Instant Pot chicken broccoli rice is an amazingly cheesy pressure cooker casserole! This one pot meal works with ham or sausage too.
This Instant Pot chicken broccoli rice casserole is so versatile! Use ham or turkey too if you’d rather, and you can omit the veggies if you want. We love this easy InstaPot recipe as is though. (affiliate links present)
If you’ve been following The Typical Mom blog at all you know about my love for Instant Pot casseroles.
You know, the throw what you have in the fridge in the pot and let it all cook together kinda’ meals? Yeah, those.
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. It is easier to clean and will avoid the burn message too.
For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have and use for all recipe creations.
Once again this came about kinda’ by accident. I was making my Instant Pot chicken and rice dish one night but decided to use ham instead. I had broccoli that needed to be used to….so this came about!
The same thing kinda’ happened with Instant Pot enchilada rice.
The next week I had leftover rotisserie chicken breasts, and swapped those out instead. They both came out great so I thought I’d share it with y’all.
- So long as your meat is precooked you can use what you have on hand.
- If you want to use fresh meat then just saute it at the start with your onions until it’s no longer pink and voila!!
This was our favorite combination of ingredients so I will share that one with you today.
Here are a few questions you might have before you get started on this dish:
Yes! We will show you how we do this all the time. Just like our Instant Pot sausage and rice recipe this cooks everything together like a casserole.
If you’re making an Instant Pot whole chicken all you need is broth and a trivet. To cook starch with your meat you’ll need to dice, saute, and brown the outsides first.
Yes! If this is all you have you can start with our frozen chicken in Instant Pot instructions. Then drain the liquid and add it into this broccoli rice dish.
Instant Pot chicken rice and veggies
You’re first going to want to start your pot on saute. Add olive oil, onions and raw chicken if that is what you have. If using precooked sausage, ham or rotisserie you don’t have to add the meat now.
Here are the next steps so you can enjoy this meal as we have several times over again.
My family loved it with any meat I had on hand. I wouldn’t recommend doubling the recipe, it’s better as is.
Time needed: 15 minutes.
Instant Pot cheesy chicken and rice
- Saute
Saute olive oil (or butter) with onions and raw chicken if it’s not already cooked. Cook until meat is no longer pink and onions are softened. Add minced garlic near the end.
- Add ingredients
Pour in chicken broth with salt and pepper. If adding precooked meat, add at this time. Sprinkle in white rice and gently submerge at the top, do not stir.
- Pressure cook
Close lid and steam valve, set to high pressure for 10 minutes, then release the pressure quickly when that is done. (haven’t tried with brown rice yet but would take longer)
- Add extras
Lift lid and stir in fresh broccoli florets. Put lid back on for 10 minutes (to steam the broccoli). Then lift lid and stir in 1/2 cup or more of cheddar cheese and sour cream.
- Serve
Serve this bowl of comfort food as is. It turns out great every time we make it.
Like I said, diced sausage or leftover ham would totally work instead of chicken too as you see here.
Few notes: I haven’t tried frozen broccoli for this. I think if you allowed it to defrost, then drain the liquid out of the bowl or bag it would work. If not you’d be adding additional liquid to the pot and would make it too moist.
Also, the seasonings are up to you. If you like a kit of it you could add garlic powder and/or salt with the salt and pepper.
That is always subjective and personal preference so I tend to under-season at the beginning.
- Cheese is of course an option and could be left out if you needed it to be dairy free.
- We are all about ALL the cheeses around here and like sharp cheddar personally.
- I think a mixture of cheddar and spicy jack might be a good option too.
Chicken thighs and rice Instant Pot
Another choice you have is the type of chicken you are going to add. You could choose between:
- Skinless, boneless, diced chicken breasts or thighs
- these would have to be cooked before you added the broth and rice, using the saute function
- if you only had frozen thighs you’d need to use these directions to thaw and precook them beforehand
- Ham diced up is another option to use
- If you have leftover turkey after the holidays you could add that instead
Diced sausage links work great too. If you like a little heat then choose andouille, less would be kielbasa.
Tips regarding the broccoli: Of course you could use another vegetable but this one works quite nicely for this one.
If that really is a no go for y’all, cut kernels off fresh corn on the cob and add that instead!
- Rinse head of fresh broccoli
- Cut into really small pieces
- Discard stalk and only use florets
Instant Pot chicken broccoli rice
- Diced chicken or other precooked meat
- White rice, uncooked – not Minute instant rice
- Cheese
- Broccoli florets
- Salt and pepper
- Onion
- Minced garlic
- Butter or olive oil
- Sour cream
Chicken broth is better than just water to add a bunch more flavor.
If you’re looking for other Instant Pot recipes we have a ton!! A few similar dishes that have been a hit with families is this chili mac, 5 ingredient chili and our Instant Pot ham.
Never added a bunch of different ingredients in your pressure cooker all at the same time? You can do it!!
Follow our step by step directions below and let us know what “tweaks” you do to make it fabulous for y’all! 😉
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Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli Rice
Ingredients
- 2 c chicken or ham, precooked and diced
- 1.5 c rice white
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 onion diced
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 4 c chicken broth
- 4 c broccoli florets
- 1/2 c sour cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 1/4 c cheese shredded cheddar
Instructions
- Set pressure cooker to saute mode, add the butter and onions. Cook until the onion is softened, about 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in garlic for last minute. Cancel the saute mode.
- Add the chicken broth and salt, stir. Then sprinkle rice into the pot, but do not stir.
- Place the lid on the electric pressure cooker and set the valve to sealing. Set the pressure cooker to “manual” or “pressure cook” high for 10 minutes. Quick release the pressure when the cook cycle is complete.
- Fluff the rice, and then gently stir in the broccoli florets + precooked diced chicken or ham. Place the lid back on and allow the Instant Pot to “keep warm” until the broccoli has softened to your desired tenderness. (typically 10 to 15 minutes)
- Once broccoli is tender, stir in the sour cream and 1 ¾ cups cheddar cheese into the rice. Top with remaining cheddar cheese and place the lid over the pressure cooker just until the cheese melts and the remaining water is absorbed. (about 5 minutes)
- Fluff and serve
Video
Vps
Thursday 29th of October 2020
What kind of rice is best for this recipe?
The Typical Mom
Thursday 29th of October 2020
Just white long grain is what I use, Jasmine occasionally
Phyllis
Wednesday 1st of July 2020
This sounds great, but I'm confused about the amount of cheese, which isn't listed in the ingredients list in the printable version, just mentioned in the instructions. In your description earlier it said half a cup; the printable recipe says 1.75 cups gets added along with the sour cream, and then add "the remaining" cheese—so 2 cups altogether? 2.5?
The Typical Mom
Thursday 2nd of July 2020
Sorry, had a mommy moment there. Fixed with correct cheese amount.
Sarah Flanagan
Wednesday 1st of July 2020
Ok, I have seen the Instant pot everywhere. Now I need one!