A healthy and easy chicken and rice recipe that can be made either in the Instant Pot or on the stovetop. Made with brown rice, carrots and onion, this flavorful one pot meal is a healthy weeknight dinner the whole family will enjoy.
When it comes to weeknight dinners, the fewer dishes to wash, the better, which is why this one pot chicken and rice has become a staple in our house.
This dinner is all about making things easy.
For this recipe you can use pre-cooked chicken (I typically pull a bag of frozen rotisserie chicken leftover from another meal), or uncooked. Just use what you’ve got!
You can use fresh carrots, peeled and diced. You can even use frozen carrots – crinkle cut is what we usually have on hand. If you use frozen carrots just know they do tend to cook down a little more than fresh carrots. Both are equally tasty in this recipe, so again, use what you have!
Making this chicken and rice recipe is simple. I’ve included instructions for stovetop cooking and Instant Pot cooking.
For both methods, start with diced onions, carrots and garlic. Sautee these for a couple of minutes. If using uncooked chicken I recommend browning this for a couple of minutes before adding your rice and chicken broth.
You can also make this a creamy chicken and rice dish by stirring in a little cream after the rice and chicken have fully cooked, just before serving.
Serve this chicken and rice with a side of veggies like broccoli, green beans or a side salad. It’s also delicious as an all-in-one dinner. You truly can’t go wrong here with this versatile dinner recipe! Enjoy!
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Chicken and Rice
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: dinner
- Method: stovetop, instant pot
- Cuisine: dinner
Description
A healthy and easy chicken and rice recipe that can be made either in the Instant Pot or on the stovetop. Made with brown rice, carrots and onion, this flavorful one pot meal is a healthy weeknight dinner the whole family will enjoy.
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
4 carrots, chopped (about 2 cups)
3 garlic cloves, minced (about 1 tsp)
1 1/2 cup long grain brown rice, rinsed
2 tsp poultry seasoning
Kosher salt (omit if poultry seasoning has salt)
Black pepper
2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 cup cooked chicken or about 1 pound uncooked chicken breast, cut into pieces
Optional: 1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
Instructions
Instant Pot Directions
- Heat oil in the instant pot using saute function. Saute onion and carrot in olive oil for 3-5 minutes until onions are translucent.
- Add garlic, rice, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper to the instant pot. Stir, then turn off saute function by pressing the cancel button.
- Add broth and stir to cover rice and vegetables.
- Put chicken on top of rice and broth.
- Cover, seal and set pressure to cook for 20 minutes.
- Once the instant pot has completed cooking, let it sit for about 15 minutes natural pressure release.
- Release any remaining steam, then stir in cream.
- Serve.
Stovetop Directions
- In a large pot, heat oil and sauté onion, garlic and carrots about 3-5 min until onions are translucent. If using uncooked chicken, brown the chicken with the onion, garlic and carrots.
- Add broth, poultry seasoning and rice, stir until rice is covered. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and cover, simmering for 45 minutes.
- When rice is done, stir in cooked chicken (break up larger pieces of chicken as you stir), or if cooking chicken in the pot, shred this and stir the chicken into the rice mixture.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Optional: Add cream and stir.
- Serve.
Nutrition
- Calories: 242
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 185 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 33 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 11 g
- Cholesterol: 28 mg
Keywords: easy recipes, simple recipes, instant pot recipes, stovetop recipes, chicken and rice, brown rice, carrots, onion, rotisserie chicken, weeknight meal ideas, weeknight dinners, healthy recipes, healthy dinner, family recipes, family friendly
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