If you like Thai food, you’ll love these Instant Pot Thai Chicken Rice Bowls. The best thing about them is that since they’re made in the Instant Pot
, they come together really fast and easy. This Instant Pot chicken recipe is a fan favorite among my readers.
I love Thai food and I’m a big fan of one-pot meals so these Instant Pot Thai Chicken Rice Bowls are one of my favorite recipes. My kids love it too, but I have to keep the spices down when I make it for the family.
When I make a batch for my own lunches (this reheats great!), I kick up the hot sauce and spices a few notches. Feel free to adjust the seasonings to suit your own preferences.
If you prefer to eat your Thai food without rice or with cauliflower rice instead, try this Instant Pot Thai Red Chicken Curry.
How to Make Instant Pot Thai Chicken Rice Bowls
One of the best features of the Instant Pot
is that you can brown food in it so that you only have one dish to clean. We’re putting that saute function to use for this recipe.
Step One – Brown the Chicken
Choose the saute function on your Instant Pot. Once the pot is hot, add the oil and then the chicken. (Note: I buy a 4-pack of chicken from the meat section at the store and it’s usually about 2 pounds.)
Sear it on both sides to seal in the moisture and give the breasts a nice brown coat.
Step Two – Prepare the Sauce
Next, you’ll create the secret sauce that makes this dish amazing. Combine all the ingredients in a liquid measuring cup.
Then, place the chicken in a glass pan and pour the sauce over the top.
Step Three – Pressure Cook
Add the rice to the Instant Pot (I use a long-grain rice like jasmine or basmati). If you use a different type of rice, refer to this guide to adjust the liquid and cooking time. Overall cooking time will be similar so chicken will be fully cooked with any of the rice methods.
Then add the chicken, including the marinade (just dump it out of the glass pan into the pot). Next, pour in the broth.
Set your Instant Pot to “Manual” (high pressure) and the time for 10 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. Dinner’s ready! When you open the lid to your Instant Pot, you should see something like this:
But spooned into a bowl and topped with some shredded carrots, zucchini and peanuts, it’s transformed into this:
Instant Pot Thai Chicken Rice Bowls Recipe
Ready to make these amazing Instant Pot Thai Chicken Rice Bowls? Here’s the recipe!
IMPORTANT NOTE: The original recipe (and the way I make it in my own home) called for 3 cups of broth. After MANY comments from people who have tried the recipe reporting that the consistency was too mushy, I’ve reduced the amount to 2 cups.
Instant Pot Thai Chicken Rice Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 4 chicken breasts (about 2 lbs)
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
- 2 cups broth
- 1 Tablespoon peanut butter optional
- 1/2 cup sweet chili Thai sauce
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce - to taste
- 1/2 Tablespoon fish sauce
- 1/2 Tablespoon ginger minced
- 1/2 Tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha or hot sauce
- Cilantro optional garnish
- Shredded zucchini optional garnish
- Shredded carrots optional garnish
- Bean sprouts optional garnish
- Peanuts optional garnish
Instructions
- Select the saute setting on your instant pot and add the olive oil.
- Sear the chicken breasts for 2-3 minutes on either side to seal in their juices. Remove to a glass baking dish (and turn off the instant pot).
- Mix the sweet chili Thai sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, lime juice, sriracha (and peanut butter if you want to include it) together.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken breasts and stir to combine.
- Place the rice in your Instant Pot and add the chicken and sauce over top.
- Add the broth and secure the lid.
- Select the manual pressure setting (high) and set the timer to 10 minutes. Natural release.
- Shred the chicken with two forks and then mix with the rice before serving.
- Garnish with cilantro, shredded veggies and peanuts. Serve with extra soy sauce to taste.
Notes
Nutrition
More Instant Pot Rice Bowl Recipes
If you liked these Instant Pot Thai Chicken Rice Bowls, you might enjoy some of these other all-in-one Instant Pot rice bowl recipes.
Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowls
Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken Bowls
Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli and Rice (a great recipe from my friend Ashley at I Don’t Have Time for That!)
More Instant Pot Resources
Love your Instant Pot? Find more Instant Pot Recipes here. And check out my favorite Instant Pot Hacks.
Do more with your Instant Pot with these helpful Instant Pot Accessories:
I loved this recipe but it is too spicy for me. How would I tone it down as I would like to make it again? Delete the sirrachi?
Yes, try it without the sriracha, that should tone down the spiciness.
Perfect for my Thai food cravings!
The first few times i made this recipe it came out great. Now all I get is a burn error. I follow the recipe exactly. Any suggestions for avoiding burning?
I’m the same way, honestly I feel like I’m losing my mind. The first one or two times we made this we loved it, but now every single time it burns horribly and it’s basically impossible to finish. It gets multiple burn errors and never pressurizes. We have tried everything: cooking the chicken in a normal pan, putting in broth before the rice, putting the chicken on the bottom. Absolutely every time, it *roasts* the rice on the bottom layer and triggers a burn warning within a few minutes.
