Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

Lately, I’ve bee craving chicken and rice for some reason. No, I do not associate it with childhood or anything like that—I’ve probably eaten it maybe twice in my life. Yet, for some reason, I have a craving. Not an arroz con pollo, but an Americanized, cheesy version. Here’s what I came up with for the Instant Pot, with a bit of help from this recipe.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 chicken breasts (bone-in, skin-on)
4 cups (32 oz) low sodium chicken broth
2 cups rice (See notes)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup cheese, shredded (See notes)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Turn on Instant Pot to high on saute. Add olive oil, butter, onions, garlic, carrots, and salt. Sautee about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off saute.
Add chicken broth and rice; stir. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Nuzzle the chicken breasts into the pot. Cover and cook on manual high pressure for 10 minutes then quick release remaining pressure.
Remove the chicken and allow to cool enough to work with.
Add cheese and stir to combine.
Shred and/or dice the chicken, being carful to remove the bones. Add the chicken to rice, and stir. Serve immediately; you might shake a bit more cheese on top and add some cracked pepper.

Notes

The original recipe calls for ½-cup of parmesan cheese, but I needed that for something else, so I just used some remnants I had in my cheese drawer: leftover cheddar, Italian blend from pizza night, and feta. I suggest using your favorite cheese, and be generous. I probably used closer to a cup of cheese. Seriously, can you ever have too much cheese in something like this?

Also, I thought we had more Jasmine rice than we did; I might have had 5 ounces. I also found a 5-oz. bag of yellow rice (including seasoning). I used both and used brown rice to bring up the full amount to 2 cups. I noticed that at the end of the cooking time the brown rice was not quite finished, but by the time I chopped and added the chicken, it was perfect. In fact, all brown rice might be excellent in this recipe.