Can You Cook Frozen Chicken Instant Pot

Supplies Needed For Cooking Frozen Chicken In The Instant Pot

Obviously for an Instant Pot Chicken recipe youll need an Instant Pot. I also recommend using a trivet at the bottom , plus a meat thermometer to check the final temp. The USDA recommends meat thats cooked to 165 degrees.

Heres what I recommend:

I absolutely love my 8 quart for our family of 6.

I love this meat thermometer, and use it several times a week! The probe can go into the oven with the meat, while the display sits outside of the oven and beeps at your target temp.

Bottom line? Cooking frozen chicken in the Instant Pot is totally doable and totally delicious!

Tips And Tricks For Making This Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken And Rice:

• I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for a lean, healthy meal, but boneless, skinless chicken thighs would work great, too! You dont need to add any extra cook time.
• If you want to make this a vegetarian meal, simply omit the chicken and bump up the veg.
• If you want to make this a gluten-free meal, simply read all of your ingredients carefully to be sure there are no issues, as all of the ingredients themselves are gluten-free.
• I dont recommend using any other rice for this recipe, as they all require different amounts of liquid and cook time. This recipe was originally written using brown rice, but I have since updated it to use long grain white rice as it cooks in the same amount of time as the chicken and is more foolproof!

How Long Does It Take To Cook A Frozen Whole Chicken In The Instant Pot

The beauty of the pressure cooker is that you can cook whole frozen chicken in it. However, you need to make sure that the poultry has the innards/gizzards removed and has no plastic ties around the feet. Because, if the meat is frozen, and these are not removed, you will not be able to cook it that way.

Also, keep in mind that frozen meat doesnt cook as evenly, therefore some parts may be overcooked, resulting in tough, rubbery meat.

For frozen poultry, you will have to increase the cooking time by about 5 minutes per pound. Here are the cooking guidelines for frozen whole poultry:

Cooking time for Instant Pot FROZEN whole chicken:

• 3 pounds = 39 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release
• 3.5 pounds = 46 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release
• 4 pounds = 52 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release
• 4.5 pounds = 59 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release
• 5 pounds = 65 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release

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How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Breast

• Place chicken breasts in the inner pot of the instant pot and season with salt and pepper.
• Add in 1 cup pineapple juice or chicken stock and season with minced garlic or garlic powder.

• Place lid on instant pot and be sure vent knob is pointed towards sealed.
• Set pressure cooker to the cooking time based on the size of chicken breasts. NOT how many chicken breasts you are cooking.
• Once the cooking time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes before doing a quick release of pressure. This is key to keeping your chicken breasts tender–don’t be tempted to do a quick release of pressure.

• Remove the chicken breasts from the liquid and let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving or shredding.

Tips For Making Instant Pot Chicken Breasts

Like any pressure cooker recipe, allow extra time for the pressure cooker to come up to temperature. This typically takes about 5 to 7 minutes, but depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts and how many you stack in the insert, it could take longer. I dont have the exact time for this since each of you are different, so you will have to play with it.

With this Instant Pot chicken breast recipe using 3 boneless chicken breasts, theres no need for any additional time needed for the instant pot to natural release the steam.

Also note that you can make chicken stock in an Instant Pot as well.

Stock from chicken cooked in the Instant Pot is incredibly delicious, especially when using bone-in chicken breasts for all that rich flavor that comes from bones. If youre interested in making homemade chicken broth in an Instant Pot instead of just chicken breasts, follow the directions in my recipe for;the Best Chicken Stock ever.

Use the stock to make gravy or use as a soup base, by adding these additional ingredients:

• chicken boullion cubes
• root vegetables such as parsnip or turnips
• garni of herbs like parsley, thyme, bay leaves

• 5-6whole peppercorns

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How Do You Cook A Frozen Chicken In The Instant Pot

• I know that some people will say it doesnt take any longer to cook frozen meat in the Instant Pot than fresh, but that hasnt been my experience. I tested this recipe over and over again , from fresh and frozen, and it does require more time from frozen. The cook times I have found to be accurate are 8 minutes per pound fresh and 13 minutes per pound frozen. 12 minutes was close, but there were still undercooked spots.
• If you know you want to freeze the chicken, I recommend seasoning, removing any giblets from the chicken and tying the legs before freezing, so that you can toss the chicken into the Instant Pot without worrying about any of that.

