Instant pot boneless chicken thighs and rice

This easy and flavorful Instant Pot dinner is delicious comfort food, made with tender boneless 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.

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

Ingredients

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Rinse the rice

Step 2: Saute grated carrot and onion

Step 3: Add a drizzle of water to deglaze the bottom of the pot

Step 4: Add boneless, skinless chicken thighs, mix well

Step 5: Add salt, coriander and cinnamon

Step 6: Add white rice and water. Cook for 6 minutes (high pressure) and let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes

FAQs About This Recipe

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Can I use chicken breast instead of chicken thighs?

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.

What's the difference between quick release and natural release for Instant Pot recipes?

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.

How do I know when to use quick release and when to use natural release for Instant Pot recipes?

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.

Do I have to rinse rice before cooking it in my Instant Pot?

You don't have to, and sometimes I skip this step out of laziness with fine results, but rinsing does result in fluffier rice. For what it's worth, the official Instant Pot website recommends it.

Can I use bone-in chicken thighs?

Not for this recipe. Bone-in chicken thighs take longer to cook.

Print

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

This recipe was updated on 9/21/22 to improve the cooking instructions and avoid a burn notice. 

• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 6
• Total Time: 16 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: Chicken
• Method: Instant Pot
• Cuisine: American

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, avocado oil or sunflower oil
• ½ an onion, grated* (see note at bottom of recipe about grating onion)
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 to 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 ½ cups white rice (I use Jasmine rice)
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon coriander
• ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon (just a pinch)

1. First, rinse the rice. Rinsing helps the rice cook into fluffy, individual grains instead of ending up with a softer texture that mushes together. To rinse rice, put it in a fine mesh strainer and run water over the rice for about a minute while swirling the rice with your fingers. Or, you can put the rice in a bowl with water and swirl the rice around. Keep draining and replacing the water until the water is no longer white and cloudy. Once the rice is rinsed, set it aside. 
2.  Add the oil, onion and carrot to the Instant Pot.
3. Press the Saute button and saute the onion and carrot for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pot to make sure that bits of onion and carrot don’t stick to the pot.
4. Add just a drizzle of the water (about 2 tablespoons) and use a spatula to loosen any bits of onion or carrot that have might have stuck to the bottom of the pot. 
5. Put the chicken thighs in the Instant Pot, and mix really well with the carrot and onion. Spread the thighs out evenly in one layer or only slightly overlapping.
6. Sprinkle the salt, coriander and cinnamon over the chicken. 
7. Add the rice in an even layer on top of the chicken. Don't mix the rice and chicken. 
8. Pour the remaining water over the rice. Use your hand or a spoon to push down gently on the rice so that it's covered with water as much as possible (don't mix).
9. Secure the lid, making sure the steam release valve is in the "sealed" position.
10. Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.
11. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then release any remaining pressure.
12. Mix well, shredding the chicken as you mix. Add salt to taste. 
13. Serve, either shredding the chicken or leaving the chicken thighs whole. 

Notes

Why Do I Grate the Onion and Carrot? I like the way grated carrot and onion easily meld into this dish. This recipe doesn't cook long, so the onion and carrot don't have a lot of time to cook. Grating them helps to speed up the cooking process. You can use a cheese grater to grate both the onion and carrot. 

This recipe was tested in a 6-quart Instant Pot

Keywords: instant pot, instant pot chicken and white rice, chicken and rice, instant pot dinner

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