27 Easy AF Chicken Instant Pot Recipes (Fresh or Frozen!)

Cooking chicken breast and chicken thighs in the instant pot is a delicious time saving, life-changing, dinner-is-done hack you need in your life. Using an instant pot to cook chicken that’s either fresh or frozen seems like it shouldn’t be a thing. But it’s totally a thing. I’ve collected 27 awesome chicken breast instant pot recipes to cook

I bought my instant pot on a black Friday sale nearly two years ago and I haven’t looked back. It is our most frequently used kitchen appliance. It’s awesome to cook with, easy to clean, and is the perfect receptacle for your dump dinner wildest dreams.

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The instant pot is the ultimate dgaf dinner tool to have in your house.

My hubby hates almost anything cooked in a slow cooker and claims that it all “Just tastes like boiled meat.”

But with the handy af saute function on the Instant Pot, you can sear that meat and lock in so many juices to make some of the most delicious, tender tasting chicken breast in the Instant Pot!

If you don’t already have an instant pot be sure to check this out right here. It’s hands down the best investment I’ve made in my kitchen since the George Forman Grill (and I don’t even really use that anymore).

And the more popular they’ve become the lower the prices have been.

We use it to cook almost every day. If we’re not making the main dish in the Instant Pot (Like if we’re making a sheet pan recipe) I use it to make rice, quinoa, or even steam veggies real quick.

We use it to make steel-cut oats in the morning for breakfast (in about 15 minutes start to finish!), and the best, easiest hard-boiled eggs ever.

Like seriously some of these dishes feel like they should be served in a 5-star restaurant. Or at least cost a lot more than what I paid to buy the ingredients.

Saving Your Favorite Instant Chicken Breast Recipes

It’s kind of easy to read this list of chicken breast instant pot recipes and feel the compulsion to try all of them!

I get that. Because that’s always what happens when I go down this road.

But try to do this. Find one recipe below and save that one.

Bookmark this post, or save it to your favorite recipe Pinterest board.

Or even better…invest in my lazy bitch meal planner.

You can download this editable and printable meal planner template here.

Weekly Meal Planner and Grocery list $3.99

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My meal planner system utilizes Trello (which is a project management system) that seamlessly allows you to save recipes, sort grocery lists, and organize your weekly meals every week.

You can save your favorite recipes, you can create new recipes and store them. It’s accessible from your phone and syncs to your desktop (You can even share an account with a family member who helps shop/cook!)

This may not be for you but my meal planner template is an awesome way to store your favorites or to add new recipes, and also create a grocery list option so you don’t ever forget an ingredient again.

You can read more here about what meal planning and prep is.

And here’s a sneak peek at how to save some of your favorite recipes to your trello board:

How long does it take to cook chicken breast in the instant pot?

Once you’ve cooked a chicken or ten in the instant pot you might get to a point where you can improvise with ingredients.

But here’s the gist:

A 6-ounce chicken breast will usually take 6 minutes on high pressure if it’s fresh. 10 minutes on high pressure if it’s frozen.

An 8-ounce chicken breast will take 8 minutes on high pressure if it’s fresh, and 12 minutes on high pressure if it’s frozen.

If you’re math inclined you can figure out the perfect cooking time for chicken breasts in the instant pot by doing some simple math.

The ounce = the time (if fresh) on high pressure.

Add 4 minutes to that fresh time if it’s frozen. But…like all things in cooking-land, this is not an exact science!!

In fact, you’re going to want to read the section below about how to make sure the chicken breast is moist and delicious!

How long does it take to cook Chicken Thighs in the Instant Pot?

You can totally cook frozen chicken thighs in the instant pot. Just increase the amount of time required by 50%.

When it comes to cooking fresh chicken thighs in the instant pot, the avg. time seems to be around 10 minutes. While you can definitely overcook chicken breasts, it’s a bit harder to overcook chicken thighs (and you have more wiggle room with it as the meat tends to naturally be more tender!)