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How To Cook A Frozen Whole Chicken In An Instant Pot

Cooking a Frozen Whole Chicken in your Instant Pot is SO easy. This is a perfect recipe even for pressure cooker beginners. There is no need to defrost the meat, so you can get dinner made quickly.

Note: The links in this post may be affiliate links.

My recipe for cooking an Instant Pot Whole Chicken has been one of the most popular posts on this site. And, readers often ask if they can cook a Frozen Whole Chicken in their Instant Pot.

I decided to experiment and found that its SUPER easy to cook a frozen whole chicken in an Instant Pot. It just takes a little bit more time and a slightly different technique.

As youre reading this post, please keep in mind that this is more of a technique most than an exact recipe. Youll get to season the chicken with your favorite spices. Plus, youll want to make sure that you calculate the cooking time based upon the size of your chicken also making sure that your chicken is small enough to fit inside your Instant Pot.

Recommended Reading: Can The Instant Pot Go On The Stove

Frozen Instant Pot Chicken Breasts

Time needed:;12 minutes.

Frozen Chicken in the Instant Pot

Season with salt and pepper, or better yet shred right in the pot and add sauce to make shredded chicken for sliders or atop rice

I will say after making many easy Instant Pot chicken recipes that I like this method of cooking frozen chicken in the Instant Pot when adding sauce or shredding the chicken but not for just eating the breast as is.

For me personally I prefer the texture if its defrosted and then cooked but that is just me.

Ways To Serve Instant Pot Chicken

Now that you have a quick and easy method of cooking frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot, you can make your meal prep even easier. Having big batches of chicken already prepared will cut down on the amount of time it takes you to make any meal.

You can easily add protein to your lunch dish.

Keep chicken cooked and ready for any of these meal ideas:

• Salads
• Chili

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Size Matters With Pressure Cooking

People often want to know if you have to double the cook time when you double a recipe in the Instant Pot. The answer is no.

However, the size of each individual chicken breast does matter. Larger chicken breasts will require a longer cook time than smaller chicken breasts because the thicker pieces take longer to cook through.

You can use a kitchen scale to find out the weight of your chicken breasts. Or, take the total weight of your package of chicken and divide it by the number of chicken breasts. For example, if your package of chicken weighs 1.5 pounds and contains 3 similarly sized chicken breasts, each breast weighs about 8 ounces.

Why Do You Rinse Chicken

I rinse frozen chicken so oil and then spices will stick to it. Otherwise, good luck burning your fingers on a layer of frost and losing all spices.

If you carefully rinse raw meat in the sink, then wash your hands with soap and wash sink with dish soap and cloth, it is safe. It is absolutely OK.

There is a lot of misinformation on the web right now aka fake news. Everyone with a phone is a professor.

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How Do I Make Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot

I was curious to see how easy it would be to go from frozen to juicy chicken in my fancy electric pressure cooker.

So I did; a little experimenting before making my 3 ingredient Instant Pot shredded chicken this afternoon. It turned out great for that!

• I first cooked these four breasts in the Instant Pot you see here that were bought frozen. I added a bit of chicken broth for 12 minutes and they turned out well.

From there I shredded them. Then, drained the broth and added the ingredients I needed to make my shredded chicken recipe. I put it back on low for 5 minutes just to let it soak in the juices. Done!

• Next I used just 2 frozen chicken breasts that I had bought fresh and then were frozen.

12 minutes was too long and they turned out dry. I tried again for just 10 minutes and that was just right!

How To Cook A Whole Chicken In An Instant Pot

Making Instant Pot Roasted Chicken a very easy recipe involves just a few steps, you can also make this in any other;electric pressure cooker. Cooking a whole chicken in the IP is a great idea.

