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.
yourface says
Ditto on the burn notice, need to stay away from any recipes where people mention that as wasting food, time and money isnt cool.
Jess says
I adore this recipe, I’ve made it numerous times and it always turns out perfectly for me, in my instant pot. I have even forgotten to rinse the rice a time or two!! However, I always deglaze it, hardcore, which I think makes all the difference in getting the burn error on the Instant Pot. Bonus, the house smells glorious!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
I am so glad you are enjoying it, Jess!💖
Cindy Rodriguez says
This was a hit!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
So glad to hear it, Cindy!👏🏻
Bianca O'Brien says
I followed the updated directions to a tee but still got the burn notice. It hadn’t even come up to pressure yet! I released the valve, added broth, and scraped the bottom of the pot well. I could tell there was no way their was enough liquid to finish and the rice seemed soft already, so I decided to taste it. It was basically cooked through (again, pot had not even started coming time). So I took it all out and finished scraping the bottom and then put it back into the pot and shredded the chicken. Miraculously it turned out! Hubby liked it but I felt like it was missing something 🙁 And for all the stress this meal caused, it wasn’t worth it to me & that’s why I tasted it at 2 starts. Seems like it’s just an unpredictable recipe. I like the idea of it, but it needs some tweaks!
Cin says
Followed the directions and got the “burned food” notice. Had to take everything out to scrape the bottom of the pot. Ended up with sticky rice and not a lot of flavor. Could have used another chicken bullion cube. What a disappointing mess.
Lu says
I used dried thyme because that was all I had on hand, and it was delicious! My boyfriend went back for 3rds. Thanks for this recipe.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay, Lu! Glad y’all enjoyed it.🙌🏻
Farheen says
i used less carrots, no mushrooms (didn’t have any) and white basmati rice with 3 chicken thighs and same amount of broth and timings, came out perfectly. going to keep it in rotation, thank you!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
So glad you enjoyed it!💖
Deb S. says
If I halved the recipe would you recommend the same cook times?
Thanks!
Rachel Findley says
Do you think brown rice would work? How would you adjust?
Jan Penovich says
I love this recipe. Easy and I don’t know why it burns for some people. I’ve made it several times. (I use rosemary instead of thyme but other than that it’s the same recipe) It didn’t burn even before you made adjustments to the broth and pressure release.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
I am so glad you are enjoying it, Jan!💖 I sure wish I could figure out why people are having issues.🤷🏼♀️
Connie says
I have one of the 8qt burning IPs. It has been a problem from the start and many people say that they have had an older one and a newer one and the newer one works completely differently. Every little thing causes the burn message. IP support was of no help. Told me to put more water in and/or to do pot in pot. The problem is that more water didn’t work and pot-in-pot is a pain. But here is my method for rice + chicken recipes.
Follow the directions for the recipe for the rice and sauce in the small pot (Use a metal small pot for sauteing. In the small pot you should have: liquid (enough for rice 1:1 or 1:1.25 depending on the rice) any seasonings, rice (rinsed works best), and any vegetables. The liquid should completely cover the rice.
Layering in the big pot goes like this: 2+ cups water, trivet, chicken breasts or thighs (uncooked but not frozen), and then just pot the small pot on top. Seal and pressure cook for the time in the recipe. No burning.
You can do similar for pasta but since I am gluten free I can’t give suggestions as mine will be completely different from others.