This Instant Pot Cream of Mushroom Chicken is made healthier than the classic version of this dish – say hello to your childhood favourite re-envisioned!
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Ingredients in this dish
The ingredient list is relatively short for this easy, creamy chicken recipe. Here's what you need on hand:
- chicken breasts
- mushrooms
- garlic
- shallots (or onions)
- chicken broth
- white rice
- sour cream
- parsley, for garnish (optional)
How to make mushroom chicken in the Instant Pot
It's so easy to make this recipe in the Instant Pot! You're basically just going to dump everything in and press start.
Here's how to make it:
- Add all ingredients to Instant Pot in the order in which they are listed.
- Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes, then allow a natural pressure release (about 15-20 minutes).
- Remove the lid once pressure gauge has fallen, then stir in sour cream and parsley.
- Let sit a couple of minutes to thicken (with or without the lid on), then serve and enjoy!
Making this dish on the stove top
It seems as though nearly everyone has an Instant Pot these days, but in case you don't, here are instructions for making Cream of Mushroom Chicken in a skillet on your stove top.
- Heat the pan and sear the chicken. To get a nice sear on the chicken, be sure to get your skillet nice and hot before adding anything to it.
When the pan is hot, add oil and place the chicken breasts into the skillet. Sear them for 3 minutes on each side and then temporarily place them onto a plate.
- Add and cook the mushrooms. Add your mushrooms to the hot pan. Cook them over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they're soft and caramelized.
- Add rice, garlic and shallot into the pan with the mushrooms. Cook for a couple of minutes, until the garlic and shallot are soft and fragrant.
- Pour chicken stock, salt and pepper over the rice mixture. Stir gently to combine everything.
- Add seared chicken back to the pan. Place the chicken breasts on top of the rice, lower the heat to medium and place a lid on the pan.
- Cook for 20-25 minutes. You'll know the dish is ready when the rice has absorbed all of the liquid. Be sure to use a cooking thermometer to check that the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 F.
- Stir in sour cream, garnish with parsley and red pepper flakes, then serve!
Ingredient substitutions
- Chicken: Instead of boneless skinless chicken breasts, you can use boneless skinless thighs or even boneless pork chops.
- Fresh mushrooms: Although the flavour of this dish is best with fresh mushrooms, if you are truly in a pinch, you can drain a couple of small cans of mushrooms and use them instead.
- Chicken broth: Feel free to use chicken stock or vegetable broth or stock.
- Sour cream: Good substitutes for sour cream include light sour cream, Half & Half, or heavy cream.
- Rice: This Instant Pot Cream of Mushroom Chicken recipe will work using any type of long or short grain white rice such as Jasmine, Basmati, etc. NOTE: Brown rice is not recommended because it requires more liquid and takes longer to cook than white rice.
Adding more veggies
You can give this meal a boost of vitamins and minerals by adding more fresh or frozen veggies. A few ideas include:
- Celery
- Carrots
- Corn
- Green Beans
- Zucchini
- Onion
What to serve as a side dish
Because there is rice in the dish, it's really a complete meal on its own.
If you want to serve something else with it, consider some buttermilk biscuits or dinner rolls, and maybe a light garden salad or some coleslaw.
More easy Instant Pot recipes
Storing and reheating
Store any leftovers in an airtight container or individual glass meal prep containers and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
The best way to reheat the leftovers is in a skillet on the stove top, over medium heat. Stir occasionally until everything is warmed through.
You can also reheat individual portions in the microwave for 2 minutes, making sure to sprinkle some water overtop first so the rice doesn't dry out.
Freezing this dish
Cream of Mushroom Chicken freezes really well, making this recipe perfect for an easy meal prep dinner on a busy weeknight.
Before you transfer the dish to freezer-safe, airtight containers, be sure that the food is completely cool first. Otherwise, when the steam from the hot food freezes, it can cause ice crystals to form on top of the meal. If this happens, it is perfectly safe to eat, but the flavour will be diminished.
