Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli & Rice Casserole

Comforting, a little creamy and full of flavor, this Instant Pot chicken broccoli and rice casserole dish will be a hit with the whole family. With detailed instructions and step-by-step photos (at the bottom), this beginner-friendly recipe is perfect for a hearty and nutritious dinner. Leave a rating or comment at the bottom of this post if you’ve made this recipe or have any questions!

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Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

This delicious chicken broccoli and rice is a casserole-like, one-pot comfort meal that is easy to make in the Instant Pot. It requires simple, wholesome ingredients (no canned soup in sight!) and is beginner-friendly for those of you new to pressure cooking or kitchen in general.

Recipe Tips

Before we get into the recipe, here are some tips for achieving the best results with this pressure cooker chicken broccoli and rice dish. There are two stages to this recipe: cooking and finishing the dish. Here are the key ingredients you need.

Rice: Do not use parboiled or fast-cooking rice as it will overcook and get too mushy. Because we are cooking chicken and rice at the same time, we need those 5 minutes under high pressure. Long-grain or medium-grain white rice is best here. Brown rice requires much longer under pressure but it could still work; you could also try quick-cooking brown rice.

Chicken: You can use dark or white meat, make sure it’s skinless and boneless to work with the timings in this recipe. We used diced chicken breast. It’s important to keep the pieces small so they can cook well in those 5 minutes under pressure, so don’t add whole chicken breasts or chicken thighs, make sure to cut them up.

Stock: Good quality chicken stock will infuse that rice with lots of flavor. If you want to cook with more bone broth for health benefits, this is a good opportunity to do so.

You will notice that we didn’t add broccoli to the cooking stage of the recipe because it would overcook and get too soft. Instead, we steamed it in boiling hot water while the chicken and rice were cooking in the Instant Pot. Broccoli and cheese are added right at the end.

PS. If you want to keep this dish dairy-free, you can omit the cheese from the recipe.

How To Make Chicken Broccoli Rice In Instant Pot

Here are step-by-step instructions for making this chicken broccoli and rice recipe in the Instant Pot. We made it in the Instant Pot Duo Classic & Nova 6-quart pressure cooker.

Step 1. Prepare all ingredients for the cooking stage. 

Step 2. Turn the Instant Pot and press the Sauté button. It should say Normal on the display (this indicates the heat level). Once the inner pot starts heating up, add the olive oil and butter, followed by onions, carrots and celery cubes. Cook for 2 minutes, until slightly translucent.

Add the garlic and chicken pieces and cook for another minute or two, stirring a few times until the chicken colour has changed from raw pink to pale white (so it’s slightly cooked). 

Step 3. Rinse the rice a few times and strain. Add to the pot with the chicken stock and sprinkle with pepper. Stir through well, scraping all the bits from the bottom of the pot. Press Cancel to stop the Sauteing process. Secure and lock the lid.

Step 4. Secure and lock the lid; make sure the pressure handle is pointing to Sealing on Duo Classic. Select Manual/Pressure Cook and adjust the timer to 5 minutes on HIGH pressure. After a few beeps/seconds, the ON sign will come on indicating the pot is heating up and the pressure is building; pressurizing will take about 7 minutes and then the 5-minute timer will begin.

Once the timer is done, allow the pressure to release naturally for about 10 minutes. Then use the quick release method to let off the remaining pressure (press the steam knob down or point to Venting on older models).

Step 5. While the rice is cooking, boil a few cups of water. Place broccoli florets in a pot, cover with boiling water and pop a lid on top. Let them sit under the lid in boiling water to steam until the rice is ready. 

Step 6. Remove the Instant Pot lid. Most of the liquid should be absorbed into the rice but you should still have a little bit left. Add pre-cooked broccoli (most of it) to the pot.

Step 7. Add Parmesan cheese and lemon juice and stir through. The consistency should be a little creamy. Taste for salt and pepper.

Optional: Sprinkle 1/2 cup of yellow Cheddar or another grated cheese on top, cover with a lid (not the Instant Pot lid but just a regular lid) and let it sit for a minute for the cheese to melt in. This would give it a little contrast of color and that extra comforting, cheesy feel. That’s what we did in the pics below. Serve with fresh parsley and a few florets of broccoli on top.

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You might like more recipes from our Instant Pot For Beginners series: 

• Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta (Step-By-Step)
• Instant Pot Chicken Breasts & Gravy (Step-By-Step)
• Mushroom & Wild Rice Soup In The Instant Pot (Step-By-Step)
• How To Cook Rice In Instant Pot

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MORE COMFORT MEALS WITH THE INSTANT POT

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