Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli Rice Bowl–brown rice is topped with a savory asian-inspired sauce, tender pieces of chicken and bright green, barely cooked broccoli florets.
Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli Rice Bowl
I love this easy weeknight dinner recipe for many reasons. One is that the chicken is thrown into the Instant Pot frozen. I always have a bag of frozen chicken thighs or breasts in my freezer and I don’t often remember to thaw. I prefer making instant pot and crockpot recipes that start with frozen chicken.
I also love this recipe because you can mix and match the starch and the vegetables. For example, I served the chicken and broccoli over brown rice but you can serve it over white rice or quinoa instead. I used a package of frozen broccoli but I was thinking how delicious a bag of stir fry vegetables would taste with this. We love buying the big bag of stir fry vegetables from Costco. My kids always fight over the water chestnuts. Weird, I know. You could also try plain peas or cauliflower or whatever you like as well.
This Instant Pot chicken broccoli rice bowl really reminded me of something you’d order at a Teriyaki Stix or a similar type of restaurant. Super fast and easy to get going, this recipe is perfect for a weeknight dinner.
More Asian-inspired Instant Pot Recipes
Instant Pot Cheater Korean Beef with Brown Rice
Instant Pot Cashew Chicken
Instant Pot Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup from Table for Two
Instant Pot General Tso’s Chicken from What’s Cookin’ Chicago?
What Instant Pot Did You Use?
For this Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli Rice Bowl I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1. I also own the 6 quart Instant Pot IP-LUX60 V3 Programmable Electric Pressure Cooker. They are both great pressure cookers! The first one I mentioned has a yogurt making function but other than that they are fairly similar. The price difference between the two is about $20.
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Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli Rice Bowl
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes (plus time to come to pressure and time to release pressure)
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
Brown rice is topped with a savory asian-inspired sauce, tender pieces of chicken and bright green, barely cooked broccoli florets.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup oyster sauce
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 lbs frozen boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1 (16 oz) package frozen broccoli florets
- Hot cooked rice
Instructions
- Combine the chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil and garlic powder in the Instant Pot. Whisk well. Add in the chicken.
- Secure the lid. Make sure valve is on “sealing.” Set the timer on the manual function to 18 minutes (for chicken thighs) and 15 minutes (for chicken breasts). When the timer beeps let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and then remove the rest of the pressure by moving the valve to “venting.”
- Open the Instant Pot and remove the chicken to a cutting board. Shred or cut the chicken into pieces.
- In a small bowl stir together the cornstarch and water. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the Instant Pot. Turn the Instant Pot to “saute” and let the sauce thicken. As the sauce is thickening stir in the frozen vegetables. When sauce is thickened and vegetables are warmed through stir the chicken back into the Instant Pot.
- Serve chicken, sauce and vegetables over hot cooked rice.
Notes
You can mix and match the starch and the vegetables. For example, I served the chicken and broccoli over brown rice but you can serve it over white rice or quinoa instead. I used a package of frozen broccoli but I was thinking how delicious a bag of stir fry vegetables would taste with this. You could also try plain peas or cauliflower or whatever you like as well.
- Method: Instant Pot
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Sharon Schroeter says
May 10, 2019 at 11:35 amOh, Karen, your recipes are always delicious & easy too!
Could you cook the rice pot-in-pot since the chicken has to cook 15[or 18 minutes]?
Thanks,
Karen says
May 10, 2019 at 4:47 pmYes that would work well!
Donna says
March 10, 2019 at 1:11 pmI have an 8 quart Instant Pot and would love to try this recipe. Would anything need to be changed for an 8 quart??
★★★
Karen says
March 11, 2019 at 2:22 pmYou can do it the same way. Add 1/2 cup more broth to make sure it comes to pressure.
Crystal says
February 12, 2019 at 5:42 pmHow much rice is used with this recipe? I saw 1 cup in the comments but that seemed like just an example. Thank you
Karen says
February 13, 2019 at 9:24 amI would make 1/2 cup a rice per person. So probably about 3 cups of rice.
