Okay, so I made this Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice for myself the other day just as an experiment and not for the blog. Luckily, I decided to snap some photos of the process “just in case” it turned out good. Well, let me tell you, it turned out better than good. This Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice is “stuff your face” good. Like, I wanted to eat it ALL.
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
I used the Instant Pot 7-in-1 cooker for this recipe, but there are several other manufacturers that make similar multi-function pressure cookers (Magic Mill, MaxiMatic, Power, GoWise). If you have a single function pressure cooker, but still want to make the rice in the pressure cooker instead of on the stove top, here are some directions from HipPressureCooking.com.
Pressure Cooker Alternative
I know pressure cookers can be expensive, but this recipe can also be made with a slow cooker and I’ve provided those instructions right along side the pressure cooker instructions below. The only difference between the two methods is the type of cooking vessel and the amount of time needed. The pressure cooker is simply faster.
How Long Does it Take to Cook Chicken in a Pressure Cooker?
Boneless cuts of chicken only take about 10-15 minutes (not including pressurizing and depressurizing time) to cook in a pressure cooker. Bone-in chicken takes longer to cook, whether in a pressure cooker, in an oven, or on a stove top. In a pressure cooker, you’ll want to cook bone-in chicken for about 30 minutes to make it fall-off-the-bone tender. That doesn’t include the time needed for the vessel to pressurize and depressurize.
Other Spice Blends
Not only is this one of the easiest and best tasting things I’ve ever made, you can use just about any spice blend you like with this method. I used a Creole seasoning blend this time, but you could do a curry powder, Greek seasoning blend, lemon pepper, Caribbean jerk, or even a dry BBQ rub. Just take note of whether or not your seasoning blend contains salt. Mine contained a decent amount of salt, so I did not need to add any additional salt along the way.
What Type of Chicken Should be Used?
Split or whole chickens are usually some of the least expensive cuts of chicken at the grocery store, but they also happen to give the most flavor to this dish. You can use any cut, but whichever cut you decide to use, make sure it is bone-in and skin-on. That’s where the flavor is.. I bought cage-free organic chicken because my budget allows it and that’s important to me, so my prices may be higher than what you’re used to.
Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 whole split chicken (3-4 lbs. total) ($10.79)
- 2 Tbsp (approx.) seasoning blend of choice* ($0.60)
- 2 cups water ($0.00)
- 1.5 cups long grain white rice ($0.72)
- Handful parsley (optional) ($0.20)
Instructions
- Season the chicken well on both sides with your favorite spice or seasoning blend. If your sblend blend does not contain salt, season the chicken liberally with salt as well.
- Add two cups of water to your pressure cooker or slow cooker, then add the chicken pieces (they do not need to be fully submerged).
- Secure the lid, set the pressure cooker to high pressure. Once it reaches full pressure, cook for 30 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally. If using a slow cooker, cook on low heat for 8-9 hours or high heat for 4-5 hours.
- Once the chicken is finished cooking, carefully lift it out of the cooker and place it on a baking sheet. Adjust your oven rack so that the top of the meat will be 6-8 inches from the broiler. Turn the broiler on to high, place the chicken in the oven, and let it broil for 5-7 minutes or until the chicken skin is brown and crispy. Keep a close eye on the chicken while it’s under the broiler, as it can burn quickly.
- While the chicken is broiling, pour the remaining liquid (broth) from the pressure cooker through a sieve to strain out any bone or skin fragments. Measure the broth to see how much was left behind. You’ll want three cups of broth. If you have less, simply add enough water to make three cups of broth total. Taste the broth and adjust the salt if needed.
- Add the broth plus 1.5 cups of uncooked long grain white rice back to the pressure cooker. Secure the lid and select the rice function. Once the rice had finished cooking, allow the pressure to decrease naturally, open the cooker, then fluff with a fork. If your pressure cooker does not have a “rice” function, you can find manual instructions here. If using a slow cooker, simply cook the rice in the broth on the stove top, following the package instructions.
- Serve the tender chicken pieces over the cooked rice, with chopped parsley as a garnish (optional). The pressure cooker (or slow cooker) creates extremely tender meat, so the split chicken can be easily broken into pieces (breast, legs, thighs, wings) for serving.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Chicken and Rice in an Instant Pot – Step by Step Photos
This recipe starts with a split chicken weighing about 3-4 lbs. total. I used a split chicken because I find them a little easier to handle than a whole chicken. You can definitely use this same technique on a whole chicken or even chicken pieces (breasts, legs, etc.). Season the chicken liberally on both sides with your favorite spice blend. If your spice blend does not contain salt, you’ll want to add salt at this point (just sprinkle it on liberally).
Place two cups of water in your pressure cooker or slow cooker, then add the seasoned chicken pieces (they do not need to be fully submerged). Secure the lid on the pressure cooker, then cook on high pressure for 30 minutes, and allow the pressure to decrease naturally. If using a slow cooker, cook the chicken on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8-9 hours.
At this point the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender and a lovely seasoned broth has been created in the bottom of the pot. Carefully lift the chicken out of the cooker and transfer it to a baking sheet.
I like to cover my baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup. Now adjust your oven rack so that the top of the chicken will be 6-8 inches from the broiler. Turn the broiler on to high, place the chicken in the oven, and broil for 5-7 minutes or until the chicken skin is brown and crispy…
Like this. Keep a close eye on the chicken while it’s in the broiler because broilers use an open flame that can quickly burn food. You may want to rotate the chicken half way through to make sure it browns evenly. (I also added my parsley garnish at this point.)
