How To Cook Chicken From Frozen
The process for making frozen chicken in the Instant Pot is the same as making it from thawed, you just need to add a little bit of extra time to make sure the chicken gets up to the correct internal temperature. Following these easy steps.
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.
Choose To Cook On A Trivet Or Right In The Pot
Some people prefer to cook their chicken on a trivet so that it steams. Others prefer to cook their chicken in a liquid to flavor the chicken as it cooks. My preference is to use a trivet or a steamer basket when the desired end-result is gently cooked chicken. Use what method works best for you!
To cook on a trivet, place 1 cup water or cooking liquid in the bottom of the pressure cooking pot, then place a trivet in the bottom. Carefully lay the chicken breasts on a trivet. If youre cooking multiple breasts, you can stack them crosswise on top of each other or use a second trivet to further separate your meatagain, choose works best for you.
To cook right in the pot, place 1 cup of cooking liquid in the bottom of the pressure cooking pot. Place the chicken breasts in the cooking pot directly in the liquid, overlapping as little as possible.
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Can You Cook Chicken Thighs That Were Frozen In A Marinade
I dont recommend freezing chicken thighs in a marinade. Head over here to find out why. Basically, it results in the thighs being in the marinade for too long. This tends to toughen the meat.
Instead, I recommend adding flavor ingredients to the Instant Pot during cooking. The pressure forces the flavors into the meat and the result is delicious. Good additions are a sliced onion, sliced lemon, any herbs or seasonings you like, and/or whole garlic cloves.
There you have it! A new way to get dinner on the table super-quickly. If you try cooking chicken thighs from frozen, let me know how it goes in the comments below. Thanks and have a great day!
Christine
Can I Refrigerate Chicken After Cooking
Allow the chicken to completely cool and store in airtight containers or freezer bags free from air. Make sure to use it up within two days to be safe and to maintain the best flavor and texture.
I hope we answered the question: Can you put frozen meat in an Instant Pot for you here!!
- The answer is a resounding YES!!
- You can even cook Instant Pot frozen ground beef if youve forgotten to defrost it beforehand.
To be completely honest, it is BEST to use thawed fresh meats but these tips are great when youre in a bind.
- If youre making something like a soup or our VERY well known Instant Pot chili you probably wouldnt know the difference. Fresh or defrosted hamburger using this method work great. Frozen ground sausage works too with this technique.
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***** If you LOVED this recipe give it 5 Stars below and let everyone know what you thought about it.
I hope this helps you make a lot more new InstaPot recipes.
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A Note On Removing Frozen Chicken From Packages
It must be said that actually removing the frozen chicken from packaging can be tricky for this recipe. You want to avoid adding pieces of chicken that have been frozen solid together directly inside of the Instant Pot, as the chicken wont cook evenly. The chicken needs to be in individual pieces. We have found that gently submerging chicken packaging in water allows the chicken to slightly defrost just enough around the edges to remove the chicken.
Instant Pot Chicken: How To Cook Chicken In An Instant Pot
Instant Pot Chicken is my favorite way to cook chicken for quick family dinners, meal prep, or to prep for shredding. It makes the chicken so moist and its such a simple method. This post will go over the step by step process for making chicken breast, thighs, legs, tenders, wings, and even a whole chicken in a pressure cooker.
Also Check: How To Cook Baked Potatoes In Instant Pot Duo
If Cooking Frozen Chicken Breasts In Instant Pot
If your chicken breasts are frozen, you dont have to defrost the chicken, the Instant Pot will do the work for you. The chicken cooks best if the chicken breasts arent in a block, but individually frozen instead.
If you have a larger block of chicken, allow for more cooking time .
see more: 25 Lightened-Up, Healthy Chicken Dinner Recipes
Tips And Tricks For Making These Creamy Italian Instant Pot Chicken Breasts:
- Feel free to add in additional vegetables to make this a one pot meal mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli would be great in here! Or serve it with a side salad to round things out.