Not sure if anyone has any ideas but it drives us crazy, because this was one of our favorite recipes and now we can’t cook it anymore 🙁
So I would like to start off with I went with the recommendations off of the comment section and they were WAY off. I’m wondering if these posters know how to use the natural release on the instant pot? If I had used the suggested 2 cups of broth it would have been perfect. All the flavours were there. I used the natural release correctly and with only 1 cup of broth my rice came out cooked but super pasty. I will attempt this again but go by the original recipe. Please, please, please before you make a negative review learn how to use your cooking devices.
I love this recipe! It has turned out perfectly over and over again. Of course we all tweak a little and I prefer to cook my rice on the stovetop and reduce the broth to one cup. Many times I will double the sauce as well. With our leftovers we add coconut milk and tom yum broth, cook some vermicelli and chop up veggies and voila—a delicious Ramon bowl. This recipe resides in the front of my recipe box as a fave. Thank you!
Flavour is good but I’m confused. Usually rice in the instant pot works best with 1:1 water/broth and rice. This recipe does not work well with a 2:1 ratio. The water or broth isn’t the only liquid either. Sauce adds another 2/3 cup. It’s goopy and sticky. Hopefully readers will look to the comments first before trusting this recipe and wasting their time and ingredients.
This was delicious. I did deglaze with the broth, added rice, and put chicken and sauce on top. Perfect!
I don’t know what went wrong here but this did not turn out for me. I followed the recipe exactly and it left me with very soggy rice and very dry chicken that I couldn’t shred. I did try the sauce and that was great, so I think the flavor is there. But it was basically inedible based on these cooking instruction. You win some, you lose some.
My mom made this recipe for us and it became a favorite. But I have missed it since I have been in college with no insta pot. Is there anyway I can make this without one?
You sure can! The easiest way is to saute the chicken breasts in a skillet and add all of the sauce ingredients and 1/2 cup of the broth. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile, in a separate pot, make the rice according to package instructions but using broth instead of water (for extra flavor, otherwise water is fine). When both are done, spoon the rice into a bowl and add a generous serving of the chicken and sauce. Stir to combine and garnish as desired!
This was awesome!!! My family was mad we didn’t have enough leftover for lunch the next day! Making again 2 nights later and making more this time!
I was really nervous about trying this recipe after reading all the reviews. I made some adjustments based on the comments and it came out just right! 1. I used only 1 cup of broth to the 1 cup of rice. There is already additional liquid in the sauce and it turned out to be exactly the right amount of liquid. 2. I seared the chicken in a separate pan instead of in the Instant Pot to avoid the “burning” of the pot /rice mentioned in the comments. I still got a tiny spot of burned rice the size of a nickel but nothing major. 3. Make sure to use the NATURAL RELEASE and not the quick release. It needs that extra time to thoroughly cook the rice. My super picky husband gobbled it up so we’ll be making it again!
Thanks for taking the time to comment and for the detailed info about how you prepared it! I’m glad you liked it and I’m sure your comment will be helpful to others.
Wish I would have ready this before I cooked mine. It tastes great but the rice is mushy. I will cut the broth to 1 cup next time. Thank you.
Can you adjust the recipe for frozen chicken breasts?
Unfortunately, I typically have bad luck cooking frozen chicken and rice together in any recipe since it usually results in mushy rice. The rice simply gets overcooked, plus frozen breasts add moisture to the dish. You’d be better off making the rice separate (either on the stove, a rice cooker or before the chicken in the Instant Pot).
Hi there, just curious does your insta pot ever burn the rice? We normally use jasmine rice with the recommended rice to water ratio and it always burns. Any suggestions or advice is appreciated! It’s one of our favorite recipes 🤤
Hm, I haven’t had that problem with this recipe but it might be that some chicken bits are stuck to the bottom of the pot and end up burning when you begin the pressure cooking. Or perhaps that the broth isn’t penetrating to the bottom quickly enough. Try adding a little of the broth to the pot after cooking the chicken and using a spatula to scrape up any chicken that has stuck to the bottom. Then add the rice and remaining ingredients as instructed. Hopefully that helps.
Made this for my partner tonight and we both loved it! Definitely going into our regular rotation. Thank you so much for sharing!
Love the recipes on this website but CANNOT STAND how many ads there are. I understand that is how the website can make a profit but this site is waaaaay ridiculous with the amount that pop up. I can’t even scroll past one recipe without one interrupting what I’m reading. I love the content, but I would recommend cutting the amount of advertisements there are on this website.
Thanks for the feedback Shelby. I definitely don’t want to provide a bad user experience when you’re spending time on my site. Going to have a chat with my ad provider to see if we can strike a better balance. Thanks again!
This recipe was horrible…the proportions are off…not sure how others cooked it and it came out correctly….I followed it to a T and it came out soupy and the rice was uncooked!! Will not be using this site again….sorry
No need to be sorry. Everyone’s experience and opinions are different. I’m sorry it didn’t turn out for you. I hope you find other sites and recipes that suit your taste better. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback.
I added 2 cups of rice along with 2.25 cups of brother and it still came out soupy. I don’t understand how the original recipe can call for 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of broth… isn’t that too much water? When I make rice it’s a 1:1 ratio for chewy single grain rice… I wa sad when it came out soggy… what did I do wrong? What about the pressure valve that I had to turn it to seal?
I think it depends on what kind of rice your making. Typically the recipe ratio is correct. Maybe you were minute rice.