Instant Pot Ginger-Scallion Chicken Rice

Ingredients

3–4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (1–1⅓ lb), excess fat trimmed and saved

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

2 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

½ tsp white pepper

1 tsp kosher salt, divided

1½ cups jasmine rice

Trimmed thigh fat, or 2 tbsp neutral oil

2-inch piece ginger: half sliced into coins, half finely grated (grated half is for the sauce)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch scallions, whites cut into 2-inch pieces, greens thinly sliced

1½ cups low-sodium chicken stock

4 dried shiitake, crumbled (optional)

⅓ cup neutral oil, for the sauce

Cucumber, cilantro, and chili crisp or sambal, to serve

Method

Trim and marinate. Trim the large pockets of fat from the thighs and save them. Toss the thighs with the Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, and ½ tsp salt. Let sit while you prep the rice.

Rinse the rice in 3–4 changes of water until mostly clear. Drain well.

Render and sauté. On Sauté, render the trimmed fat 4–5 minutes until you have about 2 tbsp of fat. Discard the cracklings or snack on them. If you're short on fat, top it up with oil. Add the ginger coins, garlic, and scallion whites and cook about 1 minute until fragrant. Add the rice and stir 1–2 minutes until glossy and slightly translucent at the edges.

Deglaze. Turn Sauté off. Add the stock, shiitake, and ½ tsp salt. Scrape the bottom completely clean to prevent a burn warning. Stir once to loosen the rice, then level it into an even layer.

Layer the chicken. Lay the thighs flat, smooth side up, on the rice in one layer and pour the leftover marinade over the top. Keep the soy out of the bottom liquid.

Pressure cook on High for 4 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then vent the rest.

Check the temperature. The thickest thigh should read 175–190°F. Thighs stay juicy up to about 190°F and turn silkier as they go. If it reads low, close the lid on Keep Warm for 3–5 minutes. Move the chicken to a board and rest 5 minutes.

Ginger-scallion oil. Put the grated ginger, scallion greens, and ½ tsp salt in a heatproof bowl. Heat ⅓ cup oil until shimmering, close to smoking, and pour it over. It should sizzle hard. A splash of soy or rice vinegar is optional.

Finish. Fluff the rice and remove the ginger coins. Slice the thighs into strips. Serve over the rice with the ginger-scallion oil, cucumber, cilantro, and chili crisp.

At a Glance

3–4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs	trim fat, save it	toss, marinate				lay chicken on rice, pour marinade over	High 4 min, natural release 10 min; check 175–190°F	rest chicken 5 min, fluff rice, slice; serve with sauce and garnishes
1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
½ tsp white pepper
½ tsp kosher salt
1½ cups jasmine rice	rinse until mostly clear, drain			add rice, stir 1–2 min until glossy	Sauté off; deglaze, scrape clean, level rice
trimmed thigh fat (or 2 Tbsp neutral oil)	render on Sauté 4–5 min		sauté 1 min
1-inch ginger, sliced into coins
4 cloves garlic, minced
scallion whites, 2-inch pieces
1½ cups low-sodium chicken stock
4 dried shiitake, crumbled (optional)
½ tsp kosher salt
1-inch ginger, finely grated	combine in a heatproof bowl	pour hot oil over
scallion greens, thinly sliced
½ tsp kosher salt
⅓ cup neutral oil	heat until shimmering
cucumber, cilantro, chili crisp

Notes

This is Hainanese chicken rice folded into one pot. The classic method poaches the chicken, then cooks the rice in the fat and broth. Here the rice cooks underneath and catches the chicken juices as they drip, so you get the same flavor in one step. The ginger-scallion oil carries as much of the dish as the chicken does.

Thighs suit this method better than breasts. They have enough fat and connective tissue to stay juicy well past done, so the timing is forgiving. The rice sets the cook time, not the chicken. Four minutes on High cooks the rice, and the thighs finish in the same steam. A longer cook pushes the chicken past 200°F. Keep the stock at 1:1 with the rice. An earlier version used less, and the bottom layer scorched, stayed hard, and stuck. Rinsing the rice and scraping the pot clean prevent gluey rice and the burn warning. Soy sugars scorch on the bottom, so the marinade stays on top of the chicken.

Rendering the trimmed thigh fat in step 3 is the traditional Hainanese move and the biggest flavor upgrade. It costs nothing because you were going to throw that fat away. The dried shiitake add background savoriness without tasting of mushroom. A pinch of MSG in the rice works too. Serve the chili crisp on the side to keep the base mild for the whole family.