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This Instant Pot Cauliflower Rice with Chicken is a twist on the classic Spanish Rice and Chicken meal we’ve all grown up enjoying – only this time we’re cooking this delicious recipe with cauliflower.
In place of traditional rice, cauliflower rice gives this dish a low carb veggie kick, and allows you to enjoy that extra tortilla without feeling too much guilt.
I’m always looking for a healthy and easy meal that is a fan favorite in my household. This is one of my favorite Instant Pot recipes that provides my family with a healthy meal without the long cooking time in the kitchen.
This is one of our favorite chicken meals to make on busy weeknights when we are scrambling to find time to eat at the dining room table together.
Cooking in the Instant Pot is a fantastic way to create healthy and filling meals. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, a traditional pressure cooker will work just as well.
I love that I can throw this one pot dish into the Instant Pot and it pretty much cooks itself. This easy recipe is a great way to get more healthy vegetables into your meals on busy nights where you have limited time.
Where’s the recipe?
Here at My Crazy Good Life we write our recipes so that anyone can follow them. We love it when our readers feel comfortable, confident, and empowered in the kitchen. The post below has detailed instructions, recipe tips, and healthy eating information.
If you’d like to skip past the ingredient details, recipe tips, nutritional and healthy eating guides, simply scroll down to the bottom where you’ll find the easy to print this Instant Pot Cauliflower Spanish Rice with Chicken recipe.
Ingredients in Spanish Rice in the Instant Pot:
(full recipe and measurements are located in the printable recipe at the bottom of this post)
- olive oil: A little bit of olive oil is a great healthy fat that helps sauté the veggies
- chopped onions
- chopped jalapeño: Do not rub your eyes after chopping jalapeños!
- minced garlic: This is much more flavorful than garlic powder.
- cumin
- chili powder: This is an easy way to modify your spice level. If you tend to like spicier meals add more chili powder.
- paprika
- chopped cilantro
- chicken thighs (or breasts): Chicken thighs will give you a more flavorful chicken option, however chicken breasts will be an even healthier option. I find that chicken breast tend to be easier when making recipes requiring shredded chicken.
- cauliflower florets: We use fresh in this recipe – but if you are looking for already prepared riced cauliflower option please check out our recipe tips for how to successfully incorporate these into our recipe.
- tomato paste
- chicken broth: We prefer using low-sodium. A little salt goes a long way.
How to make Instant Pot Cauliflower Rice:
- Turn the Instant Pot to sauté and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot sauté the onions, jalapeños, garlic, and cilantro for about 1 minutes.
- Add the cumin, chili powder, paprika, and mix around.
- Next place chicken and chicken broth in the inner pot. Lock the lid into place and close pressure valve to the sealing setting. Cook on high pressure using manual for 9 minutes. Release pressure using the quick release method.
- Remove the lid and place a steaming basket over the chicken. Add the cauliflower florets to the steaming basket. Lock the lid into place and cook on high pressure again for 1 minute. Release the pressure using the quick release method.
- Carefully remove the steaming basket full of cauliflower. Using a fork or tongs remove the chicken and set aside. There will be about 1/4 cup liquid at the bottom of the Instant Pot. Strain the liquid from the onions and jalapeños, leaving about 2 tbsp. of liquid and the onions and jalapeños in the Instant Pot.
- Add the cauliflower back into the Instant Pot. Use a potato masher to break the cauliflower into rice like chunks.
- Stir in the tomato paste to give the cauliflower rice a nice orange color.
- Serve the rice immediately and top it with the chicken, fresh tomatoes, limes, and more cilantro.
Recipe Tips
- To use riced cauliflower in this recipe, I’d add the it and close the lid for a few minutes instead of cooking the cauliflower rice at all. I always err on the side of undercooked (because I can cook it more) than mushy cauliflower rice.
- If using frozen cauliflower rice, I’d recommend cooking it on high pressure for 0 minutes (that’s right–zero minutes). That will allow your Instant Pot to come to pressure and then you can release pressure without fear of overcooking the frozen cauliflower rice.
