Pressure Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken & Rice is a quick and easy dinner recipe made in your Instant Pot in less than 30 minutes! Zesty rice is topped with cheesy chicken breasts for a one-pot meal the whole family will love.
Pressure Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken & Rice
If you already own an Instant Pot, you know just how great they are for easy set it and forget it meals. These 10 Healthy Chicken Recipes in a Pressure Cooker are a great collection of dinner ideas when you have a lot of chicken to use up.
Sometimes you want the whole meal deal in one swoop those and that is why this Pressure Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken & Rice is so great!
You don’ need to make anything outside of the Instant Pot or prepare any extras for the dish. Simply saute your onions in the Pressure Cooker and add the remaining ingredients. Set it and forget it and you will come back to a hearty and delicious dinner that the whole family will want again and again!
If you love a creamy dish, a big dollop of sour cream is a great addition to the meal when you are serving it up. It also makes for fantastic leftovers for lunch the next day!
Another great alternative for this Pressure Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken & Rice is to shred the chicken and stir it in with the rice. Chicken in the Instant Pot is the best when shredded because it just falls apart. The presentation might not be as pretty, but it is sure to taste just as good.
Pressure Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken & Rice
Pressure Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken & Rice is a quick and easy dinner recipe made in your Instant Pot in less than 30 minutes! Zesty rice is topped with cheesy chicken breasts for a one-pot meal the whole family will love.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 c. chicken broth
- 1 16 oz jar salsa verde
- 1 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1 c. long grain white rice, I used Basmati
- 20 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to your 5 or 6 quart electric pressure cooker and turn on to saute function. When the pot is heated, add the diced onion. Saute for 3 minutes, or until translucent.
- Add the chicken broth to the onions and using a wooden spoon scrape the browned bits off of the bottom so they don't burn during cooking. Turn the pressure cooker off of saute function.
- Add the salsa verde, cumin and rice. Do NOT stir in the rice. Nestle the chicken breasts on top of the rice mixture. Sprinkle with salt.
- Place the lid on the pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release. (When the 10 minutes is completed cooking, let the pot sit for 10 more minutes until you release the pressure manually.)
- Remove the chicken from the pot and fluff the rice. Place the chicken back on top of the rice and top with the shredded cheddar.
- Place the lid back on the pressure cooker and let sit for 3-4 minutes, or until the cheese is melted from the heat of the pot.
- Serve immediately.
- *Optionally top with sour cream and cilantro.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 541Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 150mgSodium: 1350mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 55g
Provided nutrition data is only an estimate. If you are tracking these nutrients for medical purposes, please consult an outside, trusted source.
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Moe says
Kept getting burn notice on rice with 6 qt IP and following directions exactly.
Barb B. says
After reading the comments, I decided not to sauté the onion. That’s usually when I get the Burn notice. I mixed everything up except for the chicken and put it in the bottom. I laid the chicken on top. There should have been enough liquid, but I still got 3 burn notices, so I greased a casserole dish and baked it in the oven. It was really good, and I’m sure I’ll make it often, but always in the oven.
Karen says
At what temp and how long in. The oven??
Evan says
I’ll add this in case it helps anyone else. I have a plus mini instant pot which is 3qts. So I halved the ingredients (just about) and I was getting that burn message as some others have. I did stir it once just to see and i noticed my rice sticking to the bottom. I then turned it back on. This time I just went ahead and ignored the burn message and let it cook. After the time, I stirred up the rice and noticed there was some browning on the bottom, but with all the liquid it picked right up as I stirred.
It ended up being fine and it all still tasted very good.
Cindy says
I’m ok with salsa, but not ready to try salsa verde (moving away from a very limiting diet). Would this work ok with salsa instead?
Danielle Green says
Yes!
Levi says
I got the burn warning, checked it and the rice was burning to the bottom. I added some chicken broth and tried again, got the burn warning again. I followed directions to the letter, am I doing something wrong, I am a rookie at this.
Mary Mattioni says
I think I figured out the burning problem. You must rinse the rice. I rinse it until the water runs clear. Basmati is the only rice I have used that didn’t burn. I used 14 oz chicken broth. I have a 6 qrt. Instant Pot Duo. One of our favorites!
Lavinia says
I made this tonight in my pressure cooker, minus the onions because my husband doesn’t eat onions. Otherwise followed the recipe as written. It was so easy and tasted so good! Thank you! So easy after working all day!
Paula Kerr says
I tried making the Salsa Verde Chicken and Rice in my Instapot. I followed the directions to a T. However, I used regular salsa – nothing special. I sauted the onion, turned the pot off, added all the other ingredients … initially 1 cup of chicken stock …. gave it a stir, and topped with the chicken breasts.
I set the pressure cooker for 10 minutes, and waited … it never started to count down, never got to full pressure, and shut off with a message BURN.
I turned it off, scraped the bottom and added another 1/2 cup of stock. Same thing happened.
I removed all the food from the pot and put it in a covered pan in the oven – hoping the rice would cook … I added more water.
Believe it or not …. I started all over – doing exactly the same thing … but this time started out with chicken stock just shy of 2 cups. Same thing. and BTW – I was using Basmati rice – both times. …. Please Help!!!
