Cooking frozen chicken breasts in your pressure cooker is the quickest and easiest way to get healthy cooked chicken without using oils.
Whether you need chicken breast slices or needed shredded chicken, cooking pressure cooker frozen chicken is so easy! It's perfect for chicken tacos, in soups, salads, chicken dip and more.
We always try to keep an emergency bag of frozen chicken in the freezer for impromptu and last-minute dinner ideas. Buying frozen chicken is also a great way to keep down your food costs and save money at the grocery store.
Depending on the recipe, sometimes I'll pre-season the chicken to give it a little extra flavor and other times I'll keep it simple and just use frozen chicken and a little chicken broth. For instance, feel free to add taco seasoning if you're making a Mexican inspired dish or even a little salt and pepper if you don't add that for your final chicken dish.
Cooking frozen chicken in instant pot is my favorite go-to way to cook chicken breasts. Be sure to check out our post on how to cook instant pot frozen chicken tenderloin.
Pressure Cooker Frozen Chicken Ingredients
The ingredients for cooking frozen chicken breast in the pressure cooker is pretty darn simple:
- A 2.5 bag of frozen chicken (our favorite is the frozen chicken from Trader Joes)
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- Seasoning (optional)
One of the main reasons we love to cook with frozen chicken is because the size seems to be more uniform between brands, plus frozen chicken costs less! Doesn't it seem like fresh chicken varies in size and is ridiculously inconsistent? This makes using fresh chicken breasts a little more tricky in an instant pot because the size changes how long the chicken cooks.
In a pinch, you can also substitute salted water, beef broth, vegetable broth, or bouillon cubes mixed with water if you don't have chicken broth on hand. I'm a huge fan of being creative to cut grocery costs by making substitutes from what I have on hand at home.
Seasoning ideas for the pressure cooker frozen chicken- garlic salt, sea salt, pepper, taco seasoning, Italian seasoning, Ranch dressing powder, or no seasoning at all. Sprinkling a little bit of the seasoning that'll match with your final dish is always a good idea to infuse a little extra flavor into the chicken.
NOTE: It's also really important you have 1 cup of liquid in your instant pot and not less. If there isn't enough liquid, not enough steam will be built up to adequately cook your chicken under pressure.
Making Pressure Cooker Frozen Chicken Breast
To cook frozen chicken breasts in a pressure cooker, simply:
- Pour 1 cup of chicken broth in the bottom of your instant pot
- Add the frozen chicken
- Cook on manual for 12 minutes on the high setting
- Do a natural release for 10 minutes
When cooking frozen chicken in a pressure cooker, it's best for using the chicken in a recipe that calls for shredded chicken or sliced chicken. Before you shred or slice your chicken, I recommend letting the meat cool slightly.
How to Shred Chicken
To slice the chicken I cut it into thin slices across the grain, to shred chicken I either use these fun meat claws or this invaluable kitchen staple.
If you're planning to shred your chicken and you have either a stand-mix or hand-mixer, it'll make the job even easier.
Other Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
- Air fryer chicken wings
- Green chili chicken casserole
- Instant pot Cuban chicken stew
- Chicken Fajita Bake
- Chicken Divan Casserole
Be sure to pin this post on Pinterest for later so you can find it again!
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Frozen Chicken Breasts in Pressure Cooker
Easy frozen chicken breasts in an instant pot is the quickest way to make shredded or sliced chicken for your favorite recipes.
Ingredients
- A 2.5 bag of frozen chicken
- 1 cup of water chicken broth
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pour 1 cup of water or chicken broth in the bottom of your instant pot. Add the trivet.
- Place the frozen chicken on top of the trivet. Sprinkle with seasoning if desired, like salt and pepper, taco seasoning, Italian seasoning, etc depending on what the chicken is getting used for.
- Put the lid on the pressure cooker and seal it. Cook on Manual High for 10 minutes.
- Do a natural release for 5 minutes before removing the lid and releasing the remaining pressure.
- Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot, and let it cool slightly before shredding or slicing it for other recipes. Enjoy!
Notes
The test kitchen bag of chicken was 2.5 lbs (40 oz) which 6 frozen chicken breasts, averaging 6 oz each. That being said, the breast sizes can vary greatly. Our 10 minute cooking time should get even the very large frozen chicken breasts cooked through to at least 165 F.
You can season the chicken if you want to, it's entirely optional. Most readers are making this to then use in another recipe like a casserole or chicken salad so you can either flavor the chicken with seasoning to match your recipe OR you can leave it plain and season the chicken as part of the recipe you're making next.
This recipe is especially great for making shredded chicken in recipes, the easiest way to shred chicken is in a Kitchen-aid mixer.
This recipe is intended to cook an entire bag of chicken at one time, if you scale back on the chicken it'll also reduce the cooking time. But at least 10 minutes is a safe bet if you're cooking say 4 frozen chicken breasts to 165 F.
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Laura A Reese says
When do you add the seasoning? Before you cook the chicken or when it is finished? Thanks!
WholeLottaYum says
Before you cook it, feel free to add more seasoning to taste after it's done as well