Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice with Roasted Veggies
Quick & Easy Instant Pot Dinner: 2-in-1 Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken AND Rice, Pressure Cooked Together!
If you’re into one pot meals and sheet pan dinners, you HAVE to try this instant pot teriyaki chicken and rice recipe! It’s just as convenient, allowing me to cook my chicken AND rice together in the same pot. And, thanks to the nifty technology of pressure cooking, it takes under 20 minutes to cook! Say whaaat?!
Forgive me if the magic of instant pot chicken and rice recipes is old news for you… I’m pretty new to the pressure-cooking game, so this method BLEW my mind when I tried it. The teriyaki chicken thighs turned out so juicy and flavorful, almost like the meat had been slow-cooked. And the rice was light, fluffy, and perfectly cooked through like I couldn’t believe!
No need for all of the pots and pans, no need to hover in the kitchen monitoring to see when everything is done. The BEST thing about this instant pot teriyaki chicken and rice recipe is, once everything goes into the cooker, I can just let it do its thing! Besides Quick Releasing the steam—which, c’mon, is just flipping a tiny little switch…
The point is: this instant pot meal makes busy weeknights and life in general SO much easier! There’s even time to toss some veggies in the oven to roast while your teriyaki chicken and rice are in the pressure cooker. Such a simple, cheap, yet healthy dinner idea—perfect for meal prep, busy weeknights, or family meals!
Homemade Teriyaki Sauce / Marinade
To keep this instant pot teriyaki chicken as clean and healthy as possible, I’m making my own homemade teriyaki sauce. Of course, if you have a pre-made sauce that you really like, feel free to use that instead. BUT, just beware: many store-bought teriyaki sauces are loaded with sneaky sugars, so be sure to read the labels!
In my homemade teriyaki sauce, I’ve cut down on the added sugars by using orange juice for natural sweetness, and just 1 tablespoon of coconut sugar in the entire marinade. Just enough to give it the hint of sweetness than any good teriyaki sauce needs!
Plus, it’s got all of the salty, umami, tangy flavors of classic teriyaki, thanks to the soy sauce, sesame oil, and cooking wine. I couldn’t find mirin, which is a Japanese rice wine, so I just used sherry when I made this instant pot teriyaki chicken recipe. Both will work just fine, so use whichever you’re able to find!
Combine your marinade ingredients and pour into a bag with your chicken thighs. You could also use chicken breast, but chicken thighs actually contain more micronutrients and nutritious fats—which makes them more flavorful! Seal up the bag with some air still left inside, shake it up to coat your chicken, and let it sit for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
The Magic Behind Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Meals: A Steaming Rack
When you’re ready to cook, pour just the marinade into your pressure cooker. (Leave the chicken thighs in the bag for now!) As an option, you can add some crushed garlic and fresh ginger here for an added flavor, or feel free to omit. Press the ‘SAUTE’ button and let the mixture boil for 30-60 seconds—to boil off the alcohol, but preserve the flavors.
Turn off the heat, then add your chicken thighs. Now, here’s where you’ll need one special, magical tool for instant pot chicken and rice recipes, which you may or may not have yet: a steaming rack. Basically, a simple metal rack that sits in the bottom of your cooker, providing the perfect place to cook your rice! (Here are the steam racks that I use.)
Place that steam rack down into your cooker, making sure it’s tall enough so it won’t crush your chicken. Then, place a heat-proof bowl or container on top of the rack (be sure the bowl/packaging says ‘heat-proof’ on it!) and add your rice and water to it.
Close up your instant pot and cook on your machine’s manual setting at high pressure for 6 minutes.On my Crock-Pot pressure cooker, the ‘BEANS/CHILI’ button is the closest thing to manual—refer to your machine’s instructions if needed. All that’s left to do is let your cooker work its magic!
When the 6 minutes are done, flip the Quick Release switch and let the steam release for 10 minutes. Finally, be VERY careful opening the lid—and wear oven mitts when removing the bowl of rice and your steam rack!
Packaging your Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken Dinner for Meal Prep:
Store your cooked chicken and rice in separate airtight containers in the fridge—otherwise the teriyaki chicken might make your rice a bit soggy—and they’ll last about 5-7 days. And, I highly recommend prepping some veggies for roasting to make it a complete meal!
