How To Cook Chicken Breast in the Instant Pot

The first thing I suggest making in your brand new electric pressure cooker is hard-cooked eggs (seriously, so easy to peel). The second? Basic chicken breast! This dinner staple cooks up perfectly every time in the Instant Pot. You can aim for firm but juicy chicken for cubing, or let it cook a little bit longer for tender shredded chicken.

Instant Pot chicken breast is also as ingenious for meal prep (hello, more oven space!) as it is for weeknight dinners. Ready for the simple steamed chicken breast technique you’ll use over and over again? Here’s how to do it.

• It’s great for meal prepping. There are a lot of ways to cook chicken in the electric pressure cooker, but this method is specifically for plain chicken breast that you can use as meal prep for building salads and grain bowls or for using in recipes that call for cooked chicken.
• You can use fresh or frozen chicken breasts. Both work well here – just keep in mind that frozen breasts cool the cooker’s insert and make for a longer cooker time, as the pressure cooker needs more time to come to pressure.

This recipe below is just chicken, salt, and chicken broth or water, but you can totally add your own flavors before cooking with dry spice rubs or citrus, or dress up the cooked chicken with sauces or salsas. There’s no need to adjust the cooking time when adding any of these for flavor.

It will take about 12 minutes for the Instant Pot to come up to temperature and then another 10 to 15 minutes of cook time. Be sure to use medium chicken breasts (about 8 ounces) each. If you have larger or smaller, you may need to play around and adjust timing accordingly.

Yes! This method works with frozen chicken as well. Just plan for frozen breasts to take longer to come to temperature — about two to five minutes extra depending on the number of breasts. The cook time under pressure doesn’t change, but it does extend the amount of time it takes the pot to come up to pressure to about 15 minutes.

We’re not boiling these breasts, but rather pressure steaming them to ensure they are juicy, so you want the breasts to sit above the cooking liquid. I’ve used both the trivet that comes with the pot and a folding steamer basket with the same great results.

Now you’ve got juicy, tender chicken breasts ready and you need some ideas for how to eat it, we’ve got you covered. Cube it and top chopped salads, shred it for wraps and chicken salad sandwiches, or work it into soups. These are just a few recipe ideas to get you started.

Also, don’t toss the broth! Whatever you do, don’t dump the broth (or water) you used for steaming — it didn’t lose any flavor, in fact it gained some, and you can use it in soups or even to upgrade your lunch ramen.

• Classic Cobb Salad
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Chicken Caesar Salad
• Easy Sheet Pan Chicken Nachos
• Easy Chicken Shawarma Salad
• Chicken Flautas

We’ve retested the recipe, focusing on medium-sized chicken breasts, which are about 8 ounces each, and the cook time is correct. If you have smaller or larger chicken breasts, we recommend reducing or increasing the cook time by a minute or two accordingly, it may take some trial and error. – June 2024