- We love this over egg noodles, but the options for serving are endless! You could serve it over rice, potatoes, or use it to make quesadillas, pizza or sandwiches!
- You can use a lighter cream or even evaporated milk in this recipe, but its a small amount so I usually use 30% or heavy cream if I have it.
- You can easily freeze any leftovers you have for another day, so go ahead and double the recipe if you like! The higher the fat content of your cream, the better it will freeze and thaw, so keep that in mind as youre cooking if youre planning to freeze.
Read Also: What To Do If Your Instant Pot Says Burn
How To Freeze Cooked Chicken
To freeze cooked chicken, you can place it in quart or gallon-sized plastic zip-top bags. Remove as much air as possible and freeze in flat sheets. This method works whether your chicken is shredded, sliced, or diced. You can keep cooked chicken in the freezer for 2-3 months. Thaw frozen cooked chicken in the refrigerator overnight before you plan to use it.
How To Cook Fresh Chicken Breast In Instant Pot
- Add 1 cup water and place trivet on top.
- Lay chicken breasts in a single layer, sprinkle with spices and rub onto each other.
- Press Pressure Cook on High or Manual for 10 minutes under 2 thickness and 15 minutes over 2 thick breasts.
- Do Natural Release for 5 minutes and then turn pressure valve to Venting.
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Read Also: How To Cook Venison Roast In An Instant Pot
Best Cooking Time For Pressure Cooked Frozen Chicken
The amount of time it takes to cook frozen chicken in the Instant Pot will vary based on the size and cut of chicken being cooked. Follow the guidelines below for perfecly cooked chicken every time.
Chicken Breast: 12 to 14 minutes plus 5 to 10 minutes natural release
Chicken Thighs: 13 to 15 minutes plus 5 to 10 minutes natural release
Chicken Drumsticks: 12 to 14 minutes manual release
Chicken Wings: 10 to 12 minutes manual release
Keeping Chicken Breasts Whole Will Help Prevent Overcooking
Even if a recipe uses chunks or cubes of chicken breast, its best to cook the meat whole and then cut it up after cooking since small chunks of meat cook through much faster than the whole breast. We do this with our butter chicken recipe, and consider it added insurance that the chicken breast wont be overcooked or dry.
Also Check: Venison Roast Instant Pot
Be Mindful Of The Size And Shape Of Your Food When You Freeze It
For example, cut racks of ribs into 3 piece chunks. A whole rack won’t fit in your instant pot frozen solid. Same with thinks like Pork Shoulder. I often cut them into 4 chunks to ensure even cooking. Also easier to shred this way.
Same goes for things like chicken breasts. Don’t freeze the whole package in one big block. If you can freeze them as individual breasts, that is best.
The Easiest Instant Pot Chicken Tenders From Frozen
I recently accidentally ended up with a bag of frozen chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts when I was planning to use for a chicken chili verde casserole.
At first I was a little disappointed for grabbing the wrong bag, but since I regularly make frozen chicken breasts in the instant pot, I knew I could easily make instant pot frozen chicken tenders too.
I realized that not only do I love cooking with frozen chicken tenders, I actually prefer cooking with them when I needed shredded or chopped chicken for a recipe.
Heres why using instant pot frozen chicken tenders for recipes is so amazing:
- Frozen chicken costs less than fresh
- Frozen chicken tenders cost less than frozen chicken breasts
- Chicken breasts are often irregular sizes whereas chicken tenders are a uniform size
- Using your Instant Pot or a pressure cooker to cook frozen chicken tenders makes them really moist and ideal whether you need them sliced in a recipe or shredded.
Recommended Reading: How Long Do You Cook Ribs In An Instant Pot
Instant Pot Guide: A Beginners Guide To Using Your Pressure Cooker
Wondering how to use your new Instant Pot? In this Instant Pot Guide, Ill walk you through what you need to know to start cooking with your Instant Pot today. Safety features, how to do an Instant Pot water test, whats the difference between a natural pressure release and a quick release, and what will happen step by step through the cooking process.
