Instant Pot Chicken Thighs: Your Go-To Recipe for a Quick, Juicy, and Flavorful One-Pot Dinner
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.
Discover how to make a complete, delicious, and healthy dinner in your Instant Pot in just minutes! These chicken thighs come out incredibly juicy, tender, and bursting with flavor, all in one pan for minimal cleanup.
In today’s fast-paced world, finding the time to prepare nutritious, home-cooked meals can feel like an Olympic challenge. Whether you’re juggling school activities, a demanding work schedule, or simply the everyday hustle, life often gets in the way of wholesome eating. The temptation to opt for takeout or less healthy convenience foods is strong, but what if there was a way to put a delicious and healthy dinner on the table without sacrificing precious time or compromising on flavor?
Enter the Instant Pot, your culinary superhero for busy weeknights! This Instant Pot Chicken Thighs recipe is designed to take all the guesswork out of dinner prep, delivering a complete, satisfying meal in a single pot. Not only does this mean less cooking time, but it also translates to significantly less cleanup – a bonus every home cook can appreciate!
Why Instant Pot Chicken Thighs Are Your Weeknight Solution
Chicken thighs are an often-underestimated cut of poultry. They are naturally more flavorful and forgiving than chicken breasts, retaining moisture and tenderness even under pressure. When cooked in an Instant Pot, they become fall-off-the-bone tender, absorbing all the aromatic flavors of the accompanying ingredients. This recipe not only utilizes the chicken thighs’ inherent qualities but also pairs them with savory mushrooms, aromatic onions, garlic, and fluffy rice, creating a truly complete and balanced meal.
This time of year, many of us are trying to get back into a routine, especially concerning healthy eating habits. This Instant Pot chicken thigh recipe fits perfectly into that goal. By using high-quality ingredients like O Organics® chicken, fresh mushrooms, and vibrant parsley, you can create a healthy meal that you’ll feel great about serving to your family. It’s a testament to how fast food can also be good food.
Sourcing Quality Ingredients: The Safeway Advantage
For this recipe and many others, I rely on the excellent selection found at Safeway. Their exclusive brands – O Organics®, Open Nature®, and the Signature Family of Brands – offer a wide range of high-quality products perfect for easy, delicious meals you can whip up at home any night of the week. O Organics, in particular, stands out for providing 100% USDA-certified organic products across every aisle of the store. You can trust that O Organics items are always non-GMO, reflecting uncompromising purity and quality, allowing you to feel confident about your food choices.
What’s even better is that during the month of January, Safeway often has incredible deals across the entire store on so many of these exclusive brand products! This makes it even easier and more affordable to stock your pantry and fridge with the best. You can even conveniently shop these affordable, high-quality products online here!
Mastering Instant Pot Chicken Thigh Cooking Times
One of the most common questions when cooking chicken thighs in an Instant Pot revolves around timing. The cooking duration can vary slightly depending on whether your chicken is fresh or frozen, and if it’s boneless or bone-in. Getting this right is key to perfectly tender and juicy chicken every time.
Fresh Chicken Thighs:
- Boneless: Approximately 9 minutes under high pressure.
- Bone-In: Approximately 11 minutes under high pressure.
Frozen Chicken Thighs:
Cooking frozen chicken thighs in the Instant Pot is incredibly convenient and easy, saving you from needing to plan hours ahead for thawing. You generally only need to add about 2 minutes to the cooking time compared to fresh chicken.
- Boneless: Approximately 11 minutes under high pressure.
- Bone-In: Approximately 13 minutes under high pressure.
Having the option to use frozen meat is a game-changer on those frantic nights when you’ve forgotten to take dinner out of the freezer. The Instant Pot handles it beautifully, ensuring your chicken is cooked through and delicious.
How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Thighs: A Step-by-Step Guide
This recipe brings together simple ingredients and smart cooking techniques to deliver maximum flavor with minimal effort. Here’s how we create this fantastic one-pot meal:
- **Brown the Chicken:** First, you’ll want to season your chicken thighs generously with salt and pepper. Using the “Saute” function on your Instant Pot, brown the chicken on both sides until a lovely golden crust forms. This crucial step adds depth of flavor and improves the texture of the chicken. Once browned, remove them from the pot and set aside.
