Instant Pot Dude Ranch Chicken–an easy dump and go recipe with chicken, cheese, rice and southwest flavors. You’ll love the secret ingredient that makes the flavor pop!
Instant Pot Dude Ranch Chicken
You’re going to love this cheesy chicken and rice dish. It’s got lots of flavor thanks to a product I found called Herdez Guacamole Salsa. Have you tried it yet? It’s sort of like green salsa and creamy guacamole combined. We eat it all the time with tortilla chips at our house. If you do buy it and don’t like spice then make sure to get the MILD kind because even the medium is too hot for me.
This chicken is a super fast and easy dump and go recipe. All you do is add broth, rice and chicken into the Instant Pot. Top with a few seasonings, some green chiles and the guacamole salsa. You’ll pressure cook for 22 minutes and then stir in sour cream and cheese and serve. See?! I told you it was easy. This is a perfect recipe to make this summer. You can serve the chicken and rice as is or roll it up in tortillas (like a burrito), or serve it over tortilla chips.
For this recipe I really like using boneless, skinless chicken thighs because they hold up well with the 22 minute cooking time that is necessary for the brown rice. They are so moist and tender and add lots of flavor to the dish. You can also use bone-in chicken thighs. If you’d like to use chicken breasts you can they just won’t be as tender.
If you’d like to use white rice instead of brown rice you will only need a 5 minute pressure cook time with a 10 minute natural pressure release. And you’ll need to cut up the chicken into chunks so that it will cook at the same rate as the rice. You can also use chicken tenders (they cook perfectly in five minutes).
More Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Recipes…
Instant Pot Mexican Queso Chicken And Rice
Instant Pot Snow on the Mountain
Instant Pot Chicken Ranch Rice
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Instant Pot Dude Ranch Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
An easy dump and go recipe with chicken, cheese, rice and southwest flavors. You’ll love the ingredient that makes the flavor pop!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 (7 oz) can diced green chiles (I used mild)
- 1 cup Herdez Guacamole Salsa (I used mild)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup grated cheddar
Instructions
- Pour chicken broth into Instant Pot. Sprinkle in the rice.
- Place chicken into the pot and then sprinkle it with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, oregano and pepper.
- Dump the green chiles and salsa over the top.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 22 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- If mixture is runny you can make a cornstarch slurry. Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté setting. In a small bowl stir together 1-2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 1-2 Tbsp of water, until smooth. Then pour the mixture into the Instant Pot. The cornstarch mixture will thicken up contents of pot quickly.
- Turn off Instant Pot and remove the liner from the pot. Stir in the sour cream and sprinkle the cheese on top. If desired chop or shred the chicken. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
We LOVE this recipe. But our family was thrown a curve and I’d like to adapt it to meet the curve head on. Our son not only has a rice allergy, he was also recently diagnosed with ALS. So, I need to cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and use pasta instead of rice. One of the replies talked about how to adjust the broth and time forcutting the chicken in small pieces. Could we make this with bite-sized pieces and using pasta instead of rice. How would I adjust the broth and the time for that?
Sorry to hear that Trudy!! yes that would work. The pasta will need about 3 minute pressure cook time and I use the ratio of 2 cups broth to 8 ounces of pasta.
It was very good. I used frozen thighs. May use only a 4 oz. can of green chilies next time. Didn’t have sour cream but the Greek yogurt was a great substitute.
★★★★★
I love this one too!
1/21/23 – Tried this for a family dinner. Scaled the recipe to 1½. But I got the ‘Burn’ message. Removed from burned on liner, Added more water & placed in non stick liner. Burn message again. One more time switching liners and adding more liquid burn message again! I used white rice and cut up the thighs to chunks. In the end it was finally cooked but not under pressure, could have cooked on stovetop easier. Flavor was great and everyone liked it. Not sure how to modify to avoid burning?
Any suggestions for next time?
How strange. I would leave out the salsa until after the food has pressure cooked and then stir it in. That might be the culprit.
This is an amazing dish. It’s delicious, easy to make, fairly nutritious ingredients and does great for leftovers. I can eat it alone or wrap it in a tortilla and I particularly like making a burrito bowl. Layering the casserole over a bed of lettuce and topping with peppers, onions, and cilantro. Easy to make and even easier on my digestive system.
