Heres The Cooking Guide I Use For Cooking Frozen Chicken Breasts
If your chicken breasts are 6-8 ounces, pressure cook on high pressure for 9-10 minutes, then natural release for 5 minutes.
If your chicken breasts are 9-10 ounces, pressure cook on high pressure for 12 minutes, then natural release for 5 minutes.
If your chicken breasts are 12 ounces, pressure cook on high pressure for 14 minutes, then natural release for 5 minutes.
How To Cook Chicken In The Instant Pot
Instant Pot chicken breastanother reason to love the Instant Pot! Heres how to make it:
How Long To Cook Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot
The JUICIEST Instant Pot Chicken Breast! Made with an all purpose seasoning and one secret ingredient, this is the perfect pressure cooker chicken breast!
Summer is getting nearer , and I’m all about stocking the fridge with the essentials to make meals easy so we can enjoy the sunshine.
Ever since I started experimenting to perfect my Slow Cooker Chicken Breast recipe, I knew there needed to be a pressure cooker version.
And this right here? This is the perfect Instant Pot Chicken Breast.
I’m bringing my one secret ingredient over from my slow cooker chicken recipe, and let me tell you it makes all the difference!
As much as we love these Creamy Italian Instant Pot Chicken Breasts, I love having a good database of simple, versatile protein recipes that can be made into a variety of different meals.
For that reason, these Instant Pot Chicken breasts are simply seasoned, and even though they are incredibly delicious as is, they can easily take on any flavor you want to add.
Need to cook right from frozen? Check out my tips on How to Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot!
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Instant Pot Chicken Paprikash With Egg Noodles
Paprika and chicken stock deliver big flavor with this easy Instant Pot paprikash, featuring skinless, boneless chicken thighs and egg noodles. “Easy and delicious,” says Latkins. “It’s my kind of meal. I added some red peppers but you don’t need to. I just wanted to jazz it up a bit. It’s a perefect weeknight meal.”
Paprika and chicken stock deliver big flavor with this easy Instant Pot paprikash, featuring skinless, boneless chicken thighs and egg noodles. “Easy and delicious,” says Latkins. “It’s my kind of meal. I added some red peppers but you don’t need to. I just wanted to jazz it up a bit. It’s a perefect weeknight meal.”
Best Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
An Instant Pot chicken cacciatore with mushrooms, green and red bell peppers, red wine, tomato paste, and Italian seasonings. “A little work up front, barely any cooking time, amazing outcome,” says Shelly Exel-Miles. “Serve this to guests and they will be amazed by your mad Instant Pot/pressure cooker skills. Serve by itself or over pasta or rice. Also can add a little freshly ground Parmesan cheese.”
An Instant Pot chicken cacciatore with mushrooms, green and red bell peppers, red wine, tomato paste, and Italian seasonings. “A little work up front, barely any cooking time, amazing outcome,” says Shelly Exel-Miles. “Serve this to guests and they will be amazed by your mad Instant Pot/pressure cooker skills. Serve by itself or over pasta or rice. Also can add a little freshly ground Parmesan cheese.”
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How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Breast With Gravy
Making gravy in the Instant Pot is soooooooo easy. Cook the meat, as usual, remove them, press cancel and then press the saute button. Simmer the cooking liquid whilst you make a paste of cornstarch and water.
Then add in the paste, mix and simmer for 3-5 minutes until it thickens into a lush gravy. And there you have it. Easy peasy right?
Perfect Instant Pot Chicken Breast
The Instant Pot reigns supreme when it comes to making meals quickly. Within minutes, I can have perfectly cooked rice, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken stock, or beans.
But chicken breast can be a bit more tricky to cook perfectly. Thankfully, after 20 plus tries, I have perfected cooking Instant Pot Chicken Breast. In fact, now I prefer preparing chicken breast in the Instant Pot over any other cooking method.
Whether fresh or frozen, I can whip up Instant Pot Chicken Breasts in record time and they turn out perfectly tender and juicy every single time.
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How Long Do You Cook Frozen Chicken Breast In The Instant Pot
Add between 2-4 minutes to the cook times listed above if your chicken breasts are frozen. I find that adding 3 extra minutes is usually perfect for frozen chicken breasts. You will also want to do a 10 minute natural release instead of a quick release for frozen chicken.
Learn more about how to cook frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot.
