Instant Pot Spanish Arroz con Pollo

I believe that every culture has a version of chicken and rice that they have made uniquely theirs.  This version is a very Spanish version of arroz con pollo – flavored with peppers, onion and tomato with pulled chicken that is highly spiced on its own.  I love to make this on a busy night when I want to give my family lots to eat, but I just don’t have the time to make a big meal.  And the fact that I can cook the chicken from frozen – you just can’t get better than that.

My First Facebook Live Video –

This morning (10 AM Mountain Standard Time), I did my first Facebook Live Cooking Video, still viewable here.  I talked about Instant Pot basics, common Instant Pot mistakes, and  I made this recipe live on video, and demonstrated how amazing the Instant Pot can be.  As always, the Instant Pot community rallied behind me and it was a wonderful success.   I’ll be adding some dedicated posts to cover the  Instant Pot basics and Instant Pot mistakes but one thing I wanted to mention was a safety issue that came up.

During a Quick Pressure release, it has become common for people to place a dish towel over the steam vent.  The steam can be jarring the first few times you deal with it and it scares the crap out of people.  Steam is hot and can burn you, it can warp cabinets if you continually let the steam out under wood cabinets on your counter, etc.  I did this too, until in the Facebook “Official Instant Pot Community” I saw someone mention that this is a bad idea.

During my live stream, I couldn’t remember why it was bad juju, so I looked it up and this is what I found:

A growing number of people are sharing pressure cooker tips that include advice about covering the valve or vent of the pressure cooker during pressure release by covering the vent/valve of the pressure cooker with a dry or wet towel, paper towel, hot pad or other object. Following this advice is a problem because the steam release vent is one of the pressure cooker’s main safety systems and any obstruction could cause this system to fail, or to trigger one of the other last-resort safety systems (which are generally pretty messy and could permanently damage electric pressure cookers).

Read more: Safety Alert: Don’t Cover or Obstruct Pressure Cooker Vent https://www.hippressurecooking.com/cover-pressure-cooker-vent-valve/

I promised I’d look into this and here is the answer. If you choose to do this, be aware you could cause lasting damage to your machine and even could cause a dangerous situation in your home.

Puerto Rican Arroz con Pollo vs Spanish Arroz con Pollo

There is some debate as to whether arroz con pollo originated in Spain or Puerto Rico. Many Puerto Ricans note that arroz con pollo cannot be made without beer and annatto oil and saffron is no substitute. Beer and annatto are rarely used in Spanish cooking and never in arroz con pollo there. Annatto is frequently used in Puerto Rican cooking especially in rice dishes like arroz con gandules (rice with pork and pigeon peas) and arroz con maiz (rice with corn and sausage). Beer is used in many Puerto Rican dishes like pollo guisado (braised stewed chicken) and asopao de pollo (chicken rice stew). Arroz con pollo and most Puerto Rican rice dishes are highly seasoned with sofrito, which is another key ingredient in arroz con pollo.

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Instant Pot Arroz con Pollo

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Rating: 5
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Course

Main Dish

Cuisine

Spanish

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

35 minutes

Servings

servings MetricUS Imperial

Ingredients

• 1.5-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon Penzeys Salsa & Pico seasoning optional (just adds a kick!)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth

Instant Pot Spanish Rice

• 1 small yellow onion finely diced
• 1 green bell pepper diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• Pinch of oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cloves garlic finely diced
• 1 small jalapeño seeded and diced
• 2 cups Jasmine rice
• 2 cups low-salt chicken stock use the broth/stock from cooking the chicken breasts, and add to it to equal 2 cups.
• 1 cup diced tomatoes drained
• 1 1/2 cups frozen sweet peas

Course Main Dish Cuisine Spanish Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 35 minutes Servings servings MetricUS Imperial Ingredients 1.5-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon dried cumin 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon Penzeys Salsa & Pico seasoning optional (just adds a kick!) 1/2 cup chicken broth Instant Pot Spanish Rice 1 small yellow onion finely diced 1 green bell pepper diced 1 red bell pepper diced Pinch of oregano 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 3 cloves garlic finely diced 1 small jalapeño seeded and diced 2 cups Jasmine rice 2 cups low-salt chicken stock use the broth/stock from cooking the chicken breasts, and add to it to equal 2 cups. 1 cup diced tomatoes drained 1 1/2 cups frozen sweet peas

Votes: 1 Rating: 5 You: Rate this recipe!

Instructions

Instant Pot Spanish Chicken

1. Combine the salt, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper and cayenne in a plastic gallon bag. Shake until the mixture is well combined. Pat the chicken dry and place in the bag with the spice mixture. Shake the bag, making sure the chicken is well coated.
2. Press the “poultry” button then add 5 minutes to cook the chicken for a total of 20 minutes.
3. Once the pressure cooking time has finished, carefully turn the valve from "sealing" to "venting" to quick pressure release.
4. Either shred with two forks OR do a quick shred with stand mixer.

Instant Pot Rice

1. Rinse rice under cold water by gently scrubbing the rice with your fingertips in a circling motion. Pour out the milky water, and continue to rinse until water is clear. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP (like I did in my live video. *sigh*)
2. Mix chicken broth (use the stock/broth from the pressure cooked chicken! then make up the difference to make 2 cups) and diced tomato until thoroughly combined, then add into the pressure cooker along with the rice. Top with chopped veggies, garlic, salt and oregano.
3. Lock lid onto the pressure cooker and select the High Pressure function.
4. Cook white rice for 3 minutes, and brown rice for 22 minutes.
5. Allow pressure to release naturally. Release any remaining pressure after 10 minutes
6. Add chicken to rice, and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

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