Last Updated on July 21, 2022 by Anne-Marie

This Instant Pot Chicken and Rice is super creamy with exquisite morsels of chicken, mushrooms, peas and carrots.

Why this recipe works

You’ll love how quickly you can make this instant pot chicken and rice recipe.

It’ll soon become a weeknight family dinner favorite.

It’s so tasty that your family will ask for seconds – and you’ll wish you doubled the recipe!

How to make Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

There’s nothing more classic than chicken and rice. What makes this recipe so special is that it’s just like a risotto.

However, with this easy pressure cooker chicken and rice recipe, you don’t have to stand in front of the stove stirring forever.

Instead, your Instant Pot does all the hard work for you making the rice, chicken and vegetables tender and flavor packed.

Here’s how to put it all together:

First sauté the vegetables

Set your pressure cooker on high. Then add butter, oil, onion and carrots.

Cook the vegetables until they’re soft and the onions begin to brown.

Then add the garlic and oregano. Cook until everything starts to smell wonderful – about a minute.

Prepare chicken, rice, and mushrooms

Pepper and salt the chicken breasts and rinse the rice. Clean and slice the mushrooms.

Place the rice and mushrooms in the pot.

Add broth

Make sure broth covers rice and vegetables. Add more if needed.

Place chicken breasts on top of rice and vegetables.

Cook

Place lid on your Instant Pot. Cook on manual high pressure for 10 minutes.

Release pressure

When done, do a 5 minute Natural Release. After that open the pressure valve and release any remaining pressure.

Doing it this way makes sure that the chicken and rice is a bit more tender.

Get more Instant Pot Tips at When is it Safe to Open my Instant Pot?

Shred the chicken

Remove lid, remove the chicken, and shred it into bite size pieces.

Then place the chicken back into the pot.

You can also shred the chicken right in the pot using a couple of meat shredding forks or a hand mixer. Whatever’s easiest for you!

Add the rest of the ingredients

Stir in defrosted peas and chopped parsley.

Serve immediately with grated Parmesan cheese and more chopped parsley.

Equipment needed to cook Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

Instant Pot Pressure Cooker: Cook the whole chicken in either a 6-quart Instant Pot or 8-quart Instant Pot.

8-Inch Chef’s Knife: You’ll need a good chef’s knife to cut up the vegetables and parsley.

Grater: you can use a box shredder to grate the Parmesan cheese. Or try a cheese grater.

I love the Zesty Citrus Lemon Zester & Cheese Grater and have been using mine for many years.

What kind of rice?

You MUST use a long grain white rice. Don’t use instant rice as it cooks up too quickly.

Do NOT use brown rice as it requires a different cooking time. (More time, which means the chicken will be overcooked.)

Can I use a different kind of white rice?

Stop messing with me people! If you use LONG GRAIN WHITE RICE, this recipe will turn out perfectly.

If you use another type of rice or grain (like quinoa) it’ll be over or under cooked.

What kind of mushrooms?

White or baby Bella are the ones to choose at the store for this instant pot rice and chicken recipe.

Why do you rinse the rice?

To remove any dirt or starch covering the rice. I find that rinsing also helps the rice cook better.

You can rinse rice in a fine colander. If you don’t have one, put the rice in a bowl, add water, and swish it around.

Then carefully pour out the cloudy water being careful not to dump any rice. Repeat until the water is clear.

What kind of broth?

 If you’re gluten free, check the label of any broth or stock you’re using.

You can also make your own stock with something like Massel Bouillon Stock Powder, which is certified gluten free.

Time savers when making Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

● Buy already sliced onions and mushrooms at the store. A little more expensive, but worth it if you’re super busy.

● You can also use prechopped garlic from a jar. 1 teaspoon minced jarred garlic equals 1 clove garlic.

(I love jarred garlic and have a huge container of it from Sam’s Club. I won’t tell if you don’t!)

● Use defrosted frozen peas and carrots. You can buy frozen peas and carrots together or separately at the store.

This way you can skip peeling, chopping and cooking carrots at the beginning of the recipe.

Then add them at the end when the recipe directions say to add just the peas.

● You can also buy shredded Parmesan cheese. However, I usually buy it by the wedge so I always have some on hand for that night’s pasta dish.

Can I use other vegetables? 

Do your kids hate mushrooms? Or maybe you have an allergy?

(My best friend is scared of mushroom. She’s lucky I didn’t know about this when we were in grade school.)

Leave them out and double up on the carrots.

Or you can try some chopped celery, broccoli, zucchini, or summer squash instead. Get creative!

Can I use other types of chicken meat?

Sure! Some people find chicken breast meat rather dry and tasteless and prefer thigh meat.

However, make sure it’s boneless chicken meat. Bone in chicken will have a different cooking time.

If you do want to use thigh meat, you may want to brown it first. (Optional, but you may like the added flavor.)

You can do this before adding the onion and carrots.

Then remove the chicken. Proceed with the rest of the recipe. Then place the chicken back on top of the rice (step #8).

Can I use frozen chicken to make pressure cooker chicken and rice?

I’m going to say maybe. You have to decide if you want to try it or not because I haven’t done it myself.

I have read reviews of similar recipes to this one that say they didn’t get good results when using frozen chicken and others where it wasn’t a problem.

If you find yourself in a bind with frozen chicken and dinner needing to be prepared, here are some ways to quickly thaw out chicken breasts:

● Defrost your chicken breasts on 50% power in the microwave for several minutes at a time while you’re prepare the rest of the ingredients.

I can’t give you so many minutes per pound because it depends on the thickness of the chicken breasts and the wattage of your microwave.

Instead, just do several minutes at a time. Then check the chicken for doneness. If the chicken is mostly thawed, I think it’s good to use.

● Place the chicken breasts in individual Ziploc bags and place them in warm/hot water.

(Do this in a large bowl so you can frequently change the water when it cools down.)

If you’re lucky, you bought those individually wrapped frozen chicken breasts and can just plop them into a water filled bowl.

More terrific chicken recipes

If you’re looking for more Instant Pot recipes, check out Instant Pot Whole Chicken and Instant Pot Orange Chicken.

If you love cooking with your crock-Pot, check out this Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sliders Recipe and this Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo Recipe with Quinoa.

Love to grill? This Easy Chicken Marinade Recipe is ideal for grilling chicken breasts.

Sriracha Chicken Kabobs is terrific to serve at parties, but you can also make it for dinner. Just add some veggies and it’s a complete meal.

If you love grilled chicken sandwiches, try this Chicken Panini Recipe.