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How To Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot [Video]

Catalina Castravet
By Catalina Castravet
Updated:
Published:
4.94 from 15 reviews

Chicken Instant Pot Recipes Kitchen Tips

Cook time Cook time: 20 minutes
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Check the easy way of how to cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot for a quick, easy and very delicious dinner in just about 30 minutes! Also, watch the quick video tutorial attached to see how to make it quickly without the mess!

I love using my pressure cooker to make easy and quick meals. You can also check out my other pressure cooker recipes, such as IP Wings, Mongolian Chicken, and General Tso. 

how to cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot

Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot

When you have an Instant Pot you can make so many delicious recipes in a fraction of the time. One of the best perks of owning a pressure cooker is that you can make many meals without defrosting the meat. With these easy steps on How to Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot, you will see how hassle-free cooking with frozen meat can be.

How many times did it happen to you to plan a tasty dinner, and only to realize that you forgot to thaw the meat?! This is the scenario that usually leads to either eating cereal after work or ordering delivery.

Once you see how easy is to cook frozen meat in the Instant Pot, you won’t have this problem again. In this post, I will tell you How to Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot and I am sharing with you my easy Herbed Chicken. If you are looking how to cook Frozen Ground Beef in the Instant Pot, you should check my recipe, it definitely saves taco night! Also, I put a short video below to show you step by step instructions on how to do this recipe.

Why cook Frozen Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot?

  • The best part is that you don’t have to thaw the meat! Which is such a time saver, especially when you are in a rush!
  • Cooking time is reduced by a lot in comparison to grilling or baking it in the oven, especially if you still need to wait to defrost it.
  • The result is very juicy and flavorful chicken breasts that you can either enjoy right away or store and use as protein on salads. It makes meal prep so much easier.
  • Minimum prep work for a great dinner!

how to cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot

What you will need to Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot?

  1. Instant Pot or any other Pressure Cooker
  2. Frozen Chicken Breasts – make sure they are not stuck-frozen to each other. This is important, as it may not cook uniformly.
  3. Water or Chicken Broth
  4. White Wine – the white wine can be replaced with either water or chicken broth.
  5. Minced Garlic
  6. Butter – optional

How long you should cook Frozen Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot or other Pressure Cooker?

  • I like to cook it anywhere between 8-10 minutes. If the chicken breasts are really small, you can see the ones I used in the video, they are on the smaller size, I cook those for 8 minutes with a 10 minute NPR.
  • If the chicken breasts are larger and thicker, I cook those for 10 minutes with a 10 minute NPR.

Can I brown Frozen Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot?

Now, that’s a no-no. Do not attempt to brown frozen meat of any type. Another way to make the chicken tastier is after you cook it, quickly rinse the pot, select Sauté and brown it a few minutes.

how to cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot

Herbed Chicken Seasoning:

Chicken doesn’t have to be bland. If you take a few minutes to mix these dried herbs and sauté the chicken, you will end up with a very flavorful and delicious dinner! Also, way quicker than baking the chicken breasts. Here are the herbs that I used:

What do you serve Instant Pot Chicken Breasts with?

What is Natural Pressure Release (NPR)?

A Natural Pressure Release means that the pressure is released gradually. For a Natural Pressure Release, you click on Keep Warm and wait 10 minutes. After this, you open the valve and let any leftover pressure to release. Another option is to Turn Off/Unplug the pressure cooker, wait 10 minutes and after that open the valve.

A natural release is usually used when cooking soups, meat in a large amount of sauce, pasta or steel cut oats. This method prevents any foam from the dish to shoot out through the valve, which can happen during a Quick Pressure Release.

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4.94 from 15 reviews

How To Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot

Check the easy way of how to cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot for a quick, easy and very delicious dinner in just about 30 minutes!

How To Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot
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Author: Catalina Castravet Serves: 4 chicken breasts
Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes Total time: 30 mins

Ingredients

Optional Chicken Seasoning:

Garnish:

Instructions

Make Herbed Chicken:

Nutrition information

0 Calories: 400 Carbohydrates: 2 Protein: 48 Fat: 19 Saturated Fat: 4 Cholesterol: 152 Sodium: 591 Potassium: 860 Fiber: 0 Sugar: 0 Vitamin A: 365 Vitamin C: 5.4 Calcium: 33 Iron: 1.7
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how to cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot

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Chicken Instant Pot Recipes Kitchen Tips

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Comments

Leave a reply

Terri Steffes

I actually think that cooking from frozen adds juiciness to the meat! I had forgotten about this and summer is a great time to use the instant pot.

