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!
If you enjoyed this Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Video tutorial, be sure to subscribe to our Youtube Channel and click the bell icon so you can be the first to know when a new video tutorial is posted. THANK YOU for subscribing!
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
I made this tonight for dinner…. 3 super picky kids and they LOVED IT!! If it was up to them I’d make it every night! I did 1 batch in the instapot and one on the stovetop because I wasn’t sure my pot could handle a double batch… there are just enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow! We followed the recipe almost exactly… I didn’t have jasmine rice so used basmati. Thank you for this awesome addition to our dinners!
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great! Thank you, Kelly!
I have a question…I have everything to make this except the garlic head. I only have minced garlic Can I use that instead and/or what should I do differently? 😫
Hi Kendra, you can still make it work although it won’t have quite the same depth of garlic flavor. If you are using pre-minced garlic, it should work fine to add it when you add the rice to the instant pot. If it’s raw garlic freshly minced, it would be a good idea to add it at the end of sauteeing the chicken.
how much garlic though?
So I made this last night, and it was perfect. I made a few changes. I added some peas to it and a few extra spices. I didn’t have a clove of garlic, so I just used garlic powder, and it worked fine. I didn’t parmesan cheese, so I used a Mexican blend of shredded cheese I had on hand. Also, for the rice, I took a suggestion from reviews of a different recipe, and I did not mix the rice into everything. I just let it sit on top of the chicken (still covered by liquid). I did this to guarantee the rice would not burn. It was perfect. The first chicken and rice dish I made, I mixed the rice in, and it burned. I hope to be making more of your recipes soon; they all look so great!
Hi Gail, thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m so glad you liked this recipe.
This is so good! I’ve made it a couple of times already! The whole fam loves it. Thank you and keep them coming!
Sounds like you found a new favorite! Thank you for stopping by, Leanna!
This did not turn out very well for me. The texture was very overdone and mushy. I have been pressure cooking for years and followed the recipe, except for adding some fresh, chopped mushrooms. The flavor was good, but I will definitely reduce the cook time to 7-8 min in the future to avoid the sticky, mushy rice.
Hi Jasmine, did you change the type of rice? That could be the culprit, also, be sure to turn off and release pressure as soon as the timer is up or it can get overcooked. I hope that helps!
This was AMAZING! Followed the recipe almost exactly and mixed the garlic in at the end. The cheese at the end is a game changer! I’m new to this blog, but definitely looking forward to trying some of your other recipes!
Thank you so much for your great review, Eric. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I made this chicken and rice last night. So delicious! My husband is already asking me to make it again! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Grace.
Made this tonight for dinner and the family loved it. Will definitely be making it again. Might steal an idea from another reviewer and add corn next time, or maybe peas.
I’m so happy to hear the entire family loved this! That’s just awesome!
Natasha hi! I really want to try this but don’t have a instant pot. I do have a slow cooker, ha!
Can’t afford to get a instant pot at the moment, how else can I make this recipe?! Please let me know!!
Hi Lina, here is the full tutorial for the stovetop chicken and rice. I’m not sure this would work in a slow cooker; I haven’t tested it that way so I’m not sure if the consistency would be right in a slow cooker.
Any suggestions on how to add more veggies? It’s a little rice heavy for what I’m looking for. I thought of adding steamed broccoli at the end, except I’m looking for a way to add veggies right into the pot instead of preparing the veg separately. I’m going to try this either way because it sounds delicious!!
I bet broccoli would be delicious. But yes, more vegetables should work great.
Hi I want to try this. Can I rinse my rice first? Any modifications need to be made?
Hi Erica, the end result wouldn’t be the same consistency. The reason we do not rinse the rice is so that extra starch helps with the creamier consistency. I would have to run a test to tell you for sure but I think you might add a couple of tablespoons less water if rinsing.
Simply, absolutely delicious. My first time using the instant pot, the secret is to understand the pot. Instead of using warm water only I added liquid chicken bouillon into the water not too much it added to the flavour. Once the rice was finished I opened a can of corn, and used 3-4 stems of thyme , I removed the garlic & mixed corn & thyme into rice, then squeezed the garlic into rice & mixed again using fork. As rice was still hot I covered so that the flavour of the corn, thyme & garlic can marry into the rice. It was a pig out session.
