Instant Pot Mamaw’s Casserole–an easy, homemade chicken and rice casserole that’s comforting, filling and healthy.

Instant Pot Mamaw’s Casserole
I found a recipe called Mamaw’s casserole and wondered what it was all about. Of course it was a recipe that had been passed down from Grandma to mother to daughter. These are the types of recipes that make my heart happy. They taste good and they also “taste” nostalgic which is one of my favorite flavors. My version of the recipe uses healthier alternatives and the end result was something that was homey, comforting but not overfilling. Greg loved it and ate as much as he could! Add this dinner to your menu this week!
- This recipe can be dairy free. Substitute olive oil for the butter.
- I used frozen boneless thighs which stay moist and tender. You can also use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Keep the same cooking time.
- I used brown rice with a 22 minute pressure cook time. You can also make this with white rice. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces so that it will cook at same rate as the rice. Pressure cook for 5 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. You can also make this in your 3 or 8 quart pot with no changes.
- You may want to double this recipe for a larger family (I served 4 people and the pot was scraped clean). You can double all the ingredients and keep the cooking time the same.
- If you aren’t a fan of frozen peas you can just leave them out. Try adding in another vegetable that you enjoy!

More Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Recipes…
Instant Pot Dude Ranch Chicken
Instant Pot Snow on the Mountain
Instant Pot Mexican Queso Chicken and Rice
Instant Pot Cheesy Chicken and Rice

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Instant Pot Mamaw’s Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 37 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
An easy, homemade chicken and rice casserole that’s comforting, filling and healthy.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup diced onions
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 Tbsp Better than Bouillon Chicken Base
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs (frozen is fine)
- 8 ounces chopped mushrooms
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp celery salt
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 or 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says hot add in the butter and let it melt. Add in the onions and saute for 4-5 minutes. Pour in the water and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Sprinkle in the rice. Add in the chicken base, thighs, mushrooms, salt, poultry seasoning, pepper, cayenne, celery salt, onion powder, garlic powder and carrots.
- Cover the 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 pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the peas. Break up the chicken with a fork.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
You can also make this with white rice. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces so that it will cook at same rate as the rice. Pressure cook for 5 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
- 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.
It had great flavor. I’ll try using a reduced sodium chicken base next time.
★★★★★
Thanks Sharon!
I meant to mention also that I used white rice. I like it better.
I made this tonight and my husband and I loved it. We travel on our 40′ boat a lot and this will be a great recipe to make in my instant pot for friends who travel with us. I will just leave out the cayenne next time. I also messed up and put the peas in at the beginning, but since our friends prefer squishy peas, this will be perfect.
How fun! I want to be your friend.
Can I skip the chopped carrots and instead use frozen peas and carrots and add together at the end?
Yep!
This is too funny. I literally looked for a casserole recipe yesterday and thought I saw this! Thanks for sharing.
Haha! It’s meant to be I guess!
Can boneless chicken breast be substituted for chicken thighs, would I need to change anything?
I used frozen boneless thighs which stay moist and tender. You can also use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Keep the same cooking time.
Hi Karen, this recipe sounds wonderful but I was wondering if I leave out the mushrooms as neither of us like them, would I need to add any additional liquid as I know that mushrooms give off a lot of liquid when cooking. Thank you. I love your site and I keep telling my friends and family to check it out as most of the recipes I make come from it.
You should be fine on the liquid. There is also liquid that comes off the chicken.
Hi there- I’m a huge fan of your recipes and see several with the Better than Bouillon ingredient – which isn’t dairy free. My kid’s other issue is that he’s allergic to soy so we definitely need to steer clear but the photos and recipes always sound so good! (sigh) Could you advise me how I can substitute something for this? Like a chicken stock, broth, etc?? If you can’t think of a way to sub, that’s ok, I can stick to your other favorites!
Instead of using the BTB, just use the amount of water called for and substitute either Chicken Broth or Beef Broth in that same amount. BTB is just a Bouillon that makes the broth called for by the water amount.
Hope that helps.
Wendy, you could try liquid aminos, which is a substitute for soy sauce. Should be easy to find, in an Asian section or wherever the soy sauce is located in your grocery store.
Do you have another brand of chicken base or bouillon cubes that are dairy free and soy free? I would use that!
You could try Knorr Pollo chicken bouillon.