Instant Pot Chicken And Rice

Mexican Chicken and Rice is bursting with flavor and is easy to make in the Instant Pot. Use it as a quick and easy weeknight dinner, or as the base for your Chicken Burrito Bowl or Chicken Taco Bowl or just on its own.

Course Appetizers

Cuisine American, Mexican

Keyword Chicken and Rice, Instant Pot Chicken And Rice, Instant Pot Mexican Chicken And Rice, Mexican Chicken and Rice

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 9

Pressurization 25

Total Time 44

Servings

Calories 324kcal

Author Michele @ Flavor Mosaic

Ingredients

3 tablespoons oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into large cubes
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1.5 cups long-grain rice
1.5 tablespoons tomato paste
0.5 teaspoon each salt and pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
4 tablespoons fresh cilantro,chopped (optional for garnish)

Instructions

Turn the Instant Pot on “Saute” and wait for it to heat up. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute for 1 minute. Press “Cancel”.
Add the chicken, chicken stock, rice, tomato paste, salt, chili powder, cumin, dried oregano, and black pepper.
Cover the Instant Pot, setting the lid to “Sealing”. Cook on “Manual, High Pressure” for 8 minutes. Let the Instant Pot do a natural pressure release for 10 minutes. Turn the lid to “Venting”, and let the steam escape before removing the lid.
Serve garnished with fresh cilantro.

Notes

Deglaze the Pot. This means to scrape the bottom of the pot after the onions and garlic have been sautéed to remove any bits of onion or garlic from sticking to the bottom of the pan. This adds more flavor to the chicken and helps to prevent receiving a burn notice from the Instant Pot.
Order of Adding Ingredients. The order in which you add ingredients is important. You can sauté onions, and if you want, the chicken. Then you need to add the thin liquid, in this case, chicken stock or broth, next. This is important so all ingredients cook evenly and no food sticks to the bottom and burns.
Salt. If you use regular, store-bought chicken broth, you may want to reduce the amount of salt that you add to this dish to compensate for the salt that is already in the chicken broth.
Chicken Stock or Broth. I recommend using reduced sodium chicken stock or broth because that allows you to have more control over how much salt is added to the dish.
Use long-grain white rice. I don't recommend using brown rice for this recipe because it requires a longer cooking time than the chicken does. If you cooked both the chicken and brown rice together, the chicken would likely be overcooked.

Nutrition