This Instant Pot Chicken, Broccoli, and Quinoa recipe has melted cheddar cheese in every bite. It’s packed with wholesome ingredients and is total comfort food. It tastes like broccoli cheese soup, but in casserole form, with chicken and quinoa added. YUM!
The instant pot makes easy work of this recipe. While it won’t save you THAT much time compared to making it on the stovetop (see notes in recipe for how to do this), there’s something great about the “set it and forget it” method of Instant Pot recipes that makes them so appealing.
You don’t have to pay attention to stovetop temperature, and you don’t have to stir to make sure it isn’t sticking or burning on the bottom.
Here’s the thing about Instant Pots: unless you are cooking something that usually takes a LONG time to cook (such as dry pulses in this Split Pea Soup or a really tough cut of meat, like pork shoulder), pressure cookers generally don’t save a lot of time.
Sure, you can technically cook chicken meat in 5 minutes. BUT, that doesn’t account for the time it takes for the Instant Pot to reach pressure, which can sometimes take 15-20 minutes depending on the recipe.
But I LOVE how easy it is to walk away from the Instant Pot without giving it a second thought.
I love that you can keep whatever you are cooking in it and it will stay warm- close to piping hot- until you are ready to serve it.
And I love that you can sauté directly in it, unlike most slow cookers, so it’s easy to use it for one-pot meals.
For this Instant Pot chicken, broccoli, and quinoa recipe, you’ll first sauté the aromatics (onions, celery, and carrots) in butter (which smells so insanely good). Then, just stir in some quinoa, chicken broth, and chicken breast pieces, along with generous amounts of salt and pepper, and cook for five minutes!
Of course, 5 minutes in instant pot time really means more like 10-15, but still. Super fast and easy.
After it’s done cooking, just stir in some shredded cheddar cheese and broccoli florets. Cover, and allow to sit for five minutes. The residual heat and trapped steam will soften the broccoli to crisp-tender and melt the cheese to perfection.
The first time I made this, I used tri-color quinoa. The second time, I used white.
You can use whatever kind of quinoa you want. But while tri-color may be prettier, I do find that white quinoa tends to cook faster than other colors, so if you use tri-color, you may have some pieces that taste a bit crunchy or underdone. It just depends on your preference.
By the way, did you know that quinoa is actually a seed, not a grain? True story! Although, it’s considered a whole grain for most culinary and nutritional purposes. It’s high in protein and other vitamins and minerals, and is super good for you.
One quick tip: make sure you clean, or at least soak, your pressure cooker liner immediately after serving. Since this recipe has cheese in it, it will be difficult to clean if you let it sit for too long.
Here’s a tutorial for how to cut broccoli into florets. This method has been SO helpful for me!
If you like this easy Instant Pot recipe, here are a few more you’ll love: Instant Pot Split Pea Soup, Instant Pot Pulled Pork, Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash with Garlic and Herbs, and Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili. And if you like one pot chicken meals, try this baked Spiced Chicken and Rice with Apples and Raisins.
Here’s the recipe for Instant Pot Chicken, Broccoli, and Quinoa with Cheese!
Instant Pot Chicken, Broccoli, and Quinoa with Cheese
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 lbs. chicken breasts cut into approximately 1/2″ pieces
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 1 cup uncooked white quinoa rinsed
- 1.5 cups chicken stock/broth
- 3 cups small broccoli florets frozen or fresh, from about 1 medium head
- 8 oz. cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
- Turn your pressure cooker to the "sauté" function. Melt the butter (1 tablespoon) and sauté the onions, celery, and carrots for 3 minutes, or until beginning to soften.
- Add the rinsed quinoa (1 cup), stir to coat.
- Pour in the chicken broth (1.5 cups) and add the chicken pieces and stir to mix together well. Turn the "sauté" function off. Cover the instant pot and set manual pressure to "high" for 5 minutes.
- Quick release the pressure and wait for the float valve to depress.
- Stir in the broccoli and cheese. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes, or until broccoli is crisp-tender and cheese has completely melted.
- Serve.