★★★★
I like that idea of the burrito bowl Kate!
I love all your recipes and have your 365 days book. for instant pot. I also just got an air fryer – do you recommend a book to tell me of times, temp etc so I won’t burn everything.
Thanks for your support! I don’t have a recommendation I haven’t used a book for air fryer. I would perhaps look up your particular air fryer online and type in recipes after it on google so “Instant pot air fryer recipes” or “ninja air fryer recipes” etc.
I like to use recipes from airfryerworld.com. They have recipes made from scratch and also tell you how to use your airfryer for ready-to-cook frozen foods like fish sticks or corn dogs.
We often have leftover rotisserie chicken dark meat. If I wanted to make this with cooked dark meat chicken and white rice, would it work for the 5 minute cook time and 10 minute NPR?
★★★★★
yes that would be great!
My mom makes this in the instant pot and i love the recipe! Do you have any suggestions for making it in a slow cooker (no instant pot here yet!)?
I would put the ingredient through the salsa into the slow cooker and stir. Cook on high for 3-5 hours, or until right is cooked through. Then finish off the recipe by stirring in the sour cream and cheese.
Delicious! Followed directions but used chicken breasts because that is what I had, and 1/2 tsp chili powder. I love your recipes, Karen. Thank you.
★★★★★
So glad to hear it! Thanks for the 5 stars Laura!
Herdez is a new brand in my supermarket so I was eager to try. They only had medium so I left out the chilies to compensate for the heat. This was excellent and I served it with a Taylor Farms salad. None of your recipes have disappointed me!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for the review Sandra! I’m glad you’re finding good recipe on my site!
Hi Karen, we LOVE, LOVE this! Now hubby needs to watch his carb intake. I have managed to make cauliflower rice recipes he actually likes! (THAT is some kind of miracle!) I see you gave instructions to someone for doing it without rice. Could I do that and then fold in the cauliflower rice after it is done cooking? Do you think it would hold up? THANKS!
★★★★★
Yes I think that would be really yummy! I like that idea.
This is delicious, I used long grain white rice. I did have some burning, but it did not mess up the results. I think maybe it is because I was using already cooked diced chicken and depressured part way through cooking and then there wasn’t enough liquid to repressurize. Duh, I should have known better and just heated the chicken in the microwave and added it at the end.. I usually use medium salsa, but used mild with this and the spice was just right. I added frozen peppers with onions and corn after it pressure cooked. It was still good, but I think is better without them.
Thanks for the great recipes, I have enjoyed so many of them over the years!
★★★★★
Oh I’m glad it worked out in the end! Thank you for the 5 stars.
Flavorful and worth repeating. However, I don’t like spicy, so right off, I cut the chili powder to 1/2 tsp and it was perfect for us. Still had a very slight bite, but tasty. Not attractive, but worth second helpings. Best served in bowls. I used converted white rice with the 5 min. cook time and 10 min. natural release and it was firm to the bite. Thighs were cut into cubes.
★★★★
So glad you liked it Juliane!
Irresistible and sooooo easy! I subbed boneless chicken breasts, a can of diced tomatoes with green chili’s (drained), and regular sala because that’s what I had on hand and it was superb! Didn’t need to add any cornstarch. Also, I dont have a manual setting so I used the Meat/Chicken setting. Did I mention easy?! Our new fav! Thank you!
★★★★★
Wahoo!!! So glad you liked it. Thanks for the 5 stars.
My husband does not like chicken, could i substitute beef?
Sure. Try browning some ground beef and using that in there.
I love this recipe! Never tried that guacamole salsa before but it gave it such great flavor!
★★★★★
It really does! I love that stuff!
I’ve never heard of this guacamole salsa before. I’m in Canada, so not sure if anywhere carries it. Would mixing up a salsa and a guacamole be a good substitute? The recipe sounds delicious so I’d like to try it!
I don’t think that would be a good idea because the avocados would turn brown. I would just use salsa verde instead.
I made it with Herdez Roasted Verde Salsa. It was great!
Woo hoo! Love that brand!
Guessing you can’t substitute white rice for the brown rice?
