Instant Pot Chicken Pulao (Quick & Easy) + Video
Pulao, or pilaf, is a delicately flavored rice dish popular in Pakistani and Indian cooking. This Instant Pot Chicken Pulao recipe requires just 25 minutes of prep time and results in tender boneless (or bone-in) chicken and perfectly cooked rice.
“I tried this today for dinner and it turned out amazing! This isn’t the first of your recipes I’ve tried and as always, it didn’t fail.”
Quratulain
What is Chicken Pulao?
Pulao may not be as famous as biryani, but it holds significance just the same. I remember whenever my mom made it, I’d stand over the stove sneaking just one bite before dinner, and then another, and another. Meat, rice, and aromatic whole spices all woven together so beautifully to create a magnificent composition. It’s utterly satisfying.
This Instant Pot Chicken Pulao is a weeknight version of the more elaborate yakhni pulao, in which meat is slowly simmered to create a stock (yakhni) which is used to cook the rice. That’s not to say you’re missing out on the flavors of classic pulao. The techniques here are still the same – deeply brown onions, seared meat, and rice perfumed with whole spices.
How to prevent soggy rice when making Instant Pot Pulao
Unlike Chana Pulao, Chicken Pulao has the added water content of chicken and a tomato. This makes it more likely for rice to become mushy.
After posting the original recipe, I noticed some people still had mushy rich, which meant that my rice may have been a bit more resilient to the extra water content. Recently, I tweaked the recipe and reduced the water content, which will hopefully allow this recipe to work for everyone.
Remember, IP rice should remain fluffy and moist, with each grain separated just like a traditional pulao. Here are a some tips to prevent soggy rice:
- Use aged, long-grain basmati rice. While I can’t be sure all rice will cook to perfection with this method (you may have to do a little trial and error), most aged, long-grain basmati rice will work wonderfully in this recipe. I use Royal Chef’s Secret brand.
- The recipe calls to soak the rice for 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. If that’s not how long you normally soak it, try soaking the rice for a shorter period of time.
- After cooking the rice, allow it to naturally release pressure as directed in the recipe. You’ll notice that it’ll get even less moist as time goes on.
- All the ingredients are measured specifically to prevent soggy rice. Use a small tomato as directed in the recipe so the moisture doesn’t cause sogginess. If you prefer pulao without a tomato, feel free to omit it.
- If you rinse your chicken, pat it dry with a paper towel before adding it in.
- Lastly, use a rice paddle or small plate to remove the rice promptly from the Instant Pot and place on the serving dish.
Using Bone-in or Boneless Chicken for Pulao
For this recipe, I use chicken thighs or chicken tenders – the little strips of meat attached to the underside of the chicken breast. If you don’t have them, you can also use chicken breast.
I’ve had many people report success with using bone-in chicken. As long as bone-in chicken pieces are small, the recipe works with bone-in chicken as well. If you’re using larger bone-in pieces, first pressure cook the chicken for 6 minutes before adding the rice. Be sure to sauté bone-in chicken a little longer to ensure no extra moisture will be released while cooking.
What to serve with Chicken Pulao
Chicken pulao is a wonderful one-pot meal that’s traditionally paired with raita or yogurt. I love making some Shami kabab or Aloo ki Tikki as a side when serving pulao.
More tips on making chicken pulao in the Instant Pot:
- This recipe moves quickly once the onions have browned. Before you begin cooking, have all ingredients (especially the spices) prepped and ready to go.
- As always with South Asian recipes, be sure to pick out and discard the whole spices while you eat. If you don’t want to bite into the whole spices at all, place them in a spice bag or cheesecloth bundle. I don’t recommend grinding them because they may become overpowering.
- Triple wash the basmati rice to remove starches and encourage the grains to separate once cooked.
More Instant Pot recipes you’ll love:
- Instant Pot Shami Kebab (with stovetop instructions)
- Instant Pot Maash ki Dal
- Instant Pot Kadhi
- Instant Pot Nihari
- Instant Pot Butter Chicken
- Instant Pot Chana Pulao (Chickpea Pilaf)
For more ideas, check out my Instant Pot Pakistani Recipes Roundup!
Instant Pot Chicken Pulao
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (285 g) aged, long grain basmati rice
- 2 tbsp neutral oil, such as grapeseed or avocado
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 small (1 large) bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 2-inch piece cinnamon stick
- 1 small black cardamom, optional
- 5 whole cloves
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp coriander seeds, crushed
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3/4 inch piece ginger, crushed
- 1 lb boneless chicken (I prefer thighs or tenders but you may use breast), cubed into 1” pieces
- 1 small (50 g) tomato, finely chopped
- 1-2 green chili peppers, whole or chopped
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 ¼ tsp kosher salt, divided (or to taste)
- small handful chopped cilantro and/or mint
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash the rice and soak it in water for 15 minutes. Then drain and set aside. I usually start pulao preparation while the rice is soaking.