Notes
- Stovetop Directions: To make this on your stovetop, sauté the onions, celery, and carrots in butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet for three minutes. Add the chicken with salt and pepper; sauté for three minutes more. Add the quinoa and chicken broth, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on low for 20 minutes, or until quinoa is almost completely cooked. Stir in the broccoli and cheese, cover, and cook for 5 more minutes, until broccoli is tender. Serve.
- Make it dairy free: omit the cheese and use olive oil instead of butter.
- I made this recipe in my 6 qt. Instant pot. It should work the same in an 8 qt., but you may need to cut the ingredients in half for a 3 qt. mini.
- The timing is for white quinoa, which cooks faster than tricolor, red, or black quinoa. If you use another kind, I recommend adding more time for it to cook. Keep in mind- adding more time may result in overcooked chicken.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
This recipe first appeared on Bowl of Delicious in February 2018. I’ve updated it with new photographs and tweaked the recipe in response to some user comments and questions.
maria
What happens to the recipe if I want to half it? I don’t want 6 servings. Thx
Elizabeth Lindemann
You should be able to cut all the ingredients in half and keep the same cooking times and be fine! Hope you like it :-)
Janet Carey
Made this tonight and also had a lot of liquid. Recipe says 1.5 cups but directions say 1/2 cup of broth. Used the 1.5 amount. We had used red quinoa. However, we left the liquid in and within time, it was all absorbed. It was actually delicious even with the extra liquid. Chicken was perfectly cooked, so I would be sad to cook it longer, however next time I make it, I think I will leave it on the saute setting and add the 1.5 cups broth in with the quinoa before adding the chicken. May bring the quinoa just to a boil, and then add the chicken, then proceed with the 5 min pressure cook time. I thought about reducing the amount of liquid, but I think cooking the quinoa a bit before adding the chicken will do the trick. Great recipe and will make again.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh my goodness, thanks so much for catching that error! I fixed it now to the correct amount, which is 1.5 cups. I also added a note to use white quinoa for the timing instructed, and to add more time if you are using another color. So happy you liked it, and thanks again!
Monica
I am a new user of the Insta Pot. Can I use Brown rice instead of Quinoa? If so are there any adjustments that need to be made?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Good question! I haven’t tried making this with brown rice, but you will have to adjust the timing. The ratio of liquid should be fine. Brown rice takes 20-22 minutes (!) to cook in the instant pot. MUCH faster than stovetop, but still a lot longer than quinoa. So just make sure you increase the cooking time to about 20 minutes instead of 5, and you should be fine! You might want to bookmark this cheat sheet for instant pot cooking times- I reference it all the time for questions like this. Hope you like it! https://instantpot.com/instantpot-cooking-time/
Jamie
Really enjoyed this. Made it with vegan butter, cheese and used Gardein Chien’ Scallopini to make it vegan. Thank you for the inspiration!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Great to know it works with vegan ingredients! Thanks so much, and glad you liked it!
Kay
I made this dish using my Instant Pot, and while it turned out quite tasty (the broccoli was perfect using this method), I opened the lid after the pressure release to find – quinoa soup! It was a little better after sitting for 5 minutes, but I had to press out the excess liquid with a strainer. Even now, the leftovers are draining in a fine-mesh colander. I followed the directions pretty closely – * with the exception of sautéing the chicken pieces for about two minutes with the veggies AND increasing the amount of quinoa and water to 1.5 cups and 2.25 cups respectively (an amount that is in proportion with the original recipe and slightly less water than what the quinoa package instructions state for the that amount of quinoa). In retrospect, I should have reduced the amount of water by at least 1/2 to 2/3 cup for the larger amount of quinoa. Have you tried making the dish with more quinoa, and if so, how much water did you add? (I used whole grain quinoa with original instructions 1.25 cups of quinoa to 2 cups water).
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh man, so sorry you had this frustrating experience! I’ve never tried it with more quinoa, but I imagine that the instant pot maybe needed a little more time to cook it. The instant pot cooking times chart (https://instantpot.com/instantpot-cooking-time/) doesn’t specify this, but that’s the only thing I can think of! UNLESS you used a different type of quinoa- red quinoa needs a longer cooking time than white, and black needs even longer than that. If you used tri color quinoa (a mix of the three), that may have contributed as well. Hope that helps!