If you’d like to use white rice instead of brown rice you will only need a 5 minute pressure cook time with a 10 minute natural pressure release. And you’ll need to cut up the chicken into chunks so that it will cook at the same rate as the rice. You can also use chicken tenders (they cook perfectly in five minutes).
I found it on amazon Canada but the price is insane.
This recipe is a perfect burrito filling. It’s simple and easy recipes like this that make me feel like a real cook when I’m normally really bad at it. This recipe makes something that tastes like it was made professionally by someone really taking their time with it instead of a fool like ke just dumping things into an Instant Pot. No chopping, cutting, prep… it’s just measure and dump! Thank you for this great recipe!
★★★★★
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! Good for you Jeff you are a pro now!
Made a few changes based on what I had on hand–chicken breasts and brown jasmine rice. Reduced cooking time by 2 minutes and it came out perfectly.
My husband said, “could eat this every night!”
Thanks for so many awesome recipes. I have at least one of yours on the weekly menu.
★★★★★
Your husband’s comment is so nice! Isn’t it great to hear that after cooking a meal?
I would love to make this but without the rice. How long would I cook it. Thanks so much.
You could cook for about 12 minutes for fresh chicken or 15 minutes for frozen. With a 10 minute natural pressure release.
Karen, if you;re making this without the rice, do you change the amount of broth? I’m going to compare sodium content of the guacomole salsa to the regular Herdez green salsa to see if substituting would result in a lower sodium count. I have to watch both my sodium and carb intake.
If you’re making without rice I would only use a half cup of broth. The chicken puts off enough liquid to bring the pot to pressure.
Take a bow, Karen! My husband declared this a win! I made it per the instructions except we didn’t add the cheese to the pot, we topped our bowls with it instead. I don’t know how the others got burn notices or it came out thick. Mine was just a little runny, so I made a small amount of slurry. We ate ours in bowls and the chicken was already shredding so if they’d been cut in half, they would have completely disintegrated. Next time hubby is going to eat his over tortilla chips or eat them on the side (because he loves chips). I’m so happy I was able to find the salsa at Publix. Wegman’s doesn’t carry that brand. I didn’t check Kroger or Food Lion.
Thanks Robin! I’m so glad you and your husband liked it. Chips sound delish!
The taste of this recipe is really good, but the two times that it has been prepared, it gave the burn notice. Additional liquid was added on both occasions and it still burned before even reaching pressure.
★★★
Oh that is a bummer. Do you have burn issues with other rice recipes as well?
Nope, never.
How strange. I would leave out the salsa until after the food has pressure cooked and then stir it in. That might be the culprit.
I’d like to half the recipe for the two of us and use a small crock pot. Do you think that would work?
Yes that would probably work fine!
I made this last night. I didn’t double check ingredients and had a can of mild Rotel and not green chilies so I used the Rotel. It had a bit of a bite to it (I’m a spice wimp) but it was delicious! We’ll definitely be having this again!
★★★★★
I love Rotel! That sounds like a great idea!
Will the cooking time be the same if I cut the thighs into bite-sized pieces?
Since you’re using brown rice you’d still need the longer cooking time. But if you used white rice instead you could cook for 5 minutes with the bite size pieces.
Did it with small pieces of chicken & white rice, using 5 min cook time. PERFECT!! Was a huge hit. Sorry took so long to get back with stars.
★★★★★
We really enjoyed this! I did get the burn notice and the finished meal was quite thick. I will use a bit more chicken broth the next time we have it. Also, your comment about the mild guacamole is right on; it is a bit spicy.
★★★★★
I’m glad you got it to work! I am not sure why the burn message came up!
Nice creamy and delicious.
★★★★★
Thanks for the 5 star review!
Karen, thank you for this recipe! I didn’t feel like cooking dinner this evening so I tried the Dude Ranch Chicken. So I didn’t have chicken thighs but used chicken breasts. That was the only change to the recipe I made. We made burritos and added extra cheese and sour cream on the burritos. We added diced onions on burritos just because we like them. I love how quick and easy this recipe is. My family loves it and said they want me to make it again soon! I agree that the mild salsa is perfect and I would not be able to handle the medium. Thanks again for this recipe , it’s Great!!
★★★★★
Thanks Nancy! I’m glad you made it. I love the sound of burritos!