We love making Instant Pot salsa chicken with frozen chicken breasts or fresh because it is such a cheap meal with 3 ingredients. It has become our favorite meal for taco Tuesdays!

A hand holding a soft taco filled with instant pot salsa chicken, cheese, salsa, and avocado slices.

If you're looking for a simple, healthy pressure cooker recipe this is it! You can throw it together in 5 minutes and serve on top of rice or shredded inside of tortillas. It's now added it to our long list of under 30 minute Instant Pot recipes for you to try with your family.

We got our pot when it was brand new and there were no recipes for it online (yes we're that old). We got to experimenting that year and added so many easy one pot meals like this one where you only need a protein, seasonings and a bit of liquid to make a meal. This is still our favorite years later.

Ninja Foodi Salsa Chicken

Using this machine doesn't change the cook time so follow below no matter what you have to cook. Made as one of our Ninja Foodi recipes you want to use the lid that is not attached. That one seals shut to pressure cook on high until the meat is fork tender.

Instant Pot salsa chicken, shredded with diced vegetables and broth, is served warm on a wooden table.

Instant Pot Salsa Chicken with Frozen Chicken

If you need to start with frozen chicken in Instant Pot We can help you make this with meat right out of the freezer too. This is a great option when we have had a forgetful day. That means you can still be the savior of meal time when everyone is hangry around 6pm.

Ingredient notes

We do add a few more minutes if using frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts because they cannot be sliced like if they were defrosted and we want them to shred easily.

You do need a touch of liquid but typically what is in the jar is enough because the meat will release juices as they cook as well. We like a chunky Salsa (mild or medium), what we use for Crockpot salsa chicken too.

For the bit of added liquid you can use either water or chicken broth, a touch is all you need. The salsa juices are in there too remember. Then to add easy flavor dump in some taco seasoning right from the packet or homemade taco seasoning.

What else can you add?

There are a few other choices you could make and add in there too. 1 cup drained and rinsed black beans and a can of drained kernel corn works too. We do prefer frozen vegetables so they hold up their texture a bit more but canned works too.

The two other things we like to add if we have them on hand are red and green Bell peppers sliced, and some white or yellow Onions sliced are nice for added flavor and texture too. But optional…… we will buy some small flour tortillas, shredded cheese and a few avocados with sour cream if we are making tacos.

A bowl of white rice topped with saucy Instant Pot salsa chicken, bell peppers, onions, and chopped chives.

How Long to Cook Salsa Chicken in Instant Pot

You only need about 13 minutes to cook medium sized boneless skinless breasts to tender and get them to fall apart. If frozen we would increase the timing to 16 minutes but you would need to choose small sizes that are separated from one another to be successful.

Can you double this recipe?

We used 2 large boneless chicken chicken breasts. You could easily add up to 4-5 depending on their size. If using frozen chicken breasts the cook time is basically the same, we like to add another 3 minutes to make sure you can shred the chicken easily.

Some people have been apprehensive because they say you need at least 1.5 cups of water or cooking liquid to cook anything or you'll get the burn notice. This is not true. The chicken will produce chicken broth when cooked, and the salsa has at least 1/2 cup of juices.

Instant Pot Salsa Chicken Recipe

By This Instant Pot salsa chicken frozen or with fresh meat is so easy to make and you only need 3 ingredients! healthy pressure cooker recipe that we make into shredded chicken tacos. Prep: 5 minutes minsCook: 15 minutes minsTotal: 20 minutes minsServings: 4 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

2-4 medium chicken breastsmedium size, boneless, skinless, cut in half (if frozen use small sizes separated from one another)
1 jar salsa, 16 oz – not chunky
2 tbsp taco seasoning, optional but adds a lot of flavor, we use 1 tbsp for 2 breasts

Instructions

Cut your chicken breasts in half lengthwise and put inside your Instant Pot or pressure cooker. If using frozen breasts use small sizes and separate them from one another before adding to pot. Sprinkle your taco seasoning on top of them
If you are adding 1 sliced onion and/or 1 bell pepper add them on top of your chicken.
Pour salsa on top of everything.
If your salsa is chunky without much liquid add 1/4 c. water or chicken broth, if it is more liquidy this isn't necessary.
Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 13 minutes, or with frozen breasts that cannot be sliced set to 16 min.
Naturally release steam for 5 minutes, then do a quick release. If making shredded chicken tacos use two forks to shred the chicken inside the pot.
Can serve whole breasts on top of rice or use shredded chicken inside small tortillas topped with salsa mixture inside pressure cooker and other taco ingredients like cheese etc…

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, Main CourseCuisine: American, Mexican Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

Other Instant Pot chicken Recipes you'll Love

This Instant Pot chicken recipe is the solid quick lunch or dinner your whole family will surely love. It's one of those meals that we make on our oops days. Forgot to defrost meat the night before? NO problem, but it works with fresh from the store too with this or our Instant Pot chicken cacciatore.

You can also make our simple and tender Instant Pot teriyaki chicken dish which we normally cut into cubes to begin with but will soak up the sauce well either way. If you want to batch cook we would pressure cook breasts, shred, and then use it for meals in the next few days.