Jen
I’m looking forward to making this today. I wonder if you can make it ahead, then keep warm, and add the cheese when everyone is home from school/work to eat it? Or if it’s easily reheatable?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Sorry for the delayed response! I think you can make it ahead of time and keep it on warm, and then add the broccoli and cheese just before serving. That said, I’ve been known to zap the leftovers in the microwave with pretty good results. Hope that helps!
Maryrose
Delicious! My husband said he could eat this every day!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thank you! So happy you and your husband liked it!
Samantha
So delicious, my husband and evening my picky 5 year old cleaned their plates!! I made this on the stovetop, I will add an extra cup of chicken broth next time so I will have more broth.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Aw yay! So glad you and your family liked it!
Stephanie Trillo
Made this to the letter with one deviation, I used broccoli and cauliflower mixed bag – and left some of the chicken chunks bigger for the picky kid who doesn’t like his food touching – and he gobbled it all up! Hubby said it was repeatable and that he enjoyed it, so I’m adding it to my menu list. Thank you! It felt like a quick, family friendly and healthy meal.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Love the idea of using broccoli AND cauliflower! Glad you and your family liked it :-)
Jenny
Yes I did get the burn warning, so I added some extra water. I also added a can of cream of mushroom!
And yes used frozen vegetables
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks for the suggestions!
Caroline
I am always on the hunt for more meals that I can make COMPLETELY in the Instant Pot – this was so easy and so delicious!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Yay! So glad you liked it!
Jessica
Love how quick and easy this was to make! My family prefers food with a touch more seasoning so I added a dash of garlic powder and about a half teaspoon of yellow curry powder, yum!
Elizabeth
Yum, I love the idea of adding those spices to this! Glad you liked it :-)
Lindsay
Can you used mixed vegetables that are frozen or will in only work with just broccoli? Just realized I don’t have broccoli only
Elizabeth
Sure, why not? I think it would work fine! I think frozen spinach would be great, too.
Carol
Made this tonite, going to take it for lunches at work this week. Turned out great, really like it, only problem I hit was after I stirred in the broccoli and cheese, I got the BURN warning before it was done, and it was definitely burned on the bottom. Not sure if I should have added more chicken stock or just poured the broccoli and cheese on top and not stirred it. Definitely going to make again!!!
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it! I’m going to cook this again this week because so many people have gotten the burn warning and see what I discover and update the recipe. I’m thinking that I’ll either set the IP to “0” instead of “1” for the time for the second cook or just not pressure cook it at all for the second round!
Sharyn Barr
I made this last night, and it turned out perfectly! I used white quinoa and did not get burned. I used frozen broccoli florets that were mostly thawed. Perfect!! I shared the recipe with all my Instant Pot friends!
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it! I’m actually planning on making it tomorrow with white quinoa too.
Brandie
I used a Quinoa and brown rice blend, I also got the burn message. Wondering how long I should let it sit with the lid on?
Elizabeth
How frustrating, sorry you got the burn message! Since writing this recipe it’s come to my attention that some of the newer IPs are more sensitive to the burn warning. Next time, I’d try adding a little more liquid. Hope that helps!
Jenna
Made this tonight and it was delicious! I got the burn message during the 2nd pressure too. I just let it sit in the pot with the cover on and the cheese melted and the broccoli cooked. Definitely will make this again :)
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it!!
Crystal
Mine burned during the second pressure cook. Tips on avoiding the dreaded burn warning? Thanks!
Elizabeth
Oh no! Sorry to hear that happened. Usually the burn warning happens when there is too little liquid. I’m curious- what kind of quinoa did you use? I used tri color, which I think takes a bit longer to cook and doesn’t absorb quite as much liquid. If you used plain white quinoa, maybe that had an effect. Next time, I’d add the broccoli and cheese and either: a) let it sit in the hot quinoa mixture and melt/cook, or b) set the pressure to “0” minutes instead of 1. Or, maybe add more liquid in the beginning! Hope that helps, and better luck next time :-)
Jessica
Made it. Loved it. And it reheats great!
Elizabeth
Woo hoo! So happy you liked it :-)
Carly
What are the serving sizes for this and how many servings in this recipe?
Elizabeth
Hi Carly! Sorry for the delayed response. This recipe makes about 6 servings. Hope that helps!