Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Rice is creamy, rich comfort food with chunks of white chicken meat. It is probably my favorite chicken Instant Pot meal to date.
This delicious meal can easily be made in 30 minutes and serves 4 to 6 people. It’s perfect for a weeknight meal and is best served with a green salad, or steamed broccoli or green beans.
Heavy cream, a can of condensed chicken soup, and cream cheese plus lots of Parmesan cheese makes Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Rice an insanely creamy and cheesy meal.
Garlic powder and onion powder give it all the extra flavor it needs.
Lefotvers reheat well.
You can use chicken thighs instead of chicken breast.
The cream cheese that’s added at the end is what really makes this a wonderfully delicious chicken and rice. Kids will love this Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Rice. It has a fair amount of garlic flavor, but it is not too strong.
For best results, shred your own Parmesan cheese from a block of Parmesan instead of buying pre-shredded.
I use the Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker and Warmer and love it. It can also be used as a slow cooker and a yogurt maker.
The whole family will be happy with this Instant Pot meal. It is so, so easy to make.
More Instant Pot Recipes
Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 (10.5-ounce) can cream of chicken condensed soup
- 2 cups uncooked long grain rice
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 4 ounces cream cheese, cut into chunks and softened
Instructions
- Cut chicken into strips.
- Turn Instant Pot to "Saute" mode. Add butter. When melted add chicken and onion and cook until most of the pink in the chicken is gone.
- Add water, heavy cream and chicken soup. Stir.
- Add rice, sprinkling it in so that it is evenly distributed. Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Do not stir.
- Place lid on. Make sure valve is in "sealing" position. Pressure Cook on HIGH for 5 minutes. Manually release pressure.
- Once the pin drops, remove lid and stir in cream cheese. Stir in Parmesan cheese, cheddar, and parsley. Place lid back on for a few minutes to melt cheese. Stir and serve. It will thicken up as it cools.
Notes
Want to Save This Recipe?
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Made the recipe as stated, the rice wasnt done so I added another 3 minutes and released the pressure. Added half the cream cheese called for and used minced onion and garlic as I didnt have powder.. FAMILY WENT CRAZY OVER IT!
I just used this recipe for my first instant pot meal and loved it. Since I’m new to instant pot, when would be the best time to add fresh mushrooms? During the sauté or during the pressure cook?
I added mushrooms during the sauté step. This allows them to release liquid. I also added celery during this step, to add a little fiber to the dish.
I enjoyed the recipe, definitely do not move it to venting, the heavy cream came out of the pressure release valve and made a mess in my kitchen lol. Thought it was very yummy tho!!
Nutritional Information based on the ingredients and entered into
https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 1281
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 65.1g 83%
Saturated Fat 36.5g 183%
Cholesterol 323mg 108%
Sodium 1922mg 84%
Total Carbohydrate 88.2g 32%
Dietary Fiber 2.5g 9%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 84g
Vitamin D 27mcg 137%
Calcium 783mg 60%
Iron 7mg 37%
Potassium 697mg 15%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Recipe analyzed by
This recipe turned out great. Four stars only because I made some modifications based on other comments.
I used thighs instead of breasts, seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper before I cooked it, and added a bit more of all the seasonings. After cooking the chicken/onion for a minutes, I added the water and scraped up the bits in the pan, using the heavy wooden spoon I usually use. I followed the recipe exactly from there, stirring the water, soup, and cream and then adding the rice and seasonings WITH NO FURTHER STIRRING (although I was very skeptical about it).
I was confused as to whether to natural release or instant release – the recipe says “manual” but the interwebs debate what that means – so I let it pressure cook on high for 8 minutes and natural release (cancel cooking, set to keep warm) for about 15 minutes before finishing with instant release and adding cheeses per recipe. This turned out really great.
I’m trying to make this tonight for my family but my Instant Pot just keeps coming back with the message Burn Food.
I got the exact same thing. The rice went straight to the bottom and starting burning and sticking. Major fail.
Same thing happened to me but I see now that it says not to stir after putting in rice. I wonder if that has something to do with it??
Same thing happening to me now. I also didn’t read the do not stir step. How did you fix yours? Did it turn out okay ?
I did not stir and it still happened.
I had the exact same experience. Did not stir after adding the rice and was very careful about dispersing it evenly. Come to find out, my chicken had stuck to the bottom of the pan even though I was very careful about scraping before adding the liquids.
Delicious , I added fresh minced garlic when I sautéed the chicken and followed the recipe instructions and it came out great. I got worried when I got the burn warning but when I opened the lid after the natural release it was cooked perfectly. Family loved it.
This recipe was delicious!!! I followed recipe perfectly only adding spinach and it was easy and fantastic!!!
Any idea if instant rice in a pot would work better and not burn? How would I change this to be a Nija Foodi recipe instead? It looks delicious and I’d love to try it.
I never use my sautee function. Because of the burn factor of the recipe. I always just use a large skillet and sautee then add to IP. WOW!! No more problems with burned pans in IP!
I did this too but still got the burn notices on my IP. I have followed this recipe to the T.
I added an extra cup of chicken broth after cooking for normal time & finding that my rice was not cooked, started it again for same amount of time per recipe & luckily was able to salvage diner with huge success!!! In the future I will add an additional cup of broth from the beginning!
It was just okay. The rice didn’t cook the first time around so I had to depressurize and add more time. It burned to the bottom of the pan. It came out incredibly thick but tasted okay. Probably won’t make it again.
This is a really good and easy recipe. Was the chicken supposed to be tender? I’m new to the instant pot and this was my first recipe. For my first one, I did well. I’m glad I went back and read the part about it thickening because I was nervous. I’ll definitely make this again. Thank you for sharing!
Absolutely delicious!!!
We made this verbatim and ended up with bland food and hard rice. I’ve never used instant pot before, but my friend had. She said it needed a longer cooking time than 5 minutes and more venting time. Either which way, the base recipe is decent and then you need to absolutely tweak it to your own tastes. Cook for at least 10 minutes to ensure fully cooked rice.
I feel bad for all the people who were unsuccessful. Mine turned out perfectly. Make sure you deglaze after sauteing, don’t stir after adding rice, and let the pot naturally depressurize. That could take 15 or 20 minutes. I even forgot the cheddar cheese and the family still loved it.
Soooooo, had an idea about the burn notice. While I was sauteing, I notice some of the onion had stuck to the pan. When I added the water, I made sure I deglaze the bottom of the pan. That could be causing the burn problem.
Also, I substituted evaporated milk for the heavy cream and while the pot was pressurizing, I put a Steam-Fresh bag of broccoli in the microwave, then drained it and added when the cheese had melted. Perfect one pot dish. We loved it. Thanks.
My entire family LOVED this recipe, but requested a little more chicken next time. Definitely adding to the rotation!
This was so good! It turned out perfect! My whole family loved it! I think I’ll only use half of the cream cheese next time tho.
Well this was my first rice recipe to do in my instant pot and yup it burned. I followed the recipe to a “T” and so I’m confused on how some got a great turn out and some got what I got burnt bottomed uncooked rice. I had to salvage what I can and continue on the stove top. Super bummed on this recipe, was really looking forward with it working out.
I’ve made this once before and going to make it again tomorrow night for a friend. I followed the directions exactly how it’s stated and it turned out fabulous! I gave some leftovers to my dad who makes a comparable dish and he was impressed (that’s hard to do). I did add a bit more garlic powder because I love garlic but over all it turned out and would definitely recommend!