If you are looking for a one-pot hands off delicious family dinner, this is the recipe! Instant Pot Chicken and Brown Rice has tender savory chicken, sweet carrots, mushrooms, nutty brown rice all in a delicious creamy sauce.

Instant Pot Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe

Of all the Instant Pot magic I’ve made and shared on my site, this recipe has become the biggest favorite. Instant Pot Chicken and Brown rice is a warm, comforting dinner of perfectly tender ingredients that happens to deliver great nutrition, too.

The flavor is familiar and comforting for kids, but interesting and delicious for adults! It is filling, easy to make and packed full of nutrition. This dinner has it all – protein, veggies, whole grains – no need for anything else with this meal!

How To Cook Chicken and Rice in an Instant Pot

1. Start by plugging in your Instant Pot and pushing the “Sauté” button. Leave it to heat up while you prep your veggies.
2. Dice your veggies, including the onion, garlic, carrots, and mushrooms. If you’re using baby carrots, you can leave them whole. Set all the veggies aside.
3. Rinse your rice well, than drain. Set it aside.
4. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and add your onion. Sauté about 3 minutes, then push the “Keep Warm/Cancel” button to turn off the sauté feature.
5. Add to the pot in this order garlic, rice, chicken, carrots, and mushrooms.
6. In a small bowl, combine broth, cream of chicken soup (this is the recipe we like) Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Pour over everything in the Instant Pot. Place 8-10 small sprigs of thyme on top.
7. Close and seal the Instant Pot, and use the “Manual” button to toggle to 26 minutes cook time. Make sure the valve is in the closed position. Note: You can walk away now! But know that your meal will take longer than 26 minutes to cook. Ours took around 15 minutes to built up to pressure before it started counting down from 31 minutes. So plan on a little under an hour for the meal to cook.
8. When the timer goes off, switch the vent on the top to open to release the pressure. BE CAREFUL when you do this that your hand is not in the way. The steam will be high powered and hot! It takes about 2 minutes for the pin to drop.
9. Open the lid. Strip the leaves of the thyme sprigs into the pot. Stir to slightly shred chicken and mix in any extra liquid. Serve warm.

Why We Love Instant Pot Chicken and Brown Rice

We’ve made this dish countless times! There’s so much to love about it.

• It’s a true one-pot meal. Meat, veggies, and grains cook all together so you don’t have to fuss with extra dishes or complicated meal planning.
• It’s healthy for kids. Whole grain brown rice, vitamin-rich veggies and protein-packed chicken provide the nutrition growing kids need.
• You can set it and walk away. Hooray!
• …But It’s quicker than the slow cooker. And you don’t have to leave it running all day when you’re not home.
• It’s delicious and comforting. If creamy, savory rice, flavorful veggies, and fall-apart tender chicken sound like your thing, you should try this recipe.

*UPDATE* What to Do if You Get a “Burn” Notice

SOO many of you have cooked this recipe and loved it. Thank you all for your awesome feedback! However, there are a few of you have mentioned getting a “burn” notice from your Instant Pot.

We’ve never been able to reproduce this in our kitchen. BUT, here’s what could be going on.

The burn notice usually pops up when you’re cooking something with a thick sauce. The Instant Pot likes to have a thin liquid like water or broth in order to create enough steam to pressurize the inner chamber.

If you get the burn notice, shut off the Instant Pot and carefully release the vent. Then open the lid, stir up the contents, and add a splash of water or broth. Then lock the lid and set it to cook again.

If you’ve struggled with this before, here’s a great article with more details about avoiding the burn notice.

More Delicious Instant Pot Recipes

• Push “saute” button on Instant Pot. While it heats, dice onion, mince garlic, and chop veggies. Rinse and drain rice.

• When pot says “HOT,” add oil to pot and saute onions for 3 minutes. Then press “cancel” to turn the saute setting off.

• Add to the pot in this order garlic, rice, chicken, carrots, and mushrooms. NOTE: chicken breasts also work well, just make sure to cut them in half so they’re not too thick.

• In a small bowl, combine broth, cream of chicken soup (homemade is preferable) Worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Pour over everything in the Instant Pot.

• Place 8-10 small sprigs of thyme on top.

• Seal the Instant Pot, close the vent, and press “manual.” Use the “pressure” button to toggle to high pressure.  For brown rice: set the time for 25 minutes.  For white rice: set the timer for 20 minutes.  After 10 seconds the pot should register that it has begun the pressurizing process.

• Once the pot is done cooking open the vent (keep your hand out of the path of the steam) to quick release the pressure.  This should take about 2 minutes.  Once pressure has released completely (the pin drops) the pot is safe to open.

• Open the lid. Strip the leaves of the thyme sprigs into the pot. Stir to slightly shred chicken and mix in any extra liquid. Serve warm.

Calories: 531kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 116mg | Sodium: 924mg | Potassium: 666mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 4662IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 3mg