Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe: Quick Weeknight Meal

This Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe is the perfect recipe for busy weeknights when you just need to get a meal on the table quickly! Tender chicken breasts cook in just minutes at the same time as brown rice and carrots.

I love using my Instant Pot to create quick and easy meals.  And I love that I don’t have to babysit them while they’re cooking. 

This Instant Pot Chicken and Rice recipe reminds me of a dish my grandmother used to make in the oven, except hers took way longer to cook!  There’s something so homey about the tender flavorful chicken with fluffy rice and carrots.

How does an Instant Pot Work?

An Instant Pot has many different settings that allows you to cook many meals using just one pot. It is essentially a pressure cooker that saves busy moms like me time in preparing recipes by cooking with steam.

For instance, once I have the sauteing done for this recipe, I can walk away from the Instant Pot and play a game with the kids or catch up on a couple of emails for work. 

If you’re a meal prepper like me, you can dice the onion, peel and the carrots and cut them into pieces ahead of time and save yourself those extra steps.  You can use my Menu Planner and Grocery List Printable Set to plan out your meals for the whole week.

Easy Instant Pot Meals like this chicken and rice dinner are fantastic for weeknight cooking when you don’t have a lot of time to spare.  This recipe will feed a big family easily. For smaller families, plan on having leftovers.

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• chicken breasts
• chicken stock
• sweet onion
• brown rice
• seasoning mix (I used this)
• carrots
• fresh garlic
• fresh thyme

From the pantry: olive oil, salt and pepper

For a list of some of my favorite items to use when cooking, and why I chose them, please visit my Kitchen Resource page.

How Long do you cook Chicken and Rice in an Instant Pot?

This recipe is so quick – it takes just 20 minutes for the instant pot to cook this meal. You’ll have dinner on the table in about 30 minutes!

How to Put together this Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe

1. Sprinkle the chicken with the Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt.
2. Turn on the Saute setting on the Instant Pot. Add the olive oil, onions and garlic. Cook until tender.
3. Add the broth, rice and carrots.  Stir to combine.
4. Add the chicken breasts on top.
5. Cancel the Saute mode and select Manual for 20 minutes. Note: These chicken breasts are quite large – about 1/2 lb each. If yours are smaller and not as thick, you’ll want to reduce the cooking time.
6. Allow the Instant Pot to Nature Pressure Release (about 10-12 minutes).
7. Release any remaining pressure and open carefully.
8. Fluff the rice with a fork and shred the chicken.

Tip: If you’re new to using the Instant Pot and want to check to see if you chicken is done, grab a meat thermometer.

Chicken should always be cooked to an internal temperature of 165-degrees F according to FoodSafety.gov.

Cooking Time Note:

These chicken breasts are quite large – about 1/2 lb each. If yours are smaller and not as thick, you’ll want to reduce the cooking time.

Make your own seasoning mix:

If you don’t have the Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt on hand, no problem! Here’s how to season this meal without it:

1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of red pepper flake for heat

Add 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest for a little freshness, if desired.

Instant Pot Chicken & Rice Recipe Variations

Because we test all our recipes, we recommend that you make them once just as it is without substitutions or changes. Sometimes variations can go awry. Making our Instant Pot Chicken and Rice recipe as we have tested it will yield the best results. If you really want to get creative, here are some ideas for variations that might work well. (Please note, we have not tested these variations).

• For something a little different, try turkey breast cutlets instead of chicken breasts.
• Add steamed broccoli or green beans instead of the carrots, if desired.

What to do with Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Leftovers:

If you have a smaller family, you can turn this into a soup to have on another night, or freeze it for later.

1. Chop up the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
2. Add 1 tablespoon butter to a stock pot and 2 stalks of celery finely chopped.
3. Cook until the celery is tender.
4. Add one carton of chicken stock to the pot.
5. Add the chopped chicken along with the leftover rice and carrots.
6. To freeze, allow the soup to cool before placing into storage containerss.  Label and freeze for up to 2 months.

What are the best things to cook in an Instant Pot?

These are some of my favorite Instant Pot recipes. Not only are they quick and easy, but they are incredibly tasty, too!

Instant Pot Beef Stew

This Instant Pot Beef Stew is flavorful comfort food at it's best without having to wait all day for it to cook! Tender beef with tasty root vegetables make this the perfect beef stew recipe.

Get the Recipe >>>

Instant Pot Korean Meatballs

Korean Meatballs are a breeze in the Instant Pot

Get the Recipe >>>

Easy Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin Dinner

Enjoy this delicious but simple Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin Dinner any night of the week! With golden potatoes, a hint of thyme, and easy gravy, this pork tenderloin dinner will be a new family favorite.

Get the Recipe >>>

Have you already made and love this recipe? I knew you would!! Please be sure to leave a comment below with a five star rating, that would make my day! And if you’re over on Instagram, you can tag me with #jugglingactmama or @jugglingactymama so I get to see your photos!!

20 Minute Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe

That’s all there is to it – a fantastic one pot meal everyone will love!

If you love this recipe, please give it a 5 star rating!

Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

Every busy mom needs this quick Chicken and Rice recipe! Cook brown rice, chicken breasts and carrots all at the same time for the perfect easy weeknight dinner.

5 from 8 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Ang Paris

Equipment

• Vegetable Peeler
• Cutting Board
• Santoku Knife
• Instant Pot

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken breast
• 2 cups chicken broth or stock
• 2 cups brown rice
• 1 tablespoon Mediterranean spices and salt mix I used the McCormick Gourmet jar.
• 5 whole carrots, peeled and sliced thick
• 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
• 1 cup sweet onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Fresh thyme
• Salt & pepper to preference

Instructions

Saute Setting

• Turn on the Saute setting on the IP and heat the oil while you dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sweat and brown the onions and garlic, then use the broth to deglaze the bottom of the pan. You’ll want to scrape up any bits that are stuck as they are loaded with flavor that you’ll want in your rice and chicken.
• Rinse the rice and drain well, then stir into the broth really well so nothing sticks to the sides or bottom. Add the carrots and stir again.
• Place the chicken breast right on top of the rice and season the breast really well. Do not mixt the chicken into the rice.

Manual Setting

• Cancel the Sautee mode and select the Manual mode for 20 minutes.
• When the pressurized cook time has ended and the pot beeps, leave the IP for an additional 10 to 12 minutes to while it Natural Pressure Releases (plan for more or less time if you have more or less chicken in there than what is listed above.
• At the end of the rest time, release any remaining pressure, carefully, and then remove the lid. I used two forks to very easily shred the chicken and mix everything together.

Notes

Cooking Time Note:

These chicken breasts are quite large – about 1/2 lb each. If yours are smaller and not as thick, you’ll want to reduce the cooking time.

Make your own seasoning mix:

1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of red pepper flake for heat

Add 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest for a little freshness, if desired.

How to make soup with the leftovers:

• Chop up the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
• Add 1 tablespoon butter to a stock pot and 2 stalks of celery finely chopped.
• Cook until the celery is tender.
• Add one carton of chicken stock to the pot.
• Add the chopped chicken along with the leftover rice and carrots.
• To freeze, allow the soup to cool before placing into storage containerss.  Label and freeze for up to 2 months.