Y’all. It’s about the get delicious up in here. I’ve partnered with Tom Thumb to bring you these these insanely flavorful and satisfying 21 Day Fix Instant Pot Mediterranean Chicken and Rice Bowls and you are going to love them.
The best part is, they’re super easy to make – I made these with frozen chicken breasts that we’d prepped awhile back. This is meal prep at its finest – this recipe makes six generous servings and some seriously tasty leftovers.
Of course, I’ve included 21 Day Fix container counts at the bottom of this post for you – and Weight Watchers Freestyle Points, too!
Instant Pot Mediterranean Chicken and Rice Bowl
I picked up all the ingredients for this recipe at my local Tom Thumb (which also delivers – and yesterday, as I was ordering groceries, I learned that they now offer doorstep delivery, which means you don’t even need to be home or answer your door. #introvertsdream). You can also find all of these ingredients at Albertson’s.
I buy my Signature SELECT™, Signature Kitchens®, and Signature Farms® products, available exclusively in my area, at Tom Thumb and Albertsons stores. You can also find them at all Albertsons Companies family of stores, including ACME Markets, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Shaw’s, Star Market, and Carrs/Safeway. Visit Albertsons or Tom Thumb to find a store near you and discover more meal prep tips and recipe ideas.
We shop at Tom Thumb because it’s close, and we trust their store brands. The Signature Farms™ chicken is a great value (I have a ton in my freezer right now!), and when you’re eating healthy but also shopping on a budget, that’s important.
Here’s what you need to make these Instant Pot Mediterranean Chicken and Rice Bowls.
Serves: 6
Serving size: divide evenly into 6 servings (about 1 1/2 cups each)
- 1 1/2 lbs frozen Signature Farms chicken breast
- 2 cups red beller peppers, chopped (about two peppers)
- 2 cups Signature Kitchens™ artichoke hearts, drained (this brand is low in sodium!)
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tsp olive oil
- juice from one lemon
- salt and pepper, to taste
For toppings:
- 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted (you’ll have some left over)
- basil, finely chopped
You’re going to love all the flavors in this easy Instant Pot Mediterranean bowl recipe!
READ THIS BEFORE YOU MAKE IT: This recipe was made using a 6qt Instant Pot. If your pot is larger, you’ll need to adjust accordingly.
Also, altitude can affect your cook time – here’s a really helpful post about how to adjust your pot for altitude.
Turn your Instant Pot to sauté. Let it heat up, and add your olive oil. Once the olive oil has heated, add your red bell peppers and artichoke hearts and sauté for 4-5 minutes. You want to let them get a little brown, but you don’t want them too soft as they’re going to cook more when the pot comes to pressure.
Turn the Instant Pot off. Add your chicken breasts, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Pour your rice evenly over the ingredients. Add your chicken broth.
Place the lid on the Instant Pot. Close and make sure it’s in the lock position, and that your valve is set to “seal.” Turn on manual for 20 minutes.
Once done, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then quick release the remaining pressure.
Open the lid carefully. Using forks or a hand mixer, shred the chicken (take it out first if you’re going to use a hand mixer!).
Once the chicken is shredded, mix all ingredients together. This will help any extra liquid soak into your chicken and rice.
Let it sit for a few minutes, then scoop into your bowl.
Top with chopped basil and 1 tablespoon of toasted pine nuts. You could also add olives, and my friend Nancylynn suggested feta, too – that would be amazing!
Instant Pot Mediterranean Chicken and Rice Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 2 c red bell peppers chopped (about two peppers)
- 2 c artichoke hearts soaked in water, drained
- 1 c brown rice
- 1 1/2 c low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tsp olive oil
- juice from one lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
For toppings
- 1/2 cup pine nuts toasted (you'll have some left over)
- basil finely chopped
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to sauté. Let it heat up, and add your olive oil. Once the olive oil has heated, add your red bell peppers and artichoke hearts and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Just let them get a little brown, but you don't want them too soft as they're going to cook more when the pot comes to pressure.
- Turn the Instant Pot off. Add your chicken breasts, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Pour your rice evenly over the ingredients. Add your chicken broth.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot. Close and make sure it's in the lock position, and that your valve is set to "seal." Turn on manual for 20 minutes.
