Instant Pot Chicken, Broccoli, and Quinoa with Cheese
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
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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 reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It 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.
I’ve made this recipe several times a month for years! One of my all time favorites. I have it essentially memorized, but have to come back for the quinoa to broth ratio. We add extra veggies and leave the cheese out to let everyone add their own to taste, but otherwise it’s great as is!
So glad you liked it!
I made it and it was awesome and easy
So glad you liked it!
This recipe is a favorite in my house! Super easy to make and full of flavor. We always make sure to have leftovers!
So glad you liked it!
I wanted to jump in and swim around in it… it was that good! I did add 1/2 cup extra broth from review advice, cooked the broccoli with the chicken, added garlic with the onions, and left out the celery.. lots of pepper and some garlic salt! It was really delicious! Chicken so moist and cooked all the way through! Thank you.. will do this again and again. Maybe add mushrooms next time!
Woo hoo! So glad you liked it, and I love the idea of adding mushrooms!
On your nutrition information, what size portion in that for? Thank you in advance.
The nutrition is calculated/estimated for one portion of the recipe, which has 6 servings total. I don’t know exactly how much that is in terms of volume, but if I had to guess, somewhere around 1.5 cups. Hope that helps.
Tried it today, like the recipe though in my case there was a lot of leftover liquid so it ended up mushy. Not sure if I needed to use less stock. Using the instant pot ultra and followed the rest of the recipe as directed.
I’ve found instant pot recipes to be a bit tricky to write, as there seems to be a lot of variety with different models. It could be the model of the instant pot, or the type of rice used or something. But if you try it again, maybe just add less liquid next time – sometimes these gadgets require some trial and error! Hope that helps and better luck next time.
I made the recipe exactly as described and I got the burn notification after the 5 minute manual pressure. There’s not enough liquid or too much quinoa. I won’t be making it again.
Hi there, I have heard that this is an issue with some of the newer versions of Instant Pots showing the burn notice more readily than older versions. I think the heat sensor might have just been made a bit more sensitive. You may just want to add a little more liquid. It could also be something else like the seal not being tight enough, food debris stuck where it shouldn’t be, etc. Regardless, I (and other readers here) have had good success with this recipe in the instant pot, so there was some kind of user error here or extra sensitivity with the instant pot version. But if anyone is concerned about this or has experienced burn notices on their IP before, you can always add a little more liquid, and if the result seems too soupy when it’s done, just let it stand and cool for a little while and some of that extra liquid will evaporate off! Here’s a good article about burn notices on instant pots – hope that helps! https://apressurecookerkitchen.com/instant-pot-says-burn/
I can’t digest ‘crisp’ broccoli, so I would need to cook until fully soft. How could I best adjust the recipe to do that?
You can just add the broccoli in the beginning with the other ingredients. Hope that helps!
Great, healthy recipe!
I was wondering if I could double it? And if so do I just double the quinoa and liquid? Thanks!
I’d say as long as your instant pot size can hold all the contents, go for it! You can use the slider on the recipe card under “servings” to adjust the ingredients as needed!
Does this call for cooked chicken or raw chicken? In 5 minutes on high, my chicken is not cooked nor is my quinoa.
Updated comment. I assume this recipe calls for raw chicken. After five minutes on high neither my chicken nor quinoa were cooked. I put it on for another five on high and that did the trick. I thought the broccoli was too crisp for my taste so tried to put it back on high pressure cook for one more minute after adding the broccoli. I’m still getting my pressure cooker wings and found out that burned the bottom since there was not enough liquid. Recipe tasted good but I would increase the initial pressure cook to 10 and might just add the broccoli at the beginning (though, that will probably overcook the broccoli…)
Thanks for the update! Glad you were able to figure it out. I’ve heard some of the newer instant pot models burn a little easier. I’ve always been able to use mine at 5 minutes on high to do this. One other thought crossed my mind – were you using white quinoa, or red/tricolor? White is the quickest cooking quinoa. So that might have something to do with it.
The recipe calls for raw chicken – not sure why yours didn’t cook! You can always cover it back up and add a few more minutes.
Easy and tasty. As there were no spices in the recipe I added what I knew my family would like. I added so e turmeric, sage, garlic and oregano. Since I did not have any green veggies I added frozen corn. I will make again but make sure I have some green vegetables.
So glad you liked it! Thanks for adding your additions!
Made this recipe today and added diced red pepper and fresh garlic. It was delicious and I definitely will make again!
So glad you liked it!
Delicious
Glad you liked it!
Good meal, easy to make. I added some garlic, an extra cup of chicken broth, and topped it with some Sriracha sauce to give it a bit more flavor. Will make again.
So glad you liked it! Love your additions.
So good! My whole family loves this dish. It’s a bonus that it’s pretty healthy too! :)
So glad you and your family like it!
Used vegetable broth instead of chicken because it was what i had on hand. I added some extra salt and left out the cheese because of family’s preferences. It was AMAZING. Totally making again.
So glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing your substitutions and adjustments :-)
Just wanted to say I’ve made this many times and it is always a hit! Like a cheesy chicken casserole but much healthier. I definitely think it works better with the white quinoa vs. the tri-color. I especially love the amount of leftovers it provides – they taste just as good as the first night!
So glad you liked it!
Can I use frozen chicken and then cut up after its cooked?
Do you mean add frozen chicken breasts to the instant pot instead of cut up chicken? I wouldn’t. I think they wouldn’t cook all the way with the timing, and if they do, there’s a chance they will overcook on the outside. Instead, I recommend defrosting them overnight in the fridge for 24 hours and saving the recipe for tomorrow. Hope that helps!
Kudos to anyone who remembers to thaw their chicken AND use it!
It’s just not a thing in our house…We either forget to thaw, or forget that we DID thaw and wind up forgetting about the chicken and trashing it.
The point being that frozen chicken in an instant pot works well, and thank goodness for that!
There are lots of tips for cooking frozen chicken here (not my site, just something I found helpful): https://ifoodreal.com/instant-pot-frozen-chicken-breast/
Top tips: I never use the rack, and I always test the chicken with a thermometer before I serve it.
Thanks for this great tip!
How would this work using frozen broccoli?
Just add the frozen broccoli in as you would with fresh- it should be fine with the timing but if it’s not, just let it sit with the cover on for a little and the residual heat from the dish will thaw it out perfectly!