An easy one-pot meal, this Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Rice is a flavorful and hearty dinner for those busy nights. Tender chicken, tons of veggies, and lightly spiced rice make this a wholesome, quick meal for a weeknight dinner win.
What I love about making chicken and rice in the Instant Pot as opposed to on the stovetop (like this Turkey Taco Rice Skillet) is that it comes out perfect every time at the push of a button, without having to monitor the dish as it's cooking. Some things are meant to be made in the Instant Pot (hello Instant Pot Popcorn), and this easy dinner is one of them.
Tender chicken thighs are cooked together with rice and a few spices for a short 10 minutes, and then frozen veggies are added in and steamed briefly before dinner is ready to go! It's similar to this Colombian Chicken Stew in that recipe has minimal cleanup and minimal hands-on cooking, but yields maximum flavor!
So let's get to making it! You can jump around the article using the menu below, or you can head right to the bottom for the complete recipe.
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Ingredients Needed and Substitutions
Here is a brief overview of the ingredients needed for this recipe. The full recipe with quantities is listed below this text in the recipe card. If substitutions are available for this recipe, they'll be listed here. If you don't see a substitution you are looking for, please leave a comment below.
- boneless skinless chicken thighs (you can use boneless skinless breasts, but they do turn out drier in this recipe compared to the thighs)
- long-grain white rice (don't use jasmin or basmati rice, as they tend to cause the Instant Pot to trigger the "burn" notification, or at least they do in my IP)
- chicken broth
- mixed frozen veggies (I recommend using a blend that includes smaller frozen veggies such as peas, carrots, corn or green beans)
- olive oil
- spices: garlic, pepper, paprika, turmeric and cumin (feel free to add spices that you like here, it's very customizable)
- lime juice (if you don't have fresh lime juice, you can use lemon or red wine vinegar)
- cilantro (you can swap this with green onions if you don't like cilantro)
Step-By-Step Recipe Overview
This is a quick visual overview of the steps needed to make this recipe. If you are looking for the full recipe, keep scrolling!
Step 1: Rinse the rice.
Step 2: Saute the onion, chicken and spices.
Step 3: Add in the rice, broth and stir together, making sure the rice is submerged in the liquid.
Step 4: Cook on manual high pressure for 10 minutes. Once done, switch the valve to open to release all of the pressure.
Step 5: Add frozen veggies to the rice, fluff with a fork, cover, seal the valve, and steam for 5 minutes.
Step 6: Add in lime juice and taste to adjust seasoning.
Kelli's Quick Tips
- Don't skip ringing the rice. This step is important because it rinses all that starch off of the rice, making for a dish that is lighter and fluffier. It also helps prevent the Instant Pot from sticking to the bottom of the Instant Pot and setting off the "burn" notification. That shouldn't happen at all if you follow the recipe and you use long-grain white rice (not Jasmin or Basmati rice).
- Speaking of burn notification, all IPs work a little different, but when this did happen to me when I used Jasmin rice, I found that just leaving the Instant Pot alone for the same allotted amount of time, and then releasing the pressure cooked the rice and chicken all the same. Obviously, this is not ideal, which is why I recommend staying away from Jasmin or basmati rice, but if you do find yourself in this position, try my trick.
- After mixing in the rice, make sure any stray pieces of rice stuck on the sides of the Instant Pot or moved down into the liquid.
- In this recipe, frozen veggies are added in last to prevent overcooking. Since the Instant Pot remains very hot after it's done cooking, adding small frozen veggies at the end and covering the pot allows them to steam and cook perfectly. Before adding them I like to quickly rince the frozen veggies under cool water so they are slightly defrosted when they go into the IP.
- Don't forget to taste and adjust the seasoning at the end. Add in additional salt and lime juice to really make the flavor pop.
More One Pot Recipes
Making the recipe? Be sure to leave a comment with a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on your experience! Have a question? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can!
PrintFull Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
- Prep Time: 00:10
- Cook Time: 00:15
- Total Time: 00:30
- Yield: Serves 4-6 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Description
An easy one-pot meal, this Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Rice is a flavorful and hearty dinner for those busy nights. Tender chicken, tons of veggies, and lightly spiced rice make this a wholesome, quick meal for a weeknight dinner win.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced fine
- 1-½ lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1-½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt (see note)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1-½ cups long-grain white rice (rinsed and drained well)
- 1-½ cups chicken broth
- 6 ounces (about 1-½ cups) mixed frozen veggies (see note)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, more as needed
- Cilantro, minced, for serving
Instructions
- In a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot, heat the oil using the saute function heat oil. Once hot, add the onion and cook, stirring often, until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add in the chicken, salt, garlic, pepper, paprika, turmeric and cumin and cook until the chicken is no longer raw, about 3 minutes. Shut off the saute function.
- To the pot, add the rinsed rice, chicken broth and stir together.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set the valve to sealing. Cook on manual high pressure for 10 minutes. Once done, switch the valve to open to release all of the pressure.
- Remove the lid from the Instant Pot and add in the frozen veggies. Use a fork to fluff up the rice and mix in the veggies. Place the lid back on top, and set the valve back to sealing. Allow the frozen veggies to steam for 5 minutes.
- Open the valve and release any pressure (if there is any), open the lid, add the lime juice and fluff the rice with a fork. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt and lime juice as needed.
- Serve with cilantro.
Notes
Use a blend of veggies that includes smaller frozen veggies such as peas, carrots, corn or green beans
This recipe was tested using Diamond Crystal coarse kosher salt. If you use Morton's kosher salt or fine salt, decrease by about half for volume, or use the same amount by weight.
Wanda
I think the actual recipe didn’t get posted !! Looks good and am looking forward to trying this recipe!!
Kelli Avila
Hi Wanda! Thank you for alerting me to this! I've fixed this and it should be there now. Thank you!
Jill
As a new "instant pot cooker" 😉 I think it would have been REALLY helpful if the time section included the reality of timing how long it takes for an instant pot to reach the full pressure, from which the "15 minute cook time" actually begins, as well as the pressure release time when you can actually open the lid to add the vegetable. I'd planned to make this in 30 minutes tops, but learned it takes almost twice as long, given all the waiting. Tasty food though. thanks for the recipe!
Kelli Avila
Thanks for sharing your feedback!
Chris
Sooooo good. We finished it with velveeta
Amee
I have picky eaters and they even liked it! Saving this recipe for sure!