Danielle Green says
The only thing I can think of is that regular salsa has more sugar in it, so perhaps that led to it burning. Honestly, it seems as though some others have had issues with it not coming to pressure either and I’m not entirely sure seeing it always works for me and so many others. Sorry I can’t be more help!
Carina Beal says
I had the same problem.
Tim says
Our rice keeps burning. Any suggestions?
Anne says
Made it tonight. It’s really flavorful. I followed the directions directly. The rice did come out a bit mushy but I still enjoyed it. Maybe next time I’ll add just a little bit more rice so it’s not too mushy?
Jenn Ruebush says
Just tried this tonight with Herdez salsa verde. Great flavor, but I had to cook it longer since my monster chicken breasts weren’t cooked enough. I overcooked it a little too much, but it still was very tasty.
Marie says
Most electric pressure cookers have a rice function in them which means nothing can go wrong while you cook rice and it will turn out perfectly every time. But I fear cooking rice in my old stovetop pressure cooker since it is such a technical dish and can very easily be overcooked. Do you have any suggestions?
Christa says
Hi!! Any way to use brown rice in this recipe? That’s all I have in the house at the moment and this looks too good to pass up for tonight!!
Danielle Green says
Unfortunately no, the cooking times are quite a bit longer for brown rice.
Carrie says
Followed recipe to a tee in a 6qt and keep getting a “burn” message. So disappointed in my first IP meal.
Crystal says
This was only my second time using my pressure cooker, and I kept getting the burn message too because of the rice. Since I kept trying to get it to work, it ended up cooking enough and tasting great. It would be good to know how to keep the rice from covering the bottom of the pan.
Jessica says
I made this tonight and it turned out great. I think next time I’ll try to shred the chicken and make a rice bowl!
Tarrah cooper says
I tried this tonight. I am new to pressure cooking… I followed the recipe exactly… and the pot keeps saying burn… I ended up releasing the pressure early to add liquid. I added about another cup of liquid and scraped the bottom again and tried to repressurize. It continues to give the burn message on and off. I am unsure of what I did wrong :/ hopefully it’s still edible, but I fear the rice will be mushy now
Danielle Green says
What size electric pressure cooker are you using?
Tarrah cooper says
8qt
Danielle Green says
I think this might be the problem. I designed this recipe for the 5 or 6 quart pots and the newer 8 quart pot requires more liquid. I apologize, but I will make a notation in the recipe for others.
Amber says
Fyi, I tried the recipe in my 6 quart and had the burn message as well. I’m also new to pressure cooking. Not sure what I did wrong. I did follow the recipe exactly. I added liquid, and tried again, but it gave the burn message before it even got to pressure. I ended up having to remove it and bake it in the oven. The taste is very good, but there was a layer of rice burned on the bottom of the pot.
Ann says
Can you recommend how much liquid to add to an 8 quart Instant Pot to avoid burning?
Danielle Green says
You will need to have a minimum of 1.5 cups for an 8qt pot.
Ashley says
I am getting the burn message too and I’m using my 6 qt instant pot and followed the recipe to the T. Im about to transfer the while recipe to a pan and finish it in the oven. Ugh
Megan says
Same. This sucks.
Salvatore Buttice says
If I want to double this recipe do I just increase everything by 2 and use the same cooking time?
Danielle Green says
It should work to keep the same cooking time as it will just take a little longer to come to pressure. There is a chance you may have to add a little more cooking time if it isn’t all cooked through though.
Nikki says
We liked this, having had a similar recipe previously.
For the burn notices, after sauteing your onions, remove them and place your chicken on the bottom. Add your liquids next, and rice last. Do not stir! Set your time and cook as directed. I have a basic 6 qt Emeril PC. My experience with all recipes calling for rice have been to add last and not to stir. Hope this helps!
Vanessa says
We had this for dinner last night and it was absolutely delicious!! My husband and I kept saying as we were eating it just how good it was! Thank you for sharing! I used a bottle of Herdez salsa verde, nice and tangy with mild heat!
Danielle Green says
Happy to hear you enjoyed it Vanessa!
Lisa Miller says
Herdez is the best. Mild red & normal green.
Vanessa says
Can I use uncle Bens 5 minute brown rice?
Danielle Green says
No, it will get mushy.
Molly says
I want to make this for dinner tonight, but will have to use frozen chicken. Any tips on how to adjust to recipe for the frozen chicken?
Danielle Green says
It won’t work well with frozen chicken because the increased cook time will make the rice mushy. I would suggest defrosting the chicken first.
Molly says
Ok, Thank you!
Debi H says
Looks absolutely wonderful! However, you say to cook for 10 minutes and then do a natural release for 10 minutes. You further state in parenthesis that after cooking for 12 minutes then let the pot sit for 10 more minutes until you release the pressure manually. Please clarify if you cook for 10 minutes or 12 minutes. Thank you! Love your blog.
Danielle Green says
Sorry that was a typo. It should be 10 and 10!
Sandra says
I’m making this right now. It’s saying burn! It’s only been in there for 4 minutes
Ashley Bales says
Mine too!
Yvonne says
Came out perfect. For my 8 quart I added more broth