Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice

Instant pot chicken fried rice is easy to throw together, packed with flavor, and just delicious. Seasoned chicken, fluffy scrambled eggs, fresh garlic, carrots, peas, and perfectly cooked rice comes together to make this pressure cooker fried rice perfect for a weeknight family dinner or weekly meal prep. If you love fried rice but wish it didn't take so much effort to make (sometimes you just don't want to stir fry for 10 minutes straight), then this instant pot fried rice recipe is exactly what you need in life. It takes about 25 minutes from start to finish with the instant pot doing most of the work so that you don't have to.

Why You'll Love Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice

• You can choose fast and easy without sacrificing healthy food. When you don't have a lot of time, fast and easy tends to mean fast food or junk food. With this pressure cooker fried rice, you can have something fast that's easy to make, delicious, and healthy.
• It's packed with a variety of nutrients. Chicken breasts bring you protein. Carrots and peas contain essential nutrients like beta carotene, fiber, potassium, antioxidants, and vitamins A, K, and C. And white rice often contains B vitamins and iron—plus healthy carbs!
• It's the perfect Sunday meal prep recipe. This recipe is so simple and yields enough to feed you all week long. Just portion it out into meal prep containers and you have lunches figured out for the next few days.

Ingredients and Substitutions

To make this easy instant pot chicken fried rice, you will need an Instant Pot (or any pressure cooker) and the following ingredients (full quantities listed in recipe card below):

• vegetable oil
• eggs
• carrots
• garlic
• chicken breast
• salt and pepper
• long grain rice - I would recommend using a long grain rice such as jasmine rice or basmati rice. You can use a shorter grain but be prepared for the rice to be more mushy (still delicious though!).
• chicken broth or water
• peas
• green onions
• soy sauce
• sesame oil

This instant pot chicken fried rice recipe is so versatile that you can feel free to get creative and feel confident that it will turn out great. Just keep in mind that if you add more moisture (with wet veggies like onions or tomatoes), you should compensate by using less broth. Some great options to add in are: bell peppers, onions, corn, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, and edamame.

How to Make the Best Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice

1. Cook eggs. Turn on the sauté function on the Instant Pot. Heat oil over high heat for 2 minutes until the hot oil sizzles. Add beaten eggs, and stir until scrambled and cooked through, about 1 minute.
2. Add in chicken. Next, add carrots, garlic and chicken and sauté until evenly mixed and tender, about 2 minutes. Chicken does not need to be fully cooked through at this point. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add rice. Add rice and broth (or water) and stir well until evenly mixed. There should be about ½-inch of liquid above the mixture. Adding too much liquid will make fried rice more mushy.

4. Pressure cook. Switch to pressure cooking mode on manual high and seal the lid. Let the fried rice pressure cook for 3 minutes. Once the time is up, let the fried rice sit in the pot for another 8-10 minutes. This allows the pressure to release slowly, making rice and chicken tender. Quick release the remaining pressure.
5. Stir in remaining ingredients. Remove the lid and turn back on the sauté mode. Stir in peas, green onions, soy sauce and sesame oil and cook on high heat until the frozen peas are tender, about 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately.

More Chicken and Rice Recipes

• Curry Chicken Fried Rice
• One Pot Spanish Chicken and Rice
• One Pot Coconut Curry Chicken and Rice
• Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowls
• Chicken and Couscous with Sun-dried Tomatoes

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