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Is Pressure Cooking Chicken Breasts Healthy

Pressure-cooking is considered a healthy cooking method because it preserves nutrients well, especially when the food contains heat-sensitive vitamins.

Being heat-sensitive means that during cooking, a part of the vitamin is destroyed by heat. How much is destroyed depends on how long the food is cooked for, not the temperature.

How is this related to chicken breasts?, you might be wondering. Not only are they packed with proteins, but chicken breasts also contain plenty of vitamin B6, a heat-sensitive nutrient.

Here Are Some Tips And Tricks For Cooking Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot:

• The exact cook time will depend on how large the chicken breasts are, although for me 10-12 minutes has always been plenty. This means that when I open up the pot they are well over the safe 165 degrees F. But Id rather be safe than have to go through the hassle of sealing it back up and letting it build the pressure back up.
• If youre in a rush, you can simply add water or chicken broth and season with salt and pepper, but feel free to get a little crazy with your seasonings here. Barbecue sauce, soy sauce, honey, different herbs and spices will all be fantastic
• All of my Instant Pot recipes are tested in the 6 quart Instant Pot with Bluetooth. The bluetooth is an unnecessary but handy tool because I can control the pot from my phone while Im out of the kitchen.
• If you want to jazz up your Instant Pot chicken breasts, try these Creamy Italian Instant Pot Chicken Breasts and serve them with the sauce over pasta you wont regret it! You can also use frozen chicken to make this Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice.
• Looking for an easy side dish to go along with it? Try my Instant Pot Mac and Cheese so easy and so quick!

Read Also: How To Instant Pot Chicken Breast

Seasoning For Instant Pot Frozen Chicken

For my standard frozen chicken breast Instant Pot recipe, I use this seasoning:

• Paprika
• Salt
• Pepper

This recipe will give you chicken that has flavor, but is not overpowering. If you know you are using the chicken in a specific dish, you can season the chicken to match that particular diash instead of using my suggestions.

If your goal is to have prepared chicken ready at all times to add protein to a meal, use this basic seasoning recipe and your chicken will go with anything.

How To Cook Chicken Wings In Instant Pot

Cooking wings in the Instant Pot or any other pressure cooker is very easy and it involves just a few steps:

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Frozen Chicken In The Instant Pot

If you have an Instant Pot, then you probably already know that it is the little machine that can. It has literally transformed the way that so many of us cook , but I think that my favorite thing about the Instant Pot to date is the fact that it can cook meat from frozen.

Being able to cook a protein from frozen means that if I forget to move my frozen chicken from the freezer to the fridge to start thawing before I leave for work , dinner doesnt have to be completely scrapped for takeout! Instead, I can come home, pop that frozen chicken right into my Instant Pot, and continue on with my dinner plan.

How To Cook Frozen Chicken

It’s easy to cook frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot with minimal effort or planning. Perfect for easy weeknight meals and meal prep.

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Forgot to defrost the chicken for your dinner tonight? Dont fret, learn how to cook frozen chicken in the Instant Pot quickly and easily so you can get dinner on the table! You can then use the cooked chicken is countless recipes from salads to sandwiches and soups.

Also Check: How To Make Rice On Instant Pot

Instant Pot Chicken Breast Recipe

How many times have you come home and realized youve forgotten to pull the chicken from the freezer for tonights dinner? If youre like me, its way too many.

But since I discovered how to cook both frozen chicken breasts and/or fresh chicken breasts in the Instant Pot, those days are over.

It seems like all too often us recipe creators, aka food bloggers, get caught up in creating that totally unique recipe.

The recipe that intrigues.

The recipe that nobodys ever thought of before.

But the reality is, while those recipes are fun to bookmark and make every so often, its the basics for daily cooking that we really need.;Like how to cook the basic boneless chicken breast, and how to cook it fast.

Ive shared my recipes for the Best Grilled Chicken Breast and the Best Baked Chicken Breasts and you guys love them. So when I received requests for an Instant Pot version, how could I not oblige?

And once I started cooking chicken breasts STRAIGHT FROM THE FREEZER in my Instant Pot, I realized I needed to share with you how you can do the same.

So lets talk basics.