This easy and flavorful Instant Pot dinner is delicious comfort food, made with tender chicken thighs, white rice and a pinch of fragrant spices.
This Instant Pot dinner is simple comfort food, absolutely perfect for those nights when you need a quick, easy homemade meal.
Instant Pot chicken thighs and rice is flavorful and also kid-friendly with a savory combination of tender chicken thighs and white rice flecked with carrot, onion and gentle spices.
If you'd like to use brown rice, then try this recipe for Instant Pot Turmeric Chicken and Rice.
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Why This Recipe Works
I've made this recipe many times, perfecting the cooking time and the amount of each ingredient.
- The chicken is tender
- The rice is fluffy
- Just the right amount of spices to flavor the meal, but still taste kid-friendly
- Simple ingredients
- Short cooking time
Make This Recipe in 3 Easy Steps
After minimal prep work (just grate or finely chop carrot and onion) you can make this dinner in 3 easy steps.
Step 1: Briefly saute grated carrot and onion
Step 2: Add water, white rice, coriander and cinnamon
Step 3: Add chicken thighs and salt, cook on high pressure for 6 minutes
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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About This Recipe
I don't recommend chicken breasts for this recipe. Thighs are more tender and succulent than chicken breasts, and give this recipe wonderful flavor. The cooking time would need to be longer for moist, fully-cooked chicken breasts and then the rice would be over-cooked and mushy.
Quick release is when you manually move the steam release handle from "sealing" to "venting" right at the end of the cooking time. This immediately releases the pressure by releasing steam. Be careful, and keep your hands away from the hot steam as it's released. (To avoid burns, I use tongs to turn the handle) When the float valve drops into the lid, you can open the lid.
Natural release is when you let the pressure in the Instant Pot come down on its own after the cooking time. When the float valve drops into the lid, you can open the lid. This takes anywhere from 5 to 20ish minutes, depending on what you're cooking and how full the pot is.
Quick release stops the cooking process quickly. This is best for food with a short cooking time that you don't want to get mushy, like vegetables or pasta.
Natural release gradually ends the cooking process. This is best for meat, helping it become more tender. It's also best for rice, beans, soup and stews. This is because quick release might make rice stick to the bottom of the pot. Also, because rice and beans release starch that foams up. That foam can bubble up out of the steam release handle if you do a quick release. Also, soups and stews that fill up the pot tend to spew liquid out of the steam release handle during a quick release, making a mess.
You don't have to, and sometimes I skip this step out of laziness with fine results, but rinsing does result in slightly fluffier rice. For what it's worth, the official Instant Pot website recommends it.
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📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Rice Instant Pot Dinner
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 6
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This easy and flavorful Instant Pot dinner is delicious comfort food, made with tender chicken thighs, fluffy white rice and just a pinch of fragrant spices.
Total Instant Pot Cooking Time: 10 minutes to reach pressure + 6 minutes cooking time + 10 minute natural release
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, avocado oil or sunflower oil
- ½ an onion, finely chopped or grated* (see note at bottom of recipe about grating onion)
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 ½ cups white rice
(I use Jasmine. Rinsing is optional, but will make the rice fluffier. See notes below.) - ¼ teaspoon coriander
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon (just a pinch)
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Combine the oil, onion and carrot in the Instant Pot
- Press the Saute button and saute the onion and carrot for about 3 minutes to soften, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pot to make sure that bits of onion and carrot don’t stick to the pot.
- Add the water, rice, coriander and cinnamon. Mix well.
- Add the chicken and season it with salt.
- Secure the lid, making sure the steam release valve is in the "sealed" position.
- Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes
- Let the pressure release naturally for about 10 minutes, then release any remaining pressure.
- Mix well, shredding the chicken as you mix. Add salt to taste.
Notes
Why Do I Grate the Onion and Carrot? I like the way grated carrot and onion easily meld into this dish. You can use a cheese grater to grate both the onion and carrot. Or, you can just finely chop both.
Why Rinse Rice? Rinsing rice cleans the rice and also removes starch from the outside of the rice. Rinsing off this excess starch helps the rice cook into fluffier, individual grains.
How to Rinse Rice: Use a fine mesh strainer. Put rice in the strainer, then run water over the rice. I move the rice around with my fingers, to make sure the water runs over all of the grains. I usually rinse the rice for about 30 seconds. Shake as much water as possible off of the rice, so that you're not inadvertently adding additional water to the Instant Pot.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: instant pot, instant pot chicken and white rice, chicken and rice, instant pot dinner
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