Cheesy Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

This Cheesy Instant Pot Cheesy Chicken and Rice recipe is as easy as tossing everything in and pressing start. Dinner is ready in a flash and with so little effort it almost seems to good to be true! You can even use frozen chicken!

Instant Pot Cheesy Chicken and Rice: When there is no dinner plan…

I am really good at forgetting to thaw chicken for dinner so it looks like the Instant Pot and I are going to get along reeeeeeally well.

My good friend, Liz at Shaw Simple Swaps just wrote an AMAZING book–Instant Pot for Dummies–and when it comes to my pressure cooker, I am still feeling very much like the novice.

Sure I boil eggs and make mac and cheese on the regular, but I have barely branched out beyond these and a few other recipes.

Buuuu-ut, her book includes things like cake and monkey bread and even ricotta cheese!!! So this novice Instant Pot user is so pumped to dive in even more.

Until then, let’s talk about this oh so cheesy chicken and rice dinner!

Like I said, I don’t thaw my chicken at times, so tossing it into my favorite machine was a hit. Brown rice takes a bit more than 20 minutes to cook in a pressure cooker so adding some frozen chicken never hurt either!

I have tried this with thawed chicken as well. The bonus of doing this is that it takes less time for the Instant Pot to reach pressure. This balances everything out because the frozen chicken gets more cook time–which it needs.

What you need to make this Instant Pot Chicken and Rice:

• I typically use larger chicken breasts for this recipe since I am working with the cook time for brown rice. If the pieces of chicken are on the smaller size, they may end up being overcooked and drier. I try to find 2 lbs. worth of chicken in 3 pieces. That seems to work well.
• I opt for lower sodium or no sodium chicken broth. Then I salt to taste.

My husband loves this Instant Pot Chicken and Rice recipe EXTRA spicy. I typically will also add a decent amount of hot sauce while cooking. Then I add a few extra shakes to his when I serve it up.

I don’t need mine that spicy!

How to make this recipe:

• Place uncooked rice, garlic and broth into the Instant Pot pan. Stir to combine. (steps 1 and 2)
• Place chicken breasts on top of the broth and rice mixture and cover with salt and pepper. Sometimes I like to spread some extra garlic on the chicken as well at this time. (step 3)
• Add in tomatoes, onion, cumin and chili powder on top of the chicken. If you want to add any diced bell peppers or chiles at this time, go for it! I like the added peppers as well. (step 4)

• Gently stir the tomato and onion mixture to fully cover the chicken. Close the Instant Pot so it locks. Set the pressure cooker to manual pressure and set it for 25 minutes. After you set it, it will say “On” until the pressure is reached. Once pressure is reached, the screen will switch to say “25” and then count down until it is finished cooking. (step 5)
• Once the cooking is complete, carefully do a quick release to allow the pressure to escape and open the pot. Check to make sure the chicken has reached an internal temperature of at least 165°f. Carefully shred the chicken using two forks. You can also remove the chicken and shred it on a cutting board if you prefer. Stir the shredded chicken to combine with the rice and other ingredients. (steps 6, 7 and 8)

• Time to make this Instant Pot Chicken and Rice recipe CHEESY. Add in the cheese and stir until melted. Add in cilantro and serve. I like to serve ours with a dollop of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt and an extra sprinkle of cheese. (steps 9 and 10)

Notes:

• The recipe times are specific to brown rice. White rice cooks differently than brown rice so I don’t recommend using it. The brown rice is specifically to balance things out if you use frozen chicken.
• I have added some diced green pepper and even some jalapeño to the recipe and we enjoyed both quite a bit. Whatever your mood may be, feel free to add them!
• Make sure you read your pressure cooker instructions and feel comfortable and confident using it. It’s a good idea to do a water test first if this is the first time. The manual will typically have you do a test run by boiling water in your Instant Pot. It is super helpful just to get to know the sounds and how to work it.

Try these other Instant Pot Recipes:

• Butter Herb Instant Pot Salmon
• Instant Pot Carnitas
• Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Easy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
• Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Instant Pot Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken

DID YOU MAKE ONE OF MY RECIPES? LEAVE A COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW! I ALSO LOVE TO SEE YOUR LEMONS + ZEST RECIPES ON SOCIAL MEDIA–TAG ME @LEMONSANDZEST ON INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK!