Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice is quick and easy one pot meal that tastes better than takeout. Not to mention it is healthy and 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.
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients for Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice
- How to Make Chicken Fried Rice in Instant Pot
- Tips for Best Results
- Variations
- What to Serve Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice with?
- Can I Make It Ahead of Time?
- How to Store and Reheat
- FAQs
- More Fried Rice Recipes to Try
- More Instant Pot Rice Recipes to Try
- Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice Recipe
This Instant Pot chicken fried rice is a hit in our family every time I make it! It uses very simple ingredients and everything cooks in one pot. Scrambled eggs, rice, vegetables and chicken garnished with soy sauce and green onions. Mmmmmmm.
This is one of those healthy Instant Pot recipes that makes a lot but I like it. When kids get back from school, they are always hungry and ate their lunches. So having chicken fried rice in Instant Pot on Keep Warm function has been a life saver.
Especially, with sports practices in the evening. It is healthy and cheap vs. expensive granola bars and snacks!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You will need just 9 simple ingredients plus seasonings.
- Everything cooks in one pot – even the scrambled eggs.
- Takes about 20 minutes of prep.
- It’s healthy but tastes better than a takeout.
- Perfect for Sunday meal prep.
Ingredients for Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice
Here is everything you need to make this Instant Pot chicken fried rice recipe!
- Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs.
- Rice: You can use brown rice, long grain white rice, jasmine rice or basmati rice. The only kind I wouldn’t recommend to use is short grain white rice and sushi rice because it will come out mushy.
- Water: For even more flavor you can use chicken broth. Just be sure to use low sodium one because there is no added salt that you can reduce easily in this recipe. We do need full amount of soy sauce for flavor, and it is usually high in sodium.
- Veggies: Onion, mushrooms, peas, carrots and green onion.
- Eggs: A staple in any fried rice recipe.
- Soy sauce and oil: For frying and seasoning. You can also use gluten-free tamari and any oil you usually use for sauteing.
How to Make Chicken Fried Rice in Instant Pot
- Make scrambled eggs: Press Saute function 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 are OK and didn’t cause Burn for me. But please see FAQs if it happens to you.
- Add vegetables, chicken and rice and do not stir. Flatten rice with spatula, 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. Cook chicken fried rice in Instant Pot with brown rice – for 22 minutes, with white rice – for 3 minutes.
- Release pressure: With brown rice – release pressure using Quick Release method by turning valve to Venting immediately after cooking. With white rice – wait 10 minutes and then release remaining pressure, if any.
- 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 5 minutes. Especially if you keep it on Keep Warm mode. If you see chicken pieces are stuck together, just break them gently with spatula.
- Garnish: Add green onions, give another gentle stir and serve the dish.
Recipe Tip
A few readers have reported that they had to add more soy sauce. All taste buds differ and please feel free to adjust the seasonings to your family’s taste at the end. This is one of Instant Pot recipes that is very forgiving!
Tips for Best Results
- To cut recipe in half: This Instant Pot chicken fried rice recipe makes 8 generous servings. So, if you don’t want to have leftovers or freeze them, cut all ingredients in half but keep same pressure cooking time.
- Instant Pot size: You can make chicken fried rice in 6 quart Instant Pot or 8 quart Instant Pot. I think 3 quart Instant Pot would be too small.
- Rinse rice very well: You need to remove as much starch as possible, so it turns out fluffy and not mushy.
- Be sure rice is submerged in liquid: It is ideal to have water covering the rice completely, so rice cooks evenly. It’s advisable but not critical.
- If you stirred by accident: 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 you stirred by accident, nothing you can do at this point. Just cook it as is and hopefully Burn message won’t come up.
- 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’s your new cooking time.
Variations
- Shrimp fried rice: Omit chicken and 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, just close the lid and let it sit along with frozen peas.
- Vegetable fried rice: Omit chicken. At the end, add chopped bell pepper, more frozen peas and even roasted peanuts to bulk up the Instant Pot fried rice.
- 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 pressure cooker and proceed to next step.
- To use frozen peas and carrots: No need to thaw them. In this case, skip fresh carrots in the recipe. And just beware once you add frozen vegetables at the end, carrots will be more crunchy, which is totally OK.
- To use use fresh peas: Add shelled fresh peas at the end.
- If you do not have toasted sesame oil: It is perfectly fine to omit it. Last time I didn’t have any on hand and Instant Pot chicken fried rice still came out delicious! Add sesame seeds or a splash of extra virgin olive oil, if you wish.
What to Serve Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice with?
Because this dish is quite filling and high in carbs, my body naturally craves a salad as a side dish to go with it. We had it with Thai cucumber salad, that screamed summer to me, the other night.
