Instant Pot Cajun Chicken and Rice
Instant pot cajun chicken and rice is a simple, delicious and flavorful one pot meal that is perfect for busy weeknights! This quick and easy dinner recipe cooks in just 30 minutes and is also super tasty the next day as leftovers for lunch. Great for meal prep too!
Why you will love this recipe
- Everything cooks in one pot – there is nothing better than a one pot meal! No need to clean up extra dishes at the end of the meal and everything is packed with flavor because it cooks together in one pot! If you haven’t made chicken and rice together in the instant pot before, get ready to be amazed at how easy it is!
- Simple ingredients that are easy to find – this recipe uses easy to find ingredients that are also very budget friendly! This instant pot Cajun chicken and rice recipe uses chicken thighs because they are so forgiving and stay juicy and flavorful even as leftovers. These are also super budget friendly!
- Easy to assemble – the hardest part of this recipe is cutting the chicken into small pieces. If you are short on time, you can choose to cut the chicken up into small cubes up to 2 days in advance, just be sure to store the chicken appropriately.
- Great for meal prep – this healthy Cajun chicken and rice cooked in the instant pot is super flavorful and is just as good the next day (or several days later). You can even freeze leftovers for meal prep later in the month!
Ingredients
- Brown jasmine rice – jasmine or basmati rice are the best for this recipe as they don’t get mushy when cooked in the instant pot. You can use brown or white jasmine or basmati rice. If you choose to use white jasmine/basmati, you will need to use less water and cook on high pressure for less time, see notes below.
- Water – water is needed to help cook the rice in the instant pot.
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs – the chicken thighs stay juicy and tender even as leftovers. You will need to cut the chicken thighs down into 1- 1.5 inch pieces (bite size) so they can cook quickly in the instant pot. I typically use kitchen shears for this but you can also use a sharp knife and a plastic cutting board.
- Kidney beans – these help to add lots of volume to the recipe (making it more budget friendly) and make this a cross between dirty rice and Cajun chicken and rice. You can use whatever beans you have on hand, as long as they are pre-cooked.
- Spices: Cajun seasoning, salt – I typically use my homemade Cajun seasoning for this recipe, but you can use whatever you have on hand. You may also decide to add more heat by adding in crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper as well.
- Red wine vinegar – red wine vinegar helps to cut through the canned tomato flavor from the tomatoes.
- Coconut aminos – coconut aminos are similar to soy sauce but are gluten free and soy free. If you can tolerate soy products, you could also use gluten free tamari to keep this gluten free. The coconut aminos give this recipe a deeper flavor.
- Fire roasted tomatoes, diced – I like to use the fire roasted tomatoes in this recipe to add another depth of flavor to this recipe, but if you only have regular diced tomatoes, that is fine. Be sure to drain as much liquid from the can before adding to the instant pot. Note: add tomatoes last and don’t stir after adding them to ensure you don’t get a burn notice.
- Chopped green onions – the green onion adds so much flavor to the dish. To avoid the burn notice, I don’t like to add onions to this recipe but find that adding chopped green onion at the end adds similar flavor.
- Frozen green peas – green peas add a pop of color to the dish and defrost quickly in the chicken and rice.
How to make instant pot cajun chicken and rice
Start by cutting the chicken into 1-1.5 inch pieces. The chicken will shrink some when cooking but you want this to be bite size so the chicken will cook quickly and the chicken is easy to eat in the recipe once cooked. Add the chicken directly to the instant pot.
Rinse the rice well (especially if you are using white jasmine or basmati rice). I typically rinse the rice 3-4 times to ensure all the residue is off the rice. This helps ensure the rice won’t get sticky or mushy in the instant pot. Once well rinsed, add the rice to the instant pot on top of the chicken.
Rinse and drain the canned beans. Add them to the instant pot with the water, spices, red wine vinegar, and coconut aminos.
Drain the diced tomatoes and add them to the top of the pot, do not stir.
Turn on the instant pot and cook high pressure for 7 minutes, allowing the pressure to naturally release for at least 10 minutes after cooking.
Once done, add frozen peas and chopped green onions. Stir well and serve hot.
Top tips
- I recommend using jasmine rice or basmati rice as those cook up in the instant pot so well and don’t get mushy. You can use white or brown jasmine or basmati rice.
- Rinse the rice before adding it to the instant pot, this helps it from being too sticky and ensures it won’t spew out of the pressure valve.
- Don’t stir in the tomato, simply leave it on the top of the chicken and rice to avoid the burn notice.
- Cut the chicken into 1-1.5 inch bite size pieces to ensure the chicken will cook through and that the chicken is bite size for eating.
- You can easily double this recipe in the instant pot without having to increase the cooking time. However when doubling the recipe, it may take a bit of extra time to come up to pressure since there is more in the instant pot.
Other additions
Protein: you can add chicken sausage or turkey kielbasa to make this more like dirty rice.
Veggies: You can add frozen bell pepper or sauteed onions or sauteed zucchini to the instant pot along with the frozen peas.
Spice: add crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, sliced jalapeno or chipotle in adobo for more heat.
Other spices you could use
If you don’t have Cajun seasoning or you don’t love Cajun spices here are some other options:
- Mexican: use taco seasoning in place of the Cajun seasoning
- Italian: Use italian seasoning in place of the Cajun seasoning and use balsamic vinegar in place of the red wine vinegar
- Curry: Use curry seasoning in place of the Cajun seasoning and ½ of a can of coconut milk in the recipe.
What to serve with instant pot cajun chicken and rice
Green beans
Green Salad with French Dressing or Honey Mustard Dressing
Can you use white rice?
You can use white jasmine or white basmati rice in this recipe. However, you will need to use less water and cook the rice for less time.
For every 1 cup of white jasmine rice, you will want to use 1.25 cups of water. For this recipe, you will need 1.85 cups of water which I would round up to 2 cups for ease of measuring. (Note for brown jasmine or basmati rice, you need 1.5 cups for each cup of rice).
Also you will want to cut the cooking time down from 7 minutes high pressure to 3 minutes high pressure.
Storing leftovers
Fridge: Store leftover instant pot Cajun chicken and rice store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Freezer: Store leftovers in the freezer for up to 3 months. I recommend freezing in single serving containers then once frozen, transfer those frozen cubes into freezer safe bags. Be sure to label the bags with name, date and use by date.
Substitutions
- Boneless, skinless chicken thighs – you can also use boneless, skinless chicken breast in place of the chicken thighs. You could also use boneless, skinless turkey breast or cut up chicken sausage or turkey kielbasa in place of the chicken thighs. To make this a meatless meal, you can simply omit the chicken.
- Brown jasmine or basmati rice – you can also use white jasmine or white basmati rice, simply reduce the water down to 2 cups and change the cooking time to 3 minutes high pressure.
- Light or dark kidney beans – you can use any cooked beans you have on hand. Black beans, white beans or pinto beans. You can also omit the beans if you cannot tolerate them however, this won’t make as many servings
- Spices: Cajun seasoning is easy to find at most grocery stores but you can also make your own if you don’t have any on hand or you can check out some alternatives for Cajun seasoning.
- Red wine vinegar – you can use apple cider vinegar in place of the red wine vinegar if needed.
- Coconut aminos – you can also use tamari (gluten free soy sauce) or soy sauce (if you can tolerate soy and gluten). If you don’t have those on hand, you can simply omit the coconut aminos.
- Fire roasted diced tomatoes – you can also use regular diced tomatoes if you don’t have fire roasted on hand.
If you love this recipe, you should also try
Instant Pot Chicken and Potatoes
Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice
Instant Pot Asian Chicken Pasta
Instant Pot Mexican Rice and Beans
Instant Pot Cajun Chicken and Rice
$10.89 Recipe/$1.81 ServingIngredients
- 1 pound chicken thighs (boneless, skinless) - $5.49
- 1.5 cups brown jasmine rice (or brown basmati rice) - $0.70
- 2.25 cups water - $0.00
- 2 cans dark red kidney beans (15 oz). - $1.98
- 2 tbsp cajun seasoning - $0.60
- 1 tsp sea salt - $0.05
- 1/2 tbsp. red wine vinegar - $0.10
- 1 tbsp coconut aminos - $0.18
- 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes (14 oz). - $1.29
- 1/2 cup frozen peas - $0.25
- 1/4 cup chopped green onion - $0.25
Instructions
- Cut chicken thighs into 1-1.5 inch pieces and add them to the instant pot.
- Rinse the rice (2-3 times) then add it to the instant pot.
- Rinse the beans and add them to the instant pot along with the water, Cajun seasoning, salt, red wine vinegar and coconut aminos. Stir well.
- Drain the tomatoes and add them to the top of the instant pot ingredients, do not stir.
- Cook high pressure for 7 minutes, then allow the pressure to naturally release at least 10 minutes.
- Once the pressure has been released, add the frozen peas and chopped green onion. Stir well and let sit 2-3 minutes to let the peas heat up.
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Notes
- I recommend using jasmine rice or basmati rice as those cook up in the instant pot so well and don’t get mushy. You can use white or brown jasmine or basmati rice.
- Rinse the rice before adding it to the instant pot, this helps it from being too sticky and ensures it won’t spew out of the pressure valve.
- Don’t stir in the tomato, simply leave it on the top of the chicken and rice to avoid the burn notice.
- Cut the chicken into 1-1.5 inch bite size pieces to ensure the chicken will cook through and that the chicken is bite size for eating.
- You can easily double this recipe in the instant pot without having to increase the cooking time. However when doubling the recipe, it may take a bit of extra time to come up to pressure since there is more in the instant pot.
