This is my tried and true method for making Instant Pot chicken breasts that are tender, juicy and delicious!
This is my method for fresh (not frozen) boneless, skinless chicken breasts. And it might just become your new favorite way to cook chicken breasts.
I’ll report backĀ in another post once I hack the frozen chicken breast! š They are a little tricker, in my opinion.
If you want to make something similar on the stovetop with a grill pan or cast iron skillet, see my other grilled chicken breasts recipe. It is one of my most popular recipes of all time!
If you want an oven baked chicken breast recipe, I have a fantastic recipe those too. Air fryer chicken breast is also a great recipe to check out.
OR if you want more of a shredded chicken recipe, check out my Instant Pot shredded chicken method.
But back to these instant pot chicken breasts!
It’s fun to get super creative and fancy in the kitchen sometimes. But simple and basic can also be delicious. I come back around to my most simple and basic recipes more often than not.
This particular recipe is such a great basic, easy recipe to have on hand. These chicken breasts are great to enjoy with a couple simple side items (salad and Instant Pot sweet potato, for example) as a simple meal.
I often use these for weekly meal prep as well. Instant Pot chicken breasts are also a great diced up over pasta or salad. You can meal prep and make them ahead, and eat off them for a few days after.
How to make Instant Pot chicken breasts
First, gather your ingredients.
Ingredients
For tastiest results, always use the best quality ingredients you have access to. To make this Instant Pot chicken breast recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- oil (I use avocado, but you can use coconut or canola – something with a high smoke point is best!)
- boneless skinless chicken breasts (uncooked)
- garlic salt (or you can use garlic powder + regular salt)
- black pepper
- dried oregano
- dried basil
- 1 cup of water (or chicken stock)
Seasoning
I season these up in a pretty basic way, and it is very versatile. This blend goes well with almost anything. I use garlic, salt, pepper, basil and oregano.
You can change up the spices to suit your preference, though. Use the same cooking time, and season with taco seasoning, Italian seasoning or barbecue sauce.
Cooking Instant Pot chicken breasts
First, brown the chicken on both sides to lock in as much juiciness as possible. Cook about 3 to 4 minutes on each side, and remove from pot with the tongs.
Next, you will need a little bit of cooking liquid. Add 1 cup water to the bottom of the pot (may need more for 8 quart models), plus the trivet. Place the chicken on top of the trivet in a single layer.
Lock the lid, and cook on high pressure for a cooking time of 5 minutes. After that pressure cooking cycle finishes, allow the Instant Pot to naturally release for an additional 5 minutes. Then quick release the remaining pressure using the quick release lever.
Remove the chicken from the pot, and allow to rest for about 5 minutes before serving for maximum juiciness.
Pay attention to the size of your chicken breasts to ensure appropriate cook time. If you are unsure, you can always use a meat thermometer to make sure the internal temperature is 165 degrees F.
Store leftover chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3 to 5 days.
And check out my Instant Pot recipe archives for more easy Instant Pot recipes.
FAQ’s for Instant Pot Chicken Breasts
The most likely cause for this is overcooking. For best results, weight your chicken breasts on a food scale and watch the cook time very carefully, including time left in pot after cooking is complete.
It depends on what type of chicken, and what cut you are making. This recipe resembles a grilled chicken breast, and it takes about 15 minutes of cook time, plus a bit of come-to-pressure time.
Yes, this is easy to do using a quick cooking method like pressure cooking. To avoid overcooking, pay close attention to chicken breast size, and watch your cook time very closely. Even an extra minute can cause the meat to overcook.
I would not recommend it, although several members of my audience have written in, saying they had great results using frozen chicken breasts. I myself have had mixed results. So for consistent results, I recommend using fresh, thawed chicken breasts.
I would not recommend thin cuts, since they will become overcooked. Make sure you use regular whole chicken breasts.
Yes! Just use the minimum fill requirements for the liquid in your particular model/ size.
Sure! That definitely works, and I have used stock a bunch of times. After realizing that the liquid doesn’t touch the chicken, I tried using water and didn’t notice much difference. So I have used water ever since.
This recipe makes chicken with the texture of a piece of grilled chicken. So no, I would not recommend this for shredded chicken. Instead, try my Instant Pot shredded chicken, which uses chicken thighs.
Sure! I have used the poultry button, but I have never noticed much of a difference.š¤·š¼āāļø In fact, I use “manual” high pressure in almost all of my IP recipes. š
Chicken thighs have a different cook time than chicken breasts. So I would definitely recommend checking out my Instant Pot chicken thigh recipe for that.
What to Serve with Instant Pot Chicken Breasts
If you are not a crazy Instant Pot lady like me who has two Instant Pots, you can wrap your chicken breasts in foil while you make another side to go with it. Or if is a longer cook side (like the black eyed peas), make the side first, and then the chicken breasts. Of course, an extra inner pot comes in handy! Here are my favorite sides to serve:
- Instant Pot “Baked” Sweet Potatoes
- Instant Pot black eyed peas
- Instant Pot mashed potatoes
- Lemon garlic roasted Brussels sprouts
- Quinoa Black Bean salad
- Roasted broccoli and mushrooms
- Tortellini pasta salad
- Spiralizer Greek salad
- Greek quinoa salad
- Green beans with caramelized onions and almonds
- Greek pasta salad
- Classic potato salad (includes Instant Pot instructions)
- Greek potato salad
- Roasted thyme carrots
Salads to top with Instant Pot Chicken Breasts
These make a fantastic make ahead option to make salads all week. Here are my favorite salads using these chicken breasts:
- Greek salad with chicken
- Chicken BLT salad with avocado
- Copycat Newk’s Favorite Salad
- BBQ ranch chopped salad
- Grilled chicken salad with raspberries, walnuts and artichoke hearts
- Cobb salad
My Instant Pot Chicken Recipe Collection
If you love easy chicken recipes to make in your Instant Pot, you might like to check out my recipe collection here (click the image below to go to the post).
