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This Instant Pot chicken and rice is just absolutely dreamy. It’s rich and creamy but SO quick and easy to make. The whole family will love it, and it’s a true one-pot meal! With Parmesan cheese and a splash of lemon, this weeknight family dinner recipe is inspired by my favorite risotto recipe but with none of the hard work required!

Before You Get Started
- This recipe requires long-grain white rice. Do not use brown rice, instant rice, or minute rice!
- What to Expect: This Instant Pot chicken and rice will not have the texture or consistency of fried rice or rice pilaf. It’s more similar to a risotto – but it’s not quite a risotto, either. It’s thick and creamy, so if that’s not what you’re looking for, I’d recommend a different recipe.
How to Make This Recipe
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Saute and Sear.
With the Instant Pot set to Sauté mode, melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, then add minced garlic and chopped onion. Sauté the aromatics for 5 minutes or so, until the onions are soft and translucent. At that point, add the bite-sized pieces of chicken and sear them, stirring occasionally, until they’re opaque on all sides.
Pressure Cook.
Pop the lid on the Instant Pot (make sure the vent is set to the “Sealing” position!) and set it to Manual High Pressure mode with an 8-minute cook time. The pressure cooker will take a few minutes (up to 15 depending on how full it is) to pressurize and then the cook time will begin.
Natural Release.
When the 8-minute cook time ends, Natural Release the pressure from the Instant Pot for only 2 minutes.
Cheryl’s Tip: If you let the pressure Natural Release for more than 2 minutes, you’ll end up with overcooked rice that has a “gluey”, sticky texture. Time it very carefully!
Quick Release.
After 2 minutes, immediately Quick Release any remaining pressure. Be careful, though – all the steam that escapes from the Instant Pot will be really hot and can burn you!
Stir and Adjust.
Stir the mixture well, then add parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper to taste. You can add a little more lemon juice, too, if you like. When you’re happy with the flavor, divide the chicken and rice into your preferred portion sizes and serve warm!


What I Love About This Recipe
- Thick and creamy rice, with melty Parmesan, tangy lemon juice, and perfectly cooked chicken. This recipe is the ultimate comfort food.
- This chicken and rice is so rich and delicious, but so easy to make! Seriously, this is absolutely one of my favorite Instant Pot chicken recipes.
- This recipe only needs a handful of ingredients that you may already have in your house. So simple, nothing complicated.
Recipe Variations
- For Firmer Rice: Use 3 cups of chicken broth if you want a chicken and rice that’s a little firmer, with more-separate grains. It won’t have the texture or consistency of fried rice or rice pilaf, but it won’t be as wet as if you used 4 cups of broth.
- For Creamier Rice: Use 4 cups of broth if you want a creamier, soupier consistency and softer grains of rice. It’ll be more similar to risotto than if you use only 3 cups of broth. (It won’t be risotto, though! If you’re looking for a risotto, try my Instant Pot Risotto or my Best EVER Stovetop Risotto.) I typically use 4 cups of broth when I make this recipe, and the photos in this post show the Instant Pot chicken and rice made with 4 cups of broth.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.