Meanwhile, you’ve got this insanely delicious broth left in the pot that you will NOT want to throw away. Strain the broth through a mesh sieve to remove any pieces of skin or bone that may have fallen off the chicken. Measure the broth to see how much you have. I started with 2 cups of water, but ended up with three cups of broth. If you don’t have 3 cups, you can add a little water to make up the difference. Now taste the broth and make sure it is adequately salted. Add it back to the pressure cooker along with 1.5 cups long grain white rice. Secure the lid and turn on the “rice” function. If you don’t have a rice function on your pressure cooker, here are instructions for making rice with single function pressure cooker. If you have a slow cooker, you’ll simply need to make the rice with the broth on the stove top according to the directions on the rice package.
Once the rice is finished and the pressure in the pressure cooker has come down, remove the lid and fluff with a fork. This is seriously the best tasting rice I’ve ever eaten. It’s already fully seasoned and even has a little chicken fat which gives it a rich flavor and great texture.
And that’s it! Just serve the chicken pieces over the rice and add some chopped parsley for garnish, if desired.
I’m not kidding when I say that I’ll probably make this pressure cooker chicken and rice once per week and try a new seasoning each time. It’s just so delicious and too easy to not make it often. :)
This looks great! And easy, too! What do you do with the chicken while the rice is cooking? Do you wait to broil unti the rice is almost done so everything is hot? Also, any other specific seasonings/blends that you find particularly good? Thanks!
You can put it on the baking sheet and cover it with foil to keep it warm. The rice cooks very quickly, so it shouldn’t get too cold. Broil it right at the end. :)
Not rice people. Could it work with noodles?
I haven’t tried doing pasta in the pressure cooker yet, but I suspect that it would get very mushy.
You can do noodles – there are lots of recipes out there for using pressure cookers to make noodles. It’s the only way I do mine now.
This is just crazy good. I’ve made it about 3 times so far and my husband and I have loved it every time. As has…hmmm…ok, I’ll just come right out with it. My dog loves it, too, hee hee. But in all seriousness, he’s a picky eater and on a vet-approved home cooked meal plan. I add a couple of pieces without seasoning to our batch in the instant pot and he leaps on it! Good and good for him. What’s not to love?
Hahaha, I love it! :)
Made this tonight, and it was excellent!! Just got my instant pot, and this was the second thing I tried, after hard-boiled eggs. The breasts weren’t as flavorful as the rest-but that is to be expected; I think next time I will just buy everything but breasts. So delicious, and the broth/rice is phenomenal. Thank you so much for this!!
Amazingly delicious recipe and great during a hot day when you don’t want to work with a hot oven.
This is wonderful, and so easy. I’ve made it twice now, using the 7-in-1 Instant Pot. The first time I did it exactly as you said, and it was very good but hard to transfer the chicken pieces because they were falling apart. The next time I reduced the cooking time by 5 minutes and that worked much better. Thanks for this!
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lol
Making this tonight! I always do a quick release on my instant pot. Will it make a difference to do the natural release on this recipe?
Natural release just lets it cook a little bit longer, which can help make it extra tender. :)
I added a can of cream of mushroom soup to the rice while cooking and it was spectacular.
How long does it take to “naturally” release pressure after cooking the chicken? Will comment again after eating dinner:)
It really just depends on the contents of the pot and the ambient temperature in the room. I’d say about 15 minutes minimum, though.
In the rice ratio white long grain 1.5 is 1 C water why do you use 3C broth? If I’m using brown rice what would I do differently?
You can use anywhere between 1.5 to 2 cups liquid for every one cup of dry rice, depending on how soft or firm you want it. I went with the 2 cup liquid to one cup rice ratio for this. You can use slightly less if you prefer.
I stumbled across this recipe while looking for something quick and easy to make for my family. I used Montreal chicken seasoning and bone in breasts because that is what I had on hand and it turned out amazing. This was a huge hit in my house and my 10 year old son even asked for seconds. This will definitely be made again in my house.
Any idea how to adjust this recipe if I am using frozen chicken tenders? Brand new to the Instant Pot
I don’t remember how long the IP suggests to cook boneless chicken, but you can check the tables in the instruction booklet. That being said, it won’t be quite as delicious because the fat and bones provide a lot of flavor for the broth that the rice is cooked in. Chicken tenders are much more lean and don’t have as much flavor, unfortunately.
Let me preface this – huge fan of all the great work being done here on BudgetBytes, the recipes consistently deliver on value, ease, and most importantly – flavor!
However, this one (as written) was a big miss in my book. I was skeptical at the 30 minute cook time for the chicken, and my instincts proved right. Ended up with almost 3 3/4 cup liquid…and dry chicken. Even some of the smaller dark meat pieces were dry. The breast meat? No bueno.
The rice? Awesome. Cooking rice in a flavorful broth-stock liquid is always a winner.
But the chicken…it just was overdone.
I’ll be coming back to this one but definitely considering shortening that cook time to 25, or even closer to 20, minutes. Also, do make sure to season your chicken well – I did a few pieces at different seasoning levels, and definitely make sure to give the chicken a good coat.
Again, I hate to leave a critique, but I just feel like this is a solid recipe that suffers from too long of a cook. It also has me wondering how (if at all?) can I combine the rice and chicken steps to save some time? By the time the chicken cooks, and then the rice, it’s a long’ish meal to make and one could almost roast chicken pieces in the oven. Hmm…
Thanks for all that you share, I really do appreciate it!
I (and other readers) appreciate honest feedback like this! It’s a good thing to see how following the same directions can sometimes yield very different results. There are so many variables in cooking that results can never be guaranteed. I wish I knew why yours came out so differently than mine, though!
I had the same issue. I couldn’t find a split chicken at my grocery store, so I approximated with some bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and thighs. The rice is fantastic, but my chicken is really dry and overcooked. :(
I have what I think is a 7 function Instant Pot.
With the smaller chicken pieces you may need to reduce the cooking time a little.
New dinner rotation for my 6 person family