Instant Pot Chicken and Rice is creamy and cheesy with tender morsels of chicken. You will fall in love with the flavors and our garlic secret. This is the quicker and easier version of our wildly popular stovetop chicken and rice recipe. Watch the video tutorial below and you’ll see how easy this is.
We love our instant pot because it produces the same great results in a fraction of the time so you can enjoy dinner fast! Some of our favorites include Instant Pot White Chicken Chili, Instant Pot Bone Broth, IP Corn on the Cob and the quickest Tender Ribs.
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The Secret to the Best Instant Pot Chicken and Rice:
The texture of this Instant Pot Chicken and Rice is almost like a risotto but doesn’t require the tedious stirring for 30 minutes. The flavor is truly memorable and yet this recipe calls for simple ingredients. How? The secret is in using an entire head of garlic.
This Will Transform Your Rice: The garlic head is cut in half so the garlic cloves are exposed. The flavor infuses the rice and then you can remove the head of garlic if you want to, or squeeze the cloves into the rice. The garlic cloves will be melt in your mouth tender and so tasty. We used the same trick to make Instant Pot Beef and Rice (Plov).
Ingredients for Chicken and Rice:
You can use any kind of chicken here: chicken breast, thigh meat or chicken tenders. We prefer chicken tenders because they require very little prep (minimal trimming of fat), and reheat really well. They are also the most tender. We often use the chicken we have on hand.
The best rice for this recipe is jasmine rice (white, long-grain rice). You could also use Basmati or Texmati without adjusting the cooking time. Brown rice like we used in our Instant Pot Rice with Beef (Plov) recipe, would require a longer cooking time.
How to Cook Chicken and Rice in an Instant Pot:
We used a 6 Quart Instant Pot to make chicken and rice. This recipe moves fast so have all of your ingredients prepped and ready before you turn on your instant pot. Chop your onion, grate or julienne your carrots (here’s the julienne slicer we love), half your garlic head.
- Set your instant pot to sautee on high heat, add 2 Tbsp oil and 2 Tbsp butter.
- Add onion, carrots, and salt and saute 5 min.
- Add chicken and salt and saute 5 min.
- Pour in broth and rice and stir. Place halved garlic head cut-side-down.
- Cover with lid and set the lever to sealing position. Cook on manual high pressure 10 minutes with manual pressure release.
Tips for Using an Instant Pot:
First-time users: always read the users manual for your specific instant pot prior to starting since your machine may not operate or look exactly like ours.
- Make sure the rim and rubber seal on your instant pot are clean for the seal to form properly.
- Stir the rice together before turning on to avoid the “burn” notice.
- Remember to set your lever to the stealing position for pressure to build.
- When manually releasing pressure, wear an oven mitt and keep your face away from the hot steam vent.
- I keep a paper towel ready to shield the vent in case it sputters liquid while venting/releasing pressure.
- Always check the pressure indicator on your machine to ensure that the pressure has fully released prior to opening the lid.
- Follow timing instructions precisely and set timers. With pressure cooking it easy to over-cook something if you forget about your pot.
Easy 30-Minute Meals You Will Love:
These are our go-to 30-minute meals that our family-friendly (our kids go back for seconds), and they require minimal prep. These are our favorite, easy chicken dinners for busy weeknights!
- Chicken Pesto Pasta – easy 1-pan dinner
- Beef and Broccoli – with the best sauce
- Philly Cheesesteak – the authentic way
- Chicken Fried Rice – a great way to use leftovers
- Zuppa Toscana – famous restaurant copycat
Watch Natasha Make Chicken and Rice (Instant Pot Style):
This Instant pot chicken and rice recipe will transform dinner for you. It’s one of the easiest and tastiest dinners you’ll make and there’s minimal cleanup because it all comes together in the instant pot!
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Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, thickly grated or julienned
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, or thighs, or tenders (trimmed and cut into 1" pieces)
- 2 tsp sea salt, divided
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, ground
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups Jasmine rice, un-rinsed
- 1 head garlic, unpeeled, cut in half crosswise
- 1/3 cup parsley, finely chopped, plus more to garnish
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
Instructions
- Set a 6 Qt Instant Pot to saute on high heat and add butter, oil, chopped onion, grated or julienned carrots, and 1 tsp salt. Sautee, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until soft and golden.
- Add trimmed, chopped chicken, another 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Sautee, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.
- Add 4 cups chicken broth and 2 cups rice and stir to combine. Cut whole garlic head in half through the cloves and parallel to the base. Place garlic halves on top, cut-side down. Cover and cook on manual high pressure for 10 minutes then quick release remaining pressure.
- Open the lid and stir in 1/2 cup parmesan with 1/3 cup chopped parsley. Serve with more cheese and garnish with parsley if desired.
Nutrition Per Serving
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If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
My family loved this receipt tonight!! It is so buttery and delicious. My husband and I added some sriracha to our portions for a little more kick.
Thanks for a new easy crowd pleaser!
Sounds great, we love adding some hot sauce too in some of our dishes and recipes.
What do you do with the garlic after it’s done cooking? Do you discard it or squeeze it into the rice and chicken?
Hi Amanda, depends on you. You can either discard it or squeeze it for more flavor.
Hi Natasha, for the jasmine rice – do you use a standard 8oz. cup measurement or the 6oz. “rice” cup measurement?
Yes, an 8ounce measuring cup. 🙂
Delicious and so easy! I will add it to my recipe book of awesome options. Thank you!!!!
