How to Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot

Knowing how to cook frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot pressure cooker is the easiest and best way to cook flavorful chicken. This is one of my favorite ways to cut down on actual time spent cooking and the amount of dishes used in my kitchen.

It’s a game changer having cooked meat on hand for your weekly meal prep. Our Instant Pot chicken breast recipe can be cooked with either thawed or frozen chicken breasts. This is particularly helpful if you are anything like me and regularly forget to thaw your frozen breasts (this happens more than I’ll admit).

Pressure cooking in the Instant Pot makes perfectly cooked chicken every time. The pressure of the Instant Pot cooks a juicy chicken breast and is easy to shred, slice or leave whole. You can make this chicken in any pressure cooker by following the step by step instructions and tips below.

Where’s the recipe?

Here at My Crazy Good Life we write our recipes so that everyone can follow them. We love it when our readers feel comfortable, confident, and empowered in the kitchen. The post below has detailed instructions, recipe tips, and healthy eating plan information.

If you’d like to skip past the ingredient details, easy recipe tips, nutritional and healthy eating guides, simply scroll down to the bottom where you’ll find the easy to print Frozen Chicken Instant Pot recipe.

Ingredients in Instant Pot Frozen Chicken:

• Chicken Breast: Boneless skinless chicken breasts is my go to. Removing the skin removes a large percentage of the fat from chicken, and boneless makes the prep easier. You may use conventional or organic chicken breasts for this recipe.
• Water: You can also use low sodium chicken broth for extra flavor.
• Seasonings are optional: I like to sprinkle breasts with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. If you’re prepping chicken for one of your favorite chicken recipes you can add any of the seasonings listed in the recipe.

How to Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot

I see so many questions about how to cook frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot, and it’s so easy! Whether you want to cook a large batch of just a little bit of frozen chicken, here is my basic method:

1. Place one cup of water (or one cup of chicken broth) in the bottom of the Instant Pot Insert. This is one of the most important things you need to do. An Instant Pot without liquid is a sad pot and won’t be able to pressurize.
2. Add chicken to the bottom of the pot in a single layer. Be careful not to overlap the raw chicken breast too much. If you need more space you can lean the chicken breasts along the sides of the pot too.
3. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and any other spices you prefer.
4. Close the lid and place the pressure valve in the sealed position.
5. Set your Instant Pot to High Pressure Cook: Use the following times based on the size of chicken breasts. Large chicken breast will take slightly longer to cook than thin smaller breasts.
   • For fresh chicken breasts under 2 inches thick set cook time for 12 minutes.
   • For fresh chicken breasts over 2 inches thick set cook time for 15 minutes.
   • For frozen chicken set cook time for 15 minutes.
   • Note: When cooking Instant Pot frozen chicken breast, the pot takes a bit longer to come to pressure. It’s cooking during that time, which is why there isn’t a huge difference in the amount of time the chicken cooks for.
6. Once cook time is complete, allow a natural release of pressure for 10-15 minutes (Natural Pressure Release or NPR means don’t touch the sealing valve–let it slowly release on its own) then do a quick pressure release for the remaining pressure by moving the valve from Sealing to Venting. Hot steam will spray out, so watch your hands and any cabinets on top of the pot.

Recipe Tips:

• Instructions and cooking times are for boneless chicken breasts. If you’re cooking bone in chicken breasts, cook for 8 minutes per pound of chicken.
• The general rule to cook frozen chicken breasts is to pull your chicken apart before adding to the pot. Often times chicken is not cooked through when it is all stuck together or stacked on one another. If this happens and your chicken isn’t cooked through after the timer goes off, simply pull your chicken apart and cook for a few more minutes. If you’d like, you can cut off the cooked pieces and remove them from the pot first to make sure it’s not overcooked.
• When cooking frozen meat, your pot will take longer to come to pressure. This is totally normal. Pro tip: If you’d like to hurry this process along a bit, add the liquid right away and turn your pot to sauté while you’re pulling things out of the freezer and gathering spices.
• In addition to spices, you can add things like Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chiles), salsa, green chiles, or jalapeños to the pot while the chicken is cooking. Sometimes the liquid in the pot will make the taste a little watered down, so another option is to cook the chicken with broth or water and after it’s cooked, add it to a bowl and shred it, then add your Rotel, salsa, or green chilies. Shredded chicken soaks up flavoring well.
• Seasoning options for your chicken: While most of the time I cook the chicken in broth or water, sometimes I like to add seasonings on top of the chicken breast. I have a rotisserie chicken recipe with several different chicken seasonings to choose from or you could add something right from your spice cabinet like Italian seasoning, chili powder, or taco seasoning.
• Quick tip: Chicken is fully cooked and safe to eat when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. You can test the temperature of the chicken by using an instant read thermometer or a meat thermometer.
• Pro tip: The Instant Pot cooks easily shreddable chicken that can be added and incorporated to new recipes. This can cut down on your cooking time of new recipes if you already have chicken available.

Healthy Eating Plans:

Chicken breast is a great staple for those trying to lose weight and eat healthier. Add it to salads, make dips from it, or eat it with veggies for a healthier protein boost.

• Weight Watchers: When using boneless, skinless, chicken breasts each 4 ounce (raw) serving counts as 0 Blue Plan Points | 2 Green Plan Point | 0 Purple Plan Points.
• 21 Day Fix/Ultimate Portion Fix: Each 3/4 cup serving counts as 1 Red Container.
• 2B Mindset: In addition to this meat, fill your plate with 75% FFC for a complete breakfast. Fill your plate with 50% veggies and 25% FFC for a complete lunch, or add 75% veggies for a complete dinner.

More recipes for Instant Pot Pantry Staples

• Frozen ground turkey in the Instant Pot
• Frozen ground beef in the Instant Pot
• Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
• Whole spaghetti squash in the Instant Pot
• Instant Pot Quinoa
• White rice in the Instant Pot
• Brown rice in the Instant Pot

More delicious and healthy recipes from My Crazy Good Life:

• Homemade No Sugar Added BBQ Sauce
• Instant Pot Whole Chicken
• Healthy Egg Drop Soup with Chicken Thighs