Dreamy Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
Equipment
- 6-quart Instant Pot
- Large wooden spoon or silicone spatula
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts approximately 2–3 large chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup chopped white onion approximately 1 medium onion
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic approximately 4 large cloves
- 1 ½ cups long-grain white rice rinsed, see Notes
- 3-4 cups chicken broth see Notes
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice juice from approximately 1 large lemon
- 1 cup shredded fresh parmesan or grated, at room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt more or less to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper more or less to taste
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Add 4 tablespoons unsalted butter to Instant Pot insert and let butter melt completely.
- When butter has melted, add 1 cup chopped white onion and 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic to insert. Stir to incorporate, then sauté aromatics approximately 5 minutes or until onions are soft and translucent.
- Add 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts to insert. Sauté chicken pieces, stirring occasionally, approximately 5 minutes or until chicken pieces are opaque on all sides.
- Add 1 ½ cups long-grain white rice, 3-4 cups chicken broth (3 cups for firmer rice; 4 cups for softer, soupier rice), and 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice to Instant Pot insert. Stir to fully incorporate ingredients, making sure to scrape bottom of insert to loosen any stuck bits of onion or garlic.
- Secure lid on Instant Pot with valve in Sealing position. Set Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure mode and set cook time to 8 minutes. Instant Pot will pressurize and then 8-minute cook time will begin.
- When 8-minute cook time ends, Natural Release internal pressure 2 minutes. Note: Do not release pressure longer than 2 minutes or rice can overcook.
- After 2-minute Natural Release, carefully Quick Release any remaining pressure and remove lid. Use caution as any escaping steam will be incredibly hot.
- Stir chicken and rice mixture well. Note: If mixture contains excess standing liquid after pressure cooking, set Instant Pot to Sauté mode and stir mixture until excess liquid has fully incorporated into rice.
- Taste mixture and add 1 cup shredded fresh parmesan, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Stir until additions are well incorporated, then taste mixture again and add more parmesan, salt, pepper, or lemon juice if desired.
- When satisfied with flavor of chicken and rice mixture, portion mixture into preferred servings. Garnish with additional parmesan cheese if desired and serve warm.
- Chicken Broth: For a firmer rice and more-dry/less-creamy consistency, use 3 cups of chicken broth. For a softer rice and soupier consistency, use 4 cups.
- Rice: Be sure to use white rice for this recipe! Brown rice is not recommended since it would take about 10 minutes longer, which would overcook the chicken. Do not use instant or minute rice.
- Regarding the Texture: This recipe will not give you rice with a texture like fried rice or rice pilaf. It will be more similar to a risotto.
- Overcooked Rice: If your rice has a sticky or “gluey” texture, you likely overcooked the rice, probably by letting the pressure Natural Release for more than 2 minutes.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Tag @40aprons on Instagram and be sure to leave a review on the blog post!
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What size is your Instapot? Wanting to double the recipe but I’m not sure if I’ll have enough room.
Be careful not to overfill your Instant Pot! The liquid and food bits will come out with the pressure release if too full and make a BIG mess! If you had to, you could keep the first batch warm while a second batch cooks.
Amazing flavor but mine came out like complete mush.
It sounds like it got overcooked!
Any thoughts on using frozen chicken?
just me and my 5yr old gal. So most all of our meat is frozen. Many thanks.
If you could thaw it the night before, that would be best for this recipe. If not, we have an Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Breast recipe that’s AMAZING for quick frozen chicken meals: https://40aprons.com/instant-pot-frozen-chicken-breast/
I used one thawed frozen bone in chicken breast which I boned. After this breast cooked I tossed in a Costco can of cooked chicken breast since I was short on meat. I doubled the garlic, since I like a lot of flavor. The only other adaptation that I did was use Better Than Broth for the chicken broth as I think it has more flavor.
All that said, it was a pretty good recipe. Fairly easy and quick. The texture is beautiful. It has a very mild flavor even with the changes that I made. I used a fairly aged Parmesan from Whole Foods so that had about as much flavor as you can get from a parm. I would think that kids would love this as it’s very creamy and mild. I love the texture and it’s kind of like a lazy risotto with no stirring, but you sacrifice a lot of flavor for that convenience. Still though, two thumbs up for a weeknight!
Thanks for the glowing review Morgen!
So simple to make and delicious! I added a little extra lemon and then basil at the very end. Perfection!
Thanks Amanda! Basil would be a great addition to this.
Is it supposed to be watery once done?? Haven’t added the park yet. Not sure how to fix.
Sometimes it definitely has a lot of liquid after cooking in the IP, but we just turn our IPs to “sauté mode” and cook until it thickens up a bit. We hope you will try it again!
I shortened the cooking time to 8 minutes, based on comments that it was too long. I used rinsed jasmine rice, not sure if that mattered, but it was SO gummy and overcooked. The flavor was good but needs less cooking time.
Making this soon! If I wanted to add mixed veggies, when should I at them?
If you’ve already cooked them, I would add them at the very end.
Made this today!!
We all loved it!!
Thank you for sharing!
So glad you loved this!
Just made this. Flavor good but rice mushy. Any idea how to resolve this? Thank you.
If the rice is too overcooked, shorten the cooking time! As long as your chicken is cooked through and the rice isn’t crunchy, you’re good to go.
I made this tonight for the first time, rice is mushy & its a little soupy. Good flavor though.
Thanks Sherry! This one can get a little overcooked if you’re not careful, which would result in extra mushy rice.
Making this now hope it turns out as good as the reviews. Side note after clicking submit on the news letter I’m getting page not found.
Uh oh! We’ll take a look into it. I know the mailing list website we used has been doing maintenance this week.
Pulled out pork by accident still used recipe with a few subs. No lemon juice so i used a squirt of mustard. I cant wait to try chicken next time. But even with pork and other substitues delicious.
Pork WOULD be great in this!!