Make sure that your frozen chicken breasts are not all stuck together in one mass, as this will increase the cook time needed. I recommend freezing chicken breasts in a flat layer so that they are easy to separate when adding to your Instant Pot.
You can prep the ingredients for this honey garlic chicken, freeze and then transfer to your Instant Pot frozen. I recommend thawing just slightly in cool water so that you can easily pour the sauce from the freezer bag. You will need the sauce to be liquid for Instant Pot pressure cooking.
This photo shows how I prep this as a chicken freezer meal, using one of these freezer bag holders to easily add ingredients to the freezer bag.
What Size Of Instant Pot Should I Use
You can cook chicken breasts in whatever size instant pot you have. Just make sure you add at least 1 cup of liquid, and then place the chicken in the pot in a single layer. If you have a smaller instant pot, simply cook your chicken in batches so you can keep it in single layers. If you have a larger instant pot, keep in mind it will take a little longer for your instant pot to come to pressure before cooking begins.
Pro Tips:
Storing and Freezing Instructions:
Shred the chicken with forks or a hand mixer and freeze it in individual bags to easily add to any weeknight dinner. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Or, chop the chicken and refrigerate to add to lunches throughout the week.
Recipes for leftover cooked chicken:
Recommended Reading: Power Pressure Cooker Yogurt Recipe
More Healthy Instant Pot Recipes
- How to Cook Sweet Potatoes in the Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Sour Cream Pork Chops | THM S
- Low Carb Instant Pot Lemon Chicken
- Instant Pot Pot Roast
PS If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback! You can also follow me on , or . for my email list, too!
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Size Matters With Pressure Cooking
Heres the deal, while the Instant Pot can absolutely cook your frozen chicken, you do want to be slightly strategic on how youre freezing it . Heres what we mean:
If you’re freezing chicken in a freezer bag and you know you are going to cook it from frozen in the Instant Pot later, don’t lay the bag down and spread out the chicken while this may feel like a freezer space-saver, that gallon Ziplock bag-sized block of frozen chicken won’t fit into the Instant Pot! Instead, youll be forced to thaw it first, and that totally defeats the purpose of this Instant Pot hack. We recommend placing your raw chicken in the bottom of the freezer-safe bag and freezing it that way.
Also, while you can totally cook 4 pounds of frozen chicken at a time in the Instant Pot, we think that freezing no more than 2 pounds of chicken together in one bag is the best way to avoid having a large chunk of frozen chicken that just wont fit into the Instant Pot. Plus, freezing in 2 pound increments means that its easier to pull out and cook exactly what you need grab 1 bag if you only need 2 pounds of chicken or 2 bags if you need 4 pounds!
Lastly, we dont recommend cooking more than 4 pounds of frozen chicken breast in a 6 quart Instant Pot or more than 6 pounds of frozen chicken in an 8 quart Instant Pot if you go higher than this you likely wont be able to close the lid and will need to defrost it first.
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Instant Pot Chicken Breast
Did you know that you can make a juicy, tender and flavorful chicken breast in your Instant Pot? It only takes 5 minutes of pressure cooking time and 5 minutes of pressure release. A quick sear on each side ensures the chicken breast is juicy and the gravy is flavorful. I love serving the chicken with mashed potatoes and salad or roasted veggies. This Instant Pot Chicken Breast is a must-try recipe for beginners and pressure cooking fans!
How To Cook And Shred Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
This is the ultimate dinner time saver! This guide shows you 5 different ways to cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts to make shredded chicken to use in other recipes. How to make baked chicken, grilled chicken, Instant Pot chicken, slow cooker chicken, and poached chicken.
PIN IT FOR LATER!
This post is a long time coming. For years, I have harped about the benefit of using cooked, shredded chicken in recipes. It’s easy to make ahead of time and freeze so that when a busy night rolls around, dinner can be finished in minutes.
It really has saved so many dinners in our house.
When I redesigned my site, I even made sure that the shredded chicken recipes had their own category.
So I can’t believe that I have never had a resource here on how to actually make that shredded chicken.
Today that changes.
This is the ultimate guide with 5 different ways to make shredded chicken. Each of them has different benefits and different drawbacks, so I’ll talk about all of those below. And you may prefer a different method as your favorite than I do. But I wanted to give you one place to come where you can get all of the information you need.
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For Shreddable Chicken Breast
Shreddable chicken is the easiest to achieve in the Instant Pot, and thats because if you cook chicken for long enough in the Instant Pot, it *is* going to end up in a shreddable state .
