Frozen chicken thighs in Instant Pot are so easy to make! From rock hard to tender fall off the bone in your pressure cooker in just minutes. Game Changer!
Frozen chicken thighs Instant Pot directions are here! Forgot to defrost meat for dinner? NO problem because you can make tender chicken in a pressure cooker in no time. Find this and over 100 other easy Instant Pot recipes here. (affiliate links present)
I know I can’t be the only one who forgets to defrost dinner in time. But now cooking chicken has never been easier!
- Earlier I shared how to cook frozen chicken in the Instant Pot, but boneless and skinless chicken breasts were used then.
Let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then LIKE our IP Facebook page for new ideas daily.
- This is a great InstaPot cookbook to grab too.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot. It is easier to clean and will avoid the burn message too.
- For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have and use for all recipe creations.
We’re talking all about cooking frozen chicken thighs this time! Ours were skinless bone-in style but if you love chicken skin leave those babies on.
Let’s say you planned on cooking sheet pan chicken thighs but realized at 4pm that your meat was still in the freezer. Yep, I’ve done that too. Don’t fret.
- NOW you can just use these instructions + our yummy Instant Pot steamed vegetables, or for a bit of crunch follow our air fryer vegetables recipe.
Can you cook frozen chicken thighs from frozen
First off, do not cook frozen chicken in the microwave or in a slow cooker. BUT, chicken can be cooked from a frozen state in a pressure cooker, in the oven, or on the stove.
The cooking time may be about 50% longer for the last two methods but in an Instant Pot is fast!
How long does it take to bake frozen chicken thighs?
If you’re using an oven you’re looking at almost an hour! NO bueno in this house. Just to give you an idea, this is what you’d need to do:
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F
- Lay frozen chicken thighs on a lined baking pan, parchment paper is best.
- Coat chicken with things like a bit of butter, thyme and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
- Bake in an oven at 375 for 50 to 60 min.
Frozen chicken thighs
This is the easiest and most tender way to make them quick!!
- Chicken – we used bone in skinless style
- cheapest is bone in chicken thighs with the skin on
- if using boneless chicken thighs I would take 1 minute off the cook time
- Chicken broth
- Italian seasonings
- Salt and pepper
- Lemon
- Cornstarch if you want to thicken sauce at the end
- Onion is optional but I add some to just about every recipe I make
How long do thighs take to cook?
Using this method it is only about 20 minutes including the time the pot will take to come to pressure.
Here are the steps you should follow, printable directions with nutritional information is below too:
Time needed: 15 minutes.
Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Thighs
- Prepare
Pour broth or cup of water into electric pressure cooker, then mix in all spices and onion. Put frozen bone in chicken inside bottom of the pot. Put the bone side facing down.
- Cook
Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 15 minutes.
Allow for a 3 minute natural pressure release, then do a quick release. Carefully remove chicken. - Saute
Then select saute function. In a small bowl whisk together some of the chicken broth from the pot and your cornstarch until it is smooth.
Once boiling add this mixture to thicken the sauce. Serve chicken with some of this sauce on top.
Total time from start to finish including prep is about 30 minutes when pressure cooking. Always check internal temperature before consuming.
How long does it take to thaw frozen chicken thighs?
It will take about 24 hours to thaw one pound of frozen boneless chicken breasts or other chicken pieces.
If you’re thawing a whole frozen chicken, it will take bout 4 to 6 hours per pound of chicken being thawed. BUT if you forget, this is handy to have.
- If they aren’t frozen you can follow our:
- Air fryer chicken thighs recipe
- Spicy teriyaki chicken thighs with a homemade sauce are to die for
- Our Instant Pot lemon garlic chicken thighs are great
- Instant Pot chicken thighs bone in with a cream cheese sauce are great too
- Smoked chicken thighs recipe
This Ninja Foodi chicken breast recipe works great every time.
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***** If you LOVED this recipe give it 5 Stars below and let everyone know what you thought about it. 😉
Frozen Chicken Thighs Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken thighs frozen, bone in, skinless
- 1.5 tbsp Italian seasonings
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 c chicken broth
- 1 tbsp cornstarch optional to thicken broth
- 1 onion sliced, optional
Instructions
- Pour broth into pressure cooker, then mix in all spices and onion. Put frozen chicken inside pot with the bone side facing down.
- Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 15 minutes.
- Allow for a 3 minute natural pressure release, then do a quick release. Carefully remove chicken. Then select saute function.
- In a small bowl whisk together some of the hot liquid from the pot and your cornstarch until it is smooth.
- Once boiling add this mixture to thicken the sauce.
- Serve chicken with some of this sauce on top.
Gina says
I never thought to cook from frozen but man, does this make life easier! Thanks so much for sharing this easy recipe!
The Typical Mom says
Yay!
Lisalia says
LOVE trying new recipes in my new instant pot! This was so easy to make and delicious! Thanks for a new favorite recipe!
Tracey says
The gravy was amazing and my family loved this dish. I had 4 frozen bone in with skin but the were not all the same size. Based on comments, I increased the time to 30 mins. Two smaller thighs were cooked but the larger ones had spots that were not done. I think part of the issue is that I put them in frozen stuck together. Next time I will separate. I served with rice and it was amazing dish! Other then adding time, I followed the recipe but I did not have a lemon so I used lemon juice and used thighs with skin on. This recipe is a keeper!
Tracey says
Forgot to rate! 5 stars!!
Brenda says
Whew! Glad I found you! My chicken isn’t thawed and the troops are getting restless. 🤣😆
The Typical Mom says
yay
Lori says
I just made this tonight. I cooked 2 frozen chicken thighs using this recipe. I had to cook it an additional 25 minutes until the chicken was done. Waiting for the pressure, I wasted a lot of time.
The Typical Mom says
There is NO way it would take that long. Sounds like your seal is either bad, or you need a new one.
Dale says
Never says what to do with the lemon
Stefanie Preda says
All instantpot recipies say you should separate meat pieces… which mine are not!! Maybe you had the same situation? I have a block of chickennin stead of separate pieces… set rhe cooker for 30 minutes… we’ll see if that’s enough
Stefanie Preda says
(sorry of all the type-o’s)
MaryHelen Cribbins says
I’m just trying to find the UNSUBSCRIBE…where is it?
The Typical Mom says
To push notifications instructions are under newsletter in my menu bar, for my email newsletter there’s a button on the bottom of each one