Hainanese Chicken Rice (Instant Pot)
★★★★☆One-pot Instant Pot chicken rice with an aromatic paste. Whole frozen chicken over brown rice.
Ingredients
Chicken Rice Paste
- 30 g garlic, peeled(≈10 cloves)
- 60 g yellow onionpeeled and roughly chopped
- 25 g gingerpeeled
- 1 Tbsp (10 g) sesame oil
- ¾ tsp (5 g) salt
- ½ tsp (3 g) sugar
Main
- 1 kg whole chickenfrozen
- 250 g brown ricerinsed and drained
- 300 ml water
- 1 cube chicken bouillon cube
- 1 pinch saltto season the chicken cavity
Garnish
- 80 g cucumbersliced
- 80 g tomatosliced
- 5 g cilantro leaves
Method
- Make the paste
- Blend garlic, onion, and ginger in a food processor into a coarse paste.
- Sauté the paste
- Set the Instant Pot to Sauté (Normal). When hot, add the sesame oil and paste.
- Stir fry 2–3 min until fragrant, then press Cancel.
- Scrape the bottom thoroughly. Nothing stuck means no burn warning.
- Build the pot
- Add 300ml water and the bouillon cube; stir to dissolve.
- Scrape the bottom again.
- Add the rinsed rice and stir gently to distribute evenly.
- Season the chicken cavity with a pinch of salt; place the whole chicken breast-side up on top of the rice, pushing it down slightly so the rice is submerged under the liquid around the chicken.
- Pressure cook
- Seal the lid, valve to Sealing.
- High pressure, 28 minutes.
- Natural release 17 minutes, then quick release the remainder.
- Rest and serve
- Remove the chicken carefully to a board; rest 5 min, then slice or pull.
- The rice will look wet. Use a paddle to fluff and fold; close the lid and rest 5–8 min to reabsorb.
- Serve the chicken over rice with cucumber, tomato, and cilantro.
Notes
Macro portioning: Defaulted to 4 serves (≈568 kcal / 42g protein) to fit a 500–600 target. A natural ÷3 would land at ≈757 kcal. Use the portion stepper to re-split if needed. Chicken yield varies a lot with how much skin you eat. Removing the skin drops fat significantly (skin is ≈40% of the chicken's fat).
Frozen chicken: Adds ≈5–8 min effective cook time vs thawed. The 28 min pressure + 17 min natural release accounts for this.
Liquid discipline: Do not add more water; the frozen chicken releases significant liquid as it thaws under pressure.
If the rice is still wet after fluffing: Close the lid on Keep Warm for 5 more min. Do not add heat.
Leftovers: Store chicken and rice separately; rice dries out fast in the fridge. Add a splash of water before reheating.
Nutrition Facts
Makes 4 servings
Serving size: 1 of 4 servings
Per serving
568
Total recipe
2270