For your veggies, simply chop up the veggies of your choice and store them together in an airtight container in the fridge. I went with broccoli and Brussels sprouts for this particular dinner meal prep, but you can use any veggies that you or your family enjoys!
And, for even easier cooking on a weeknight, I like to prep a seasoning mixture for my veggies in advance as well. I’ve included an Asian-inspired seasoning mixture that I like to use for roasting veggies, but absolutely use any seasonings that you like. Then, you can just toss your veggies onto a pan with that pre-made flavor blend, and they’re ready to roast!
With a hearty, flavorful instant pot meal already cooked, and veggies pre-prepped and ready to roast, you can take some of the stress out of weeknight dinners. Give this instant pot teriyaki chicken and rice a try—or use this method with different flavors to create your own pressure cooker chicken and rice meals!
Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice with Roasted Veggies
Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice:
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 17 minutes
- Method: Marinate 30 minutes
- Total time: 57 minutes
Entire Meal w/ Roasted Veggies:
Ingredients
Homemade Teriyaki Marinade:
- ⅓ cup soy sauce, or coconut aminos
- 3 Tbsp orange juice
- 1 Tbsp coconut sugar
- ¼ cup mirin, Japanese rice wine, or sherry cooking wine
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic
Additional Flavorings & Chicken:
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 thin slices of peeled ginger
- 8 chicken thighs, ~ 1½ lbs, or chicken breast
Rice:
- 1¼ cups water
- 1¼ cups long-grain white rice
Veggies:
- 4 cups broccoli, chopped
- 4 cups Brussels sprouts, halved
Seasoning Mixture:
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce, or coconut aminos
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- In a measuring cup, combine all teriyaki marinade ingredients and whisk well to combine
- Add chicken thighs to a sealable bag, pour in sauce, and marinate for about 30 minutes. (Leave some air in the bag while they marinate!)
- Pour marinade (not chicken thighs yet) from bag into bottom of pressure cooker. Add crushed garlic and sliced fresh ginger.
- Hit the ‘SAUTE’ button and bring mixture to a boil for 30-60 seconds, to allow the alcohol to boil off but leave the flavor.
- Turn off heat and add chicken thighs.
- Place a steam rack into the bottom of the cooker (that’s tall enough so it’s not crushing your chicken), and place a heat-proof bowl or container on top of rack. Fill bowl with uncooked long-grain white rice and cold water.
- Close lid and cook on manual setting at high pressure for 6 minutes. (See note below about manual setting on different pressure cookers.)
- Turn off heat and flip Quick Pressure Release switch to release steam for 10 minutes.
- Carefully open lid—watch out for steam! Using oven mitts, remove bowl with cooked rice and steam rack. Remove chicken thighs from bottom of cooker using tongs.
- Enjoy immediately or portion and store for later.
- Store cooked rice and cooked chicken thighs in separate containers in the fridge. Assemble at the time of eating.
- Yields 4 servings.
To prep & cook veggies:
- For meal prep, chop broccoli into florets and cut Brussels sprouts in half. Store together in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Combine all veggie seasoning ingredients in a jar and shake to combine. Seal and store in the fridge until time of cooking.
- When ready to cook, preheat oven to 425°F (220°C).
- Add chopped broccoli and Brussels sprouts to a pan lined with parchment or foil. Add sauce mixture, tossing to coat.
- (If prepping for 2 people instead of 4, add only half of veggies [2 cups each] and half of sauce mixture to pan at the time of cooking. Seal and store remaining veggies & sauce mixture to cook fresh another night, and serve with remaining 2 servings of teriyaki chicken & rice.)
- Roast for 25-30 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition for Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice Only
Per ~6 oz teriyaki chicken and ~1 cup cooked rice:396 calories | 7g fat | 43g carbs | 1g fiber | 2g sugars | 27g protein *Nutrition provided for 1 serving teriyaki chicken and rice with ~1 Tbsp marinade mixture, accounting for remaining marinade left in pot that is not absorbed by the meat.
Nutrition for Roasted Veggies Only
Per serving (~2 cups) roasted veggies:117 calories | 5g fat | 15g carbs | 6g fiber | 4g sugar | 6g protein
3 Comments on “Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice with Roasted Veggies”
Taste great , even fussy eaters loved it!
YAY so happy to hear that!! Thanks so much for trying out the recipe 🙂
thanks!!