Instant Pot Chicken is one of the quickest (and easiest) ways to cook chicken!
Just a few simple ingredients (and fresh or frozen chicken) are tossed into your electric pressure cooker, push a button and voila, dinner is ready!
You can barely prepare all of the toppings in the time it takes to make perfect Instant Pot Chicken breasts!
©SpendWithPennies.com
Pin it to your DINNER BOARD to SAVE it for later!
Follow Spend With Pennies on Pinterest for more great tips, ideas and recipes!
I love my Instant Pot (and if you don’t have an instant pot, you need one)! If you’re asking yourself, what is the Instant Pot you’re going to love this! It’s an easy to use (aka super safe) pressure cooker that takes all of the “scary-ness” out of pressure cooking. (Check them out on Amazon here).
I love being able to grab chicken breasts right from the freezer, pop them into the Instant Pot and have a meal ready to go in just a few minutes. Not only is it healthy, it’s delicious and crazy tender!
If you use a crock pot regularly, you know you need to thaw frozen meat first and then the recipe usually takes several hours to cook (like my Crockpot Chicken Tacos).
Cooking chicken in the slow cooker is perfect for when I’m gone all day and want to come home to a meal that’s ready to go but the Instant Pot cooks a meal from frozen in just minutes. I mean, I do TRY to plan meals but sometimes it’s 5pm and I really haven’t even thought about dinner (please tell me I’m not the only one)!
In this recipe, you cook fresh chicken for 12 minutes and frozen chicken for 16! Are you beginning to see what I mean when I want to call it the Miracle Pot?
4 ingredients, that’s all it takes to get started. Chicken breast, taco seasoning (I prefer homemade taco seasoning), chicken broth and salsa – that’s it! Once cooked, you simply shred the chicken and you are ready to serve!
Traditional taco fillings and hard shells are perfect, but I also love to use soft tortilla shells or even to serve this over a bed of lettuce for the perfect taco salad!
We set out a whole tray of toppings, sour cream, Homemade Salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole… pretty much whatever you want! Have a little fun with your toppings to see what you can create!
I love to make this recipe not only because it is so simple, but because everyone in my family is satisfied! Seriously, who doesn’t love tacos?!
If you’re serving a crowd, this makes the perfect taco bar… and putting the Instant Pot on warm means your guests can serve themselves whenever they want.
Add in a simple tossed salad while the chicken is cooking and you have a complete meal ready in minutes!
This recipe both freezes and reheats perfectly! Left overs can be frozen in freezer bags to use later (if there is actually any left-over!) and microwaved until hot for a quick meal. We’ve also used this chicken to make a Nacho Platter for last minute guests!
Instant Pot Chicken is so easy to make and truly one of the most versatile recipes I have ever come across (and one you’ll pull your pressure cooker out for any day of the week). Super-fast, incredibly delicious and crowd pleasing…all reasons to whip up Instant Pot Chicken Tacos tonight!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts fresh or frozen
- 1 ounce taco seasoning 1 packet, or 2 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning
- ⅓ cup chicken broth
- 1 cup salsa
For Serving
- 12 taco shells or small flour or corn tortillas
- toppings as desired see notes
Instructions
- Place chicken breast in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Add chicken broth.
- Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken breasts. Top with salsa.
- Press “Poultry” and cook for 15 minutes if frozen and 12 minutes if fresh.
- Once done, release pressure and shred chicken with two forks. Combine with sauce in Instant Pot and serve as desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
REPIN This Instant Pot Taco Recipe Here
More Recipes You’ll Love
Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada soup
I’m confused… when using the poultry button (6 qt duo nova) do I also select pressure?
If you’re using the poultry button, the pressure should be set. Enjoy Barabara!
This was seriously the easiest, yummy dinner for my family. I had some chicken breasts that needed to be used and already had the rest of the stuff to have tacos. I used a very mild store brand taco seasoning and a can of stewed tomatoes that I diced up since it’s what I had and my kids don’t like anything spicy. The chicken was juicy and flavorful. My whole family enjoyed it, thanks for sharing!
