Instant Pot Fried Rice

Instant Pot Fried Rice is quick and easy one pot dinner that tastes better than takeout. Not to mention it is healthy, makes great leftovers that entire family enjoys.

We also love this Instant Pot chicken and rice and Instant Pot rice and beans for quick easy dinners.

Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice

This Instant Pot fried rice is a hit in our family every time. It uses very simple ingredients and everything cooks in one pot. Scrambled eggs, rice, vegetables, chicken or shrimp garnished with soy sauce and green onions. Mmmmmmm.

This recipe makes a lot but I like it. When kids get back from school, they are always hungry and ate their lunches. So having an Instant Pot full of this fried rice on Keep Warm has been a life saver. Especially, with sports practice in the evening. It is healthy and cheap vs. expensive granola bars and snacks.

Ingredients for Instant Pot Fried Rice

• Chicken: Boneless and skinless chicken breasts or thighs.
• Rice: You can use brown rice or white rice.
• Veggies: Onion, mushrooms, peas, carrots and green onion.
• Eggs: As a staple in fried rice.
• Soy sauce and oil: For frying and seasoning.

How to Make Fried Rice in Instant Pot

• Make scrambled eggs: Press Saute and wait until display says Hot. Then cook 6 eggs, stirring after each 2 eggs to make sure they don’t set. Transfer eggs to a bowl. Stuck to the bottom eggs is OK and didn’t cause Burn for me.
• Add vegetables, chicken and rice and do not stir. Level with spatula to flatten the rice so it cooks evenly. If you forget, not a big deal. Some rice grains on top might be a bit crunchy. But they will finish cooking once stirred and fried rice sits for a bit.
• Cook: Close the lid, turn pressure vent to Sealing position and press Pressure Cook on High or Manual. Brown rice – 22 minutes, white rice – 3 minutes.

• Release pressure: With brown rice – release pressure using Quick Release method, white rice – wait 10 mins and then turn valve to Venting.
• Add soy sauce, peas, eggs and stir: If there is a little bit of liquid at the bottom, it’s OK. It will get absorbed by rice quickly once you stir and it sits for 10 minutes. Especially if you keep it on Keep Warm mode. If you see chicken pieces are stuck together, just break them gently with spatula.

Tips for Best Fried Rice

• To cut recipe in half: This recipe makes 8 generous servings. So, if you don’t want to freeze leftovers, cut all ingredients in half but keep same cooking time.
• Instant Pot size: You can make it in 6 quart or 8 quart, 3 quart would be too small.
• If you stirred by accident: Well, say a prayer that nothing will burn. Nothing you can do at this point. Instant Pot cooks food better when it is layered. And certain order is a must. This is all due to a heating element located at the bottom of the pot.
• If your rice comes out crunchy: Stir, close the lid and let it sit for 20 minutes. It will get there. Also try to add a few more minutes to cooking time next time. Unfortunately, you can’t re-close the lid, cook for extra 2 minutes and say that’ your new cooking time.
• To use frozen chicken: Add 2 frozen chicken breasts, cook as per instructions, remove and either shred with 2 forks or dice. Return back to the pot and proceed to next step.
• If you do not have toasted sesame oil, it is perfectly fine. Last time I didn’t and Instant Pot fried rice was delicious! Add sesame seeds if you wish.

Variations, Serving and Storing

• Shrimp fried rice: Omit chicken, when fried rice is cooked add 2-3 cups of small cooked shrimp along with seasonings. I don’t think you even need to thaw it, to be honest.
• Vegetable fried rice: Omit chicken. At the end, also add chopped bell pepper, more frozen peas and even roasted peanuts to bulk fried rice up.
• Can I use frozen peas and carrots? Yes, no need to thaw. In this case, skip fresh carrots. And just beware once you add frozen vegetables at the end, carrots will be more crunchy. Which is totally OK.
• Can I use fresh peas? Yes. Shelled fresh peas would be great.

Serving: Because it is quite filling and high in carbs, my body naturally craves a salad as a side dish. We had it the other night with cucumber and tomato salad that screamed summer to me. Or can never go wrong with a green smoothie.

Freezing: Cook, cool and freeze leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.

More Instant Pot Recipes

• Instant Pot jambalaya
• Instant Pot stuffed peppers
• Instant Pot brown rice
• 40 Instant Pot healthy recipes – more great recipes to make you fall in love with your Instant Pot!

Did you know we have entire Youtube channel dedicated to healthy Instant Pot recipes and tips? Make sure to subscribe and hit the Bell icon not to miss new videos.

Instant Pot Fried Rice

Instant Pot Fried Rice is quick and easy one pot dinner that tastes better than takeout. Not to mention it is healthy, makes great leftovers that entire family enjoys.

4.89 from 17 votes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 488

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

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Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 6 large eggs
• ▢ 1 medium onion chopped
• ▢ 3 cups mushrooms sliced
• ▢ 3 carrots diced
• ▢ 2 large chicken breasts diced
• ▢ 3 cups white or brown rice rinsed & drained
• ▢ 1 tbsp avocado oil
• ▢ 3 1/2 cups water
• ▢ 2 cups peas frozen
• ▢ 1/4 cup soy sauce
• ▢ 1 bunch of green onions chopped
• ▢ 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil optional

Instructions 

• On Instant Pot, press Saute and wait until display says Hot.
• Add 1 tbsp of avocado oil and eggs. Stir with spatula until scrambled eggs are formed. Press Cancel and transfer eggs to a bowl.
• For this step no need to rinse Instant Pot. Also do not worry about stuck to the bottom eggs. Just add ingredients in the following order: water, onion, mushrooms, carrots, chicken and rice. Level with spatula to flatten the rice so it cooks evenly.
• Close the lid, turn pressure vent to Sealing and press Pressure Cook on High or Manual: white rice – 3 minutes, brown rice – 22 minutes.
• After Instant Pot has finished cooking, release pressure by turning valve to Venting: white rice – after 10 minutes, brown rice – right away. And open the lid.
•  Add peas, soy sauce, green onions, previously cooked scrambled eggs and toasted sesame oil (if using).
• Stir gently and serve hot.

Notes

• Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
• Freeze: For up to 3 months.
• Do not worry if there is a little bit of water left. Once you stir the fried rice and as the rice sits it will get absorbed.
• Toasted sesame oil is a nice flavor touch but not a big deal if you don’t have one. Last time I didn’t, and fried rice was still fantastic. Some people also do not like it. Use any frying oil.
• You can use frozen mix of peas and carrots if you have one. Then just skip fresh carrots.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 488kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 159mg | Sodium: 545mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 5g

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Asian

Author: Olena Osipov

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