Ill be honest the first time I used my Instant Pot, I was overwhelmed and a bit scared. An Instant Pot can be intimidating for a new user. There are so many buttons and safety warnings.
However, I guarantee that once you get started, youll wonder what you ever did without your Instant Pot. I love mine so much that I now own two Instant Pots!
Im going to help you get started with all of the tips and tricks that I have learned through trial, error and research. This Instant Pot manual will tell you everything you need to know to use your Instant Pot for the first time.
How Long To Cook Frozen Chicken In Pressure Cooker
If you are new to pressure cooking, check out my Instant Pot guide. It explains what happens, why and how to avoid failures.
If you dont have an Instant Pot yet but are thinking about buying one, I explain which Instant Pot to buy in my humble opinion.
Cooking time varies based on the size of your chicken AND Instant Pot.
Why? Because larger size Instant Pot has larger volume for more pressure to build up. Thus, it takes longer to bring pressure down.
Therefore, 8 quart pressure cooker keeps cooking chicken while bringing down pressure for 40 minutes vs. 6 quart that takes only 15 minutes.
For 6 quart Instant Pot:
- 4 lbs whole chicken 60 minutes.
- 5 lbs whole chicken 70 minutes.
For 8 quart Instant Pot:
- 4 lbs whole chicken 40 minutes.
- 5 lbs whole chicken 50 minutes.
- 6 lbs whole chicken 60 minutes.
Looking for more dinner ideas? Check out my most popular collection of 45 healthy Instant Pot recipes.
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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 To Cook Frozen Chicken In The Instant Pot:
If you have frozen chicken breasts and you want to use those to make this in your Instant Pot, follow the directions here, and add in your sauce ingredients after cooking, or see my recipe notes.
Keep in mind that frozen chicken breasts will release significantly more liquid during cooking, so youll want to drain some out before adding in the cream and all of that delicious flavour, otherwise it will be diluted significantly.
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What To Serve With Drumsticks
I am a huge fan of serving salads with chicken drumsticks. I think this Classic Wedge Salad is perfect. You might also try this crunchy Broccoli Salad.
If youd rather add some carbs, try our creamy Stovetop Mac & Cheese, or this easy Black Bean & Corn Pasta Salad.
Cant make up your mind? Check out this list of 10 great summer salads that all pair well with chicken.
Other Instant Pot Recipes to Try
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Read Also: How To Cook Frozen Meat In Instant Pot
Which Pressure Cooker Should I Use
You can use any type of Instant Pot or pressure cooker you like for Instant Pot chicken.
I recommend a 6 quart cooker for a family of 4 because you can cook almost anything you need with it.
If you have a larger family or need to cook larger amounts of food, an 8 quart is a great option.
No matter which size cooker you use, the cooking times will remain the same!
How Long Does It Take To Cook A Whole Chicken In An Instant Pot
First, you can cook it fresh or frozen, which adds bonus points to it. The meat ends up being very moist and tender, just like it has been slow-roasted for hours. Also, you cant beat the convenience of being able to cook frozen meat in just under 2 hours, it takes way longer to defrost it.
Cooking time for Instant Pot FRESH whole chicken:
- 3 pounds = 18 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release
- 3.5 pounds = 21 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release
- 4 pounds = 24 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release
- 4.5 pounds = 28 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release
- 5 pounds = 33 minutes cooking time on High Pressure with a 15 minutes Natural Pressure Release
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Heres A Video Showing How We Made Frozen Chicken In The Instant Pot And Then You Can Follow These Instructions To Make Electric Pressure Cooker Chicken Sliders With It After They Were Done
You can use your Instant Pot chicken to make soft tacos too!
And then lets try some Crockpot frozen chicken. A great way if youre batch cooking a lot all at a time.
