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Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice that’s gazillion times better than take-out. Make it at home with Jasmine Rice, veggies, eggs & lots of bite sized chicken. Don’t skimp on the sauce, it makes the Chicken Fried Rice Instant Pot one of it’s kind. So yum! So Good!
Table Of Contents
Chicken Fried Rice
Today’s Chicken Fried Rice Instant Pot recipe will amaze you with it’s authentic and unbeatable flavor. This is our go to Chicken Fried Rice Recipe made in the Instant Pot.
It’s loaded with soy doused boneless chicken pieces, lots of veggies and a good does of homemade fried rice sauce. And that’s the secret to this recipe – It’s the SAUCES folks! and how you cook it.
It’s bold, it’s delicious and has all the good characteristics of a fried rice made in a wok. Don’t skimp on the sauces, the better the sauce the better will be your Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice.
Ingredients
Find the Ingredients with actual measurements at the bottom of the post. The list below is just a reference.
- Jasmine Rice: Rinse the rice quite well until clear water runs. You’ll never end up with sticky, messy rice ever.
- Boneless Chicken Breasts: Made into bite sizes. You can even use boneless chicken thighs.
- Eggs: Scrambled. Often eggs when scrambled in the Instant Pot tends to stick all over the base of the steel pot. Learn the trick how to avoid that (shared below). You’ll have perfect fluffy scrambled eggs & don’t have to worry about the pot too.
- Veggies: Carrots, Scallions, Green Peas. That’s all I added. You can also add broccoli, cabbage, sweet corn, sprouts and green beans.
- Sauces: Dark Soy Sauce, Light Soy Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Chili Garlic Sauce. Dark Soy sauce adds a lot of umami to the dish so add it by all means.
- Garlic: Go heavy use a little more garlic than you normally do. You’ll thank me later.
- Liquid: I used Chicken Broth. However, vegetable broth or regular water are also good alternatives. Broth is what will add more flavors to the recipe than water.
- Oil: Any neutral oil and Sesame Oil. I used chili Sesame Oil and I’ll highly recommend it. It boosts the flavor a million times. You can find it in any Chinese grocery store.
Note: The sauces and the sesame oil used in the recipe might not be familiar to all of you, especially to the beginner home cooks. Hence, I’ve included the picture of the Sauce bottles. Hope it helps. You can buy any brand that you prefer or whatever your nearest grocery store carries.
Tips & Tricks
- Rinse the Jasmine Rice until clear water runs. This helps to remove the surface starch from the surface of the rice. As a result, your fried rice won’t turn sticky or gummy.
- Flash marinate the Chicken with sauces: This makes the bite size chicken pieces so tasty. They won’t taste bland & flat. We hate that! Don’t skimp on the sauces & try not to miss any. Sauces is the key to the best street style take out flavor.
- Saute the Chicken: It certainly boosts the overall taste of the dish and the chicken pieces does not taste bland or boiled.
- Go heavy on Garlic: Sauteed garlic is so aromatic and it’s a must for any fried rice recipe.
- The rice to liquid is very important for this recipe. Do use the same cup to measure them.
- For best authentic flavors toss the cooked chicken fried rice with the sauces, scrambled egg, scallions, frozen thawed peas & the sesame oil once the pressure cooking cycle is over.
- Allow the Chicken Fried Rice to rest for at least 5-10 mins before serving. This allows the trapped residual heat to escape and makes the dish light and fluffy.
- A little bit more oil and controlling the heat setting in the Instant Pot will make the best ever scrambled eggs that will never stick at the base of the pot and make a mess.
Pro Tip: Add about 3 tbsp oil for 3 eggs, whisk the eggs. Make the Instant Pot hot enough at SAUTE (NORMAL) settings. Than reduce the heat to LOW (SAUTE). Pour the whisked eggs and continue stirring vigorously to make scrambled eggs, do not stop stirring. The eggs will never stick at the base of the steel pot. A metal spatula or sharp wooden spatula works best.
Method
Find the detailed step by step recipe along with measurements + Video at the bottom of the post.
Step #1 Flash marinate the chicken
The Chicken will taste delicious when you flash marinate in a combination of sauces and allow it to rest until you prep the other ingredients.
Mix the bite sized chicken pieces with light soy, dark soy, Worcestershire sauce and chili garlic paste.
Chili garlic paste is totally optional. It provides the dish with a little bit of heat.
Skip it if you do not have it handy.
Step#2 Make the scrambled eggs
Making scrambled egg in the Instant Pot might be a little tricky as the eggs tend to stick at the bottom of the steel pot incessantly.
However, I have a certain way of making scrambled egg and if you adopt that you’ll never end up with a sticky and messy pot ever!
It’s all about controlling the temperature and adding a little more oil.
Allow the Instant Pot to really heat up well at the SAUTE (NORMAL) function.
Move your hand on top of the pot a few times. When you can feel the warmth add oil and reduce the heat setting to LOW (SAUTE) function.
Release the whisked eggs and keep on stirring vigorously, do not stop for a bit.
Do this until you get soft and fluffy scrambled eggs, just like you see in the pic above. Your pot will remain clean, I guarantee 😉
Step #3 Shallow fry the Chicken
In the same pot add more oil, sizzle the garlic until fragrant.
Than add back the flash marinated chicken pieces and shallow fry until opaque.
Do this on SAUTE function set on NORMAL.
