Chicken rice is a popular dish in South East Asia. When we traveled to Thailand and Cambodia, both countries had their own versions of this simple dish. Note, this dish is not called chicken and rice. It is just chicken rice. Simple and concise, just like this 30 Minute Instant Pot Chicken Rice.
Chicken rice is typically made by poaching a whole chicken. A whole chicken is way too much for our family of 4 so oftentimes we use drumsticks instead. We’ve also swapped the drumsticks for bone-in chicken thighs or chicken leg quarters.
When I make this recipe, I usually just dump everything in the Instant Pot. When time permits, I will sauté the garlic and the rice together in the Instant Pot or on the stovetop before pressure cooking for a more aromatic rice. The “Saute” setting can get pretty hot in the Instant Pot so turn it off once it’s heated. The garlic can be sautéed using the residual heat. If you sauté in the Instant Pot, let the inner pot cool down a bit before adding the rice and broth else you might end up with a “BURN” error.
The bulk of the work in this recipe is in making the dipping sauces. I’m not ashamed to admit that there are days when I’ve skipped making any of the sauces and opted for plain ole simple soy sauce as the dip. The Sweet Dark Soy Sauce Dip is super simple to make. Just mix the soy sauce, sugar, water/Shaoxing wine, and sesame oil and the dip is ready to go. The Garlic Ginger Dip requires a tad more work on the stovetop. Sauté the garlic and ginger in cooking oil to infuse its aroma into the oil and to also get rid of the bitterness of raw garlic.
White rice usually takes about 3 minutes to cook on its own in the Instant Pot. So with a pressure cook time of 8 minutes, the white rice actually ends up being a little wet when the pressure cooking is complete. For our family, this is an okay compromise for a quick, almost all in one pot meal! (P.S. If you want to make it an all in one pot meal, add carrots to to the pot before pressure cooking to get carbs, proteins, and veggies!)
30 Minute Instant Pot Chicken Rice
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker or Instant Pot
Ingredients
Main Dish
- 1 tbsp cooking oil optional
- 5 cloves garlic chopped or minced, optional
- 1 shallot chopped or minced, optional
- 5-6 chicken drumsticks or 4 bone in chicken thighs or 2 chicken leg quarters
- 1½ C white rice rinsed
- 1½ C low sodium chicken broth if use water, add ½ tsp salt
Sweet Soy Sauce Dip
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine or cooking wine or water is fine too
- ½ tbsp water
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp sesame oil
Garlic Ginger Dip
- 1 clove garlic chopped or minced
- 1 inch piece ginger chopped or grated
- 1½ tbsp cooking oil
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
Main Dish
- (optional, for a more fragrant rice) Press SAUTE on the Instant Pot. Once it is heated, turn off the Instant Pot (else the heat on the bottom of the pot will be too great and could burn the garlic and rice). Add oil to the inner pot and saute the garlic for 30 seconds. Stir in the rice and saute with the garlic for another 30 seconds. Note, this can be also done on the stovetop.
- Add all the ingredients to the Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes and natural release for 10 minutes. It will take about 6 minutes to come up to pressure. While the main dish is cooking, make the sauce.
- Serve & enjoy with soy sauce (or any of the dipping sauce below)!
Sweet Soy Sauce Dip, optional
- Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl and it's ready to be dipped into!
Garlic Ginger Dip, optional
- Mash the garlic and ginger together in a small bowl. A paste will form. Stir fry the garlic ginger paste in oil on medium heat in a frying pan until it's aromatic. Be careful not to burn! Place back into the small bowl and it's ready to be dipped into!
Adapted from Woks of Life Hainanese Chicken Rice
