Chicken congee is a staple in Asian families like mac and cheese is in America. Though you can argue mac and cheese is a staple in Asian families too, lol. I have so many fond memories of eating congee (or porridge or bubur ayam) with my Oma and Opa (Grandparents in Indonesia), that this soup is really more than just food. I feel like when you eat congee it just warms your heart, and brings you back to a different time, a time that is synonymous with family. So as an Asian Dad, this was on my must have recipes.
I have tried and had a ton of congee, and have seen it made enough times to know that I didn’t want to watch rice boil on a stovetop. That was going to be way to intense for me, and I’m particularly bad at watching things boil on a stovetop (I always let pasta and noodles over boil). Thankfully, my wife’s friend, and also Instapot wizard, gave me an Instapot Chicken Congee recipe that is amazing! It is the perfect blend of soup to rice to chicken ratio, with a texture that is not too soupy yet not too thick. I always have a hard time explaining the consistency that you need for good congee, but this recipe does it perfectly.
Tips for cooking Instapot Chicken Congee
- Picking out the Chicken Bones – When the instapot is done cooking and you have done the natural release you are going to have chicken bones in your instapot. I would then get a ladle out and make sure and pick out all the bones. I typically have 5 drumsticks, 5 thin bones that have been separated, and 5 joints. Your mileage may vary, but if you aren’t picking out some of the bones then you should probably go through the soup again.
- Natural Release and then Quick Release is Messy – Ok, so when you do the quick release you are definitely going to have liquid shoot out of the vent. No problem though, don’t worry, just get an oven mit and place it about 1 foot above your instapot vent, before you do the quick release. This should get most of the liquid. Careful though, the steam will be hot though.
- Oversalting – No one tells you, but in congee is super sensitive to over salting. You got to be careful though, if you over salt your congee, then you will have a bad batch of soup. I add in 1/4 tsp increments, and add about 1/2 tsp at the maximum.
So that is it! This is a great, can’t mess up, Super Easy Instapot Chicken Congee recipe that I think should be in your cook book.
Instapot Chicken Congee
Equipment
- Instapot
Ingredients
- 1 cup Rice I used Japanese rice, but you can use Jasmine rice, and white rice.
- 5 Chicken drumsticks
- 1 dash Crispy fried shallots (or fried onions if you have them)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups Chicken broth
- 5 cups water
Optional
- 2 Chopped Green onions
Instructions
- Get Ingredients
- Wash and rinse rice
- Add rice to instapot (not turned on yet).
- Add 2 cups of chicken broth and 5 cups water to instapot (not turned on yet).
- Add drumsticks with the skin on into your instapot. Make sure that drumsticks are submerged under the water and chicken broth.
- Seal the instapot and press the "Porridge" button at high, and have the time at 30 minutes.
- When the instapot is done cooking, you should have the instapot go through Natural Pressure Release for 15 minutes. Then you can quick release. Be careful when you do the quick release as liquid can shoot up through the venting button. So I cover the top with a hot mit just to catch all the liquid if it happens to get through the vent.
- After you have opened the lid to the instapot, use two forks or tongs and a fork to shred the chicken in the pot. All you are really doing is separating the chicken from the bones and making them into easy to eat bites.
- Remove the bones from the pot after you are done shredding the chicken. I would then go through with a ladle and pick out the joints and any bones that separated from the drumstick. In my experience for every drumstick I had to pick out 1 joint bone, and one smaller thin bone that was part of the drumstick. They are pretty easy to pick out, but this did take about 5 minutes for me to get all of them.
- At this point the soup will look waaay to watery, but that's ok. I would turn your instapot to the "Saute" function and stir from 3-4 minutes. This is going to thicken up your soup, and will turn it from watery to amazing!
- I add then 1/2 tsp of salt in this step. I would not add more than the 1/2 tsp, as congee can turn from super tasty to way too salty really quick. If you want to add more than the 1/2 tsp, then I would do in 1/4 tsp or even 1/8 tsp increments.
- If you want to pick out the skin I would do here. I typically pick out only the bigger skin pieces, and just leave the rest in, it adds flavor.
- Serve in bowls, with green onions and fried shallots (or onions if can't get fried shallots).
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