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 version of the Chicken and Rice is “stuff your face” good. Like, I wanted to eat it ALL.
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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
- Instant Pot
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
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. :)
That looks delicious!!!! I love this! The best part though, is that it is healthy and holiday friendly!
Thanks for the recipe.
Going to make this in the upcoming days.
Do you think I could do this with drumsticks?
Yes, I think that would work fine. :)
Made it tonight with drumsticks, it was amazing! First time using my pressure cooker! Thank you so much
Hi! Could I substitute boneless chicken breast (if I’m currently out of bone in chicken)? If so do I need to change the time?
You definitely won’t get as much flavor or the wonderful texture with the rice if using boneless chicken breasts because it doesn’t have the fat or connective tissue that breaks down into gelatin when cooked. I don’t know the cooking time for boneless breasts off hand, but I believe there is a table in the booklet that comes with the IP.
This is one of my (and my husband’s) favorite Instant Pot dishes OF ALL TIME. I just love how tender & juicy the chicken is and how wonderfully kind of fatty & rich the rice is. I’m such a fan of how easy the recipe is and how few dishes there are for clean-up. Thank you!
The fatty rich rice is what makes this my favorite, too! There is so much flavor in it!
Sigh. I have an old-fashioned gas oven and the broiler is a drawer under the oven. My ancient knees will no longer let me use it, since I have to kneel down and bend over to see inside. This version will have to wait until I can get a convection oven. If I make it soon, I think I’ll just remove the skin from the chicken after I take it out of the instant pot.
If you don’t mind heating up the oven you could probably get a similar result by preheating the oven to 450F or so and putting the baking sheet in for 5-10 minutes rather than using the broiler.
If I was going to double the amount of chicken pieces for a large group, would I also need to double the amount of water in the pressure cooker?
I would, since you probably want to double the rice as well and you want to make sure that you have enough broth to flavor all that rice.
I made this tonight for just me. I try new things while my wife is out of town to get an idea of how long prep and cooking will take and to see if everything comes out as expected, or to make notes for future use. I don’t understand why you want a liberal amount of salt used, I just had a kidney transplant, and I am on a low sodium diet, and have been for years. Also, as a society, we use way too much salt in our diets. I didn’t use water, instead I used no sodium added chicken stock, still used 2 cups. I make my own seasoning, and yes, it has a little salt, but very little. Everything turned out awesome. Also, I only used 2 cups of the stock that was left when the chicken was done for the rice. I only ever use 1.5 cups of liquid to 1 cup of white rice. I think next time I will try brown rice. Oh, I used about 5 pounds of leg quarters this time. When I do this recipe for my wife, I will use a whole chicken quartered. and will double the rice recipe as well. I love my rice :D
Made this in the Instant Pot using 4 skin-on bone-in legs with back attached. I also used Creole seasoning. The chicken was really amazing with crispy skin after going under the broiler. For some reason my rice didn’t cook the first time through, but after a second round on the rice setting it was great. My only criticism was that the rice was a bit greasy. I think I will skim the top layer of fat off the broth before using it to cook the rice.
What I instantly appreciated about the recipe is that you used limited number of ingredients, all of those which were readily available and cheap and turned them into a beautiful dish. I tried the recipe last weekend and it turned out amazing. Everyone absolutely loved it!
Can you brown the chicken first in the pressure cooker?
If you do, the skin will just get soggy again when you pressure cook it, so it’s best to just broil it at the end.
This was unbelievable! The chicken was literally falling apart tender and throwing it under the broiler made the skin absolutely perfect. I found chicken quarters at the store for a better price (leg and thighs, still connected) and three fit in my instant pot no problem. All the times you give were spot on, except I don’t use the rice button I always just set it manually for 3 minutes on high pressure w/natural release for white rice. More tender and flavorful than chicken I’ve made in the oven and there’s almost no way for them to come out dry. These IP things really bring it, it’s kind of no joke.
Just got a Power Pressure Cooker XL and made this recipe to try it out. I used a little over 3 pounds of chicken leg quarters, sprinkled them with Goya Adobo seasoning, and WOW, was it delicious! My fiance said this may be his favorite dish I have ever made for him (and I cook A LOT)! Thanks for the recipe!
My daughter has one and brags , so thought I’d try one for myself !!!
Can you use a whole chicken in this recipe &, if so, does the cooking time in the IP need to be adjusted?
As long as it fits without going above the max fill line, you probably could. I just don’t know how much you would need to adjust the cooking time as I have never tried a whole chicken. I would check your pressure cooker’s manual to see if there is a suggested cooking time for a whole chicken and try that first.