- This is already a healthy Spanish rice dinner, but if you’d like to make this recipe even healthier, feel free to use chicken breasts instead of boneless and skinless chicken thighs.
Healthy Eating Plans
21 Day Fix Spanish Rice:
Entire recipe: 3 tsp, 4.5 green containers, 4 red containers | Counts per serving (recipe serves 4): 3/4 teaspoon, 1 1/4 green containers, 1 red container
Weight Watchers Points:
5 Freestyle Smartpoints points per serving
The points for the new 2022/2023 points plan is 5.
Keto/Low Carb:
10 grams of carbohydrates per serving, 7 net carbs per serving
2B Mindset:
This is a perfect dinner recipe, and you could use it for lunch as well if you add an FFC.
Looking for more cauliflower recipes?
- Cauliflower Taco Bowl
- Buffalo Cauliflower Bites
- Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Garlic-Cilantro Cauliflower Rice
- Spicy Roasted Cauliflower
Instant Pot Cauliflower Rice and Chicken
Equipment
- Instant Pot 6 qt
- Instant Pot Trivet
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ onion chopped
- 1 jalapeño chopped
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 2 tbsp cilantro chopped
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- 4 chicken thighs
- ½ cup chicken broth low sodium
- 4 cups cauliflower florets
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot to sauté and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot sauté the onions, jalapeños, garlic, and cilantro for about 1 minutes. Add the cumin, chili powder, paprika, and mix around. 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 onion, 1 jalapeño, 1 tbsp garlic, 2 tbsp cilantro, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp paprika
- Next add in the chicken and chicken broth. Lock the lid into place and turn the pressure valve to sealing. Cook on high pressure using manual for 9 minutes. Release pressure using the quick release method. 4 chicken thighs, 1/2 cup chicken broth
- Remove the lid and place a steaming basket over the chicken. Add the cauliflower florets to the steaming basket. Lock the lid into place and cook on high pressure again for 1 minute. Release the pressure using the quick release method. 4 cups cauliflower florets
- Carefully remove the steaming basket full of cauliflower. Using a fork or tongs remove the chicken and set aside. There will be about 1/4 cup liquid at the bottom of the Instant Pot. Strain the liquid from the onions and jalapeños, leaving about 2 tbsp. of liquid and the onions and jalapeños in the Instant Pot.
- Add the cauliflower back into the Instant Pot. Use a mash potato masher to break the cauliflower into rice like chunks. Stir in the tomato paste to give the cauliflower rice a nice orange color. 2 tbsp tomato paste
- Serve the rice immediately and top it with the chicken, fresh tomatoes, limes, and more cilantro.
Video
Notes
- You can use already riced cauliflower in this recipe. Add the riced cauliflower and close the lid for a few minutes instead of cooking the cauliflower rice at all. I always err on the side of undercooked (because I can cook more) than mushy cauliflower rice.
- If using frozen cauliflower rice, cook it on high pressure for 0 minutes (that’s right–zero minutes). That will allow your Instant Pot to come to pressure and then you can release pressure without fear of overcooking the frozen cauliflower rice.
- This is already a healthy Spanish rice dinner, but if you’d like to make this recipe even healthier, use chicken breasts instead of boneless and skinless chicken thighs.
Nutrition
Make This Recipe?
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Is there any way this could work with already riced cauliflower?
I dont understand the total container coimt for the 21 day fix.
The total container count is given in case you wanted to edit the recipe or change the serving sizes, just another tool to help you.
Could I change this to brown rice instead of cauliflower rice?
Yes but you’ll need more cook time–I’ve never cooked this recipe with regular rice but I’d freeze the chicken (so it doesn’t get over cooked while the rice is cooking) and do 1c rice and 1c broth/water for 20 minutes with natural release. If using chicken breasts, I’d do 25 min.
Loved the taste of this recipe. It was super easy and fast. Next time I make it, I will add a little canned corn, diced tomatoes, and some black beans to give it some color and texture. Overall, we really enjoyed it a lot.