You’re so welcome Kat, glad your family loved this chicken!
I read all the comments prior to trying this one because I am so new to Instant Pot and was scared I would mess it up, since I don’t have the “poultry” setting. I used 3 chicken breasts, approx. 1.5-2 lbs. fresh, NOT frozen. On my 8qt. Instant Pot: Manual setting on 12 min. with a quick release. Super tender and juicy.
Turned out AMAZING!
So happy I found this one!
So glad to hear that you love the chicken Jessi!
Please add 15 minutes for Instapot to come to pressure on the cook. Someone who has never used the Instapot or a pressure cooker may not know that. It’s a big difference in cook time when a person is trying to keep a schedule with a hungry family.
That’s a great tip, much appreciated! This is going to be my first time using my Instant Pot, that’s good to know.
I made this for my 4 kids who are picky eaters and who rarely will all eat the same dish. We only had medium salsa, which is a bit too much for my kids, so I added chili-ready canned tomatoes instead, and this worked out perfectly. They all loved it with tacos, quesadillas, and a Mexican rice dish that my wife is quite fond of. We will definitely be making this again (cooked 6 breasts in the 8-quart IP, 15 min high pressure, 10 min natural release).
I also used the homemade taco seasoning recipe mentioned in this recipe and that was fantastic, as well!
We love hearing stories like this Eric! Glad your whole family enjoyed it!
I’ve used my insta pot numerous of times, so therefore I knew how long for my chicken to cook. I love the homemade taco seasoning. That was a 1st time for that & we Loved it!! Everything turned out Perfect!! Even my picky teenager loved it!! A new favorite in my house!
Just finished this recipe for my lunch. I used a package of chicken breast tenderloins I had thawed overnight. After reading some of the other comments about chcken not getting completely cooked through I gave mine extra time. I cooked for a total of 18 minutes. After releasing I took the chicken out and it shred easily.
Terrible. Chicken was still raw after 15 minutes. Will never use a recipe from this site again.
Sorry to hear that Aaron! Did you use the Poultry setting on your Instant Pot? This recipe is usually a success for readers, so I am not sure what went wrong.
Cooked my 3 breasts for 15 minutes on poultry setting and they were still frozen and raw In the middle, wouldn’t even shred. Tried cooking another 6 minutes on poultry and still not cooked. Very disappointed in the wasted chicken and dinner being a complete bust.
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you, that’s disappointing! If the chicken wasn’t cooked yet it could still be cooked a bit longer so it isn’t wasted.
Chicken breasts can range in size from 5oz to 10oz so if they were large, they certainly could need a bit of extra time. Also, if the chicken breasts were frozen in a clump (instead of individually frozen), that could cause it to need more time to cook through. I hope that helps.
Check your pressure cooker. It’s not the fault of the recipe.
My chicken was thawed! 2 large breasts 2.47lbs total. I don’t see where the recipe tells size. 1 breast finally was able to be pulled apart after the second 12 minute span. Yes I used the poultry setting! On my third 12 minute cook time now… Really getting hungry at this point. I assumed it would be very tender and fall apart. I’m about the throw the pot away!
If the chicken breasts were frozen in a clump or frozen together, this would increase cook time. Hopefully they were tender and ready on the third cook time!
Fantastic!
I served this on Indian naan bread with oven roasted sweet peppers, onions and garlic topped off with sour cream and sharp cheddar cheese. My girlfriend loved it, as did I.
Easy and fast.
I loved it!!! Have you converted this to slow cooker by chance? I told my mom about it and she wanted to try but she doesn’t have a pressure cooker. I’ve been searching online to figure out how to convert and I’m scared it won’t be as good if I don’t get it right.
Hi Brandy we have a similar Crockpot Chicken Tacos recipe she could try!
