Cooking Chicken in Pressure Cooker

How long to cook chicken in pressure cooker frozen or fresh times are here. I’ll share printable cook times you’ll need to get started with meals like Instant Pot frozen chicken legs to cooking fresh breasts and wings.

Cooking Chicken in Instant Pot Recipes

The first thing I made was left whole. Then I shared my pressure cooker frozen whole chicken recipe because I forgot to defrost it! Then went from there with frozen chicken breasts and lots of casseroles too.

in Ninja Foodi

I have been using my multi cooker pressure cooker for 2 years now. I bought the very first model that came out and have never looked back. Now I have a Mealthy, Crockpot Express and make a lot of Ninja Foodi recipes now as well. You’ll use the lid that is not attached for these.

Does frozen chicken take longer in pressure cooker?

Now if you’re new to using this machine I’m here to help! You may be surprised to know that times don’t change dramatically when you’re cooking fresh or frozen chicken. I follow the guide you see below. When I have fresh meat I tend to use the lowest # of minutes listed. For frozen I use the highest.

Of course it varies slightly depending on how much chicken you’re cooking and in my experiences it isn’t much. To start I based the Instant Pot chicken cook times using this printable chart.

I have made a lot of easy Instant Pot chicken recipes. You can see how long each one took. Why I use my Instant Pot on a daily basis:

This is true for this multi-cooker too but in these cases the lid that is NOT attached will be used. That means high pressure will be used each time to keep the poultry moist and will likely fall apart no matter which recipe you decide to start with.

• There’s less clean up – just one pot for cooking meats, thru to the entire meal
• I can cook frozen meat in no time at all. And can even season chicken with salt and pepper quickly before I close the lid and turn it on
• Meal prep is slim to done and I can cook an entire meal in less than 30 minutes.
• Just makes my busy life easier

Once you make a few you’ll get the hang it. Just adjust times slightly depending on whether your chicken is fresh or frozen.

Chicken Thighs

Typically when cooking frozen boneless breasts or thighs, set the Instant Pot cooking timing for 7-10 minutes on high pressure. Always depends on how many you’re cooking but that’s a good gauge. Allowing a bit of natural release vs. quick release is better to keep protein moist.

with Wings

I have made pressure cooker frozen chicken wings before and I filled it to 3/4 of the way full. I use my 6 quart Instant Pot for reference. It took about 20 minutes to become fall off the bone perfect. I had thick barbecue sauce inside the pot too instead of water! It would be right on the money at 10-15 min. if I hadn’t filled it so full.

with Chicken Breasts

I have made fresh Instant Pot chicken legs cooked in barbecue or enchilada sauce. They were a solid 10 minutes, right on the money with the chart above. With that said, the chart above is a good base to go off of. If you’re cooking quite a bit you may have to give it an educated guess keeping these times in mind

Frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot take about 10 minutes depending on how many pieces you’re cooking. If it isn’t quite done there is NO problem putting the lid back on and adding a few more minutes.

How Much Water do You Put in Pressure Cooker to cook Chicken?

Whether you are making frozen or fresh chicken recipes under pressure you don’t need a lot of liquid. Some is a necessity since essentially it’s being steamed but it also emits broth when cooked. Minimum 1/2 cup whether it be broth, liquid from salsa, pepperoncini pepper juice or other choice.

Frozen or fresh cooked chicken breasts works well if you’re shredding it to make pressure cooker sliders or chicken salad. A quick meal at around 15 minutes for sure. Other than that I feel like it ends up with an odd texture (and obviously won’t have a crispy skin).

• Use boneless & skinless to make tender Instant Pot chicken breasts
  • Cube it into pieces as you see below, fork size
  • Add 1-2 tbsp. of olive oil into your Instant Pot
  • Turn it to saute

Add your chicken pieces to a bowl. I prefer to dice them as you see here for things like Instant Pot black pepper chicken and almost every recipe I make. Shorter cook time and you can ensure the insides will get done!

Cook just the outside until they are no longer pink. Add your favorite sauce (1.5 c. of sauce/liquid typically is the minimum amount) Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes

in a Casserole

If using bone-in chicken I follow this same above rule. But I cook them for about 10-14 minutes, depending on how many I have. I prefer boneless method for best results. Add some creamy elements like we did in our Instant Pot crack chicken pasta and wow!

Recipe Ideas

In my opinion chicken comes out more tender and cooked evenly when it is diced beforehand. Here are a few exceptions to the rule where I’ve used bone-in chicken for recipes and they’ve come out well.

1. Instant Pot spicy teriyaki chicken thighs use bone-in thighs. They come out tender and the sauce is what makes this meal so delicious. Serve with Instant Pot brown rice for the best meal ever.

You could really use any sauce recipe you love and use our timing. But if you love sweet and spicy with Asian flavors you’ll love ours. Instant Pot whole chicken is great to have on hand.

Pressure cooker beer can chicken is another way to cook a whole chicken in the Instant Pot. Instant Pot Drumsticks / legs work well too. Just throw them under the broiler when they’re done to crisp them up.

with Diced Chicken

Here’s a video showing frozen chicken, fresh chicken, and cubed fresh chicken cooked in my pressure cooker. If you cut boneless skinless chicken up into bite size pieces it cooks quickly. It is great to use for Instant Pot casseroles too. Here are a few favorites.

• Instant Pot chicken and potatoes is an easy one pot meal that is hearty and delicious.
• Spicy honey Instant Pot chicken is one of my most popular pressure cooker recipes and uses diced chicken breasts.
• Cheesy Instant Pot chicken parmesan casserole is a classic but much easier to make.

I will say unless I’m going to make Instant Pot shredded chicken I don’t typically use whole breasts. If you cook frozen chicken breasts they are always boneless skinless and shred nicely when done. They only need about 12 minutes of cooking either way. The video in this post shows you how easy that is.