BBQ frozen chicken tenders Instant Pot style come out so good! Forgetful? This is how to cook frozen chicken from rock hard right out of the freezer frozen to tender and moist every single time.
Frozen chicken Instant Pot style turns out surprisingly delicious. This super tender meat lathered with your favorite sauce for dinner is a game changer y’all. Give frozen meat in a pressure cooker a try and you’ll be a believer too. Just one of many easy quick Instant Pot recipes on our site. (affiliate links present)
How to Cook Frozen Chicken Tenders
We are not referring to the previously cooked and breaded ones in a bag in the freezer section. If that is what you’re looking for read our air fryer frozen chicken tenders post instead. These have no breading and are a healthy version that are just as good (maybe better).
We have shared how to cook frozen chicken in Instant Pot years ago. That was mainly for whole breasts and best if shredding chicken at the end. That is great but if you have this style of meat and want them to stay whole, here are directions for that.
FIRST – You should sign up for my free newsletter so you get new posts emailed to you twice a week and never miss out on anything! Now let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- This is a great InstaPot cookbook and a set of wooden utensils are great to grab too.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should still deglaze pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
Chicken Tenders Instant Pot
I’m sure you’ve seen these at the store. They tend to be more expensive than whole boneless skinless breasts but are more tender like their name suggests. What is the difference? Well their larger counterpart is more nutritious they say and quite a bit larger.
These tend to be 1/3 – 1/2 of the size and much thinner too. Think of it like a pork roast vs. a tenderloin, I am sure you have had both of those and can tell the difference for sure. This is what you’ll need, it’s very simple.
- Frozen tenders, it is best to break them up but if they are in a solid chunk we have cook times for that too.
- Chicken broth or water to steam them
- A trivet or vegetable steamer basket
- Sauce of your choice, barbecue is easy and delicious but teriyaki would be great too.
That is seriously it y’all.
Instant Pot Chicken Tenders
If you are new to using a Ninja Foodi or any pressure cooker, here is how to use an Instant Pot. They are almost all the same but some may have more buttons than others.
Not much. Like the other preprogrammed buttons like cake and meat/stew this one just has a timing that is set. If you have a really old or different model you may not have this. If not, no worries. Just use manual pressure cook on high pressure with the timing shown below.
I do love my small kitchen appliances, I have to admit that. If you have one of my other favorites you can make our other version which are air fryer chicken tenders no breading. The biggest difference is that this way you will get a bit of crisp on the outside whereas these won’t.
Both are great and healthier than chicken nuggets for sure. Just depends what machine you want to use that day AND if your dinner is still rock solid you’ll need this one.
Ninja Foodi Chicken Tenders
Now if you have this pot that does both functions you have many options. If defrosted you can lightly bread them and even wrap your homemade chicken tenders in bacon!! Just try all the things my friends and see which you prefer. This is honestly best if you have forgotten to defrost ahead of time and everyone is starving.
- Separate the pieces ideally but if they are in one solid chunk I will explain what to do with those too.
- Pour broth or water into pot and lower down a trivet. Put meat on trivet or in vegetable steamer basket and seal lid and steam valve.
- If they are separated set to steam function for 7 minutes and natural release pressure at the end.
If tenders are in one solid chunk, steam for 5 minutes. Then allow for a natural pressure release. Separate them and put the lid back on and secure steam valve on top. Steam for 2 more minutes with a quick release. Remove, plate and pour bbq sauce or homemade teriyaki sauce over the top of all of them.
If yours are a “normal” size you shouldn’t have to really check internal temperature. I mean you can really bread one apart in half and make sure it isn’t still pink. If your chicken tenderloin pieces are quite large then yes use a thermometer for sure. Quick and easy meal prep and timing right??
I mean you don’t have to eat whole either. If you really are in the mood for chicken tacos then cook the chicken as directed below. Then shred those babies right up. Toss diced cooked chicken tenders with your favorite sauce and throw it into a tortilla with cheese and cabbage!
Frozen BBQ Chicken Tenderloins Instant Pot
Jump to this Instant Pot frozen chicken recipe below and give this under 30 minute meal a whirl already. 😉 If you serve it up another way let us know so we can try that too. You might have leftovers and we surely don’t want those to go to waste though.
If you do make sure they come to room temperature. Then I like to use freezer bags, a pint size should be enough. Put all inside and suck all the air out so they don’t dry out. When you reheat them in the microwave brush sauce on them first so they say moist. You could heat them again in your air fryer too though to add some crisp too!
Need other ideas? Dice what is left up and throw it into some fried rice or over rice with teriyaki sauce for a quick lunch the next day. Two meals for the price of one is totally my type of cheap Instant Pot recipe idea for sure.
If you have whole pieces, use our Instant Pot frozen chicken breast with sauce recipe instead.
Want a crispy creation next? Try homemade chicken nuggets air fryer style too.
Want to see a few of my favorite things that I am totally obsessed with?? Take a peek and see how many you might already have…twinsies!
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Frozen Chicken Tenders Instant Pot
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken tenders frozen
- 2 c chicken broth or water
- 1 c barbecue sauce
Instructions
- Separate tenders ideally but if they are in one solid chunk I will share timing for those too.
- Pour broth into pot and lower down a trivet. Put tenders on trivet or in vegetable steamer basket and seal lid and steam valve.
- If they are separated set to steam function for 7 minutes and natural release pressure at the end.
- If tenders are in one solid chunk, steam for 5 minutes, allow for a natural pressure release. Then separate them and put the lid back on. Steam for 2 more minutes with a quick release.
- Remove, plate and pour bbq sauce over the top of all of them.
Misti
Saturday 9th of September 2023
I just did 5 tender And 7 minutes was not long enough.
The Typical Mom
Saturday 9th of September 2023
If yours are quite large and thick yes you may need another 1-2 minutes but that could be done in the microwave.
Mike
Saturday 7th of January 2023
I have tried several times to cook frozen raw chicken tenderloins. 1 pound that I cook for 0 minutes and immediate full release and they are still overcooked. Do you have any thoughts on this?
Kristen
Thursday 28th of April 2022
How long does the natural release take?
The Typical Mom
Friday 29th of April 2022
About 12 minutes or so
Candace
Friday 18th of February 2022
I need to cook 3lb frozen chicken tenders from frozen. Would about 10 minutes be enough time?