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Yield: 4
Ready In: 32 minutes
Yes, this really does all get cooked in the Instant Pot at the same time. And NO, the rice isn’t mixed into the sauce! I have kids who are currently super sensitive to having their food mixed up, so having the chicken and rice separately? Amazing!And there’s your reason why I cook this in a pressure cooker: Because the rice gets steamed to absolute perfection, right there in the pot while the chicken is cooking in the sauce. No need to wait for take out delivery with this delicious meal!
Recommended Equipment:
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (diced (about 1 inch pieces))
- Salt & pepper
- 1 onion (cut into thin wedges)
- 1 can (8oz pineapple chunks or tidbits packed in juice, NOT drained)
- ½ cup BBQ sauce
- 1 red pepper (diced)
- 1 yellow pepper (diced)
For the Rice:
- 1 cup white rice
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
To finish:
- ½ cup BBQ sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Brown chicken: Set the instant pot to sauté. Add the oil and the chicken pieces. Season with salt and pepper and cook until browned. Add onion, stir, and cook for 1 more minute. Switch off the instant pot.
- Mix sauce: Add the can of pineapple (juice AND chunks) to the chicken in the instant pot. Add ½ cup BBQ sauce and diced peppers and stir well, making sure you scratch any browned bits from the bottom of the pot (or you’ll get a burn warning).
- Add rice: Place the trivet over the chicken. Add the rice to a an oven-proof dish (metal or glass work) that fits into the instant pot. Stir in the water, oil and salt and place the dish on the trivet.
- Cook: Close the lid of the pressure cooker and set the valve to the “sealing” position. Choose “pressure cook” on high for 2 minutes. Once the cooker indicates the end of cooking time, do a 10 minute natural pressure release (just unplug the instant pot and leave it alone), then manually release any remaining pressure.
- Finish: Open the lid and remove the rice and trivet. Fluff the rice with a fork. Stir together the remaining ½ cup BBQ sauce, cornstarch and water. Set the instant pot to sauté. Stir in the BBQ sauce mix and simmer until thickened, about 1 minute. Serve over rice.
Step by Step Recipe Video
Nora’s Tips
A note about the firmness of the vegetables/pineapple:
The pepper and pineapple will get soft and stir into the sauce (for so much delicious flavor!). If you want firmer chunks of pepper and pineapple in the final dish, stir 1 extra small can of pineapple chunks (drained) and 1 or 2 extra diced peppers into the chicken and sauce as you’re adding the cornstarch to thicken.A note about the method to cook chicken and rice at the same time in the instant pot:
Simply place a trivet over the chicken and sauce ingredients, then place a dish filled with rice and water on top of the trivet. You can use an aluminum dish or an oven-safe (!!) glass dish. Just make sure it’s deep enough to allow the rice to expand. I’m using a simple oven- and microwave safe food storage container. No need to buy any fancy equipment ☺️ If you want to eliminate any risk of a glass dish bursting all over your dinner, go for aluminum. I have never had the glass dish burst, but if you’re scared, don’t go for glass. I also just use the trivet that came with my instant pot, but it’s a play with fire because the chicken can stick to the bottom a little that way (cooking time is very short, so it won’t burn to a crisp, but I thought I’d note that down). If you have a trivet with slightly higher legs, that’s perfect.Cooking Time:
Since this is diced chicken, it cooks VERY fast. We’re talking 2 minutes of pressure cooking time. And yes, that’s really enough. I tried 5 minutes, 4 minutes AND 3 minutes before setting on the 2 minutes while I was testing this recipe. The rice cooks perfectly in 2 minutes, too, by the way, as long as you use a plain old long grain white rice.Nutrition
Calories: 514kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 40g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 108mg | Sodium: 751mg | Potassium: 1014mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 1200IU | Vitamin C: 97.1mg | Calcium: 55mg | Iron: 1.8mg
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Terri says
Wonderful recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Donna says
Amazing!!!
Nora says
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe, Donna!
Chelsea says
Made this tonight and HOLY HANNAH was it ever fan bloody tastic! 10/10. This was the first meal I made in my instant pot so I was a little nervous I was going to blow the house up but it was super simple to make and did not disappoint! The flavour was such a nice switch up from the normal stuff we make. I doubled the recipe and added some chilli flakes as some of the other comments suggested to. Highly recommend ??
Nora says
Haha Chelsea, I did actually blow the lid of my instant pot the first time I used it. I’m glad it didn’t happen to you, and I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the dish!