- Once done, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then quick release the remaining pressure.
- Open the lid carefully. Using forks or a hand mixer, shred the chicken (take it out first if you're going to use a hand mixer!).
- Once the chicken is shredded, mix all ingredients together. This will help any extra liquid soak into your chicken and rice.
- Let it sit for a few minutes, then scoop into your bowl.
- Top with chopped basil and one tablespoon of toasted pine nuts.
Notes
Nutrition
Here are the 21 Day Fix container counts for this recipe:
The 21 Day Fix program is always changing, and while I do my very best and never want to mess up (perfectionist, yo) please always double check the container counts yourself. Sometimes/usually it’s late at night when I write these posts.
Container counts, per serving (serving is about 1 1/2 cups with 1 tablespoon pine nuts):
- 1 red
- 1 yellow
- 1/2 green
- 1 tsp
- 1/2 orange
Weigh Watchers Freestyle Points: 5 points
Thank you to Tom Thumb for sponsoring this post.
My chicken is not frozen, how should I adjust cooking time?
I was wondering the same thing!!
No need to adjust the cook time – it will just come to pressure quicker! 😊
What are the WW Freestyle points for this recipe?
I used the WW recipe calculator and determined the Smart Points per serving is 4 without the Pine Nuts.
That is the free style smart points.
2 questions: How exactly would you adjust for an 8 qt pot (cooking novice over here)? Could you substitute cauliflower rice instead, or would the cooking time be too long? In that case, I’m guessing I would just cook the cauliflower rice separately.
I haven’t made this in an 8qt so I can’t say for *sure* – but I think it will be the same…it will just take longer to come to pressure. I think I’d do the cauliflower rice separately just because it might get a little mushy at this cook time. 🙂
Is there anyway you could do this in a crockpot?
Yes, definitely! I haven’t actually done it yet but this is a very crock pot-friendly dinner.
Here’s what I would do:
Either sautee the veggies ahead of time on the stovetop *or* just toss them all in and don’t bother with the sautee step at all. I would probably do for 6 hours on low and add the toasted pine nuts and toppings before you eat it.
Awesome thanks! I will try that. I’ve never done rice in a crockpot!
I upped the amounts to 2 lbs chicken (fresh, not frozen), 1.5 cups rice, 2 1/4 cups chicken stock (I have an 8 qt instapot). Turned out AMAZING. I will probably increase the peppers next time, too. I used a heavy hand with the pepper and that really created flavor.
Thank you for sharing – I’ve had people ask me about making it for an 8qt and never know exactly what to do! So glad you liked it!
This was a FAIL made as directed. The chicken was not cooked through and the rice was crunchy and the dish was very liquidy (unlike the picture). After sauteing for 15 minutes the flavor was good, but the recipe needs work. I suggest a 5-10 minute NPR.
I’m so sorry to hear that! I’ve never heard of that happening before!
I had the same problem! It had too much liquid and the rice wasnt cooked all the way. It might need more time.
That’s so strange. I wonder if you guys are at a higher altitude? That’s the only thing I can think of – until last week, no one has ever told me this and people in my FB group make this recipe all the time.
Mine was a fail as well. It looked liked soggy rice soup. The rice was a mushy ball of paste.
I made this as written and it worked great! Thanks, Carrie!!
My family loved this dish!! And I love that I can use frozen chicken – makes it so nice for weeknights.
Right? I love this one too!
There is no way the nutrition facts are accurate. 6g protein when the base of
This meal is chicken?? Not possible.
Thanks for letting me know! I found the issue and fixed it.
Recipe didn’t turn out. Rice was mush, I had tons of excess liquid despite following the recipe. Chicken was cooked, about the only positive thing I could say.
I’m so sorry to hear that – I hate it when I make something and it doesn’t turn out right. I’m not sure what happened!
This has become a staple in our house! This recipe is absolutely delicious!
I’m so glad you like it, Laurie!! We love it too!
Wasn’t a fan of the artichoke. Could you sub maybe cauliflower? Otherwise recipe came out great. Good flavor and texture.
Yep, you could definitely do cauliflower instead! That would be good – I need to try that!
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Cooked it tonight. Omitted the pine nuts as we didn’t have any and swapped white rice for brown. Turned out great.
Glad you liked it! 🙂