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
How to Make Instant Pot Thai Chicken Rice Bowls
One of the best features of the Instant Pot
Step One – Brown the Chicken
Add a little olive oil to your Instant Pot and choose the saute function. Once the pot is hot, add the chicken.
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 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.
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
- 2 cups broth
- ½ cup sweet chili Thai sauce
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce - to taste
- ½ Tablespoon fish sauce
- ½ Tablespoon ginger, minced
- ½ Tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha or hot sauce
- Cilantro, optional garnish
- Shredded zucchini, optional garnish
- Shredded carrots, optional garnish
- Peanuts, optional garnish
- 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 and sriracha 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.
If you enjoyed this recipe, check out some of my other Instant Pot recipes:
Corinne Schmitt
Latest posts by Corinne Schmitt (see all)
- How to Clean, Store and Chop Fresh Herbs: 3 Important Tips - July 28, 2017
- 25+Free Printables for Organizing Home Life - July 27, 2017
- Instant Pot Corn on the Cob - July 26, 2017
This looks amazing. I’m wanting to make it tonight! I’m new to cooking with the Instant pot though. Do you cook the rice beforehand, or put the rice in uncooked?
Hi Sarah, thanks for asking. I didn’t realize that i forgot to specify! It should be uncooked white rice. I’m going to change the recipe now to clarify. Thanks for pointing it out.
Thanks for your quick response! I’m excited to try it out.
Your recipe does not specify high or Low pressure for Manual on the Instant pot.
High pressure. I will add that now to the instructions to make it clearer. Thanks Brenda!
I don’t know about your experience with this recipe, but 10 minutes was not near long enough to cook the chicken through and entirely too long for the rice. Also, I’m pretty sure that three cups of broth was way too much liquid. I ended up with tough chicken in a pot of liquid with some overdone rice at the bottom.
Did you use frozen breasts? And if not, were the breasts large and/or thick? This recipe has very inconsistent results based on the comments and I’m working to make it as fool-proof as possible. I know how upsetting it is to try a new recipe and be disappointed with the results.
I had the same experience I followed this recipe to a tee and triple checked to make sure I had it right. That is about 1 cup of broth too much. My rice had the consistency of mush and it pretty much ruined dinner…
This is really discouraging to hear. I can’t figure out why it turns out for some and not for others. My whole purpose in creating and sharing these recipes is to make dinner EASIER for others! Based on the number of comments regarding the “mushiness,” I’m going to make a change to the recipe. I’m so very sorry for experience and grateful for your feedback.
natural release? How long is that?
Natural release usually takes 10-15 minutes for this recipe. You’ll know it’s complete when the pressure gauge is completely down.
The dish came out delicious! I suggest using toasted sesame oil instead of olive oil.
2 questions.
1. Where does the Sriracha sauce fit in?
2. What do you do with the marnade that’s left after you take the chicken out of your marinade dish? Discard? Add to pot?
Thanks.
Hi JoAnn, thanks for the questions. I didn’t realize until you posted them that I didn’t mention the sriracha in the directions! It goes in the marinade (fixing the recipe now to reflect that). When you place the chicken in the pot, pour the whole thing in (with the marinade). I’m also adding that to the recipe for clarity. Thanks again for pointing these out!
Thanks for this recipe! Will I be able to make it with brown rice?
Brown rice takes longer to cook so you’ll end up with crunchy rice or overcooked chicken. Best thing to do is to cook the rice separately and reduce the broth from 3 cups to 1 cup.
Wish I would have seen your comment before I wasted all the ingredients on the original method
Do you mean that you used brown rice instead of the white rice called for in the recipe? If it’s something you think would have been helpful to mention in the instructions, I’d like to know so I can do so.
As comments come in, I do make corrections to the posted recipe and directions to make it more clear. I didn’t change anything within the post in response to this brown rice question though since it was asking about a variation from the recipe. It is frustrating to waste time, money, and food which is why I try to make the instructions as simple as clear as possible.