- **Sauté Aromatics and Mushrooms:** Next, melt butter in the same pot, allowing it to pick up all those delicious browned bits from the chicken. Add your finely chopped onions and sliced mushrooms, sautéing them until the onions become soft and translucent. Then, stir in the minced garlic for another minute until fragrant.
- **Build the Flavor Base:** Pour in the chicken broth, uncooked long-grain white rice, and all your wonderful seasonings (thyme, oregano, Italian seasoning, poultry seasoning, plus more salt and pepper). Stir everything until it’s well combined and the rice is evenly distributed.
- **Layer and Pressure Cook:** Gently place the browned chicken thighs on top of the rice mixture, ensuring they are not submerged, but resting comfortably. Cover and lock the Instant Pot lid, setting the vent to the sealing position. Cook for the appropriate time under high pressure (refer to the cooking notes above for exact times based on fresh/frozen, boneless/bone-in). Once cooking is complete, allow a natural pressure release for 5 minutes, then perform a quick release to fully depressurize.
- **Serve with Freshness:** Carefully remove the chicken thighs from the pot. Fluff the perfectly cooked rice with a fork. Sprinkle a generous amount of fresh parsley over the chicken and rice before serving. The vibrant green parsley adds a burst of freshness and color to your dish.
A Modern Twist on a Classic Comfort Meal
This Instant Pot chicken and rice recipe is a rapid-fire version of a classic comfort food – similar to the creamy chicken and rice dishes my mom used to make when I was growing up. I absolutely love that with the help of my Instant Pot and quality O Organics ingredients, I can recreate that cherished flavor faster, easier, and even healthier. It’s a nostalgic taste reinvented for modern convenience.
If you’re also a fan of innovative cooking methods, you might enjoy experimenting with other techniques. For example, if you happen to own a sous vide machine, these Sous Vide Chicken Thighs are an absolute must-try. Sous vide cooking yields incredibly tender and consistently cooked chicken, showcasing another fantastic way to prepare this versatile cut!
Serving Suggestions & Variations
This Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Rice dish is a complete meal on its own, but you can always enhance it with a simple side salad or some steamed green beans for extra vegetables. For those who enjoy a little kick, a pinch of red pepper flakes stirred into the rice mixture would add a lovely warmth. You could also experiment with different types of mushrooms, like cremini or shiitake, for varying earthy notes.
Storage and Reheating Tips
Leftovers of this Instant Pot Chicken Thighs recipe are fantastic for meal prep! Store any remaining chicken and rice in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. To reheat, you can microwave individual portions until heated through, or gently warm them in a saucepan over low heat with a splash of chicken broth to maintain moisture. The flavors tend to meld even more beautifully the next day, making it a perfect grab-and-go lunch option.
More Great Chicken Dinner Recipes to Explore
If you loved this Instant Pot chicken recipe, be sure to check out some of my other favorite chicken dinner ideas. There’s always a new way to enjoy this versatile protein!
- One Pot Chicken Spinach Alfredo
- Fiesta Lime Chicken
- Margarita Grilled Chicken
- Smoked Chicken Breast
- Easy Cashew Chicken
- Grilled Chicken Thighs with Chile-Herb Sauce
Instant Pot Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken thighs
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 8 oz white mushrooms, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked long grain white rice
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley
Instructions
- Heat Instant Pot using the Saute function.
- Drizzle oil into the base of the pot. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add to hot oil and brown on both sides for 2-3 minutes, until nicely browned. Remove from pot and set aside.
- Add butter and stir until it is melted. Add onions and mushrooms to the pot. Cook for about 5 minutes until they are starting to soften. Mix in garlic and cook for another minute.
- Pour in chicken broth, rice, thyme, oregano, Italian seasoning, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir until well combined.
- Gently arrange chicken on top of the rice mixture.
- Close and lock the lid. Switch Instant Pot to manual high pressure and cook for 9 minutes. Let it naturally release for 5 minutes, quick releasing to finish.
- Remove the chicken and fluff the rice with a fork. Top with a generous amount of parsley to serve.
Notes
- Boneless – 9 minutes
- Bone-In – 11 minutes
- Boneless – 11 minutes
- Bone-In – 13 minutes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Additional Info
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