How long to cook chicken in pressure cooker frozen or fresh times are here. We'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.

chicken in pressure cooker how long to cook

We will help you learn how to cook chicken in Instant Pot all different kinds of ways here so you too can enjoy easy Instant Pot recipes day after day. All cuts are shared whether frozen, fresh, bone-in or boneless skinless we love.

Cooking Frozen Chicken in a Pressure Cooker

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

Does frozen chicken take longer in pressure cooker?

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

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

Cooking Chicken in Ninja Foodi

We have been using our multi cooker pressure cooker for 2 years now. We bought the first model that came out and have never looked back. Now we 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.

We have made a lot of easy Instant Pot chicken recipes. You can see how long each one took. Why we use our 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 – one pot for cooking meats, thru to the entire meal
We can cook frozen meat in no time at all. And can even season chicken with salt and pepper quickly before we close the lid and turn it on. If making pressure cooker fried chicken you would want to follow these steps since you would plan on breading later.
Meal prep is slim to done and we can cook an entire meal in less than 30 minutes.
makes our busy life easier

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

How Long to Cook Chicken Thighs in Pressure Cooker

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.

Chicken Wings Cook Time

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

Chicken Legs Cook Time

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

Cook 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

Can you cook chicken casserole in an Instant Pot?

If using bone-in chicken we follow this same above rule. But we cook them for about 10-14 minutes, depending on how many we have. We 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 our opinion chicken comes out more tender and cooked evenly when it is diced beforehand. Here are a few exceptions to the rule where we've used bone-in chicken for recipes and they've come out well.

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

You could 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. throw them under the broiler when they're done to crisp them up.

Recipes Made with Diced Chicken

Here's a video showing frozen chicken, fresh chicken, and cubed fresh chicken cooked in our 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 good.
Spicy honey Instant Pot chicken is one of our most popular pressure cooker recipes and uses diced chicken breasts.
Cheesy Instant Pot chicken parmesan casserole is a classic but much easier to make.

We will say unless we're going to make bbq Instant Pot shredded chicken We 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.

Chicken in Pressure Cooker Recipe

By How long to cook chicken in pressure cooker frozen or fresh so it is tender and juicy. Use Instant Pot, Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi to make any of these. Prep: 10 minutes minsCook: 10 minutes minsServings: 6 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

4 chicken breastsboneless, skinless, cut into large chunks
3 tbsp Ranch dressing mix or 1 packet
10 Pepperoncini peppers
1/4 c Pepperoncini pepper juice, from the jar
3 tbsp butter
1/4 c chicken broth

Instructions

Place chicken on the bottom with seasonings sprinkled on top, then pour on liquids and pepperoncinis in the pot. Place butter on the top.
Close lid and steam valve to sealing. Set to high pressure for 10 minutes with a 15 minute natural release. Lift, use two forks to shred meat and serve on rolls or over rice.