I’m marinating as we speak! How many do you estimate this serves as a main dish? My bowls are similar to yours – does it fill 4?
Thanks!
Yes, this recipe will yield you 4 adult-sized servings. I hope you enjoy the dish! It’s one of my favorites.
Great Flavor Profile. A little sweet a little spicy! I only had jasmine rice which made it a little sticky but everyone loved it . Will make this again, thank you for the recipe!
Hi Tanya, I’m glad you liked the recipe! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and share your feedback.
Hey I will be making a Thai dish for the first time. I would like you to be a little more detailed about the broth. Is that chicken broth here or can we use vegetable broth too. And can this dish be replaced by shrimps instead of chicken?
Thanks.
I use chicken broth but you can also use vegetable broth. I have not made it with shrimp before but I bet it would be delicious! You would have to cook it differently though otherwise the shrimp will overcook. To use shrimp instead of chicken, do NOT add the shrimp when you cook the other ingredients. Cook on manual high pressure for 8 minutes then quick release (not natural release) and immediately add the shrimp. Cook on manual high pressure for 1 minute and allow to natural release for 5 minutes. I haven’t tried this yet, but following those instructions should allow the rice to cook all the way through without making the shrimp too tough.
Not sure what I did wrong…it was very soupy/mushy. I did have 2 pieces of chicken instead of 3, but it was due to them being huge pieces of chicken. I probably needed less broth or way more rice?
Hi Danielle, I’m sorry yours didn’t turn out. The recipe is actually written with 4 chicken breasts in mind (the pictures are deceptive – 4 was hard to photograph well!) so with half the chicken, 3 cups of liquid was definitely too much. You should be able to halve the recipe completely and it should turn out okay (I haven’t reduced it myself, but I do adapt for 50% more to make 6 servings for my own family and it turns out fine).
Thanks! Makes sense – it did have a good flavor though!
It says to put the chicken in a glass bowl and pour the sauce over it. Then do you put the glass bowl in the instant pot?
Hi Susie,
Sorry the directions weren’t clear. No, don’t put the glass bowl in the Instant Pot. Pour everything from the bowl into the pot. I’ll fix the recipe now to make it clear.
10 minutes was way too long for the rice. Complete mushy mess.
Hi Jen, I’m sorry yours didn’t turn out. I hate mushy rice so I definitely sympathize! Mine turns out perfect at 10 minutes so I don’t know what the difference might be. Thanks for sharing your feedback though so others can adjust the time down since it’s always easy to add more time but impossible to undo overcooking. Sorry again for your experience with the recipe.
Hi! I’m planning to make this tonight for my husband and myself, using two chicken breasts. I saw a comment above where you said to cut the liquid by 50%. I have plenty of rice, so would this bE with still making the same amount of rice but just two breast? Or should I cut the rice in half too? Would you change the cooktime at all? Thanks for your help!
Hi Megan, with only 2 breasts halve all of the ingredients. You shouldn’t need to adjust the cook time though since the cook time will automatically be shortened since it will come to pressure much faster. I hope this helps!
Thanks so much for your reply!!
This looks good. But several people have had a problem with mushy rice. Perhaps this would be included in my question. When you say 1 cup of rice, are you using the rice measure cup that came with the Instant Pot or a regular dry measuring cup? For the water, are you using a regular wet measuring cup of eight ounces?
Hi Holly, for my measurements, I use traditional measuring cups so when I say 1 cup of rice, I use a regular dry measuring cup and for the water I’m using a liquid measuring cup. I hope this clarifies!
Yes it does clarify. Now I just might give this recipe a try. Thank you for your prompt reply.
My pleasure. I hope it turns out for you. I’d love for you to come back and give me feedback after you’ve made it. Have a great night!
Would I adjust the liquid ingredients (broth) if I were to omit rice? And would the cooking time change? I would like to try it but make the rice separately in a rice cooker.
Definitely reduce the liquid by half. I typically don’t adjust the cook time since it will come to pressure faster without the rice (and therefore, automatically not cook as long) and I have a fear of undercooked chicken.
