Instant Pot Zesty Chicken—an easy, flavorful casserole with rice, chicken, crispy fried onions and vegetables.
Instant Pot Zesty Chicken
In the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group a member, Ginger, asked, “I have a long-time favorite recipe that came from the back of a bottle: Zesty Chicken and Rice. I would love to try and make it in my IP and wonder if anyone has heard of it and especially if they have ever done it in the IP and have any suggestions or tips.” Of course, I accepted the challenge of taking this normal, oven-baked casserole and making it into an Instant Pot recipe. The original recipe is found here in case you want to make it in the oven.
It’s a very simple recipe of rice, chicken, those crispy fried onions that go on top of green bean casserole, and frozen vegetables. The zesty part of the recipe comes from the use of zesty Italian salad dressing which gives lots of flavor.
A couple notes about the chicken…I like to use boneless skinless chicken thighs that have been cut into chunks for this recipe. They remain moist and tender and flavorful. If you’re not a fan of dark meat then you can use chicken tenders. They can even be frozen, no cooking time change needed.
My family scraped the Instant Pot clean. Greg remarked that the texture reminded him a bit of fried rice. Thanks Ginger for the idea! We will make this recipe again in the future!
More Instant Pot Casserole Recipes…
Instant Pot Cheesy Potatoes and Sausage
Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Casserole
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Rice Dinner
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Zesty Chicken I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
Want more tried and true Instant Pot recipes?
The 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking website has 3-4 new Instant Pot recipes a week! If you sign up for my emails (fill out the form below) you’ll receive an email each time something new is on the site. You can also join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group which is run by my husband Greg and myself. If you’re a visual learner consider subscribing to my YouTube channel where I share Instant Pot stuff with you weekly.
Instant Pot Zesty Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
An easy, flavorful casserole with rice, chicken, crispy fried onions and vegetables.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2/3 cup long grain white rice
- 1 1/3 cups French’s crispy fried onions, divided
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken tenders or chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
- 1/3 cup zesty Italian dressing
- 1 (12 oz) bag of frozen veggies (I used the California style veggie mix)
Instructions
- Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of the Instant Pot. Sprinkle in the rice, ⅔ cup of the fried onions and Italian seasoning. Lay the chicken tenders on top of the rice. Pour the Italian dressing on top of the chicken.
- Cover the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes. While the food is pressure cooking cook the bag of frozen veggies in the microwave as stated on the package.
- When time is up on the Instant Pot let the pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid. Stir in the bag of veggies. Top with the additional fried onions. Scoop onto serving plates and enjoy.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
*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.
Karen!! Absolutely love all of your slow cooker and Instant Pot recipes! I just started learning how to use the Instant Pot and your cookbook made things so much easier! Love, Love, Love your recipes! I just wanted to thank you for easy and tasty meals!!!
★★★★★
Thank you so much Suzanne! I’m glad that it has been helpful to you!
I tried to make this but I got the burnt notification right way. So I opened it and tried by adding more liquid but same thing burnt notifications But it does smell so good. What kind of rice are you using?
★★★
See my comment below. Forgot to include the stars!
★★★★★
I must admit that I was kind of skeptical of this recipe because it seemed like an odd combo but it also seemed so easy that I gave it a try. I’m glad I did because we all loved it. Ate the whole pot! Thanks!
Forgot to include the stars!
Awesome! Thanks Amy! So glad you like it.
What adjustments would be made for a 3qt IP?
Hi Tina, you can make this recipe as is in the 3 quart pot.
How would you make this in an 8 qt.
instant pot?
I’d use the pot in pot method and increase the cooking time to 15 minutes 🙂
https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/pot-in-pot-method-explained/
was really looking forward to making this, but I got a burn notice, and the rice was all stuck on the bottom. Do I add more broth? Put the rice over the chicken? It smelled good, and I want to try it again.
Ugh! That is frustrating. I have never gotten the burn notice but I feel like a lot of people do with rice. Perhaps you could do the pot in pot method? Or you could put the chicken in the bottom of the pot, then the rice and broth. Hopefully that will prevent the rice from burning and sticking on the bottom of the pot.
We love this recipe! My question is if I want to double the amount, for how long would I cook it?
★★★★★
Same cooking time
https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-double-instant-pot-recipes/
Hi Karen, could I use brown rice and whole frozen breasts ? Would it be 22 minutes on high?
Yes and then I would use 1 cup rice and 1.25 cups of broth.
Thanks so much! Sounds yummy!