Instant Pot Southwestern Chicken and Rice! Throw everything in the instant pot and walk away. You’ll have a delicious, satisfying, healthy dinner 30 minutes later!
You really just throw everything in the instant pot and let it cook. It makes for a satisfying, healthy and budget-friendly meal with no clean-up.
Have you jumped on the Instant Pot train yet? I caved and bought one on cyber Monday when they were a smoking deal last November.
I know a lot of people who also bought an instant pot 2 weeks ago on Amazon Prime Day. Why is it so hard to pass up deals on Amazon?
All I know is I’m glad I made the leap and bought one. I use my instant pot all the time to make my favorite sprouted brown rice as well as quinoa to go with all kinds of dinners.
It also works great for any recipes where you’d usually use the slow-cooker.
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How to Make Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
This Slow-Cooker Moroccan Apricot Chicken turns out great in the instant pot!
You can use the saute function to brown everything and then select the slow-cooker function or cook it all in 30 minutes on high pressure. I love the versatility!
This Instant Pot Southwestern Chicken and Rice is my very favorite instant pot recipe to-date! When I showed my husband how easy it was to make his mind was blown.
Instant Pot Southwestern Chicken and Rice
I love making this with the sprouted brown rice I mentioned earlier. I also like eating this with tortilla chips, hot sauce and sharp cheddar.
The leftovers from this meal are delicious and highly coveted at my house.
You can also freeze any leftovers (see instructions in the recipe) for easy meals/lunches later.
If there is one recipe to convince you to buy an instant pot it should be this one. I’m planning on sharing more of my instant pot favorites regularly! For another favorite chicken recipe try this chicken fajita marinade!
FAQ
Can I use frozen chicken?
Yes frozen chicken will work great! Just be sure it does not exceed 1lb of frozen chicken. If you’re using 2 chicken breasts be sure they are frozen separate and not in one big clump. I find this works best with one large frozen chicken breast instead of 2.
Can I use white rice?
This recipe was designed for brown rice. It will burn if you use white rice and keep the cook time/liquid the same. The longer cook time is to insure the brown rice gets fully cooked. This is my favorite brown rice on Amazon!
Help! It burned on the bottom.
There can be a number of reasons for things burning in the instant pot. If you’ve used brown rice and not too much frozen chicken (white rice and too much frozen chicken can cause this to burn) if is probably because your instant pot didn’t seal correctly. Make sure the inner ring is clean and the valve is set “sealing”.
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Instant Pot Southwestern Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice I like using this Sprouted Brown Rice best
- 3/4 cup salsa any kind you like
- 15 oz can kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup frozen corn
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 chicken breasts about 1 pound
- 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
- chips hot sauce and more cheese for serving
Instructions
- Place the brown rice, salsa, kidney beans, corn and chicken stock in the instant pot. Stir to combine.
- Nestle the chicken breasts (leave them whole so they won't get dry during cooking) down in the rice/liquid mixture. Sprinkle the chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and salt partly over the chicken and partly over the liquid/rice mixture. Spread out the spices and mix some in with the liquid with spoon. (This doesn't have to be precise. Just get some in with the rice and some on the chicken.)
- Secure the lid and cook on HIGH PRESSURE for 24 minutes (select Manual and then dial up or down to get to the correctly number of minutes; the IP will start on it’s own).
- Let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes and then quick release the rest of the pressure. Remove the chicken breasts and shred into bite-sized pieces. Fluff the rice with a fork and mix in the chicken and shredded cheese.
- Serve topped with cheese, hot sauce and chips for dipping. Enjoy!
Could you do this with frozen chicken
Yes frozen chicken works great!
Made this today! Used black beans instead and it was delicious! Great recipe!
I’m wondering if this could be made keeping the rice with liquid for it separate from the salsa, corn, beans and chicken..? My son didn’t care for the texture of the rice cooked all together. And, reheating it was so-so. Taste was great, just didn’t like the texture of the rice mixed with other ingredients. Thanks!
