Instant Pot Chicken Pulao is my favourite thing in the whole world I can eat it anytime of the day even in breakfasts too. This is my Go-to meal.

Ramsha Baig

Pulao, or Pilaf, is a delicately flavored rice dish popular in Pakistani and Indian cooking. This immediately Pot fowl Pulao recipe requires simply 25 mins of prep time and consequences in gentle boneless (or bone-in) chicken and perfectly cooked rice.

What is Chicken Pulao?

Pulao may not be as famous as biryani, but it holds significance just the same. I remember whenever my mom made it, I’d stand over the stove sneaking just one bite before dinner, and then another, and another. Meat, rice, and aromatic whole spices all woven together so beautifully to create a magnificent composition. It’s utterly satisfying.

This Instant Pot Chicken Pulao is a weeknight version of the more elaborate yakhni pulao, in which meat is slowly simmered to create a stock (yakhni) which is used to cook the rice. That’s not to say you’re missing out on the flavors of classic pulao. The techniques here are still the same – deeply brown onions, seared meat, and rice perfumed with whole spices.

How to Prevent Soggy Rice When Making Instant Pot Pulao

Unlike Chana Pulao, chicken Pulao has the brought water content material of hen and a tomato. This makes it more likely for rice to grow to be smooth.

After posting the unique recipe, I noticed some human beings nonetheless had gentle rich, which supposed that my rice may also were a bit more resilient to the extra water content. recently, I tweaked the recipe and reduced the water content, as a way to hopefully permit this recipe to paintings for all of us.

Don’t forget, IP rice have to stay fluffy and wet, with each grain separated similar to a traditional pulao. right here are a some recommendations to prevent soggy rice:

1. Use aged, long-grain basmati rice. at the same time as i will’t make sure all rice will cook to perfection with this technique (you can need to perform a little trial and errors), maximum aged, lengthy-grain basmati rice will work splendidly in this recipe. i take advantage of Royal Chef’s secret brand.
2. The recipe calls to soak the rice for 15 mins at the same time as you prepare the rest of the ingredients. If that’s no longer how long you typically soak it, attempt soaking the rice for a shorter time period.
3. After cooking the rice, permit it to obviously launch strain as directed in the recipe. You’ll notice that it’ll get even less wet as time goes on.
4. all the ingredients are measured mainly to prevent soggy rice. Use a small tomato as directed within the recipe so the moisture doesn’t purpose sogginess. if you prefer pulao without a tomato, experience unfastened to miss it.
5. if you rinse your chook, pat it dry with a paper towel earlier than including it in.
6. ultimately, use a rice paddle or small plate to cast off the rice right away from the immediately Pot and place on the serving dish.

Using Bone-in or Boneless Chicken for Pulao

For this recipe, I use chicken thighs or chicken tenders – the little strips of meat attached to the underside of the chicken breast. If you don’t have them, you can also use chicken breast.

I’ve had many people report success with using bone-in chicken. As long as bone-in chicken pieces are small, the recipe works with bone-in chicken as well. If you’re using larger bone-in pieces, first pressure cook the chicken for 6 minutes before adding the rice. Be sure to sauté bone-in chicken a little longer to ensure no extra moisture will be released while cooking.

What to Serve With Chicken Pulao

Chicken pulao is a extremely good one-pot meal that’s historically paired with raita or yogurt. i like making a few Shami kabab, Chapli Kabab or Aloo ki Tikki as a facet while serving pulao.

More Tips on Making Chicken Pulao in the Instant Pot

• This recipe moves quickly once the onions have browned. Before you begin cooking, have all ingredients (especially the spices) prepped and ready to go.
• As always with South Asian recipes, be sure to pick out and discard the whole spices while you eat. If you don’t want to bite into the whole spices at all, place them in a spice bag or cheesecloth bundle. I don’t recommend grinding them because they may become overpowering.
• Triple wash the basmati rice to remove starches and encourage the grains to separate once cooked.
• You can also add cubed potatoes: Cube 1/2 of a medium russet potato into 1/2-inch cubes. Decrease the chicken to 10-11 oz and add the potatoes along with the chicken.