How much liquid do you put in chicken breast in the Instant Pot?

Your Instant Pot manual will detail that at a minimum you will need to add some liquid to the bottom of the pot to allow for steam to be created.

The truth is there are some hacks for this.

Cooking your chicken breast on top of sliced onions, for example, is a way to reduce the need for liquid (as the onions will “sweat” enough liquid to suffice the need to add any).

You can also simply add 1/2 a cup of water or chicken stock if you’re sure.

All of the below recipes come with instructions for how much liquid to add.

Can you stack chicken in Instant Pot?

What if you’re making a bulk amount of chicken? Like for meal prep for the week? Or for a large family of hungry eaters?

Yes, you can most definitely stack chicken in an Instant Pot.

I recommend searing each breast a little before you stack (just to lock in the flavor and juices) on the saute function!

You’ll also want to season all of them BEFORE stacking so as to make sure the flavors are equal on all your stacked chicken breasts.

Can you overcook chicken in a pressure cooker?

Yup, you can totally overcook chicken in a pressure cooker.

And it sucks because just like overcooking chicken breasts anywhere else it becomes super rubbery and chewy and sort of ruins a meal.

It’s become a bit of an experiment in our house to get the correct cooking time for chicken breast in the instant pot.

This post here has some incredible advice and suggestions to make sure your chicken is moist, tender, and delicious every time.

I find that if I neglect to pay attention to the weight of the chicken breasts I’m cooking, it almost ALWAYS is overcooked if I simply follow the instructions of the recipe.

If I take another 30 seconds to check the weight and estimate the correct “time” (and not just go by what the recipe suggests) everyone is happier and enjoys the chicken a lot more.

The Best Instant Pot Chicken Breast Recipes

Let’s make some chicken breasts in the instant pot, shall we?

Instant Pot – Buttery Chicken Breasts From Ma Main Instincts

This is another one of those decadent dishes that makes you feel like you’re eating at a fancy restaurant instead of your home kitchen. Pair with string beans or fresh salad and it’s a perfect combo of savory and yummy.

Instant Pot Chicken and Noodles from I Don’t Have Time For That

Omg soooo good. So delicious and so easy to throw together and always a crowd pleaser.

Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas from Family Fresh Meals

I love Mexican food and I think I could eat it all day every day. If ONLY my family would let me.

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos from Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Speaking of Mexican food, I love these shredded chicken tacos as an awesome alternative for ground beef on a taco Tuesday.

Chicken Tacos Image: Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings from Simply Happy Foodie

Sort of like chicken and noddles (but without the egg noodles) this dish is deliciously creamy and filling and surprisingly a hit with my toddlers who hate soups of most kind that aren’t just straight up tomato.

Instant Pot Chicken Pesto and Potatoes from The Recipe Rebel

I love pesto. I love potatoes. I love chicken breast in the instant pot. This is also a huge hit with our boys who surprisingly don’t love green things in their food unless it’s pesto.

Instant Pot Salsa Chicken from Skinny Taste

True Story. I used to make slow cooker salsa chicken at least once a month (sometimes more) but since the Instant Pot came into my life, I can sear the chicken breast before it gets cooked which saves my husband from saying “It just tastes like boiled chicken with salsa on it.”

Since we’re likely to make this in large quantities, there’s likely to be a lot of leftovers. And thus, we use leftover chicken breast recipes to make an all new meal too!

Greek Chicken Rice Bowls From 365 Days of Crockpot

Greek food is solidly in my top three food styles of all time and so we eat it at least once a week (sometimes more!). These rice bowls have everything and all the ingredients make it feel super fresh and healthy too!

Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan from Skinny Taste

Oh man is there anything more comforting than this Italian classic?

Southwestern Instant pot Chicken And Rice from Meaningful Eats

I’ve made this one with both frozen and fresh chicken and it’s a huge hit with my toddlers (they loved the rice and asked for seconds!)