Tools used to make this recipe
This post may contain affiliate links, which pay a referral fee to me at no additional cost to you. My full affiliate disclosure can be seen here.
- Instant Pot – I am using a 6 quart
- Tongs are very helpful when placing the chicken in hot oil, and removing it after cooking. Just be sure and wash the tongs with hot soapy water before you handle the finished product to avoid cross-contamination.
- Measuring spoons
- Trivet that comes with your Instant Pot
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Instant Pot Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon oil (I use avocado, but you can use coconut or canola – something with a high smoke point is best!)
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (uncooked)
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt per chicken breast (or you can use just garlic powder and regular salt)
- dash black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/8 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 cup water
Instructions
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Preheat the sautƩ function on the Instant Pot at the highest setting, and add oil to the pot.
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Season one side of the chicken breasts.
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After the display reads “hot,” carefully add the chicken breasts, seasoned side down, to the pot. I use tongs to avoid hot oil splatter.
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Add seasoning on the second side.
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Cook about 3 to 4 minutes on each side, and remove from pot with the tongs.
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Add 1 cup water to the pot (may need more for 8 quart pots), plus the trivet.
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Place the chicken on the trivet.
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Lock the lid, and cook on manual high for 5 minutes.
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Allow the chicken to naturally release for 5 minutes, and then quick release the rest.
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Remove the chicken from the pot, and allow to rest for about 5 minutes before serving for maximum juiciness.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Note: Regarding chicken breast sizes, each breast was between 6 and 8 ounces. (6.7, 7.3 and 7.7 to be exact!) Also, butterflied (halved) chicken breasts or chicken cutlets will not have the same cook time as whole chicken breasts. I recommend using whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this recipe.Ā
Note: This recipe originally appeared on A Pinch of Healthy January 11, 2017. It has been updated with better photos and clarified instructions.
Wendy says
Perfect!!!! I did 6 min since my chicken was probably 10-12 ounces for each (2) pieces. Best Iāve ever made!
Jan says
I make this recipe all the time and freeze the chicken for sandwiches, quesadillas or whatever. It is very tasty & moist.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
I am so glad to hear that, Jan! Thank you for taking the time to circle back and leave a rating.šš»š
Lindy says
I had 2 large chicken Breasts. They looked like an 1.5 thick. I had to cut them in to 1/3’s to make work. SautĆ©ed them as directed in batches of 3 each; 6 cuts of chicken all together for 3 mins per side. Removed chicken to a plate. Poured one cup of water into pot after turning it off. Scraped bottom of pot to get chicken tailings off before they burned. Placed trivet in pot, placed all 6 chicken pieces in pot on trivet with water still in bottom of pot. Cooked on Poultry setting for 8 mins. Left chicken in pot during NRP for 6 mins, then moved the toggle button to venting. Chicken is moist and done. Very pleased with the results. And of course all the chicken shrunk.
During the sautĆ©ing the chicken did pop and sprinkle oil everywhere. I added a couple more tbsp. and just wiped it up. The chicken wasn’t as dry as it could be so that probably was the reason they did that.
Thank you for the recipe. I will use it again.
Marita says
Hi!
This looks like a great recipe. I have a question though. It calls for adding 1 cup of water to the pan after you have sautƩed the chicken breasts in the pan with oil. How do you avoid the risk of starting a grease fire when adding water to oil like this?
Thanks!
Marita
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Hi Marita! Lots of recipes use methods like this to deglaze the pan. Since we are not using much oil, I don’t think the risk is very high. I haven’t had any issues.
cheryl says
thanks for this recipe you shared with us. amazing recipe
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
ššš»
Kerrie Murphy says
i placed 1 chicken breast in the pot with 1 cup of broth, without a trivet. I set the time for 4 minutes on high pressure and quickly released the pressure, yet the cooked internal temperature was well over 165 degrees. Do I need to reduce the amount of liquid or time? Does the trivet make a difference?
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Hi Kerrie! Yes, the trivet does make a difference. Try using that first, and if it is still overcooked, dry or tough, then reduce the time a little. Hope that helps!
Alyssa says
After inserting the trivet, chicken and closing the lid. Do I make sure the steamer is sealed and also should I switch sautƩ to poultry and then 5 mins or keep the sautƩ button on and just bump the timer to 5 mins??
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Hi Alyssa! The valve should be set to sealing to ensure the pot will come up to pressure, yes. Hit cancel to turn it off sautƩ mode. And then set to high pressure for 5 minutes. Some people use the poultry button as an alternative to high pressure, but I find it does not make a difference.
Lisa says
I made some regular chicken breasts (sort of thick) last night basically doing almost this same method. Except I did 10min cooking high manual, 15 min NPR, bUT, EVERYTHING CAME OUT JUICY. The problem was that the chicken wasn’t ‘flavored’ inside the chicken, only the outside. The inside tasted bland, but was juicy. Is there anything I can try to add more flavor to the inside of the chicken next time? I did saute them first too with olive oil and saute’d both sides of the chicken, adding herbs to the oil and I did season the chicken prior too. Any help is appreciated. I thought about injecting flavor, but wasn’t sure if that would work inside the chicken either.
Krista says
This is now the only way I will make chicken breastās! Iāve made them several times this way and they turn out perfect & juicy. If the pieces seem extra large, I leave them in natural release for a few extra minutes & I havenāt had any issues with them being undercooked. Thanks for this recipe!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
That is amazing feedback, Krista! So glad you enjoyed it.
HELEN L BROCKMAN says
I live at high altitude (6,000) feet. Do you think that will make a difference in cook time?
Thanks,
Helen