Instant pot chicken and rice with cream of chicken soup

Pressure cooker chicken and rice casserole recipe made in our Instant Pot, Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi is the best creamy dinner ever! Family favorite and so easy to do.

This amazingly easy pressure cooker chicken and rice recipe takes just 15 minutes to cook and prepare. Even my kids say it’s a great recipe. We love casseroles, this basic Campbells chicken and rice is from my childhood. Tt cooks a lot faster now! One of our favorite Instant Pot recipes! (originally published 3/17, affiliate links present)

Ninja Foodi Chicken and Rice

That is right, this is one of our favorite easy Ninja Foodi recipes too! You can make this in any brand you have at home. Crockpot Express, Mealthy, whatever one works.

I love cooking everything together at once. Makes it easier on days when I am just spent and allows us to eat together more often which I appreciate as a mom, a total win win.

Let’s start with a few basic tips:

• Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
• Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
  • This is a great InstaPot cookbook and set of wooden utensils are great to grab too.
  • I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
    • You should still deglaze pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.

For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have and use for all recipe creations.

Adding vegetables to this chicken recipe gives it great flavor, texture, and the more I include them in our dinners the more my kids like them. Of course you can omit if you wish. 😉

Seasoned with just some salt and black pepper, it’s so easy to throw together. I use frozen vegetables to make things easier.

Now I generally use boneless skinless chicken breasts diced into bite size pieces. It’s the best way for this version, or our Instant Pot teriyaki chicken and rice dish.

If I find chicken thighs on sale I would use those instead. I find that thighs have more flavor and are more tender than the latter.

• I get lazy though and if bone-in is all I can find I will opt for whatever is boneless and a decent price. 

As far as rice, I like Jasmine personally. It has a better texture than just the cheaper long grain version and less expensive than Basmati.

• If you are totally opposed to adding vegetables, just leave those out. Only like frozen peas? Just add those and omit the others.

Cheese is a really great add in but of course if you need it to be dairy free, then leave that out too.

If you have ever make this, the one you see here is very similar. BUT this is cooked in my Instant Pot so timing and a few more ingredients were added to it.

• I ate something similar A LOT growing up with everything just dumped in a pot on the stove top. I really loved it and was made often because it was cheap. Pretty healthy Instant Pot dinner recipe too.

It has everything in a comfort food you’ll want including a bunch of mixed vegetables that cook in no time.

• Add any other spices you enjoy, I add just a few myself. If you want to use fresh green beans and baby bellas follow the directions here for our Instant Pot chicken mushroom casserole.

The first step is to add your meat and set to saute. All multi cookers have the function except some are labeled brown/saute instead. It is important that your meat is diced into bite size pieces so it cooks evenly and remains tender.

If you don’t have one of these multi cookers and are a busy mom I would HIGHLY recommend it.

It’s a pressure cooker with 6 other functions so you can replace a lot of your other kitchen appliances too. I have a Crock Pot Express and Ninja Foodi. I use all three to make this.

• I’ve made lots of other dishes in my Instant Pot because it makes dinner time quick and easy.

Can you use frozen chicken in the Instant Pot?

Follow these frozen chicken in the Instant Pot directions to do so.
Our electric pressure cooker chicken is shredded and served as sliders.
I would not recommend it for this chicken and rice casserole though.

Why? Because first of all the meat needs to be in bite size pieces. Chances are it wouldn’t be cut into small enough pieces like this before freezing. You also want to cook the outsides just a bit on the first step.

This isn’t possible if your chicken is frozen. Another downside is more liquid will be added once it defrosts. This will make it a soupier texture.

Why is rice burning in Instant Pot?

When there’s not enough thin cooking liquid in a pressure cooker it may not be able to generate enough steam to come up to pressure. The bottom of the pot will become too hot triggering burn on Instant Pot.

To avoid this do NOT stir rice into the mixture, instead gently submerge into the liquid on the top.

Do yourself a favor and just use fresh diced boneless skinless breasts or chicken thighs to make this pressure cooker chicken and rice recipe.

Instant Pot chicken rice

Mine came out really well but several people had issues with them not cooking through. Or their pot did not reach pressure so I have revised this recipe.

Now the recipe reads with the chicken cut up into cubes so there shouldn’t be any issues any longer! A problem you may experience if you don’t follow the directions EXACTLY as they’re stated below is with the rice.

Making Instant Pot white rice is the exception to this rule since there are no other ingredients other than water. 

At first I was intimidated because I had never used one before. Now that I’ve tinkered with it I use it every day and share new pressure cooker recipes each week. They are all yummy and super simple to do like this one.

Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice

1. Cup of rice (not instant white rice, we like Jasmine rice)
2. Chicken breasts 
   1. could use chicken thighs
   2. if you want to use pork, follow our pressure cooker pork and rice recipe
   3. using precooked shredded chicken is possible too, just skip step 1 since it’s already cooked
3. Frozen mixed vegetables
4. Cream of chicken soup
   1. cream of mushroom could be used instead

Chicken broth – can use water but broth is so much better

1 – 1/2 cup Cheese (optional but so good, we like sharp cheddar).