For shreddable chicken, youll simply add the chicken + water to the Instant Pot, and set it to cook on high pressure for an amount of time . Shreddable chicken does take a little bit longer in the Instant Pot than sliceable chicken, but still significantly less time than it would to slow cook chicken .
For Fresh Chicken Breast
- Place all the ingredients in the instant pot, add the water and lock the lid. Make sure the valve is on seal.
- Press thepressure cookbutton and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. It will take about 10 minutes for the instant pot to come to pressure.
- Do a natural release for 5 minutes and then do a quick release.
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What Recipes Can I Make With Instant Pot Chicken Breasts
There are so many ways to use Instant Pot Chicken Breasts in a meal. You can also simply season the chicken breasts before or after cooking them in the Instant Pot for a quick meal. You can use your chicken breast and make:
- Loaded Sheet Pan Chicken Nachos either cube or shred your IP chicken and add it to sheet pan nachos!
- Chicken Tacos probably the easiest meal ever. Youll need to shred this chicken.
- Chicken Salad we have 4 super simple chicken salad recipes that call for shredded chicken.
- BBQ Chicken Pizza add shredded chicken to your bbq pizza and then add caramelized onions.
- Chicken Enchiladas instead of rotisserie chicken, use IP chicken.
There is a ton of chicken recipe inspiration on FFF, youre options are endless! Dont fret if youre stuck, we have seasonings, marinades, and more to help you make your Instant Pot chicken breast everything you want it to me.
Check it out!
How Long To Cook Chicken Breasts In The Crock Pot
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Prepare yourself. What I am about to tell you is either going to crush your slow cooker dreams OR bring much enlightenment to your soul.
With the exception of larger recipes , It only takes 2.5-3.5 hours on LOW for boneless, skinless chicken breast to be fully cooked in the slow cooker.
I kid you not. While writing our cookbook, From Freezer to Cooker, we have been methodically testing chicken breast recipes by taking the internal temperature with our trusted meat thermometer at different points during the cooking time.
Over and over AND OVER again, we have found that chicken breast registers at 165° F right around 3 hours on LOW. Sometimes less, sometimes more depending on the size of the breast or other ingredients in the slow cooker.
If you are cooking a larger recipe with chicken in it, we have found that it can take 4-6 hours. But thats it!
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How To Cook Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot
Cooking times are based on 1-2 pounds of medium-sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
We found that chicken breast is at a safe cooking temperature after about 7 minutes using a quick release method. We always use the manual function . If the chicken breast is a bit on the larger size, add another minute or two. If its on the smaller size, subtract a minute.
Tip: These 7 Chicken Marinade Recipes all have Instant Pot cooking instructions. Try them out!
How Long To Cook Instant Pot Chicken Breast:
- Don’t overcook overcooked chicken breast is not anyone’s favorite thing, but is somewhat difficult to do in the Instant Pot because the steam provides such a moist environment for the chicken to cook in.
- Don’t undercook undercooked chicken breast is just plain dangerous! Be sure to check the internal temperature of the chicken to ensure it’s at least 165 degrees F.
- The exact cook time is going to depend on a variety of things, including the size and shape , and also the model of Instant Pot you have, as some run hotter or cooler. My recipes are tested in the 6 quart model with Bluetooth. It’s important to take these these factors into consideration but I find a cook time of 8-10 minutes is always perfect and juicy for the chicken
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Pressure Cook At High Pressure 0 Minute
Yes! You can pressure cook at 0 minute!
Were setting the pressure cooking time to 0 minute because were using the heat generated during the up to pressure AND depressurizing stages to cook the chicken breast.
Every time, make sure you measure the chickens internal temperature with an accurate Food Thermometer, and the thickest part needs to reach at least 165°F after resting.
How Long Do You Cook Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot
It depends on the size of the chicken. I look for chicken breasts that are not too thin or too large. So for average-sized chicken breasts — around 5 ounces each — 10 minutes with a 5 minute release is perfect for chicken in the 6 quart IP.
I tested this recipe in both my 8 quart and the 6 quart pressure cookers, and the 8 quart takes longer to heat up and release, so the chicken cooks longer. I found 8 minutes with a 5 minute release worked best.
If you have extra large chicken, you may have to cook it longer. Honestly, I recommend always using a good meat thermometer to make sure the temperature of the cooked chicken is at 165 degrees.
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