Made this recipe tonight, and attempted it with white rice. But before it could even finish pressurizing i got the “burn” message from my crockpot. I opened it and mixed to find the rice was burning on the bottom. 🙁 not sure how to fix this
Has anyone done this recipe with quinoa?
Just made it with quinoa, kept measurements the same. Cooked for 15 min, vented after 2. Quinoa was still a bit under done. Next time I’ll cook for 17 min. Exceptionally delicious!
My children immediately began complaining when they heard “chicken and rice” They decided they hated it before they even tasted it. Once they do that, nothing changes their minds…except this recipe. When the smell hit them, they virtually began drooling. One bite and they were goners. My oldest gave it “2 thumbs up” and my youngest held up both hands with all of her fingers and thumbs up while declaring it was way better than 2 thumbs. THANK YOU!!!
Ha! So funny! So glad they liked it!
Good recipe! I followed your directions and we had a great supper.
Thank you!
So glad you liked it!
I tried this last night, used sautéed onions instead of powder and white rice. The Instant pot started up fine but then read BURN and stopped cooking properly. I am not sure if there was not enough liquid for the rice, or if the bottom was too hot from the sauté. Any suggestions? This was only my 4th or fifth meal in the instant pot.
I would try making the recipe as written and see if it works for you! I haven’t tried it with sauteed onions and it could make too much liquid evaporate.
After trying some things out I’ve realized this recipe will NOT work with white rice. It burns with white rice because it absorbs too much liquid too quickly. Just a note for anyone who switches out the rice – it could cause it to burn!
I made this tonight and doubled the recipe. The only issue we had with doubling the recipe was that it needs a little more liquid in. We used white rice since that was what we had on hand and some of the rice wasn’t cooked fully. It was still edible and my kids gobbled it up, so I’ll call it a win. We will be adding this to our rotation. Thanks.
Does the size of the instant pot for recipes matter?
Is it possible to use chicken broth instead of stock?
Hi Erin. 🙂 I had success this time. It worked! It was very tasty. :-). My husband made lots of happy sounds during dinner. 🙂
Well this is delicious! After a little IP crisis. I bravely decided to double it since I’m feeding 4 adults. I haven’t had my IP that long and I have only done rice once. I screwed that up a bit because I stopped it after several minutes (before pressure) because I got scared I forgot to do something! So it overcooked a bit….This time I got the overheat code several times because of the rice. I used 3 cups of broth….added probably 2 more…overcooked my rice. I kept scraping bottom…it still had some liquid! but I chopped up chicken to get it done. It never got to pressure but chicken got done anyway! It was still yummy yummy! even though a little over cooked rice and moist-er then it is supposed to be. Thank you for the recipe! I’ll try it again for sure!
Hi there, tried your recipe and followed it to the letter.. unfortunately something happened and my IP didn’t come to pressure because the rice stuck to the bottom and scorched 🙁 I had made a similar recipe to yours before and it called for a little bit of oil so I think thats what kept it from sticking before.
Sorry this didn’t work out for you! What size pressure cooker did you use?
I had the same thing happen tonight. 6 qt Duo. Used frozen boneless chicken thighs, so did not sauté at the beginning.
This happened to me when I used too much chicken that was really frozen the other day. If using frozen chicken don’t use more than a 1lb or it will take too long to come up to temperature and the rice will burn. I hope that helps! Sorry for the trouble!
I just read the comment you made about if there’s too much chicken that it will then turn the rice on the bottom I wish I would’ve known that as I was making it tonight I had that happen with the burn signal come on. I had three chicken breast instead of two now I’m trying to rectify it Maybe you could put that in the recipe and specify that. Thanks
I also got the burn message but I think it was due to using white rice rather than brown. I think I should have prepped the pot with oil to avoid sticking thus burning.
If you use white rice you will get the burn message. I really does make a difference! Sorry about that!
It can also burn if the instant pot didn’t seal properly when coming to pressure. If too much steam comes out during the pressurizing process the liquid will evaporate too quickly and cause it to burn. Make sure the sealing ring is properly in place and that the valve is turned to seal. I hope this helps!
Could you make this with quinoa instead? How would your adjust cook time? Thanks!
I can’t wait to try this -it looks really yummy