Pressure cooker creamy chicken and rice casserole is amazing! Use raw or rotisserie chicken and Rice a Roni in your Ninja Foodi or Instant Pot for dinner! You could use Instant Pot frozen chicken breasts too and quickly defrost in your pressure cooker. Total comfort food I tell you!
I was experimenting as usual and came up with what we are calling pressure cooker creamy chicken and rice casserole. It was meant to be chicken and wild rice soup but it came out much thicker and creamier than I had intended. Actually, we all agreed it was perfection, so I thought I’d share it with all of you! Listed as one of our favorite Instant Pot recipes we hope you like it too. (affiliate links present)
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Rice
It is actually in two places since you can use your Ninja Foodi too. Got a Crockpot Express or Mealthy?? No problem, you can make this in any brand you might own.
It is a family favorite meal because you can make the side dish and main protein all in one pot. Use dark or white meat, whatever you have on hand or you prefer. Love veggies too? You could add 3/4 of a cup of frozen mixed vegetables into the mix as well! If you loved our Crockpot creamy chicken but want it faster this is it.
If you’re new to this whole Ninja Foodi recipes “fast cooking in one device” world, here are a few resources:
- This is the Ninja Cooking system we got
- You can grab a free recipe book here. ?
- Pick up MY cookbook too!
- Join my Ninja Foodi EASY Recipes Facebook group for more recipes.
Looking for chicken rice casserole with no soup with no can needed, this is it! Many recipes call for cream of chicken soup or cream of mushroom and those can be tricky when you pressure cook.
Pressure Cooker Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole
We actually made something similar years ago. It wasn’t quite as dump and go as this one and used white rice instead of boxed. BUT if you want to make Instant Pot chicken and rice without the creamy part we have directions for that too. Some used brown rice with this method and had luck.
- Chicken
- raw – boneless, skinless, cut into bite size pieces
- leftover chicken or rotisserie – dice into small pieces as you see below
- Onion
- Chicken broth
- Water
- Rice a Roni
- chicken or wild rice versions
- Carrots
- Celery is optional
- Olive oil
- Basil and parsley, black pepper optional
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- if you want to make it creamy at the end
- without it follow our Instant Pot cheesy chicken and rice recipe instead
Cooking time is quick after you throw everything in and set to high pressure!
Ninja Foodi Creamy Chicken and Rice
I used leftover smoked chicken we had for the protein. This is a great leftover chicken recipe I tell you. I hate wasting food so I love having a few of these in my back pocket in order to use everything up.
- Carrots and celery are optional. I halved baby carrots because that is what I had in the house already. Use what you have I say. If I only have 2 cups of chicken broth instead of 3 I use that and use more water. It is a very forgiving recipe.
Like I said, you can omit the heavy whipping cream at the end if you wanted and serve it as is. My oldest daughter said both ways were “so good!”
We make a lot of Instant Pot casseroles because everyone just seems to love them. With all the veggies, meat and either rice or noodles together it’s a one pot meal.
Creamy Chicken and Rice Recipe
This is what it looks like once you add the cream though. It continues to thicken as it sits. If you want to thin it out just add some water but we loved it as is. It’s now been added to our favorite June pressure cooker recipes you should try.
Other recipes you should try after making our Instant Pot chicken and rice casserole
- Green chile rice is amazing
- Make our sausage and rice casserole in your pressure cooker too
- Creamy chicken breasts in your Instant Pot
If you want Instant Pot mushroom rice that is fantastic too.
Chicken and Rice Creamy
Now if you do not want to add a grain or carb in with your meat we do have a recipe without that in our Instant Pot creamy chicken recipe here. Great if you would rather have it on top of egg noodles instead or don’t have rice on hand.
Make sure you quick release right when it is done. A natural release will make the rice quite mushy. Keep in mind this is a casserole style dish so the rice is creamy and very soft. If you like it a bit firmer then use precooked meat and set to 20 minutes with a quick pressure release at the end.
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese could be stirred in at the end for EXTRA creaminess too!
If you’d like to make something similar in the oven, try our green chile chicken casserole recipe. Our Instant Pot Mexican chicken and rice dish is delicious too.
Pressure Cooker Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 2 c chicken , precooked, or 2 med. size boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed
- 3 c chicken broth
- 1 c water
- 1 c carrots, half baby carrots or cut large carrots into thick dials
- 1 c celery, optional, cut into 1" pieces
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 box Rice a roni, chicken or wild rice version, with flavor packet
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp parsley
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 c heavy whipping cream, if you want to add creamy element, can be left out
Instructions
- Turn pressure cooker to saute (brown on CPE) and add olive oil, carrots, onions and celery. Cook until onions soften. Turn pot off.
- Add in all other ingredients EXCEPT heavy whipping cream. This includes the powdered flavor packet included in your box of Rice a Roni, stir.
- Put pressure cooker lid on and close steam valve as well. Set to pressure high for 12 minutes (timing works for both raw chicken pieces cut into bite size pieces, or precooked diced rotisserie chicken pieces)
- Do a quick release and lift lid. Can serve now and it is delicious. OR to make it creamy pour in your heavy whipping cream and gently stir in until it is combined well. If it is too thick for your liking, add 1/2 c. of water to thin out. Will continue to thicken as it sits too!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ours came out more like soup… I doubled the recipe. My husband called it porridge 🤣 very tasty though!
Thanks for the recipe. It wasnt pretty but tasted delish! I added cayenne for a little kick.
Glad you liked it, casseroles aren’t always beauties. 😉
Hi,
How much rice should I use that is not from a box?
I haven’t measured that way
I tried using 1 cup of Jasmine rice. It seems to turned out fine. 🙂
How should I double this?
Timing should remain the same I would think, just double all ingredients
What’s high on a cpe?
Sorry. CPE is what people call the Crockpot Express brand pressure cooker. ?
Would uncle bens wild rice work the same as rice a roni?
This fulfilled my creamy rice craving! I did substitute in a teaspoon of Italian seasoning because I didn’t have the basil and parsley. Worked for me!
Awesome!!
This is perfect timing for me. I just bought a pot and am looking for pressure cooker recipes.
we all love chicken and with rice this sounds yummy!
Don’t mean to sound dumb but what does CPE stand for?
Crock Pot Express, one brand of electric pressure cookers.
Not dumb. I don’t know either.