Other year-round affordable salads that would go nicely here are Asian chopped salad and butter lettuce salad. Also you can never go wrong with a simple green smoothie.
Can I Make It Ahead of Time?
Sure. To make ahead, you will have to prep some elements of this dish. Most labor intensive part is to chop the chicken and vegetables.
Dice chicken and refrigerate in covered container. You can also slice the mushrooms and chop the onions and carrots and refrigerate in one container together. Chopped green onion can go in another separate container. Scramble the eggs and store them the same way.
All of these ingredients will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. Then all you have to do is dump and saute, and just cook as per recipe. Huge time saver!
How to Store and Reheat
Store: Cooked rice keeps very well in the fridge and this Instant Pot chicken fried rice makes a lot of food. Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can also portion them out in glass meal prep containers for easy grab-and-go meal that you can reheat in a microwave in the same container.
Freeze: Cook, cool and freeze leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
Reheat: Reheat in a microwave in 30 seconds intervals after initial 1 minute warm up. Or you can also reheat chicken fried rice in a small pot with a splash of water by simmering on low heat, covered, for about 5 minutes. Check and stir a few times.
FAQs
If you got a Burn message, do not panic. It actually doesn’t mean that your food is burning but rather the heating element is sensing some pieces of food stuck to the pot. In many cases you can still make electric pressure cooker to pressurize.
If you’re making fried rice with white rice, time 3 minutes of cook time plus 10 minutes of Natural Release, and then turn valve to Venting. With brown rice, you need to make sure it stays under pressure for 22 minutes.
Again, this issue has never been reported. If you are worried, deglaze the pot with some of the water after cooking the eggs.
You can also add finely chopped broccoli, cauliflower, bell pepper or zucchini if you like firm vegetables. I would add them after the rice cooks, so they are crisp, tender and not mushy.
Sure. You will have to saute it before the eggs. Cook ground chicken with a bit of oil, breaking into small pieces, for about 5 minutes. Then proceed with the recipe.
Sure. If you do not love mushrooms or are allergic to them, skip. I recommend to add more soy sauce at the end to compensate for some of the lost umami flavor.
Yes. Fresh peas is one of those vegetables that we can eat raw. Frozen peas are frozen fresh peas. When added at the end of cooking, the residual heat from the fried rice will cook them. I do not like to add peas in the beginning because they come out overcooked and lose their bright green color.
More Fried Rice Recipes to Try
More Instant Pot Rice Recipes to Try
- Instant Pot long grain white rice
- Instant Pot jasmine rice
- Instant Pot basmati rice
- Instant Pot brown rice
- Instant Pot mushroom risotto
- Instant Pot jambalaya
- Instant Pot stir fry
- Instant Pot teriyaki chicken
Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 cups mushrooms sliced
- 3 carrots diced
- 2 large chicken breasts diced
- 3 cups white rice or brown rice rinsed & drained
- 1 tablespoon oil for frying
- 3 1/2 cups cold water
- 2 cups peas frozen
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil optional
- 1 bunch green onions chopped
Instructions
- On Instant Pot, press Saute and wait until display says Hot. Add 1 tablespoon of 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: for white rice – 3 minutes, for 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, previously cooked scrambled eggs and toasted sesame oil (if using). Stir gently, close the lid and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then garnish with green onions 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. You can add a touch of extra virgin olive oil instead.
- You can use frozen mix of peas and carrots if you have one. Then just skip fresh carrots.
Is there a slow cooker version
No there isn’t unfortunately. Not mushy rice is a bit tricky in slow cooker.
Made this for dinner tonight. It’s very good! I did add more soy sauce. There is a lot for leftovers. I’ll be freezing some for those nights I don’t feel like cooking. Love your recipes!
I’m so glad you enjoy this Instant Pot fried rice so much!
The recipe worked great but it definitely needed more soy and some acid. So we added a total of about a half a cup of soy and a quarter of a cup of rice vinegar. It makes a huge amount. Generous portions is an understatement so definitely consider cutting down if you don’t want a lot of leftovers.
Glad you enjoyed my recipe and made it your own.
I would like to make this tonight but 3 cups of rice is a bit much for the 2 of us and i want to make it with shrimp.Could I do it with 1 cup of rice and cut back on the other stuff?How much water should I use?Thanks for your help.Marsha
PS I just love all your recipes!
Hi, so glad you are enjoying the recipes! You could try cutting the recipe by 3rds…I haven’t tested it that way, but it may work. You can always freeze leftovers for a quick dinner/lunch on other day 🙂 For shrimp – Shrimp fried rice: Omit chicken, when fried rice is cooked add desired amount of small cooked shrimp along with seasonings. Might not even need to thaw, as Instant Pot heat will thaw them.