Kathy says
I made this last night and it was wonderful. I wasn’t sure the sauce would thicken but your directions were easy to follow and it was perfect.
Nora says
I’m so glad, Kathy!
Dan Caperton says
Loved the flavors. I used sweet peppers, instead of the bell. Wife and I thought it was great. Gonna prepare again this week for my son and his wife. Should be a big hit!
Nora says
I’m so glad, Dan!
Brittany says
Very good and directions are bang on! A little too tart/sweet for my liking.. so I may do 1/2 the pineapple juice and swap the other out with broth next time
Merilee says
Love this, so easy to make. Tonight I used shrimp instead of chicken, so yummy.
Meg says
This has become an instant favorite for me and my hubby! Love how easy and quick this is and so flavorful! The only thing is the rice doesn’t cook and I’ve tried it twice with two different kinds of rice with no luck. I can just make it on the stove but was looking for the ease of one pot cooking. Maybe I don’t have the right dish, but this is still going on weekly rotation because it’s sooooo good!!!
Nora says
Meg, I’m glad you enjoy the chicken! I need to try it again with a few different rice brands to figure out what’s going on there. Mine always comes out very close to being overcooked! But I’ll troubleshot and add more info to the recipe as soon as I can.
Dawn says
We love this recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Kendra says
Nice way to cook everything at once! My IP calls for four minutes for white rice (which is what I normally do) and it was not ready at two and was a little tricky to try and fix it :S So maybe going with what you already know re: your rice cooking times is best!
Hollis says
When you say a “plain long grain rice” would jasmine rice fit in that category?
Nora Rusev says
Hollis, yes absolutely! It may need to cook 1-2 minutes longer than regular rice though.
Lori Currey says
So, I used my instant pot for the first time yesterday! Love it. But, what do you put the rice in to cook while the chicken mixture is underneath? TIA
Lori
Nora Rusev says
Lori, you can use any pressure cooker safe dish. If you search Amazon for “pot in pot instant pot”, some options for stainless steel dishes will come up that work great. If you have a round cake pan for the instant pot, that would work, too. I used a cheap IKEA glass container meant for food storage, but the internet is divided on glass in the instant pot, so use at your own risk (there are a handful of reports of glass dishes bursting in the pressure cooker, but it’s only a few minutes and it has never happened to me; but that’s just my personal experience). Hope that helps!
Jackie B says
This looks delicious! Would there be any adjustments to the chicken/pineapple mixture if I just cook some instant rice on the side? Thanks!
Nora Rusev says
Jackie, no! You can just leave it as-is if you choose to cook the rice separately.
Sharron says
Hello Nora
Just wondering if I can double or triple this recipe and use the same cooking time? I have a large family?
Sharron
Nora Rusev says
Sharron, you can definitely double or triple the recipe and keep the cooking time the same. I would advise against cooking the rice in the instant pot at the same time though, unless you have an 8qt instant pot. Hope that helps!
Rebecka says
How many servings does this make? How much total chicken is this in pounds?
Nora Rusev says
It’s about 1 – 1.5 pounds chicken (you’ll need closer to 1.5 pounds if you have big eaters). Will update the recipe next week and add the exact number, sorry for the confusion, Rebecka! The servings are at the top of the recipe, it makes 4 for our family. Hope that helps!
marlys says
I saw the link for the meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Please Please post any other links that are just as easy and good tasting as this for IP with demanding child. The softness was great for my 13 month old, and this is simple enough my husband can make while I’m at work and he has child by himself!
Deborah hink says
What if you don’t have an instant pot? How would u recommend this to be cooked? Thank you
Nora says
Hi Deborah, if you don’t have an instant pot, you can cook the pineapple chicken this way:
Follow step 1 and 2 of the recipe, using a large skillet with a lid. Then bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook with the lid on until the chicken is cooked through – about 5-10 minutes.
Stir together the remaining BBQ sauce, water and cornstarch. Remove the lid from the chicken and stir in the BBQ sauce and cornstarch mix. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened.
You’re going to have to cook the rice separately though. Hope that helps!
Carolyn C says
This looks delicious. Your recipe calls for white rice but what type did you use? Jasmine, basmati, Minute rice? There are so many types of rice available these days, I want to make sure I use what works best for a 2 minute cooking time. Thanks.
Nora says
Hi Carolyn, I used regular long grain rice. For reference, its normal cooking time on the stove is 15 minutes. So any rice with that time indication on the package should work!