Kelly says
January 10, 2019 at 9:55 pmThis was really good! My chicken was not frozen and I did cut it up in chunks. I used boneless/skinless chicken breasts. I didn’t have oyster sauce either so I just added a little more soy sauce. Family loved it! Thanks!
Lesley says
February 1, 2019 at 4:18 pmHow do I adjust the time for thawed chicken cut up into chunks?
Karen says
February 1, 2019 at 5:02 pmI’d do 5 minutes with a 5 minute npr
Karla N. says
November 29, 2018 at 9:55 pmMade this tonight and used frozen chicken breast and drozen stir fry veggies and added onion and pineapple with the juice. Super tasty and I only needed to add a little more starch for the sauce since the juice added more liquid. It was my first dinner in my new pot and I am excited to see what else this thing can do! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
★★★★★
Karen says
November 30, 2018 at 1:50 pmSo glad you found the recipe Karla!!
Cirra says
October 10, 2018 at 6:40 pmThe flavor of the sauce is hands down the best of all the different Asian-inspired chicken and broccoli sauces I’ve tried. Definitely keeping this recipe and adding it to the regular rotation!
I will say however, that in my experience, 15 minutes is just right for frozen chicken. Anything more than that, and it comes out dry. Knowing this beforehand, I opted for a 15 minute cook time and it came out absolutely perfect.
★★★★
Karen says
October 11, 2018 at 11:21 amGood note on the frozen chicken. Thanks!
Jenny says
September 21, 2018 at 12:37 pmMade this last night and it was amazing! Could you make this with Shrimp? If so, how long would be the cooking time?
Karen says
September 22, 2018 at 7:36 pmShrimp cooks very quickly. I’d only cook it for 2 minutes!
Colt says
September 19, 2018 at 7:42 pmAwesome meal me and the wife loved it we used a different frozen stir fry mix that had snap peas, carrots and broccoli to add a little bit more to it. Highly recommend!
★★★★★
Karen says
September 20, 2018 at 11:12 amSounds awesome with the stir fry mix. Thanks for the idea!
Erika says
August 6, 2018 at 5:28 pmHi there! If I wanted to double the batch, how would that affect cooking time?
Karen says
August 6, 2018 at 8:48 pmJust keep the cooking time the same!
Lynnley says
July 11, 2018 at 5:04 pmThis was awesome!!! I used my 3qt mini. I only used 1 chicken breast and served it over lo mein noodles. Definately a keeper on my pin list.
★★★★★
Sarah says
June 13, 2018 at 12:24 amEasy and yummy. I never have oyster sauce, so I just used more soy. Also, you can reduce the cook time even further if you cut your chicken into smallish pieces or strips. This easy to do either with thawed chicken or still partially frozen. From there, it cooks through in 4 minutes on manual, and you can quick release the pressure. Any time I get the chance, I cut my chicken into smaller pieces, because that 4 minute cook time is just too awesome.
Karen says
June 13, 2018 at 11:48 amI agree!
Sally says
June 25, 2018 at 9:11 amI often buy the frozen chicken breast chunks for things like this.
Melissa says
May 24, 2018 at 3:06 pmWhat changes should I make to the timing if I’d like to use fresh broccoli? Thanks!
Karen says
May 28, 2018 at 9:26 pmCut the broccoli into small florets. Stir them in after the chicken has cooked. Let them cook through to desired doneness.
Tract says
June 5, 2018 at 5:50 pmI put fresh broccoli into the microwave for three minutes and then stirred it into the saute so it would stay a little crisp
Nate says
May 3, 2018 at 7:52 amI’ve been cooking in the IP for about a month now, enjoying some decent recipes and enduring some terrible recipes, and this is hands down the absolute best recipe I’ve tried so far! I substituted soy sauce for oyster sauce and canola oil for sesame oil, but it came out absolutely perfect! Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Karen says
May 3, 2018 at 8:29 pmI’m so glad you liked it! Hopefully you will get more good recipes!!!
