This Instant Pot Spanish Chicken Pulao is another one of my go-to meals on a lazy Sunday morning. Let me start by saying I do not know why it is called Spanish Pulao! I don’t think it has anything to do with Spain! But anyway that’s the recipe name and I will stick to it. I shall find out why it has this name and update my post soon!

This recipe I learned from my Mom, she is an awesome cook and anything that she makes is amazing.

So this is one of those one-pot meals for a great Sunday lunch but without much work. I made this in the Instant Pot.

I highly recommend the Instant Pot, it is a lifesaver when you need quick one-pot meals! You can buy it on Amazon, I have both sizes! The 6 qt is good when you have guests over and the small one is great for everyday cooking.

6 qt Instant Pot

3 qt Instant Pot

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What are the ingredients for Instant Pot Spanish Chicken Pulao?

Basmati Rice – it’s important to use long-grain rice as the grains turn out fluffy and nice. I use this Royal Basmati Rice

Chicken – I used a full chicken cut up in medium pieces. You could use just chicken thighs or chicken drumsticks.

(Vegetarian options – you could use mixed vegetables, paneer, tofu, chickpeas, etc )

Onion – you need just 1/2 an onion sliced

Tomatoes – 2 tomatoes sliced ( you could chop them if you don’t like to see the tomatoes in the finished dish)

Green chilies, cilantro, and mint – chilies as per your spice level, I used 3. A handful of cilantro and a few mint leaves. All these are ground to a paste. Used a little water to make a paste.

I left out the mint as I did not have any.

Whole Spices – cardamoms, cloves, and cinnamon.

Ghee – use ghee for the best flavor. But you could use any cooking oil as well.

Salt to taste

Juice of 1 lime

Coconut Milk/Water – I used a combination of coconut milk and water, I used 1 cup coconut milk and the rest water. You could use canned coconut milk, but I prefer to use coconut milk powder. You just mix it with warm water and you get your coconut milk.

How do you make this Pulao?

Heat the Instant pot on sauté mode. Add ghee to it, when the ghee is hot, add whole spices.

Fry a little, then add sliced onions, fry till translucent. Add tomatoes.

When tomatoes are soft, add the ground paste, and mix well. Add chicken and salt. Mix well and let the chicken cook till almost done.

Add rice, coconut milk according to the liquid in the pot. For 1 cup of rice, you should add 1 1/2 cups liquid.

So depending on the gravy in the pot, add liquid accordingly. For 3 cups rice, I added 3 1/2 cups liquid, as there was already 1 cup gravy in the pot.

Check for salt and add the juice of one lime. Close the Instant Pot and pressure cook for 4 minutes.

Once done, press cancel. Do a quick release after 10 minutes. Open the Instant Pot and mix the Pulao.

Put it in a serving dish and serve hot with Raita or any gravy dish on the side.