Cheesy Chicken & Spanish Rice is a quick & easy weeknight meal! Great flavor in this comforting One-Pot Spanish Rice recipe with added chicken and cheese. Can be made on the stove or in an Instant Pot!
Cheesy Chicken & Spanish Rice is a delicious dinner recipe sponsored by Hunt’s Tomatoes. All opinions are 100% mine. #HuntsDifference This is a flavorful one-pot Spanish Rice recipe with chicken and cheese. Serve on its own topped with cilantro and sour cream or in a tortilla!
If there’s one word I can use to describe this recipe it’s FLAVOR! The smoky paprika and cumin combined with sweet tomatoes and tender chicken and rice just make this dish amazing. I like to use Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes because they taste great and I can find them everywhere. Hunt’s prepares their tomatoes differently than other brands and you can taste the difference. Tomatoes are vine ripened and are canned within hours of being picked. Their tomatoes are peeled using steam without any chemicals. The end result is sweet, flavorful canned tomatoes ready to be made into dinner!
If you’re pressed for time, I suggest using 1 tsp onion powder in place of diced onion. Also, know that this dish is fabulous when made ahead of time! Reheat in the microwave or on the stove, then top with the cheese for dinner.
Notes on Making this Cheesy Chicken Spanish Rice in the Instant Pot: Since the instant Pot essentially steams the food with heat and pressure to cook it, this rice dish ends up having a softer, more risotto-like texture. If you’re not keen on this, I’ve heard that using parboiled rice works well in maintaining a more rice-like texture in the Instant Pot.
Cheesy Chicken & Spanish Rice
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1 chicken breast, diced
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 14.5 oz can Hunts Diced Tomatoes, undrained
- 1 8-oz can Hunts tomato sauce
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar Jack cheese
Skillet Directions:
- Saute onion and garlic in olive oil on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add chicken and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add uncooked rice and seasonings, stirring to combine. Saute for 3 minutes and then add broth, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.
- Stir, then reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 40 minutes.
- Remove lid and stir, continuing to cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in half the cheese. Top with remaining cheese, as well as cilantro. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.
Instant Pot Directions:
- Select “Saute” mode on Instant Pot and drizzle pan with olive oil. Add onion and garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Add chicken and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add uncooked rice and seasonings, stirring to combine. Saute for 3 minutes and then add broth, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Attach lid and make sure steam valve is sealed.
- Select “Cancel” on the Instant Pot. Select “Rice” setting. Once pot comes to pressure, it will cook for 12-16 minutes. Once it’s done, Natural Pressure Release for 5 minutes, then flip the steam valve to “Vent” and quick release the remaining pressure. Stir in half the cheese and top with remaining cheese. Serve sprinkled with cilantro and topped with a dollop of sour cream.
- Alternatively, you can instead cook on Manual High pressure for 4 minutes, instead of using the “Rice” function, before continuing with the rest of the Instant Pot directions. This saves time as using the Rice function adds 5-6 minutes.
If you liked this easy 20-Minute Chicken Stew, check out these other amazing weeknight dinners:
- Taco Calzones
- Slow Cooker Madras Lentils
- French Onion Tomato Soup
- Chicken Coconut Curry
- The BEST Crockpot Beef Stew
- Summer Vegetable Stew
- Zucchini Sausage Soup
For more great recipe inspirations from Hunt’s tomatoes, visit www.hunts.com.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Hunt’s. The opinions and text are all mine.
Cheesy Chicken & Spanish Rice
Ingredients
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1 chicken breast diced
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 14.5 oz can Hunts Diced Tomatoes undrained
- 1 8- oz can Hunts tomato sauce
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar Jack cheese
Instructions
Skillet Directions:
- Saute onion and garlic in olive oil on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add chicken and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add uncooked rice and seasonings, stirring to combine. Saute for 3 minutes and then add broth, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.
- Stir, then reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 40 minutes.
- Remove lid and stir, continuing to cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in half the cheese. Top with remaining cheese, as well as cilantro. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.
Instant Pot Directions:
- Select "Saute" mode on Instant Pot and drizzle pan with olive oil. Add onion and garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Add chicken and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add uncooked rice and seasonings, stirring to combine. Saute for 3 minutes and then add broth, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Attach lid and make sure steam valve is sealed.
- Select "Cancel" on the Instant Pot. Select "Rice" setting. Once pot comes to pressure, it will cook for 12-16 minutes. Once it's done, Natural Pressure Release for 5 minutes, then flip the steam valve to "Vent" and quick release the remaining pressure. Stir in half the cheese and top with remaining cheese. Serve sprinkled with cilantro and topped with a dollop of sour cream.
- Alternatively, you can instead cook on Manual High pressure for 4 minutes, instead of using the "Rice" function, before continuing with the rest of the Instant Pot directions. This saves time as using the Rice function adds 5-6 minutes.
Tianna S says
Very awesome Recipe! I made Spanish rice using this recipe for my family and they loved it. I added a little more chili pepper for spiciness, but everything else in the recipe made it turn out delicious. Thanks!
Jessica says
I’m so glad you liked it Tianna!
AnitaG. says
So I decided to make this recipe because I have a family of 12 in my home and am always looking for ways to conserve. I have been working on a variety of recipes involving a chicken challenge determined to use one breast for four people and this recipe seemed right up there with the goal since it serves 6 with one breast. I trippled the recipe because there are a lot of hungry mouths here and 12 servings doesnt always do it. I have a bit of OCD so I used the exact measurements called for 3 times. I used my oven timer to follow the times you set in the instructions for simmering and cooking. I had read through a few comments and thought that would be best since this was a new dish for me and there seemed a struggle.
My notes: I turned it to low and cooked 40 min and my rice isnt done. Yes, it was long grain white rice, and I did indeed leave the liquid in the diced tomato. This is completely undone, not even half done. So I cooked it like rice should be cooked. I brought it to a boil then reduced heat to a simmer for 15 minutes. Then finished it with the cheese. I did make some seasoning changes because I didnt have but one tsp of chili powder so I added a tsp of sazon’ and a tsp Cheyenne pepper. I also used a can of fire roasted tomatoes out of the three diced tomato cans I needed. The final change was the cheese. Noone here likes Cheddar Jack so I blended mozzarella and sharp cheddar and served with a dolop of sour cream.
Thoughts: It tasted as good as I thought and all but one picky eater liked it because he doesnt like tomatoes. I do recommend anyone attempting this to do everything but the 40 minute part. Just cook the rice as usual. It shaves 25 mintues off too! Dinner was sooo much later than usual but we all enjoyed it. Good Luck All!!
Sharon says
Loved the easiness and flavor of this recipe. However, I found that 40 minutes cooking time is much too long. I questioned it and stopped it around 30 minutes. It was slightly over cooked, but tasty. I will make this recipe again, but will stop the cooking process at around 20 minutes, as that is all the time needed to cook long grain white rice.
Jessica says
thanks Sharon!
Layton Veira says
This recipe was super simple and quick! My only complaint is that it was dry. Without the sour cream! Very flavorful though. Will make again but tweak it to my liking. Thanks for sharing!
Jessica says
Thanks Layton!