Ingredients
- 2 5oz / 10 oz chicken breasts / bone-in chicken thighs (Either 2 five-ounce chicken breasts if you are making the recipe with white rice. OR. 2 ten-ounce bone-in chicken thighs if you are making the recipe with brown rice.)
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 cup water (at room temperature, not cold!)
- 1/2 Tbsp ghee or bacon fat
- 1 small diced onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup white basmati rice or brown basmati rice (choose white or brown depending on the type of chicken you are using)
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced red bell pepper
- Salt
- Pepper
- cilantro for garnishing
Preparation
Step 1
Generously season chicken breasts (or remove skin of chicken thighs and season) with salt and pepper on both sides and set aside.
Peel and dice carrot, wash and dice celery, wash, deseed and dice bell pepper.
Wash and spin dry cilantro and cut off the stems for the most part and blend with a cup room temperature water.
Preheat Instant Pot by pressing the "sauté" button.
Peel and chop onion and garlic. By now, the instant pot is probably hot. Add ghee or bacon fat and sauté onion and garlic in it until it starts slightly browning. Stir often. Make sure no bunt bits of onion or garlic are stuck to the bottom of the pot. If for some reason there are, deglaze by adding a Tablespoon or two of water and stir to remove all bits from the bottom.
Add rice, salt and pepper to Instant Pot and then pour cilantro water on top. Give it a quick stir. Add diced vegetables in one layer and then top with seasoned chicken breasts. Then IMMEDIATELY close lid to avoid water from evaporating (>> READ THE NOTES SECTION FOR TIMING PLEASE!
Once the Instant Pot beeps telling you the 5 minutes are over, allow for 10 minutes natural pressure release (set a timer to not miss the moment). Then release the remaining pressure manually for chicken breast / white rice version. Or let pressure release naturally completely on its own for chicken thigh / brown rice version (might take about 15-20 minutes)
Open the pot and enjoy the smell! Then use two forks to shred the chicken. Mix it all and serve immediately with some fresh cilantro sprinkled on top.