Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice Dinner
Making dinner during busy weeknights can be hectic. When you’ve got a Sunday dinner craving and little time, a pressure cooker can save the day and satisfy the whole family right quick!
After cooking a roast in the pressure cooker (see Pressure Cooked Roast Beef ) and seeing how wonderful it turned out, I thought “Why not a chicken?”
I gotta tell you, I’ve only had my pressure cooker for a few weeks and I have used the heck out of it. I’ve actually done this recipe a few times and it is fabulous. The meat turns out so moist and tender, you’d think it had been roasted for hours.
Before we get started, I wanted to go over cutting a whole chicken up for cookin’. I’m not an expert but it doesn’t really take an expert to get the job done. If you’ve never prepared a chicken and you wanna try, here’s an overview…
https://youtu.be/ZQUksmtRTHQ
Once you get in there, you quickly realize that a chicken has a sort of diagram all laid out for you. Just follow the lines around the bones on the thighs and wings and then follow the fat lines on the body.
After you get your chicken prepared, you’ll season it generously and heat up your pressure cooker by pressing the chicken/meat button.
After about two minutes, it should be good and hot. Put a couple tablespoons of a good quality extra virgin olive oil in there because you’ll be using what’s left in the pot (after the chicken is done) to flavor your rice.
Brown each piece of chicken on both sides, individually. You may have to hit the keep warm/cancel button if the unit starts to count the time down and press the chicken/meat button again to keep the browning temp where you need it. Which, I did have to reset mine a couple of times when I was browning my chicken.
After you finish browning the chicken pieces, set them aside. Toss in some onion, garlic, rosemary and thyme and give that a quick saute for a minute or so.
Place the chicken back in to the pot. Notice, no liquid is needed here. That chicken has plenty of juices already built right in.
Cover with the lid and press the keep warm/cancel button to reset. Select the soup/stew button and adjust the timer to 30 minutes.
No, it’s not real pretty but it is super delicious and tender. In fact, it’s so tender when you pressure cook it like this that it falls off the bones, as you can see in that picture.
Once your chicken is done, you’ll be left with some fantastically flavored liquid in the bottom of the pot and depending on the size of your chicken and the amount of rice you plan on cooking, you may need to add some water. Just measure the liquid and add water to equal the amount you need according to the rice package instructions.
The first time I made the rice like this, I only made one cup (dry) of rice to 1-1/2 cups of liquid. So I didn’t need to add water.
Give it a stir and place the lid on. Turn the steam release vent to locked position and press the rice/risotto button. When the timer starts, it’ll count down from 6 minutes.
Like I said, the first time I made rice like this, I only made one cup of rice. It turned out perfect.
However, the second time I made this, I made two cups of rice with 3 cups of liquid. The second time around, the rice was a bit underdone for my taste. It wasn’t crunchy but I would have liked it to be a touch more tender. Next time I make rice, I’ll add a couple of minutes to the timer to make sure it’s done perfect like the first time.
The second time I made the chicken, I did 6 legs and 6 thighs rather than a whole chicken. Again, the meat was delicious and fall off the bone tender.
Heat up a little bit of veggies and add a slice of bread and you’ve got a beautiful meal in less than an hour. See? Pressure cooker magic! 😉
We’re gonna get to pressure cooking some fresh veggies this week, so stay tuned. Next week, we’re gonna be doing some canning.
I do hope you’ll give pressure cooked chicken and rice a try. It’s a fabulous week night meal that you can have on the table in a flash.
Make it a great day y’all and as always, keep it delicious!
Till next time ~ much love, Connie
Pressure Cooker Chicken and Rice Dinner
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4-6 lbs chicken pieces
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 small onion roughly chopped
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 2-3 sprigs thyme
- 1-2 cloves of garlic smashed
- 1 C white rice long grain
Instructions
- Heat the pressure cooker by pressing the chicken/meat button.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper and the smoked paprika.
- Add the oil to coat the bottom of the pot.
- Brown each piece of chicken on both sides, individually and set aside.
- Add the onion, thyme, rosemary and garlic to the pot.
- Place the chicken back in the pot with the larger pieces on the bottom.
- Press the keep warm/cancel button.
- Press the soup/stew button and adjust the timer to 30 minutes.
- Place the lid on the unit and turn the steam release valve to the locked position.
- Once the timer has counted down to zero, carefully release the steam and remove the lid.
- Take the chicken out, leaving the liquid. Set the chicken in a dish to keep warm.
- Remove the onions, garlic, rosemary and thyme with a slotted spoon and discard.
- Pour the rice into the pot with the left over liquid and stir.
- Place the lid back on the unit and turn the steam release valve to the locked position.
- Hit the keep warm/cancel button.
- Select the rice/risotto button.
- Once the timer has counted down, release the steam and take the lid off.
- Serve the chicken and rice with your favorite veggie and bread.
What is Happy Belly Foodie all about? Keeping it delicious! 
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