Monika says
April 27, 2018 at 6:27 pmmade this for dinner tonight, it was delicious! thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Karen says
April 30, 2018 at 10:43 amNice! Glad you liked it Monika 🙂
Susan Lee says
March 2, 2018 at 6:40 pmAMAZING recipe. Thank you! I’ve already posted it in about 5 Facebook groups!
★★★★★
Karen says
March 2, 2018 at 9:29 pmThank you so much for sharing Susan! I really appreciate it. I’m glad you like this recipe 🙂
Linda says
January 31, 2018 at 6:05 pmHow long would I cook in the IP if the chicken isn’t frozen?
Karen says
January 31, 2018 at 7:53 pmSame amount of time.
Amanda says
January 23, 2018 at 1:45 pmIs there a way to adjust this to be able to cook the rice in the instant pot too? Thanks!
Karen says
January 23, 2018 at 8:09 pmOkay, I’m sure there is. I haven’t myself experimented with it yet so I can’t say for sure how it’d work. But if I were to try this is what I would do…put a 1 cup rice to 1.25 cup water ratio of brown rice in the bottom of the instant pot. Put the chicken and sauce in a dish that will fit inside your instant pot. Place it on a trivet on top of the rice. Cook on manual high pressure for 22 minutes.
Susan Lee says
March 2, 2018 at 6:43 pmI just cook the rice before hand, and just rinse the insert before starting the recipe. The sauce is hot enough to reheat the rice. I used 1 cup of rinsed brown rice and 1.25 cups water. Cooked on high pressure for 20 mins with a quick release. It came out the way I like it, but you may need to play with the time based on your preferences.
Karen says
March 2, 2018 at 9:28 pmTHANKS!
L says
January 21, 2018 at 11:34 amWe tried this last night and would adjust two things in this recipe. First, 20 minutes and letting the pot depressurize on its own is much too long. The chicken was overcooked. Second, three tablespoons of cornstarch is also too much and gives the sauce a jello like consistency. More like 3 tsps cornstarch and water would have been plenty. Thanks
Erina Shuparski says
January 4, 2018 at 5:22 pmHello! Can this be made in a slow cooker instead? Thanks!
Karen says
January 4, 2018 at 9:08 pmyes, I think so. Just combine the ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours. You then will thicken with cornstarch at the end.
Marcelia says
December 13, 2017 at 6:34 pmThis was great, thank you! A bit on the sweeter side, says hubby. But a hit all around – especially the toddler!!
★★★★
Karen says
December 15, 2017 at 2:52 pmAwesome to hear Marcelia! Thank you 🙂
Ashley says
November 16, 2017 at 10:36 amI had an issue with this dish I thought I’d share. It’s not the author’s fault since I’m sure she meant to put in the chicken you can buy in the store that are separated before they are frozen and then packaged.
We happened to buy two lbs of chicken breast from the butcher and put it in the deep freeze. So since I had the exact amount that was called for I didn’t worry about defrosting or separating the pieces. I put it in as one big blob.
After following the cooking directions exactly I opened my Instant Pot and the parts of the chicken breast that had been connected were still raw and frozen in some parts. I wasn’t sure what to do, so since some parts were still frozen I put it back in for 18 more minutes (quick release this time). It ended up overcooking the chicken.
The sauce was so wonderful it didn’t really matter though! It coated the chicken and everything tasted phenomenal, exactly like it would if you ordered take out! I did add some white onion!
I can safely say even with the mistakes I made we will be making this dish again! I will just know not to throw in a big blob of chicken next time! I may even try it with beef! Yum! Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★★
Karen says
November 16, 2017 at 4:42 pmGreat comment! This is very helpful. Thanks for sharing your experience.
JennJenn says
October 8, 2017 at 7:14 pmThis was super yummy! Everyone loved it (even the picky toddler) and it was very easy. We would definitely make this again!
★★★★★
Karen says
October 10, 2017 at 10:07 amGreat!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Liz says
September 7, 2017 at 7:22 pmMade for dinner tonight! I loved that I had everything on hand and some fresh broccoli that needed to be used. The family loved it! Quick and easy!!