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper
2. Onion 
3. Olive oil
4. Instant Pot or pressure cooker – I have a 6 qt.
   1. I HIGHLY suggest you get a non stick pot too!

Variations of this Instant Pot chicken and rice recipe

• I have used rotisserie chicken vs. raw chicken – just use 2 breasts and dice the chicken up, then skip the first step where the chicken is browned, just put it into the bottom of the pot
• You can amp it up with a bit of spice and veggies with Instant Pot Mexican chicken and rice.

Added vegetables and share it in our Instant Pot chicken broccoli rice recipe.

Just naturally release steam for 3 minutes, lift the lid, and the cooked rice is so tender!  Chicken is always tender, flavorful, and who doesn’t love a one pot meal??

I haven’t made it with brown rice yet but others have, comments for that method are below.

I modified the recipe I found here but adjusted some ingredients and the time as well for it to come out moist and ensuring the rice was done perfectly.

If you love this easy dinner idea try our other easy Instant Pot chicken recipes here are a few

• Cheesy Instant Pot chicken parmesan casserole is a family favorite
  • Crack chicken casserole.
• Spicy honey Instant Pot chicken is a popular dinner idea
• Pressure cooker frozen whole chicken
•  Instant Pot white rice goes great with our Instant Pot spicy teriyaki chicken on top

Want to make this in your Ninja Foodi too? Of course we’ve done that. Just follow this Ninja Foodi chicken casserole recipe for that pot.

If you want to make this using noodles instead of rice follow our pressure cooker chicken noodle casserole directions.

Ready to make our cream of mushroom chicken and rice dish? Yes you can throw in quartered fresh mushrooms too!

I suggest using baby bellas vs. button so they don’t get so soft. Bellas will keep their shape and maintain their texture better. 

• Just make sure you throw them in at the very top and don’t submerge them.
• So once you sprinkle in your rice and gently submerge, then set mushrooms on top of that.

Want to make crockpot chicken and rice?? We have directions for a creamy Crockpot chicken method too!

Instant Pot chicken and rice

Here’s a quick step by step but I also have a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Time needed: 12 minutes.

Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice

1. Saute

   Put bite size chicken and diced onions into pot with some olive oil and set to saute. Cook outsides just enough so pink is gone (insides will still be raw and that is okay) Turn pot off now.

2. Add ingredients

   Sprinkle in seasoning, whisk together broth and can of cream of chicken soup together in a bowl – stir that in. Add frozen vegetables if you want at this time.

   Sprinkle in uncooked white rice but DO NOT stir in, just gently submerge into the liquid at the top.

3. Cook

   Close lid and steam valve and set to high for 9 minutes. Allow steam to release naturally for 3 minutes and then open steam valve to pressure release the rest of the way.

   If you do a quick release rice won’t be as perfectly tender.

Add cheese now and stir so it melts (optional add in but it’s good). Serve topped with more cheese for added yumminess!! If you want to use noodles instead, try our Instant Pot chicken and pasta recipe instead.

If you want to make this with a sausage link, try our Instant Pot sausage and rice recipe! Print the recipe below and enjoy!

Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice

Pressure cooker chicken and rice casserole recipe we make in our Instant Pot the other night for dinner. Just 12 minutes cooks chicken, rice and vegetables perfectly in a Ninja Foodi too.

Course Entree, Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword casserole, chicken noodle soup, fried rice, instant pot, pressure cooker

Prep Time 9 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 528kcal

• 1 lb chicken boneless, skinless breasts or thighs cut into cubes
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 c mixed vegetables frozen
• 1 c white rice not instant, we use long grain white rice
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 onions diced
• pinch pepper
• 2 c chicken broth could use water
• 1/2 c cheese cheddar, shredded
• 2 tbsp olive oil

• Put cubed chicken pieces and diced onions into Instant Pot with olive oil and set to saute, cook until chicken is cooked on the outside (will continue to cook in next step so outside just needs to be cooked/white in color). Turn pot off! 

• Sprinkle with seasonings. Add cream of chicken soup, frozen vegetables, and broth into your pressure cooker. Stir together WELL until clumps of cream of chicken are smoothed out.

• Sprinkle rice on top and DO NOT Stir!!

• Put lid on Instant Pot, close steam valve and set to manual, high pressure for 9 minutes. (10 is fine too if you want rice a bit softer)

• Allow to naturally release for 3 minutes when done, let out rest of steam, and carefully lift lid. Add cheese now and stir until melted or serve topped with cheese.

Nutrition Facts

Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice

Amount Per Serving (4 oz)

Calories 528 Calories from Fat 171

% Daily Value*

Fat 19g29%

Saturated Fat 6g38%

Cholesterol 93mg31%

Sodium 1209mg53%

Potassium 743mg21%

Carbohydrates 51g17%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 1g1%

Protein 35g70%

Vitamin A 2625IU53%

Vitamin C 15.3mg19%

Calcium 153mg15%

Iron 2.4mg13%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.