This Instant Pot chicken paella captures classic paella flavors- saffron rice, smoky sausage, sweet peppers and peas- using weeknight-friendly pressure cooking. No special pan required: just set, cook, and finish with lemon and parsley for a bright, crowd-pleasing dinner.
Why You’ll Love This Instant Pot Chicken Paella
What’s not to love about a flavorful, easy dinner all made in one pot?
- Quick and easy recipe: One-pot, hands-off pressure cook.
- Authentic vibes (saffron, smoked notes) with accessible ingredients.
- Family friendly: 30-minute dinner; family-friendly heat level.
Recipe Essentials
While this isn’t the most authentic paella recipe, I made an ingredient hack to cut down on some time and ingredients! A full list of ingredients with measurements for this recipe is available in the printable recipe card below.
- Chorizo chicken sausage – It’s called chicken paella, but technically it’s chicken sausage that we use. Either chorizo or andouille work well.
- Saffron – Saffron is one ingredient that makes paella, well, paella. It is an expensive spice but it is a “must” for authentic flavor and color.
- Arborio rice – Paella is made with bomba rice, but this can be tricky to find in a regular grocery store so the next best bet is arborio, traditionally used for making risotto. Both are shirt, fat grains that easily soak up liquids (and flavor).
- Olive oil
- Fine sea salt
- Chunky salsa
- Roasted red pepper
- Frozen peas
- Chicken stock
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Paella (Step-by-Step)
You can have authentic-tasting paella in no time! Just follow these simple steps.
- Sauté: Add oil to the inner pot and brown sliced chicken chorizo. Remove them leaving behind seasoned oil.
- Layer & Cook: Add the rice and saffron, allowing the saffron to bloom flavor in the fats. Stir in the salt, salsa and stock. Stir, seal and cook using quick release.
- Finish: Stir in the peppers, peas and sausage, set to “keep warm” to let these warm up and the flavors to mingle.
- Serve: Fluff the rice and squeeze on the fresh lemon before serving. Garnish with parsley, if desired.
Test Kitchen Tips for Best Texture & Flavor
I’ve tested this Instant Pot recipe for paella to prevent burn notices and get the best flavor.
- Don’t over-stir- fluff the rice with a fork to prevent it from getting gummy.
- Use low-sodium stock (salsa adds enough salt).
- Rest on Keep Warm so peas stay green and rice absorbs flavors, but it doesn’t overcook.
Variations & Swaps
You can change up this recipe to your tastes, or any way you’d like. Here are a few ideas.
- Protein: Swap chicken chorizo for diced chicken thighs, ground beef or seafood. Brown them first and add them back in just like the chicken sausage.
- Heat: Add pinch of smoked paprika or chili flakes for more heat, but if you use a hot salsa, that will also give it good flavor.
- Veg: Stir in artichokes or olives at the end for more Mediterranean.
Make it A Meal
This instant pot chicken paella is quite hearty on its own and could certainly suffice as an entire meal. However, if you are looking to add more vegetables to the table, try serving with a side of broccoli, green beans or even a nice side salad.
The rice is usually enough starch for me, but if you’re craving more try serving with some potatoes. Dinner rolls are always a nice touch too!
Easy Instant Pot Recipes
Using a pressure cooker makes dinner a breeze! Here are some of our favorite Instant Pot recipes.
Instant Pot Paella Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-1.5 pound(s) chorizo chicken sausage , thinly sliced
- 1 heaping cup arborio rice
- 1 teaspoon saffron threads
- 1 cup thick and chunky salsa
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup roasted red peppers , drained and chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas
- lemon wedges , for serving
- parsley , for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the 1 tablespoon olive oil in the inner pot of the Instant Pot on sauté.
- Add the thinly sliced 1-1.5 pound(s) chorizo chicken sausage, cooking until lightly browned, approximately 5 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken sausage to a plate, leaving the seasoned oil in the inner pot.
- Stir in the 1 heaping cup arborio rice 1 teaspoon saffron threads, allowing them to bloom and brown for 1 minutes. Stir in the 1 cup thick and chunky salsa 1 cup low-sodium chicken stockand 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt to the mixture. Stir and lock the lid in place with vent sealed.
- Set to manual high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Use the quick release function. Fluff in the drained and chopped 1/2 cup roasted red peppers, 1 cup frozen peas and prepared chicken sausage. Replace the lid and continue on "keep warm" function for 4-5 minutes.
- Fluff the rice with a fork again before serving with fresh lemon wedges and parsley.
- If you've tried this recipe, please come back and let us know how it was in the comments or star ratings.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Thanks! Downloads fast to print. Easy recipe, Thanks!
Great! Glad you enjoyed it and thank YOU for stopping by to let us know!
You don’t specify when to add the sliced chicken back into the recipe. Incomplete directions.
This was an easy recip to make and it was very tasty. We love it!????
I’ve never heard of either of the rices you RECOMMEND. Would Minute rice work for this? I live in a rural area in NH and have to be able to get my ingredients at walmart or the local grocery store. .due to dietary restrictions, i cannot eat SPICY foods so i’m hoping i can eat this if i use mild salsa. i have a farberware electric pressure cooker and have only made a couple of dishes in it. I would love to see more instant pot type recipes so hopefully i can get more use out of it. thank you!
Hi Jeanne, I would not use Minute Rice, but only because it is an INSTANT rice. For rice recipes in the pressure cooker, you want to make sure they are the good, old fashioned type of rice that should take forever to cook. Instant rices will cook too fast and just disintegrate. Both of the rices mentioned here are short grained rice, so if you can find a short grain rice in your store, that would be the best option. The next best option would be a white long grain rice, just NOT instant.
Pick a salsa you know is mild enough for your taste. If you want it even more mild, use a plain chicken sausage instead of smoked andouille. The sausage and optional crushed red pepper are the only ingredients other than the salsa that will add spice.
Any Instant Pot recipe can be adapted to any electric pressure cooker.
I hope you like it! It is only of our favorites!
How fun! You had me at Instant Pot and I happen to love Paella. Haven’t tried it in the IP yet, so I’ll be pinning this one. Thanks for the great recipe!
I’ve made TRaditional paella a few times and it does take a while to cook. This is amazing that it can be made in 30 minutes in an IP. I like the shortcuts you offered too … like the salsa in place of sofrito. I would have never thought of that!
Looks so delicious and COMFORTING! Such a great idea for a healthy dinner!
Love the idea of making this in the instant pot Jessica!
I am loving everything that can be done in the instant pot. Paella brings back many happy holiday memories.
I don’t write this to complain just to let you know it is very frustrating:
Your recipes take a very long time to download, so long I have decided to stop following your blog which is a shame because I think you post some very good stuff.
Hi Judy, I’m really sorry to hear that. I check my site speed regularly and it seems to be loading just fine on my end and through Google. I hope you give it another try and consider it might be your internet provider or computer too. Have you tried to clear your cookies?
hmmm……I follow about 20 food blogs and yours is the only “slow loader” so I don’t think it is my provider or computer.
Thanks! I’ll look into it further.
Hi
I just tried to download the recipe and found it to be very slow as well so I went to the 3 dots on the top left of the page and hit them. It will open a window then select safari.
Go to print and it will open immediately then print. Worked great for me.
Thanks for letting me know! I’ll look into the issue.