These Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice Meal Prep Bowls come together in one pot – all you need is rice, chicken and frozen veggies!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Butter – butter keeps the rice fluffy, but is optional to the dish. If you want the same effect but would rather not use butter, then you can use olive oil.
- Garlic – fresh minced garlic is best but jarred minced garlic can also be used.
- Chicken breast – chicken thighs will also work in place of chicken breast and will probably be a juicier cut of meat.
- Chicken broth – use a vegetable broth in place of chicken if you’re in a pinch.
- Soy sauce – coconut aminos or tamari are great substitutes for soy sauce.
- Jasmine rice – use any rice that you prefer like basmati or brown rice, just keep in mind that using a different kind of rice will alter the cooking times.
- Frozen vegetables – use any frozen vegetable blend that you prefer.
- Green onions – to garnish.
How to make chicken fried rice
- Add the first 6 ingredients to the Instant Pot in order.
- Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes.
- Do a quick release of the pressure.
- Microwave the frozen veggies.
- Stir in the veggies and green onions.
- Serve and enjoy!
What goes well with chicken fried rice?
The great thing about this recipe is that you have all the components of a meal in one bowl with grains, veggies and protein. I typically like to eat these bowls on your own, but feel free to serve them with a side dish of your choosing. Egg rolls, dumplings or steamed broccoli would all be great with this recipe! You could even scramble or fry an egg and add it on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
The chicken fried rice you get from your favourite takeout restaurant generally isn’t healthy. It’s usually packed full of preservatives and sodium. My version is a lot healthier and uses whole fresh ingredients including chicken breasts.
There are 325 calories per serving in this chicken fried rice dish, which is significantly less than restaurant versions. For example, one serving of Panda Express’ fried rice side dish has 520 calories – and that doesn’t even include the chicken!
I like using jasmine rice for this recipe because I find that it cooks the best in the Instant Pot. That being said, you can use another white or brown rice variety of your choice. Remember that using another kind of rice like brown rice will change the cooking time.
Storing and reheating
This chicken fried rice will last in the fridge for up to 5 days, making it the perfect meal prep recipe! All you have to do is transfer the rice from the Instant Pot to airtight containers once the rice has cooled down. I recommend storing the dish in individual servings in the fridge because it makes heating up your lunch that much easier!
To reheat this chicken fried rice, take your serving out of the fridge and heat it up straight from the container in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. Make sure to sprinkle some water over the rice to ensure that it doesn't dry out when reheating.
Freezing this recipe
You can also freeze the chicken fried rice for a quick meal later in the month. The dish will last in the freezer for up to 3 months to ensure freshness. After the rice has cooled down completely, transfer it into airtight containers in individual portions.
When you're ready to enjoy your fried rice, defrost the chicken in the fridge overnight before reheating. You can also reheat it from frozen – just sprinkle some water over top of the rice to keep it from drying out then microwave the dish for 5-6 minutes, stirring halfway through.
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More Instant Pot recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- The Instant Pot DUO Plus 60
 is the version I use in this recipe. - Grab some glass meal prep bowls for your leftovers.
- And of course I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box!
 is the version I use in this recipe.
Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice Meal Prep Bowls
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 chicken breasts, diced
- 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 cup dry jasmine rice
- 1 bag mixed frozen vegetables (I used the Green Giant blend of carrots, corn and peas)
- 1 bunch green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Add butter, garlic, chicken, chicken broth, soy sauce and rice to Instant Pot in that order. Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. Do a quick release of the pressure and open lid when it is safe to do so.
- Meanwhile, microwave frozen vegetables in a large bowl for 5 minutes until de-frosted.
- Add veggies and green onions to rice in Instant Pot, stirring well to combine. Serve and enjoy – will last in the fridge up to 5 days.
Comments & Reviews
Sandra says
I am trying this recipe tonight and I noticed you said it was 6 servings, do you know what the serving size is? 1 cup ?
I have been using an IP cookbook for a few months now and I would like to try other recipes I have found on Pinterest but I have noticed most recipes do not have the serving size on most of them..
Thank you…
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Sandra – you will have to divide the entire recipe into 6 portions and then each portion is a serving. I can’t give out exact serving sizes by cup measurements unfortunately!