How would I make this in a slow cooker?! I do not have an instant pot.
I haven’t tried this in the slow cooker yet, but if I wanted to make it in the slow cooker I would cook the rice separately and reduce the liquid in the recipe to 1/2 cup. All other ingredients, I’d include in the same amounts. Cook on low 6-8 hours.
This looks incredible! I can’t wait to try it out. I have most of the ingredients on hand except fish sauce. Do you think oyster sauce would work as a substitute?
To partially cook chicken and THEN marinate breaks health code violations!!!! Very dangerous. I skipped that step and I used Basmati Rice. Your flavor profiles and times are spot on! Thanks for the inspiration!
Hi Rob, thanks for your input. I wasn’t aware of that! I did some research after reading your comment and you are absolutely right. I’ve changed the post and recipe to remove the recommendation to let the dish marinate before cooking. Thanks again!
Can this be made with frozen chicken breasts with the rice in a separate covered pan (pot-in-pot)? How much of which liquid should I add to the rice pot and how much to the chicken sauce? Thanks!
You won’t need to adjust the time since frozen breasts will take longer to come to pressure. I have never done pot in pot! When I make my rice separate (I do this when I use brown rice), I reduce the liquid for the chicken to 1 cup. I don’t know how the rice will turn out though pot in pot with 2 cups of liquid. My guess is it will be mushy so maybe 2 cups for the chicken and 1 cup for the rice? I’ll ask in the Instant Pot Community Facebook group to see if someone with pot-in-pot experience can provide a more confident answer.
The rice is a one-to-one ratio. 12oz rice, 12 oz water. Do I reduce the broth to 1 or two cups? Going to make this tonight with a spiralized eggplant and chopped ERs.
I would reduce to one cup.
I plan to make this tonight with 3 large chicken breasts (because that is what I have). What was the total weight of your four chicken breasts? Also, would it affect cooking time if I cut my chicken breast in half (thirds,etc) or does it not make any difference?
Roughly 2 pounds. I’ve made this with chicken tenderloins before and didn’t change the cook time so you should be fine. You’ll want to cut the liquid down by about half a cup though. As it is, it’s a little soupy for some people’s taste.
I made it tonight. Taste was delicious, chicken shredded beautifully (this was my third time trying chicken breasts and my first success with boneless skinless breasts). I lowered the amount of liquid but the rice was still mushy (edible, but mushy). Next time, I will use less liquid. Overall, my kids and I agreed it was a winner.
Hi there! Wondering,,,I doubled the recipe….should I see the broth at 2cups with 2 cups of rice?
Thanks!
darn…I guess I have to guess! Doing it now!
Hi Melanie,
I just responded to your first comment. Sorry, it’s dinner prep time here too so I wasn’t at my computer to see your question when it came in.
Hi Melanie,
You’ll need more liquid than that for 2 cups of rice. You should use at least 3 cups. If you’re doubling all the ingredients, closer to 4.
NO worries! Thank you so much :o) I used only 1 and it was mushy so will have to revisit my liquid amounts. Likely because I had 8 chicken breasts that create more liquid as well. :o)
Your instructions call for white rice, is that long grain white or short-grain? What are the instructions for long-grain white rice?
Hi Dina, I almost always use jasmine rice or basmati in my rice bowl dishes. These are long-grain. I have a friend who prefers her rice to clump together so she uses short grain in this recipe. Normally, I specify the rice I use so I apologize for not having done so here (updating the recipe now to correct this). It might explain the variety of problems others have had! I’m not an IP rice expert, just a mom who experiments with different recipes to find things my family eat so to answer your cooking time question I’m going to refer you to a different site. This guide at Happy Belly Foodie should be helpful – http://www.happybellyfoodie.com/how-to-pressure-cook-different-types-of-rice-part-i-white-rice/.
I made this tonight for my family of 7 and we loved it!!! Thank you so much! I am in love with my Instant Pot.😍
I’m so glad!! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know. I’m in love with my IP too. I no longer groan when I think about making dinner.