Instant Pot Chicken Breast

This Instant Pot Chicken Breast recipe is easy and yields juicy, flavorful meat. Thicken the juices into a gravy to serve over the chicken for a quick and healthy entrée!

There are so many great ways to cook chicken breast… you can bake chicken breast, air fry chicken breast, oven fry chicken breast – AND instant pot them!

This is my favorite way to cook chicken breast in the instant pot when I just want simple but perfectly cooked chicken. It’s fabulous for meal prep, for quick and healthy dinners, for when you only have frozen chicken on hand and need foor REAL fast…

And the best part? You only need a handful of ingredients for this!

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Ingredient notes

• Chicken breast: Larger chicken breasts stay juicier with a better texture. I recommend 2 pounds of chicken, divided up into 4-6 chicken breasts.
• Frozen chicken? If your chicken is frozen, you can cook it without defrosting. Remove the chicken from the freezer, unwrap and let it sit at room temperature while you get everything else ready for the recipe. Rub with spices, but do not sear/brown. Place the broth in the instant pot, then pressure cook the frozen chicken breast on the trivet for 15 minutes. Follow the remaining recipe as written.
• Chicken broth: If you’re not planning on using the cooking juices for gravy, you could also just use water.
• Seasoning: Feel free to use any other seasoning you enjoy.
• Cornstarch: This is optional and only needed if you want to thicken the cooking juices into a gravy.

How to cook chicken breast in the instant pot

1. Combine the seasoning ingredients in a small bowl (I like to use a small fork to really get the spices combined properly).

Vigorously rub and dab all over the chicken – being a little firm with the chicken helps to tenderize the meat without pounding; as actual pounding would likely make it too big to fit in the instant pot.

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2. Set the instant pot to sauté, brown the chicken 2 minutes on each side in olive oil. You will need to work in batches here, do not add more than 2-3 chicken breasts to the instant pot at a time when you’re browning them!

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3. Switch off the instant pot. Remove the chicken, then pour in the chicken broth and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pan.

You’ll want to get all of the browned bits, else you may trigger the burn waring later.

4. Place the trivet in the instant pot, then arrange the chicken on top.

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5. Pressure cook the chicken for 5 minutes, then do a natural release of 6 minutes (8 minutes if your chicken breasts are larger).

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Recipe tips

• Don’t overdo the searing/browning of the chicken, else you will have burnt seasoning in your gravy and on your chicken. 2 minutes per side is plenty. If you do accidentally end up with scorched seasoning in the instant pot, I recommend wiping away anything that’s burnt to keep the gravy from turning out bitter.
• Do make sure to catch/scrape away all browned bits from the bottom of the instant pot once you add the chicken broth. Those stuck bits not only add flavor to the gravy, they can also trigger the burn warning during pressure cooking.
• I try not to stack the chicken on the trivet, if it fits in any way possible. Stacking it makes the seasoning fall off, and with chicken breast you really want as much seasoning as possible!
• Make sure to time the natural pressure release correctly, or the chicken will overcook.
• Serve the chicken quickly once it’s cooked. If you need to keep it for a while, I recommend placing it in the gravy/pan juices to keep it juicy.
• I highly recommend making the gravy, as adding it is a great way to keep the chicken from drying out!

Serving ideas

If you make the gravy, there’s plenty of it to dress up any side dish! It’s perfect with mashed potatoes, roasted baby potatoes, with rice or with pasta – it’s such a versatile recipe.

For a vegetable side, the chicken breast pairs really well with several options:

• Sautéed green beans or air fryer green beans
• Roasted asparagus or air fryer asparagus
• Air fryer cauliflower
• Honey Roasted Carrots

Storage tips

You can keep the cooked chicken in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days. I highly recommend adding at least ½ cup of the gravy to the container in order to help keep the chicken moist. Leftover chicken can dry out pretty quickly, and this does help.

You can gently reheat it in the gravy on the stove, until piping hot all the way through. I prefer to slice the chicken first before reheating, it heats quicker and stays juicy from having so much surface contact with the gravy.

More easy entrées

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.

Printable recipe