boneless chicken legs. It turned out very good and was delicious. My friend ate a massive serving and I ate large serving also, and I had enough left to make 2 generous lunches to bring to work. One tip : be sure to mix it up before serving to distribute the flavor, because the shallots and garlic sunk to bottom during cooking. I served broccoli as side dish. Quick dinner.

    Reply

  10. Aja Wong says

    I am making this dish with the precious food I have in the midst of COVID-19 quarantine and the exact same Burn display keeps happening that everyone has mentioned.

    You should take the recipe down. It doesn’t work.

    Reply

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