This recipe was beyond easy to make and flavor was amazing. I may try a natural pressure release next time though, I think this may make the chicken a little more tender. But delicious!!!!
i whisked the salsa and seasoning into a little extra broth and let it marinate in the fridge a few hours before cooking, and used the stew option on my pot as my model doesnt have a poultry button, but it still came out fantastic!
Very delicious and easy weeknight dinner. I used 4 frozen chicken breasts so I adjusted the recipe to add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and kept everything else the same; it turned out perfectly. Chicken was cooked fully by using the poultry option for 15 minutes on my instant pot. My husband has been raving about how delicious it was all night! I even caught him eating the “left overs” with some chips. Not sure there will be any left in the morning. We will definitely be adding this to our staple recipes! Thanks!
This was my first electric pressure cooker meal. It was delicious. I did have to cook the chicken about 6 additional minutes but that was most likely me just learning how to use this new machine. I am excited to try more of your recipes.
I made this recipe for fry bread tacos tonight; it was delicious! I did have to add an additional 10 minutes as my frozen chicken wasn’t completely done at 15. Great recipe, thank you!
I use this recipe regularly now and it’s a hit every single time. I just shared it with my niece and explained that the recipe is deceptively simple. “Stupid easy” is actually the way I phrased it. Because who knew that this simple combination of ingredients would create such a fantastic dish? Well, obviously Holly did, and thank goodness for that, because it’s saved my family from some pretty plain meals, I’ll tell you what! I have an 8 qt Instant Pot, so I double the recipe. And I always use the frozen chicken breasts from Costco (but not Kirkland brand. Personally, I prefer the Tyson boneless skinless frozen breasts because they are not individually wrapped, thank goodness. Who has the time or desire to peel away the wrapping on every single breast?!), but I do love the Kirkland brand salsa. Inexpensive, tender, moist and tasty! Since I use 5 or 6 of the gigantic frozen chicken breasts from Costco, I usually do 20 minutes on the Instant Pot. That might be a little too long for some, but nonetheless, they are still juicy and tender and fall apart easily for shredding.
I’ll make tacos as described in this recipe, but I’ll also use this chicken for pollo fundido and chicken nachos. The sky is the limit with this recipe. Thanks, Holly, for jazzing up my chicken game!
So happy you love it, Courtney. It is so simple yet so so delicious! Those are great suggestions on how to use the shredded chicken, thanks for sharing!
This was the perfect kind of assemble and go recipe I love in instant pots! I even used frozen chicken breasts – even less prep work! I added extra broth as I was worried about burn and did about 5 minutes NPR. They shredded super easy and were super yummy! This is definitely going in the regular dinner cycle!!
If I’m making this for a taco bar for 12 people is the cooking time the same if I use more chicken? Do you know how I would adjust? Thanks!!
While I haven’t tried extra chicken breasts with this recipe, cook time should remain the same (as long as your chicken breasts are around 6-7 oz each). Larger might need more, smaller might need less. I would toss each chicken breast with seasoning before putting in the IP instead of adding it on top.
Once cooked release the pressure and check the temperature. It should be at least 165, if it’s under a few degrees, it’ll finish cooking if you let it rest a couple of minutes. If it is under more than a few degrees, replace the lid and cook a couple minutes more on high pressure.
Let us know how it goes!
I love this recipe, but do not have a poultry setting on my IP. I used my Meat/stew setting to see if that would work, but that is a low cook temp and I could not change it to high. How would I cook this using the Manual setting – how many minutes.
Hi Maggie, on high, you would want to cook it for 15 minutes if frozen and 12 minutes if fresh as indicated in the recipe.
I used 2 large chicken breast and followed the recipe as if were 3 chicken breasts cutting 3 minutes off the time. The meat came out with great flavor but not enough liquid to have the texture for taco’s. Going to add salsa to see if it helps. Next time I’ll double the recipe for 2 chicken breast. (2lbs)