Cooking frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot is just about the easiest way to get dinner on the table! This method results in super flavorful, juicy, and tender chicken breasts that you don’t even have to thaw. Perfect for quickly cooking chicken for another recipe, too. Check out my recipe for Instant Pot frozen chicken thighs, too!
Why This Recipe Is So Good
- An Instant Pot makes cooking perfectly tender and seasoned chicken breast ridiculously easy. Just season your chicken, pour in some broth and cook.
- We love that this recipe uses frozen chicken breasts — no thawing needed! There’s almost no prep when it comes to cooking your chicken breasts in an Instant Pot.
- This method is perfect for cooking chicken for dinner, but also for recipes that require cooked chicken. We love it for meal prep, too!
How To Make Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Breasts
- Season the chicken breasts on both sides with all-purpose seasoning or salt and pepper.
- Place the trivet in Instant Pot, then pour in the chicken broth. Place the chicken breasts on the trivet, then close the lid. Turn the vent to sealed.
- Cook on Manual High Pressure for 10-15 minutes. After the time is up, let naturally release 5 minutes then Quick Release remaining pressure.
- Serve as is or use in a recipe that calls for cooked chicken.
Top Tips For Making
- For 6-8 ounce breasts, about 10 minutes should make the chicken nice and tender. 11 minutes will make the chicken just a bit more firm. For a 9-10 ounce breast, cook for 13 minutes, and 15 minutes for 12 ounces.
- If using all-purpose seasoning, don’t use salt, otherwise, your chicken will be too salty.
More Easy Recipes
- Air Fryer Chicken Breasts
- Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
- Air Fryer Tater Tots
- 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken
- Instant Pot Dal
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
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Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Breast
Cooking juicy, tender frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot be the easiest way to make dinner. No thawing needed!
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 cup chicken broth or water
- 1 tbsp all-purpose seasoning or salt and pepper to taste
Wine Pairings (NOT for Whole30!) — See Notes
- 2019 Fiddleneck Chardonnay click to buy
- 2018 Dove Hunt Dog Pinot Noir click to buy
- 2019 Dove Hunt Dog Chardonnay click to buy
Instructions
- Season chicken breasts on both sides with seasoning or salt and pepper.
- Place trivet in Instant Pot. Pour in chicken broth. Place chicken breasts on trivet. Close lid and turn vent to sealed.
- Cook on Manual High Pressure for 10-15 minutes (see notes). After time is up, let naturally release 5 minutes then Quick Release remaining pressure.
- Serve or use in a recipe that calls for cooked chicken.
Video
Notes
- 6-8 ounce chicken breasts: Cook for 9-10 minutes.
- 9-10 ounce chicken breasts: Cook for 12 minutes.
- 12-ounce chicken breast: Cook for 14 minutes.
NO wine on Whole30 — no exceptions. I recommend buying wine from Scout and Cellar, especially for lower carb or sugar and the health conscious. There’s no added sugar to these wines, and they’re all much lower in carbs, calories, and sugar. For me, there’s no headache or fogginess the next day!
This chicken recipe can be altered to whatever flavors you want, so you can get away with a variety of wine pairings. I recommend:
Nutrition
Serving: 4gCalories: 132kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 24gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 2090mgPotassium: 465mgVitamin A: 34IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 9mgIron: 1mgNet Carbs: 1g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
I was gifted an instapot and was looking for a basic chicken recipe. This is great! Thanks!
Let us know how it goes!
Is the weight above per breast or total? I have 2 breasts totaling 1 and 3/4 pounds
Angie, the weight is for each breast. 🙂
What size of instant pot did you use? Do you think the cook time and amount of liquid would remain the same for any size instant pot?
Absolutely! As long as your chicken can ideally sit side by side for even cooking, any size should work! Mine is a six-quart Instant Pot!
Question- so do we just season the frozen chicken breasts and it’ll be flavorful and completely cooked in 14 min? New cook here and thinking about using my instapot for the first time tonight lol thanks in advance
That’s right! I do the seasoning on the frozen chicken and try to pat it on a bit before transferring to the Instant Pot. Always make sure your chicken reaches 165 degrees F to be sure its safe.
This looks so good! I’m new to IP. I love breasts and my husband loves a leg/thigh combo. Can they be cooked together without one getting over/under cooked? What about bone in? Can you do that in the IP too?
You can definitely cook them together! Make sure they’re similar sizes, otherwise one will overcook or undercook. Bone-in also works but requires more time.
I tried this recipe exactly as it was written, but it only cooked the outside of the meat. The inside was still frozen. Any suggestions?
Likely a longer cook time! A lot of the chicken breasts today are MASSIVE and require a little longer cook time. If you can (before freezing), try to pound out the chicken breasts and make them more even for a better cook throughout.
I am the world’s worst cook, what If I only have 2 chicken breasts
This recipe will be so easy for you, and if you only have 2 chicken breasts that’s fine. It will still cook for the same amount of time, just decrease the water a little!
There were so good and easy!! Very moist. Thank you!
So glad you liked them!