Thanks Natasha, I will be trying your other Instant Pot recipes, I will try cooking curried beef, this will be a test.
Sharon
Hi Sharon! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
I made the chicken and rice for my family. Everyone raved about it. I’m always looking for easy things to fix as I have a large family. Thank you
Sounds like you found a new family favorite, Deanna! That’s so great!
Oh so good! And now I have another use for my IP, roasting garlic!!! Even if this recipe wasn’t delicious, which it is! It’s worth making just for the garlic. I’ve been looking for a good chicken and rice recipe since we had a really good one at church once. She just used knorrs rice… This is so much better. Thank you!
Isn’t it the best, Betsy! Thank you so much for that wonderful review!
Any advice on cutting the recipe in half?
Hi Tasha, I have not tested halving this recipe in a 6qt pot. One of our readers was planning on testing it in a 3qt pot. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Has anyone made this with brown rice? We usually eat brown rice, but I haven’t tried to cook it in the ip yet.
Hi Jennifer, I haven’t experimented with brown rice, but it would be closer to the timing on our instant pot beef with brown rice.
This was my first recipe in my instant pot. It came out perfect! Your video was very helpful. Delicious recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that, Darla! Thank you for that wonderful review.
Can’t wait to try this for the family. Just one question tho..when you add the rice do you adjust the pot setting from saute to rice? It looks like you did on the video but it doesn’t say in the recipe. Thanks
Hi Caryl, yes, we have this listed in the recipe “Cook on manual high pressure 10 minutes with manual pressure release”. I hope that helps.
Hi! I’m excited to try! I have a few questions…Could you use Arborio rice instead of jasmine? I was also going to add mushrooms since my kids love them. Any reason the white wine is omitted in the insta pot version? Thanks!
Hi Kim, I haven’t tried with arborio rice in this recipe so I can’t say for sure what the modifications to timing or water would be. The wine doesn’t have a chance to cook out under pressure so we omit it and the results are still amazing. You won’t miss it!
I made this today! It was delicious thank you so much!!!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed that, Archana!
Great recipe!
I was wondering, how much is 1 serving of this dish? I’m counting calories so I’m just curious.
Hi Tom, I wish I had measured it this way. This recipe does make 8 recipes.
Hello!
What do you do with the garlic after? Do you mix it in without the peel or take it out completely?
Thanks!
Hi Aksinya, You can choose to mix it into the rice or take it out. See this section in the recipe titled: “This Will Transform Your Rice:”
This was incredibly good. Usually chicken and rice is bland and dry but not this recipe. It was so flavorful and the chicken was juicy and delicious. I’ll be making again. Super easy too!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Michele!
I made this for my family tonight and everyone really enjoyed it. It was a perfect weeknight meal. I’m wondering if you’ve ever tried adding a sprig if rosemary alongside the garlic head or if you’ve tried it with chopped fresh broccoli?
I have not tested that Amy but I bet both of those would make this so good. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
What do you do with all the soft, yummy garlic at the end? If you don’t add it back in, is there another use for it?
Hi Sue, we usually add it back – it’s so soft that it just melts in your mouth and the flavor is wonderful.
Natasha, thank you for another great recipe! This is my first insta pot meal and I was a bit scared to try it. I had turkey breast on hand and boiled it a bit, to make it more or less equivalent to chicken cooking time. The rice came out perfect – color, flavour, texture. I loved cooked garlic and the flavour it gave. It was so easy to make and so good! I might experiment with other spices, vegetables and rice mixture next time.
Also, I made it in 8 quart pot and it turn out great.
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Tatyana!
Hi Natasha,
An update regards instant pot availability in Australia.
It can now be purchased via Amazon au. I already have one on order.
I’m so happy.
Cheers,
John
Made your chicken and rice today.Deeeelicious.Thanks Natasha!
I’m so glad you enjoyed that, Phil!