Reply

Terri Beavers

I'm going to send your post to my sister who uses her Instant Pot for everything. She's talked me into getting one myself so I'm sure I'll try this too when I make my purchase (I'm looking for the best deal). We eat chicken breasts often and there are many times when I've forgotten to take them out of the freezer in time.

Reply

Sandra | A Dash of Sanity

This is such a great idea! would love to try it soon!

Reply

Liz

Just made this last night and it's amazing!!!!!! I bought an Instant Pot in the first place because it does frozen chicken, and I am so so happy. Didn't have wine (sad) so did extra broth, plus the oil and as many of the herbs as I had lying around. (No rosemary shockingly; only dried thyme not fresh; added some fresh lemon zest cuz why not; otherwise as described). I have a mini pot and two rock-hard frozen breasts just fit. Pressure cooked for 10 minutes, 10 minute natural release like you said, and they were PERFECT. The red pepper flakes really came through, which I love! Next time I might thicken the leftover liquid (there was a lot) for a sauce and serve it over pasta.

Reply

Courtney

I don’t have a manual button? What do it do?! I’m so upset ? I got to the actual cooking after my test run and now I’m stuck 

Reply
Catalina Castravet

Don't be upset, Manual and Pressure Cook are the same.

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Leah Caprice Ledward

I don't have a manual either...when I press Pressure Cook button do I want Less, Normal, or More?

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Catalina Castravet

Normal.

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Becky

My mother got me an instant pot for Christmas this year (came early so of course I didn't wait to open it). I have so many cooking devises so am sceptical if it will get regular use. I'm very excited to try the frozen chicken recipe tonight. Fingers crossed?. If I like mine she will get one for herself. Guess I'm the guinea pig?

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Christi Rainey

My husband loves this recipe especially with the herbs! I've done this recipe twice just this week. I'm just wondering where are the juices coming from with sauteeing the chicken with the herbs? Where is the baste coming from besides the oil?

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Curtis

Would I need to adjust the time if I’m making just one or two breasts?

Reply
Catalina Castravet

same time

Reply

Clyn6

Tried this last night. I had 3 XL size breasts frozen side by side in a big brick, just barely fit into the pot (horizontal), probably 3 inches thick. Since it was all stuck together in a big brick I cooked it 22 minutes. I added 3 cups of water and 1/2 a bag of powdered Italian dressing/seasoning mix. The 3 breasts separated while cooking, it did not stay all stuck together. It turned out great! I added some cooked barley to the water-juice and shredded some chicken and what a yummy soup that made as well! Next time I will cook it with the barely at the same time, as I did with my beef roast.

Reply

Terri

Just got an instant pot and the one thing you have to know (I didn’t) was that the cooker takes about ten minutes to build up pressure before the cook time starts, and then when it’s done, depending on the recipe, oftentimes you have to let the pressure naturally release, which is another 10min or more, so the time saving isn’t as super as it sounds. Still learning too!

Reply
Catalina Castravet

It depends on the recipe. For example, making a pot roast is still much quicker, also cooking frozen meat is definitely a time saver!

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[email protected]

Can rice be added to this?

Reply
Catalina Castravet

no, the cooking time is different for rice.

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CarbonK

I never leave comments but I had to on this! I made this recipe as written (herbed instructions), except I only had dried thyme, so I used about 1 tsp added to the cooking liquid. This was The.Best.Chicken. I have ever eaten!!! The searing and basting at the end pushed it into epic territory, do not skip this step! I used only 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes and it was a nice subtle but noticeable spice (the brand of flakes I use are very spicy)! Thank you, Catarina, you have created a recipe that my family and I will enjoy for a lifetime!

Reply
Catalina Castravet

Thank you for your review! Really glad you and your family loved it!

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[email protected]

I followed this exactly and when I opened my Instant Pot, it seems the chicken isn’t cooked through yet.... Adding more time.

Reply
Catalina Castravet

Maybe your pieces were larger, to be precise usually, you have to use a kitchen scale to see the weight, but just add a few more minutes and it will be fine.

Reply

Terry B

Is the cooking time the same if you add potatoes and carrots (or one or the other)

Reply
Catalina Castravet

The cooking time is for the chicken, the potatoes and carrots will cook quicker, so you still have to use the same cooking time if you want your chicken done.

Reply

April

This recipe was amazing! It was my first time cooking chicken breasts in the Instapot from frozen and they turned out perfectly. Mine were a solid medium sized so cooked for 9 minutes and did the 10 min NPR. So yum😄

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