Name: How to Cook Instant Pot Chicken Breasts (from Fresh or Frozen)
Yield: 6 cups chicken
Ingredients: 3 boneless (skinless chicken breasts); 1 cup water; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 5-6 whole peppercorns

Healthy boneless chicken breasts can be shredded, sliced, or diced, and used as the base for countless healthy recipes, and when you cook them in the Instant Pot pressure cooker they can go from frozen OR fresh chicken breasts to fully cooked with just 10 minutes cooking time.

How many times have you come home and realized you’ve forgotten to pull the chicken from the freezer for tonight’s dinner? If you’re like me, it’s 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.

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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 nobody’s ever thought of before.

But the reality is, while those recipes are fun to bookmark and make every so often, it’s the basics for daily cooking that we really need.

Like how to cook the basic boneless chicken breast, and how to cook it fast.

I’ve 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 let’s talk basics.

Cooking Chicken Breasts In the Instant Pot

Using a pressure cooker or Instant Pot to cook any ingredient—especially when you’re meal prepping nutritious meals —is a time saving game changer.

Using a pressure cooker shaves off valuable hands-on cooking time, and unlike cooking on the stove top, there’s no monitoring with a watchful eye for liquids boiling over, or turning the temp down, or even stirring…instead, cooking can be a completely hands-off affair.

Cook Fresh or Frozen Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot

The real beauty of cooking chicken breasts in the Instant Pot is you can use either fresh or still frozen chicken breasts and literally toss them into the Instant Pot with no defrosting needed.

That’s why this method has been my “what’s for dinner” meal saver more than once.

see more: 20 Healthy Dinners to Make In the Instant Pot

I tend to cook skinless boneless breasts most often, simply for the ease of it. And my method is so simple it’s scary:

Remove the chicken breast from the fridge or freezer and add to the Instant Pot insert. Use a metal rack with handles if you’d like, or you can skip the rack if you prefer.
If frozen, you don’t have to defrost the chicken, the Instant Pot will do the work for you. The chicken cooks best if the chicken breasts aren’t in a block, but individually frozen instead. If you have a larger block of chicken allow for more cooking time (you will have to play with the timing depending on how big your block is.)
I typically cook 3 breasts at at time for my little family which yields about 6 cups of shredded chicken. To cook more chicken breasts at once, layer the chicken side by side if frozen or stacked if fresh.
Add 1 cup of water plus kosher salt and black peppercorns.
Set the cooking time for just 10 minutes.
Be sure your chicken has an internal temperature of 165° F to be cooked through.
BOOM! You instantly have cooked chicken breast that is juicy and tender and ready to eat as is or use as a base for so many more recipes.

see more: 25 Lightened-Up, Healthy Chicken Dinner Recipes

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 don’t 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, there’s no need for any additional time needed for the instant pot to natural release the steam.

see more: 20 Chicken Dinner Ideas You Can Make On the Sheet Pan

How to Cook Instant Pot Chicken Broth

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, and following the directions for my recipe in 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
garlic
carrots
celery
onion
root vegetables such as parsnip or turnips
garni of herbs like parsley, thyme, bay leaves

see more: 31 Days of Weeknight Chicken Dinners to Make Now

Once the pressure cooker has finished the 10 minutes cooking time, simply flick the quick release the lever (I use the handle of a wooden spoon to avoid the steam), allow the steam to escape, and use tongs to pull the chicken straight from the pot to a cutting board to shred, slice or dice for whatever means you’re it preparing for.

Recipes to Make Using Cooked Chicken Breast

Cooked chicken breast is one of the easiest bases for any weeknight soup, tacos, salads or even on it’s own for dinner. Here’s a few to think about making with your Instant Pot meal prepped chicken.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on I nstagram with #foodiecrusheats.

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