Andrew says
Hey so I tried this today and put it on for 6 minutes instead of 3 because of the comments, and decided to use no butter to avoid the fat. Also just put the veggies in the instant pot with the rest. It turned out great. I’ll make this often. Thanks!
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you liked it Andrew 🙂
Maura says
Sodium seems a bit high. 500 mg. Maybe use low sodium soy sauce
Taylor Stinson says
Low sodium soy sauce would be a great idea!
Chad says
After hearing stories of the results being “soupy”. I increased the amount of jasmine rice to 1.5 cups. The rice came out great. Not soupy and the rice was full cooked, I like how this recipe calls for the veggies (carrot, peas and green onion) to be prepared separately, as my son does not like veggies in his fried rice. He loved it!
Taylor Stinson says
So happy to hear you liked it Chad!!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing with me!
Andrew says
Yeah I got the same thing as Will, fried rice soup. Followed what you said exactly, put all the ingredients in besides veggies and green onions and pressure cooked on high for 3 min with a quick release. Just seems like too much liquid. Isn’t the rule of thumb 1 cup of liquid for 1 cup of rice generally?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Andrew – did you use jasmine rice as the recipe says? I know white rice and brown rice both take much longer to cook and absorb liquid so that is probably the issue here. From my understanding it’s 1.5-1.75 cups of liquid per 1 cup of rice (jasmine rice anyway – see here for more info: https://rouxbe.com/tips-techniques/379-cooking-rice-general-liquid-to-rice-ratios) but you need an extra little bit of liquid to account for the chicken. Hope that helps!
Michelle says
Loved this! I heated up the frozen veggies on the stovetop with the leftover broth. I also sauteed the green onions on the stove in a little bit of olive oil and then added 2 scrambled eggs to cook with it. (I might try 3 eggs next time.) There was some liquid left in the instant pot after opening the lid, but I turned it to saute mode to cook off some of the extra liquid while I added in the veggies and the scrambled eggs/green onions. Will definitely be making this again!
Will says
Looks great but in practice this didn’t work at all. I got nothing but soup and the rice is way undercooked. There’s way too much liquid here. Then again, I’m increasingly thinking the only thing the Instant Pot is good for is making stew/soup…
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Will – so sorry to hear this didn’t turn out for you! I can assure you that you can make a ton of different grains in the Instant Pot. Did you use jasmine rice? I’ve heard other types of rice take longer to cook which could have resulted in this not being cooked through for you. I’ve tried this recipe a few times now and the method listed works for me!
Vanessa says
Mine came out as a stew as well! And I used Jasmine rice.. not sure what happened. But it looks like a delicious recipe!
Taylor Stinson says
Hmm so strange…I’m wondering if certain types of jasmine rice vary? That is honestly the only thing I think could be happening here! So sorry about this Vanessa!
Tracie says
This looks terrific. Does the rice really cook in 3 minutes? I make another fried rice recipe that cooks perfect in 10 minutes rice mode. Quick release.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Tracie, thanks so much 🙂 It may be because that’s rice mode, this is high pressure mode! The rice is definitely done after that time – I find it’s more the ratio of liquid you want to be careful with and I’ve tested this with jasmine rice, it works!
Tracie says
Thank you. Yes, it cooks perfectly in the 3 minutes 🙂 I chopped up a couple carrots and half an onion and added to the pot to cook instead of the frozen (because its what I had). Very quick and easy recipe.
Carol L says
These look really good. Just wondering where you get the set of glass containers. I have only found the sets with small, med & large…Would love to have a set of the larger ones like these for meals!
Taylor Stinson says
Thanks so much Carol! 🙂 These ones from IKEA are the ones I use: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90233788/
Theresa says
If you double it, would it change the cooking time?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Theresa – I honestly couldn’t say because I haven’t tested it myself. I would say maybe increase the cooking time by a minute or two on your manual pressure setting and see if that works!
Kelly Logan says
We did double it and we had to double the time. So we put it in for 6mins.
Taylor Stinson says
Thanks for the heads up Kelly! Hope you liked it!