Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

Instant Pot Chicken and Rice is a complete meal cooked together. Easy and delicious for weeknight dinner. Using parboiled rice is great for meal prepping as the grains keep separate even after reheating.

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Chicken and Rice is one of those classic combinations that everyone seems to love. And with good reason. Chicken and Rice is delicious, healthy, nutritious and easy enough to make.

Making Chicken and Rice in Instant Pot means that you don’t have to cook rice separately. Electric Pressure Cooker makes the whole meal at the same time. You don’t need to wash multiple pans and watch multiple pots on the stove.

There are many different recipes for Chicken and Rice. My recipe for Instant Pot Chicken and Rice uses bold spices and parboiled rice which results in a unique texture.

Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Ingredients

• Carrot
• Bell pepper
• Onion
• Chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
• Garlic
• Spices (I use: garlic salt, cumin, pepper, paprika, onion powder)
• Parboiled rice (there’s a reason for this kind, I’ll explain below)
• Chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• Broccoli or other vegetables to taste (could use frozen veggies)

How to make Chicken and Rice in Instant Pot

This is a super easy recipe. The most difficult part is prepping the vegetables.

1. Prep all the veggies.
2. Add all the ingredients to Instant Pot.
3. Cook on High Heat for 17 minutes (yes, the timing is high on purpose).
4. Do a quick release.
5. Mix everything up.
6. Add broccoli or frozen veggies, if using, then let stand for 5 minutes before serving

Questions and Answers about Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

Why such a long cooking time?

Skinless and boneless chicken thighs with rice should can be cooked safely in about 4 minutes in Instant Pot (with 10 minutes of natural pressure release). That cooking time results in a firmer texture of chicken.

I personally prefer softer and more fall-apart chicken, so I like cooking it longer. This recipe achieves a very soft chicken texture since it cooks it for 17 minutes.

Why use parboiled rice?

Parboiled rice is the rice that has been partially boiled in the husk. Interestingly enough, even though the parboiled rice is partially boiled, it actually takes longer to cook than the traditional basmati rice.

Since parboiled rice takes longer to cook, it is ideal for the recipes like this one where chicken is also cooked for much longer.

After 17 minutes of cooking, rice is still not mushy and each grain is separate. Parboiled rice has a different texture from basmati rice. It’s more firm and I love using it for variety when I’m tired from Jasmin or Basmati rice.

Fun fact: parboiled rice is similar to brown rice in terms of nutritional value.

Can you use basmati instead of parboiled rice?

I have not tried making this recipe with basmati rice so I don’t know if it would work. My guess that the rice will be very soft, maybe even too soft.

Can you cook for less time?

If you would like to cook for less time, you would want to use Basmati rice instead of parboiled rice. I suggest the same proportions but cook for 4-5 minutes on high pressure and do a 10 minutes natural pressure release.

Ingredients and Variations for Chicken and Rice Recipe

• Carrots
  • This Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe is a play on the traditional Uzbek recipe for Plov. In that recipe, the carrots aren’t diced or grated, they are thickly julienned.
  • If you don’t want to julienne the carrots, feel free to dice.
• Chicken
  • I’m not a big fan of chicken breast so I haven’t tried the recipe with it but my guess is that it’ll work similar.
  • I wouldn’t use bone-in and skin-on chicken as it wouldn’t mix well with the rice.
• Broth
  • You can use either chicken or vegetable broth.
  • I use exclusively Better Than Bouillon brand.

• Spices
  • Feel free to use your favourite spices but the final flavour will be different.
  • I used bold spices like cumin because I was inspired by Uzbek Plov.
  • Use more salt if desired. The amount of salt depends on your taste and also the broth used.
  • I often add barberries to this recipe also. Barberries are tiny dried tangy berries. They plump up during cooking and add a delicious burst of bright flavour to the rice.
• Vegetables
  • I like adding either fresh broccoli or frozen veggies to the cooked meal for extra nutrients.
  • Just mix in, cover with the lid and wait for 5 minutes. The residual heat of the food will soften and cook the veggies.

Equipment to make Chicken and Rice

• Instant Pot. I made this using both Duo and Smart Wifi models.
• In the video you can see that I used Ceramic Insert. It is not required, you can use regular stainless steel insert but I love using my ceramic one.

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