You’re welcome, Nat! So glad you loved this recipe.
Hi Natasha,
If I double the chicken do I have to adjust time or liquid? Thanks
Hello! I have not tested that to know how to properly adjust the recipe. You’ll have to experiment with it.
Hello, I know this comment is older, but I just made this with double the chicken (accidentally defrosted two packages) and it came out fine as written. If anything, the chicken was a teensy bit dry. Very tasty though!
I don’t have an instant pot. What else can I use to make this recipe?
Hi Susan! You can follow this recipe instead, chicken and rice (one-pot meal)
First time making rice in the pressure cooker and I also added a cup of sliced mushrooms. Surprisingly it came out better than expected. The rice was a little mushy like risotto, but the flavour made up for it. If I make this again I will probably reduce the broth by half a cup. Overall this is a very enjoyable dish, I will be saving this recipe. Thank you Natasha for sharing 😄
Sounds great! Good to know that you liked the result and sure, feel free to reduce the broth on your next try.
I love this! First time cooking, but I changed the recipe a bit. I sautee’d mushrooms, red bell peppers, red onion, broccoli and carrots. And then I added chicken bullion in addition to the chicken broth and chicken. I used jarred minced garlic (still came out fine) I then added a few spices (very minimal additions, not a lot) with Weber’s kickn’ chicken and about a tsp sweet and bright paprika. Gave it a bit of a kick!
Loved being able to have a basis to make it my own! Thank you for sharing!
That’s wonderful, Brittany! I love to hear how my readers recreate these recipes. Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Does anyone know the serving size? I noticed that it’s 375 calories per serving just don’t know how to calculate the size. I LOVE this meal!! I’m counting calories and would love to make this as a part of my meal prep.
Hi Emma, the serving size is about a cup. This recipe serves eight people.
I wonder if you could substitute black rice or wild rice for the white rice.
Hi Carol. You probably could but I have not tested this to advise. You may need to look up instructions for time and water:rice ratio if you are using different rice. Let us know how it turns out if you experiment.
I’m planning to make this tonight but am wondering about the chicken broth amount. Whenever I make plain jasmine rice in my instant pot I use a 1:1 ratio of liquid:rice and it comes out perfectly. I’m hesitant to do a 2:1 ratio of liquid:rice here as I’m afraid the rice will get mushy especially since the chicken will also release juice. Have you ever made it with less broth?
Hi Heather, between the veggies, chicken, and rice, we found that amount to be just right but you could try less if you’d like.
Thanks for another great recipe Natasha! I make this whenever I don’t have a lot of time to cook and it’s so good!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Julia! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
I’ve made this before and my grandchildren loved it. Now, I need to make the version for 16 people as a side dish. Will the 6 qt Instant Pot really hold 8C broth and 4C rice??? Or do I make the 8 person version twice? Thanks.
Hi Richard, I haven’t doubled it, but my readers have, here’s what they had to say: “my kids love it and it doubles easily if you have the bigger cooker. If you don’t have the cheese it still makes a tasty dish. It can also be easily modified. I substituted diced chuck roast, beef broth and upped the cooking time to 15 min. It came out tender and perfect, it is like a quick version of your beef plav.”I hope this helps!
Tried the Chicken & Rice recipe tonight and it was great! I didn’t have any parsley, so mine was not as pretty as yours, but still delicious!!😁 Thanks for showing me how to make it!
You’re welcome! I’m happy you loved this recipe.
I might have already reviewed but not sure so here it “might” be again. I think this is great. I’ve made it quite a few times. Only change I’ve sometimes made is I’ve added sliced mushrooms and sometimes I use a different cheese (mozz or cheddar). What I really want to say is that I love that you answer everyone’s comments!! It shows you pay attention to us. I’ve had some that don’t EVER comment so thank you for that-and I love you have videos for most of your recipes. Your site is my fave and I’ve been cooking/baking for 50 yrs. Thanks for the great recipes
Thank you for the wonderful review, Brenda! So glad you enjoy this recipe.
We love this recipe so much in our house! It’s so easy to make, it tastes delicious (the creamy nature of the rice ends up reminding me of risotto) and we always get a lot of left overs! This is on our meal rotation for ever! Thank you for sharing it!
Aww, that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m all smiles!
This was very tasty. Simple with great flavor. I included the cooked garlic (a must) and used gouda instead of parmesan cheese. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Marci!
Hi, I haven’t tried this yet but I’m going to. Just wondering if I could use brown rice?
Brown rice like we used in our Instant Pot Rice with Beef (Plov) recipe, would require a longer cooking time.
Thanks!!! Your videos and recipes have motivated me to get cooking again! God bless you and your family!
That’s inspiring for me, I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try!
I have an 8 quart pressure cooker. Would you adjust the cook time for this size instant pot?
Hi Jess, I haven’t tested this in an 8 quart, but I assume they would be the same. If you try it out in your 8 qt pot, I would love to hear how it goes.
There was zero flavor and the rice came out severely mushy :/
Hi! I’m sorry to hear that. Did you make any substitutions to the recipe or use different quantities of ingredients? I have not had this problem and this recipe has received excellent reviews. The best rice for this recipe is jasmine rice (white, long-grain rice). You could also use Basmati or Texmati without adjusting the cooking time. Instant rice would not work well in this recipe.
How long do I cook in ordinary saucepan as don’t have instant pot
– instant pot chicken
Pam
Hi Pam! Use this recipe instead, One Pot Chicken and Rice.