Chicken, Broccoli and Rice From From I Don’t Have Time for That

Chicken and broccoli are two of my kids favorite dinner dishes so combining them in one is a no-brainer. Don’t chop the broccoli too small or else it turns out kind of mushy and weird.

Creamy Garlic Mushroom Chicken From Rasa Malaysia

Ermagerd this is heaven in an Instant Pot. Make her Creamy Garlic Instant Pot Pasta along with it and you’ve got a completely decadent complete meal.

Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo by The Recipe Critic

This is such a delicious spin on a classic recipe that is done in a flash by cooking the noodles and chicken at the same time! I know. Mind-blowing.

Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie by Cooking with Karli
This recipe has all the flavors your familiar with and also omg, it may be one of the best chicken pot pies you’ve ever tasted.

Instant Pot Chicken Adobo by Urban Bliss Life

This is a delicious recipe that has the traditional flavors of the Filipino chicken adobo you love, but cooked in half the time!

Instant Pot Chicken Marsala from Mommy’s Home Cooking

This is so decadent and delicious and also so easy to make it feels like you’re cheating.

These Instant Pot Chicken Enchiladas from DIY Candy

Omg these Enchiladas make me walk around and quote Moira Rose’s famous “Enchilaaaaadaaas” from Schitt’s Creek:

These Instant Pot Chicken Drumsticks from Temecula Blogs

are done in about 15 minutes And ZOMGGG how my kids love to eat these.

Instant Pot White Chicken Chili from 365 Days of Crockpot

I kind of have a thing for white chicken chili, and even prefer it to the more traditional tomato based version. It’s like a bisque!

Instant Pot Chicken Thighs Recipes

I love cooking with chicken thighs. They’re cheap. They’re so incredibly flavorful. They’re also great if you’re on a keto diet or whole 30 diet. I love that I can buy organic chicken thighs and it’s still cheaper in many cases than the regularly priced non-organic chicken breasts (sometimes.)

Here are some of the best Instant pot chicken thigh recipes.

Lemon Butter Chicken Thighs from Damn Delicious

This is SO savory and so refreshing at the same time. I love a good lemon butter combo and served with cous cous or cauliflower rice and this is amazing.

Creamy Instant Pot Chicken Risotto from The Lazy Genius Collective

The Lazy Genius Collective is one of my favorite food bloggers and features one of my favorite lazy dinner recipes (change your life chicken).

I love risotto because it’s one of those dishes that feels and looks fancy but it’s essentially an Italian peasant dish so it’s cheap and easy. But with the Instant Pot it becomes even easier.

Instant Pot – Whole Chicken Recipe From A Pinch of Healthy

Yes. You can rotisserie an entire chicken (and not just the chicken breasts) in your Instant Pot. There are several recipes out there for this but this one stands out as being pretty complete (and yummy!)

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Instant Pot – Lemon Garlic Chicken from Life Made Sweeter

We legit make this at least once every few weeks in my house. The addition of cream makes it, even more, Keto-friendly, and with or without it kind of varies the flavor enough that it can taste like a different meal. Serve with rice or cauliflower rice if you’re on a ketogenic diet.

Instant Pot – Chicken Burrito Bowls From Number 2 Pencil
If I can eat food every single day then I’m a happy happy momma. This one-stop shop for dinner is my second favorite thing – cooking without all the cleanup and tons of pots and pans and other cookware. Oh, and it’s fucking delicious AF.

Instant Pot Chicken Soup From Omnivores Cookbook

Nothing can be more classic and comforting then a hot bowl of chicken soup and thanks to the Instant pot most of the work (and labor) is done for you. If you buy pre-chopped veggies you can save even more time on a weeknight.

Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Thighs from Temecula Blogs

Yes. Totally substitute chicken breasts for thighs in this one if you prefer chicken breasts, but do not skimp on the creamy part of this dish. IT. IS. DIVINE!!!