- Select the high Sauté setting on the Instant Pot. Once hot, add the oil, ghee, and thinly sliced onion. Sauté, stirring often, until the onions are golden brown (~8-10 minutes). Deglaze the pan with a tablespoon of water. The color of the onions will determine the color of the rice so you want to get them even and golden brown.
- Add the whole spices, garlic, and ginger and sauté for another minute or until the raw smell disappears. Add the chicken and ¼ tsp of the salt and continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes until the color of the chicken changes. Add the tomato and green chili pepper and sauté until the tomato softens, about 2 minutes.
- Add the rice, remaining salt, and water and stir to combine. Scrape the sides of the pot and gently press down the rice to make everything is submerged in the water.
- Cancel the Sauté setting, secure the lid, and set the Pressure Release to Sealing. Pressure-cook on high setting for 6 minutes. Let naturally release for 15 minutes. Then manually release any remaining pressure by moving the Pressure Release to Venting. Sprinkle the cilantro/mint on top.
- Using a rice paddle or small plastic plate, gently transfer the rice on to a serving platter. Serve with raita or yogurt.
98 Comments on “Instant Pot Chicken Pulao (Quick & Easy) + Video”
So delicious and very close to my mother’s. I made a few changes: used all oil, removed the coriander seeds and added 1/2 tsp of black pepper. I also only had 10oz of chicken breast so I added 4oz of chickpeas. I left out the mint/dhanya garnish, as well, as I don’t find pulao needs that. Instead, I added some ribboned mint in the raita I served it with. Win-win. It’s going in my regular rotation. Thanks again for what you do, your recipes are always a great base for me to tweak and get close to the home-flavor I’m looking for.
These are such creative changes! Thank you for sharing and for taking the time to review. 🙂
Salaams Sister
I’ve just made your recipe and OMG it is delicious. I usually don’t follow recipes to the tee but I did with yours as I was cooking in the ninja. Everything was perfect, the only thing I would say is my rice was a bit stuck together but no big deal. I added 1.5 cups of water as per the recipe. Do you have any suggestions for next time?
Thank you! Can’t wait to make it again soon. My kids are going to love this.
Walaikum salaam! Not Izzah, but I also had slightly mushy grains, but they separated okay when plated. I suspect it’s because I soaked longer than 15 minutes (mine was closer to maybe 30 minutes), so they may have drank up more water during that time than planned for. Next time, I will drain them after 15 minutes and set aside until needed.
Yes, and it really depends on the type of rice you use as well. Mine is very aged and long-grain and I think it withstands more water than other brands.
W.S. Tam. So happy you liked. I would try adding less water next time. And I agree with Jasmine, I think they’ll become drier as they get a chance to rest.
Hi Izzah, thank you for this gorgeous recipe. I tried it on the stove top with the lack of ingredients. I have to apologize to you, did not mean to butcher your recipe. I have to replace 1/2 cup of the basmathi with 1/2 cup of jasmine rice because guess what I ran out of basmathi at this moment. And I happen to also run out of tomatoes and I don’t usually have black cardamon. But the recipe still turns out great. The combination of spices gives a good not overpowering flavour to the rice and the chicken. Thanks again for the great recipe.
Thank you, Nisa! I’m always happy when you’re able to improvise successfully 🙂 Thank you for sharing your changes. It’s often made without tomatoes & black cardamom so you’re still very much on mark.
I made this last night and it is now one of my favorite meals. Even my picky teen liked it. Thank you for sharing your recipes and opening up my world to delicious cuisine.
So wonderful to hear that, Billi! Thank you for sharing that with me! Hope you get to try many more 🙂
Have tried the recipe a few times now. Rice comes out perfectly cooked but not too much flavor, and I am not a spicy-dish person. Salt needs to be doubled at minimum. My spices are fresh but the dish was not flavored well. Helps to serve with chutney, next time I will try adding a chili and doubling the garam masala.
Hi ZK, Hmm I think your salt must be a very flaky kosher salt (Diamond crystal would need more..this was tested w/ morton’s). You can also add ground garam masala if you prefer a more pronounced flavor.
How can I adapt this to normal stove top pot?
You’ll have to adjust the rice to water ratio (~2 cups water per 1 cup of rice), but I suspect it may dilute the flavors a little. I’m working on a traditional Yakhni pulao recipe and hopefully that’ll work!
Love this instant pot recipe. I’ve made it a few times and it tastes great.
Any idea when the recipe for your traditional Yakhni pulao will be ready? I want to make it on the stove and I’ve been waiting for your recipe.
Thank you, Mariam! I’m honored that you trust my recipes. It’s high on the list and iA next year it’ll be on the blog! 🙂
Hi, is the cups measurement for rice in “rice cups” or regular cups?
Regular measuring cups (8 oz).