Pressure cooker (aka Instant Pot) lemony brown rice, packed with fresh veggies, and topped with a HUGE dollop of cool and creamy tzatziki sauce. Serve Pressure Cooker Mediterranean Rice with a side of grilled lemon garlic chicken to make a complete rockstar meal.
Today we’re taking the basic Pressure Cooker Brown Rice, and turning it into a lemony, mediterranean style flavor bomb! Oh heavens, where to even begin! I love every component of this dish so much, but when all 3 are combined, watch out!
First – bite size Lemon Garlic Chicken-grilled-because as much as I love my pressure cooker, my grill takes first place as far as my outdoor cooking goes (it’s only competition being a fire pit that is being taken over by weeds and spiders, but still . . .). The marinade for this chicken comes from one of my top 5 favorite sandwiches in the world-Garlic Lemon Chicken Sandwich with Tangy Pickle Dressing-coming soon in our cookbook Master the Electric Pressure Cooker!
Second – Brown rice with more “stuff” then actual rice, which is just how I like my dishes. I may have a reputation for eating the toppings off of salads, pepperoni off of pizza, and cookie dough bites out of cartons of ice cream. But with this dish, there is no need, because it is already LOADED. Fresh, briny, lemony . . . oh mama, it’s good!
Third – Tzatziki Sauce (otherwise known as Tazeeky sauce because I can’t, for the life of me, remember how to spell that word!). Cool and creamy, and yet another opportunity to add a bright splash of lemon. This sauce takes this dish from awesome to incred-a-mazing (stole that term from my daughter ????)! No shame in having a tablespoon per bite of rice. The recipe makes a good amount of it, so scoop, dollop, and dip away!
Healthy, bright, creamy, crunchy, briny-gangs all here! Enjoy!
PrintPressure Cooker Mediterranean Rice and Grilled Lemon Garlic Chicken
Pressure cooker (aka Instant Pot) lemony brown rice, packed with fresh veggies, and topped with a HUGE dollop of cool and creamy tzatziki sauce. Serve with a side of grilled lemon garlic chicken to make a complete rockstar meal.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes (at high pressure)
- Total Time: 39 minutes
- Yield: 5-6 servings 1x
- Category: main meal
- Method: Pressure cooker
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients
For the Lemon Garlic Chicken
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- zest of 1 large lemon
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
For the Rice
- 1 cup brown rice (I like basmati brown rice)
- 1 1/3 cup broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped fresh spinach
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped artichokes (I like bottled, marinated artichokes)
- 1 cup chopped cucumbers
- 1 cup garbanzo beans, rinsed
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives, sliced (can substitute black olives)
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
For the Tzatziki Sauce
- 2 cups greek yogurt
- 1 cup peeled, seeded, and shredded cucumber
- zest and juice of 1 large lemon
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 tablespoon fresh)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- To a gallon size resealable bag, add all of the chicken ingredients. Seal the bag closed and squeeze bag to mix ingredients together and coat the chicken. Allow to marinate up to 8 hours (can be done in 2 hours if needed, or even cooked immediately in a pinch).
- To make the Tzatziki Sauce, place shredded cucumber in a towel or nut milk bag and twist and squeeze to remove as much water as possible. Place in a bowl and add the rest of the Tzatziki ingredients and stir well to combine. Taste and add more lemon juice, salt, and or pepper to taste. Set aside. Can be made up to 4 days in advance and stored in the fridge.
- When ready to cook, thread chicken on to a metal skewer (or wooden skewers that have been socked in water for 30 minutes). Set aside.
- Add rice, chicken broth, and salt to the pressure cooker pot. Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position. Cook at high pressure for 24 minutes.
- While rice cooks, preheat grill on high heat. When nice and hot, grill chicken 4-5 minutes on at least 2 sides until cooked through. Wrap in tinfoil to keep warm and set aside.
- When pressure cooking is complete, use a natural release for 10 minutes and then release any remaining pressure.
- Add spinach, tomatoes, artichokes, cucumbers, garbanzo beans, feta, kalamata olives, lemon zest and juice to the rice. Select the saute function on the pressure cooker. Stir to warm and incorporate ingredients.
- To serve, scoop rice onto a plate, top with grilled chicken and an enormous dollop of Tzatziki Sauce. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, if desired.
Notes
Leftovers reheat incredibly well!
I’d love to try this but have a question. Would it work if I cooked the chicken in the Showtime or on a griddle? The outdoor grill would obviously deliver the best taste but the time and effort involved would deter me from doing it. Thank you!
Nance, ha! I totally understand that :). Yes, you can cook the chicken however you like. If you have an air fryer, that’s how I like to cook meat when I don’t feel like grilling.
Marci, I’m only giving this 4 stars because I didn’t make your exact recipe. I’m sure your recipe is delicious. But I want to leave my comments for your followers in case they want to try this. First, I didn’t use the IP at all. I made the chicken exactly the way you said. Perfect! I made the Tzatziki Sauce exactly the way you said. Perfect! Here’s what I did differently. I made pearl couscous on the stove top and when it was done I added all the ingredients you mentioned minus the extra cucumber. Delicious! Even if I don’t follow your recipes to a T, they are always inspiring! Thank-you!
This sounds amazing! Can I cook the chicken in the Instant Por with the rice?
Nicole, yes, I think that’s a fantastic idea actually! Now I want to try that.
I am curious about the amount of broth for the brown rice. I have only made brown rice in my microwave and would use more than double the amount of liquid to rice proportion. There is only 1 1/3 cup broth to the one cup of rice. I am worried it will burn in my pressure cooker!! Just checking that this is not a typo.
Lois, I’ve cooked it with this ratio for almost 10 years now and never had a problem so I feel confident in telling you to go for it! There’s no evaporation in a pressure cooker so you don’t need as much liquid.
I am making this recipe today! It sounds so delicious! Quick question about the marinade for the chicken – does it really use ONLY the zest of the lemon, and not the juice AND the zest? Just wanted to make sure that wasn’t a typo. Thanks!
Christine, oh you will love this one! It’s one of my favorites. In the marinade I only use the zest because it gives lemon flavor without the acid of the lemon juice making the chicken a slightly weird texture as it marinates. I hope that makes sense!