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!
We eat this all the time! It’s the best! Just out of curiosity do you know if the portion is like a cup cup and 1/2? It’s just hard to figure out 1/6th! Trying to count calories! Thanks so much
Made this tonight and the flavor is amazing! It’s definitely a keeper! I did not have Sharp Cheddar but used Colby Jack Served with tortilla chips as suggested which added just enough texture to the meal.
One of our fave IP + quick meals – super easy & satisfying! Have made this at least 20 times – everyone we’ve served it to (incl kids) love it too. We usually use it for burritos.
On the pur of the moment – looked for something good, nourishing and quick, I found it. Many thanks. This will be part of my cook book from now on.
I’m so glad you liked it!
I love this idea! I particularly love the idea that you can put frozen chicken in. I rarely plan ahead , and this would work perfectly. I have to be lactose free as well as gluten free, so my husband can add the cheese on his portion alone. Yay!
Are the nutrition facts per serving? If so, how big is a serving? Doing weight watchers and it calculates to 12 points which seems high for a healthy meal such as this. Thanks!
The nutrition facts are for if you divide the recipe by 6 servings. So 1/6 of the recipe. I hope this helps!
My instant pot took over half an hour to reach pressure following this recipe.. any idea why that would happen? Only thing substituted was black beans for kidney
There can be many reasons the instant pot doesn’t come to pressure. Usually it’s because the seal isn’t clean. I’ve also had this happen if I add too much frozen chicken to the instant pot. I hope this helps!
Making this tonight. I made beans first. I have sweet brown rice. Then used canned tomatoes and green chili instead of salsa. I did not have chicken broth but added extra salt and chicken and water should make its own chicken broth. Added more seasonings to make flavor. I don’t have corn but that would taste great. Great recipe and I think it will be marvelous.
Hi, it is not letting me leave 5 stars only 4, this is definitely 5 star, I followed your recipe to a T and it turned out a absolutely perfect, my family loved it including me. Thank you for putting this recipe up.
I followed the recipe, mostly. I used a little more spice and did not cook the beans with the meal as I had beans already done in the refrigerator. It came out great! Thank you for the recipe.
Yummy! Made as directed with two mostly frozen 1/2 lb each chicken breasts. So easy and delicious! And nutritious. This seasoned the brown rice so nicely. THANK YOU-will make again and again.
Thanks for the comment! I’m so glad you it turned out for you!
I made this with brown rice and frozen chicken breasts. It was so easy and delicious! My family loved it and there were no leftovers. My chicken was in one big frozen block and it still cooked perfectly. I will be making this again.
I have made this recipe so many times. It is always delicious and it’s one of my husband’s favorites.
We really liked this, but I think more broth or liquid is a good idea. I felt it was a little thick and adding the extra broth – even after cooking made it great! I used some rotel tomatoes, green chili’s I had on hand and a zucchini I needed to use. I also used some black beans that I had on hand.
Very tasty! I froze the extra we didn’t eat and I might use it with more broth to have a tortilla soup.
This recipe has been a staple in our house for a while now and has saved me on multiple nights when I didn’t have a dinner plan! I love that it’s for frozen chicken and brown rice – most of the recipes I find use white rice, which I never have in the house. I use black beans instead of kidney beans because I just like them better, but otherwise follow the recipe. Sooo good! My husband loves to add sour cream as his topping. Thanks for a fantastic recipe!