Step #4 Pressure Cook
Pour the broth, de-glaze pot very well so that there are absolutely no bits and crumbs stuck at the bottom of the pot.
Add the rinsed Jasmine rice. Give a gentle mix and make sure the rice grains are below the broth. Press them down gently with the spatula.
Layer the diced carrots and PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for just 3 minutes followed by 10 mins NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE (NPR).
Open the lid and add all the garnishes.
Step #5 Toss in sauce & garnishes, serve
Add the sauces, sesame oil & scrambled egg too. Mix well and allow the chicken fried rice to rest for at least 5-10 mins before serving.
The fried rice will have the best texture once the trapped heat escapes. Enjoy with loads of Chili Garlic Sauce or Sriracha Sauce if you love spicy food.
Storing Tips
Fridge: The Fried Rice lasts for upto 5 days in the fridge when stored in moisture free air tight containers.
Freezer: Chicken Fried Rice can be frozen for upto 3 months. We love freezing it in individual freezer safe bags. Thawing portion sizes is so easy this way.
More easy Rice dishes:
Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice
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Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless chicken breasts made into bite size pieces (or boneless chicken thighs)
- 1-1/2 cup Jasmine Rice (rinsed well)
- 3 large eggs (whisked)
- 3/4 cup cubed carrots
- 1/2 cup green peas (I used frozen thawed)
- 3 stalks Scallions (chopped)
- 6 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 3 + 2 tbsp Sunflower oil (or any neutral oil)
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil (I used Chili Sesame Oil)
- Salt (to taste)
Sauces for Marinating Chicken
- 1.5 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce (or Tamari)
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp Chili garlic sauce (provides a slight heat)
Sauces for the Chicken Fried Rice
- 1.5 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
- 2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce (or Tamari)
Liquid
- 1.5 cups chicken broth
Equipment Used
Instructions
Flash Marinate the Chicken Pieces
- Dice the chicken into bite size pieces, clean them and pat them dry completely with the help of kitchen towels.
- Next, add all the Sauces from "Sauces for Marinating Chicken" mentioned above. Coat the chicken pieces well and set aside.
Make Scrambled Eggs
- Set the Instant Pot on SAUTE & keep it on NORMAL until it becomes sufficiently hot (about 5 mins). Than, lower the heat setting to LOW.
- Add 3 tbsp oil and pour the whisked eggs, stir vigorously and continuously scraping the sides of the pot. Do this until you get nice and fluffy scrambled eggs. The eggs won't stick at the bottom and the heat transition will cook them perfectly. Set them aside.
How to make Chicken Fried Rice in Instant Pot?
- Increase the heat setting back to NORMAL. Add the rest of the 2 tbsp oil.
- Add the garlic and saute until just fragrant. Approximately 1 minute.
- Next, gently release the flash marinated Chicken pieces and lightly fry them until they become opaque.
- Pour the chicken broth and de-glaze the pot very well with the help of your spatula so that there are absolutely no bits and crumbs stuck at the bottom of the steel pot. Add Salt.
- Now add the rinsed Jasmine Rice and mix gently with the rest of the ingredients in the pot. Do not stir too much. The rice grains should be submerged in the broth.
- Throw in the cubed carrots and spread them on top of the rice.
- CANCEL the SAUTE function.
- Close the lid of the Instant Pot and seal the valve. PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for 3 minutes.
- Once the pressure cooking cycle is over the Instant Pot will begin to beep. Wait for 10 minutes of NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE (NPR).
- Than release the rest of the pressure manually by moving the valve from the sealing to the venting position. Open the lid carefully.
- Gently fluff the fried rice with the help of a fork. The rice will be little soft and moist at this point as it is very hot. It will gain the perfect texture once the trapped heat escapes.
- Add the thawed peas (Read NOTES below) and the chopped scallions. Give everything a good mix but gently.
- Add the Sauces from "Sauces for Chicken Fried Rice" mentioned above and also the sesame oil. Give everything a good mix. Add back the scrambled eggs and give a gentle mix.
- Allow the Chicken Fried Rice to rest for at least 5-10 mins for the best texture and flavor.
- Enjoy with Chili Garlic Sauce or Sriracha Sauce! (Read NOTES below).
Notes
- Measuring Units Used, 1 Cup = 240 & 1 teaspoon = 5 ml.
- Rinse the Jasmine Rice well to avoid sticky, gummy rice. The surface starch will rinse out and make the rice fluffy and light.
- You can use your prefered brands of sauces.
- I don’t have Worcestershire Sauce, what can I use instead? You can use Hoisini Sauce or just skip using any.
- For the best Umami flavors use the dark soy sauce.
- Tamari is the best gluten free alternative of light soy sauce.
- Soy Sauce contains salt so do add the salt carefully in the recipe. Otherwise you’ll end up with salty fried rice.
- Sub Chicken Broth with veggie broth or normal water.
- What other veggies you can add? Sweet Corn, smallish chopped broccoli, cabbage, green beans.
- Can I use Brown Rice? No you can’t use brown rice for today’s recipe. Brown rice has different cooking time.
- If you prefer spicy food you can add a couple spoons chili garlic sauce or hot sauce to the fried rice along with the soy sauces.
- Quick method to thaw frozen peas: Leave them in warm water for sometime.
- If adding fresh peas from the pod: Add them along with the carrots.
Do let us know if you created this recipe