To reheat, simply defrost in the fridge overnight or reheat individual portions from frozen in the microwave for 7-8 minutes, sprinkling water overtop beforehand and stirring a couple times partway through the reheat time.
Meal prep tools
- The Instant Pot DUO Plus 60
is the version I use in this recipe - Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on packing this dish up for lunch
- I get free range chicken from my monthly Butcher Box
is the version I use in this recipe
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Instant Pot Cream of Mushroom Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium-sized chicken breasts, diced into 1 inch pieces
- 2 8oz packages of mushrooms, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup shallots, chopped
- 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups white rice
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- Red chili flakes for topping
Instructions
- Add olive oil, chicken, mushrooms, garlic, shallots, salt and pepper, chicken broth and rice to Instant Pot in that order. Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes, then allow a natural pressure release (about 15-20 minutes).
- Remove lid once pressure gauge has fallen, then stir in sour cream and parsley. Let sit a couple of minutes to thicken, then serve and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Erin says
This is delicious!
I made sure all of the rice was pushed into the liquid and it turned out perfectly,
Thanks for the great recipe!
Taylor Stinson says
Yay!!! So happy to hear Erin 🙂
Fran says
Thanks for the recipe, it came out perfect. I was bit afraid that the rice would not be done, but it was perfect.
Taylor Stinson says
Yay, so happy to hear that Fran! So glad you liked it 🙂
Art says
Can you use instant rice?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Art – I’ve only tried it with traditional white rice though you could try the instant rice!
Art says
It worked 🙂
Taylor Stinson says
So happy to hear, thanks for updating me!!
Kate says
Would you change cooking time if you double the recipe?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Kate – I haven’t tried doubling it so I’m not sure how that would impact cooking time. My gut tells me to add 2 minutes to the cooking time so you could try that but I can’t guarantee results just because I haven’t tried it myself. Hope that makes sense!
Jessica says
I made this tonight with frozen chicken and brown rice. Did 4 minutes to make sure it all got done, and it was perfect!
Taylor Stinson says
Thanks so much for updating on the cook time using frozen chicken Jessica, that’s so good to know! So glad you liked it 🙂
Kirk says
You don’t saute the chicken, shallots and mushrooms first? And how would halving the recipe affect things?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Kirk – I don’t find you need to saute anything first, the flavours are all still there just by pressure cooking. And unfortunately I couldn’t tell you how cutting it in half would impact the cook time. I believe it would still be the same but I haven’t tried it myself so couldn’t give you a guarantee.
Christopher L. says
can you sub bowtie noodles instead of rice? if so will the cook time change?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Christopher – this is a significant change to this recipe and I haven’t done it myself. I wish I could provide alternative directions but I would have to test it myself first. Sorry about that!
Erica says
Hi Taylor, This recipe looks amazing and I’m planning on trying it out today. Have you made this with brown rice? I don’t usually purchas white rice and have none at home.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Erica!! I’ve heard brown rice takes longer to cook so I would add another 2 minutes to the cook time if you’re going to make this swap. It should work 🙂
Heather says
Made this tonight, but it was a fail. My fault for sure, but still a fail. The question I have is that you say to let it NR, and then say 15 to 20 min. Are we supposed to wait until the pressure pin drops on its own, or do we go ahead and release the pressure after 20 min? I waited approx 45 min and found up releasing on my own and the food was pretty much disintegrated.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Heather – I’m sorry to hear this didn’t turn out for you. Waiting 45 minutes would definitely cause the rice to be very mushy. I usually wait until the pressure pin drops on its own, which takes about 15-20 minutes, but you could release what little pressure is left if it hasn’t dropped after 20 minutes (there would likely be little to no steam coming out).
Lo says
Sometimes I have to give my instant pot a tiny tap to get the pressure tab to drop. Sounds like yours might need the same!