Instant Pot Chicken and Vegetables

Instant Pot chicken and vegetables cooked together as a healthy one pot meal for lunch or dinner in a pressure cooker. Great in a Crockpot Express and if you have a Ninja Foodi you can make this and our air fryer chicken and vegetables recipe too.

Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Vegetables

You can use either these or boneless skinless chicken breasts too. Either way they will be cubed into large bite size pieces. The biggest difference is whether you prefer white or dark meat. The latter is cheaper, more tender and tends to have more flavor.

Whether you make it in your Mealthy, Crockpot Express or as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe it is a fast throw together meal.

I made Instant Pot chicken and potatoes once and that was good, but I always like to include at least one veggie for dinner. You defeat the whole purpose of using this “magical pot” if you have to then pull out another one to put on the stovetop SO I added them.

When choosing which ones to add there is some science to it. Not all vegetable cook times are equal. The trick is to choose a few that need the same duration so they all come out tender but not so soft they’re falling apart. Potatoes, onions and carrots work well together.

We love broccoli in pressure cooker too though so I found a way to include some florets, NOT at the same time though. Don’t make that mistake or you’ll have mush throughout the mixture. Take the extra minute to add those babies to the top at the very end. The max time that takes is one minute, no longer.

Instant Pot Chicken Breast and Vegetables

Since I had some white meat that needed to be used up, I went with that this time. I suggest you season to your hearts content with this dish. Neither of the ingredients lend a ton of flavor without seasonings so use what you wish. I have suggestions below but by all means add some chili powder too or cayenne if you want heat too.

Ingredients

1. Cubed chicken
2. Olive oil to saute the outsides right at the beginning
3. Halved petite potatoes work best, you can even use fingerling in different colors to jazz things up
4. Chunks of carrots that have been peeled
5. Slices of red onion work well
6. Chicken broth will be used as your liquid

Garlic powder, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper were used this go around. Italian seasoning could be used too which has many of these already in it.

You will use two functions, saute and high pressure for this. Once you cook just the outsides of the meat until it is no longer pink make sure to deglaze your pot. Then add “all the things” (my favorite saying) EXCEPT for the broccoli and seal that baby closed.

It only takes 5 minutes to make everything tender as long as each piece is bite sized. Then the last step, if you want to add greenery, needs 1 minute with a quick release. Then you’re ready to serve. You really don’t need anything else right? I mean you have all the food groups right here.

How to Cook Instant Pot Chicken Potatoes and Carrots

Let’s go over the basics and then you can jump to recipe below and get started. It is printable too if you like to save your favorites in a recipe book too.

• Cut fresh or defrosted chicken into bite size pieces (don’t use frozen chicken). Slice carrots and onions into large chunks and baby potatoes should be washed and sliced in half.
  • You want broccoli to be in larger sized florets, but they’re added later on.
• Press saute on your pot and add the olive oil. When hot add chicken to brown on the outsides and then turn it off. Scrape off any brown bits stuck on the bottom of the pot. You can use a bit of your broth to do this.
• Add other ingredients EXCEPT your broccoli remember. Secure the lid and seal steam valve. Pressure cook on high pressure for 5 minutes followed by a quick release.
• Lift lid and set florets on top. Reseal lid and cook on high pressure for 1 minute with a quick release. Do NOT allow it to naturally release at all or it will soften way too much.

Gently fold all ingredients together in the pot, season with salt and pepper and serve.

A nice addition is to add 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese to the top of each bowl served. You can serve chicken on top of a bed of white rice as well, that is great. I would only use fresh or thawed meat for this. If not the timing will be off and everything won’t cook at the same rate.

Can you cook frozen chicken and vegetables?

Yes and no. I would first follow our frozen chicken in Instant Pot directions here to get it tender but cut the cook time to 10 minutes vs. 12. Take out, cut into smaller pieces and then continue on with the vegetables together so they can cook together in the seasonings and finish the meat at this step.

I don’t know about you but I am a texture girl. Nothing worse than biting into mushy carrots with meat still pink and potatoes that are still too firm to enjoy. Take it from me and my years and years of experience with this machine, it is kinda’ a science when it comes to understanding how long chicken in the Instant Pot takes + different veggies.

Same thing goes for using a slow cooker. Meat always takes longer, some things like potatoes can usually be thrown in at the same time but grains should be left for the end. Once you’ve enjoyed this you might want to try air fryer chicken recipes no breading selections too. Only difference is you get a nice crisp on the edges this way.

How do you reheat leftovers?

This one is pretty easy. I actually prefer using my air fryer to do this. About 4 minutes at 380 F tossing ingredients halfway through should do it. It will revitalize everything after being refrigerated overnight and softening up a bit. Serve it with some rolls and enjoy the next day, I hate wasting too y’all.

Yes you can use your microwave too but it just won’t get those crispy edges in this case. With baked spaghetti I might heat that way. If you haven’t tried this for day “old” food I would give it a whirl, it’s a game changer.