In less than 30 minutes, you can have an entire meal with tender chicken breasts, creamy risotto-like rice, and sweet carrots thanks to the Instant Pot.
How many times have you reminded yourself to take the chicken out of the freezer only to discover that, after you started doing 10 other things, you totally forgot? For me, more often than I’d like to admit.
I have written about cooking chicken from frozen in a post aptly named How to Cook Chicken Breasts from Frozen and one for Chicken Parmesan Using Frozen Chicken Breasts. Both of these recipes use the oven. The cooking times are based upon information from the USDA. Basically, it says you need to add about 50 percent more cooking time.
So, when I’m crunched for time and need to get a meal on the table in less than 30 minutes, I turn to frozen chicken breasts. And to make it even quicker, I put those frozen chicken breasts into the Instant Pot!
Making Chicken With Rice And Carrots In The Instant Pot
If you want to just cook plain frozen chicken breasts, head over here for the info. This is ideal for meal prep or for when you want plain chicken quickly.
If you want a full meal that starts with frozen chicken breasts, then turn to the recipe below. It uses frozen chicken breasts, uncooked rice, and uncooked carrots. That all goes into the Instant Pot and then blammo, you have a delicious one-pot dinner.
There is no fussing with multiple settings. All of the ingredients go in at the same time, you lock the lid in place, turn the vent to seal, and set the time. In the time it takes to round up the kids and set them to the task of setting the table, dinner is ready to be served. Supper saved!
Please read the notes in the recipe card, as some people have struggled with this recipe and others rave about it.
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Instant Pot Meal – Chicken Breasts from Frozen with Rice & Carrots
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
IMPORTANT: This recipe has VERY mixed reviews in the comment section below. For that reason, I took the recipe down and retested it twice. It worked perfectly both times. While the recipe was down, I got the following in an email, “Hi there, I used a recipe off of your website last week in my new instant pot. I saved the link because my family liked it so much! However, I went back to make it tonight and the link no longer works. :-( Can you tell me where I can find a post of your “Frozen Chicken breast, rice and carrots” instant pot recipe?”
I do not doubt the negative reviews that this recipe has received at all. But given my own success with this recipe, and that email, and some other positive feedback, I have decided to republish the recipe. I’ll also tell you more about how I made it:
- My instant pot is an 8 quart one, this one.
- I used chicken breasts that were 6-8 ounces each. Larger chicken breasts might throw off the recipe. I’ve updated the recipe to reflect this.
- My chicken breasts are individually frozen, meaning that they were not frozen in a big clump. I either buy them already individually frozen or I bring fresh chicken breasts home and freeze them in a single non-touching layer on a cookie sheet before transferring them to a freezer bag. I’ve updated the recipe to reflect this.
- I have now tried this recipe both with rinsed and non-rinsed rice. This doesn’t seem to affect burning or sticking. There was a little bit of sticking with both versions. The latter resulted in a wetter finished rice. Either way, the rice was creamy and soft, like risotto almost. I’ve left the rice unrinsed in the recipe.
- Note that many commenters have said that they used an extra 1/2 cup of chicken broth (so 2 and 1/2 cups instead of 2 cups). I haven’t yet tried this but the comments seem to be positive.
I’m truly sorry to those of you for whom this recipe has failed. I’m afraid to recommend that anyone else try it at this point. But if you’re brave and do, please leave a comment below letting us all know how it went. Good luck!
Ingredients
- 1 and ¼ cups long grain white rice
- 2 cups unsalted chicken broth
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- 4 (6-8 oz. each) individually-frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tsp. Italian herb blend, or your favorite dried herb blend
- 5 –6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-in. pieces
Instructions
- Measure rice into bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Add chicken broth and salt and pepper, stir to combine.
- Lay the frozen chicken breasts on top of the rice. Season the chicken breasts with the Italian herb blend or your favorite herb blend.
- Lay carrots on top of the rice.
- Cover pot, lock on the lid, and set the steam release valve to Sealing
- Select Pressure Cook and make sure it’s set to high. Set the time to 9 minutes.
- When the cooking cycle has finished, allow the pot to sit for 5 minutes, and then do a quick release by moving the valve to Venting.
Notes
You can make this recipe with fresh chicken breasts as well. Set the cooking time to 7 minutes. Allow the pot to sit for 5 minutes, and then do a quick release by moving the valve to Venting.
This recipe was originally published in July 2018 and was updated in October 2019.
DMJ says
Thanks for reposting this recipe. This turned out to be both simple and delicious!
★★★★★
Brittany says
I did the same as Rachel –
Brown rice, bigger chicken breast, upped stock to 2.5 cups, cooked for 20 minutes, it worked perfectly. I also added diced onions, and used Trader Joe’s ranch seasoning on the chicken. It was SO good, and I am definitely adding it to our rotation!
★★★★★
Christine Pittman says
Thanks for sharing your adjustments, Brittany! So glad it worked out for you.
Bethany says
Thank you for this recipe, Christine!
Hopeful to try this with different variations!
Christine Pittman says
Enjoy the recipe, Bethany!
Phil says
Can I add onions to this?
Christine Pittman says
Phil, I haven’t tried it, but I think a small onion chopped would be fine.
Cassy says
I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure about trying this. But not only did it work, like perfectly work. But my kids and me AND my husband all liked it. Bookmarked forever!
★★★★★
Christine Pittman says
Awesome! I’m so happy you all liked it, Cassy. Thanks for coming back to let us know.
Rachel says
I was a bit skeptical after reading the recipe and comments. I was hungry, short on time, and had the ingredients on hand. My chicken breasts were large and frozen in one giant clump. Other substitutions: brown rice instead of white, salted vegetable broth that was slightly out of date, one giant carrot cut into 1\4-inch rounds, and salt-free chicken seasoning instead of salt. Cooking time increased to 20 min for the brown rice and giant frozen-solid chicken clump. It came out beautifully! Best of all, cleanup was a breeze (no burning or sticking)! This recipe will be added into our rotation. Thanks!
★★★★★
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Rachel! Glad you were able to make it work for you.
Gwen says
Used this recipe (halved for a smaller instapot) to make chicken/rice/carrot for my ‘not feeling well’ hound dog. It turned out perfect! Enough for a couple of feedings…. thank you so very much for posting this. I used the recommendations from another comment (using for dogs who need a bland diet for a bit).
★★★★★
Christine Pittman says
Thanks for sharing, Gwen. I hope your dog feels better soon!
JenniferD says
I am making this tonight, but where does all the cholesterol come from?
Christine Pittman says
The cholesterol mostly comes from the chicken breasts, Jennifer.
Christine H says
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If this recipe came out to anything other than perfect, something was done incorrectly. It’s just lovey!
★★★★★
Christine H. says
Christine, YOU HAVE MY NAME! =)
I truly appreciate how you’ve taken the time to figure out what works best for people on the go and sharing it with people like me who just don’t have the time to cook a meal that’ll takes too long from prep to table so BIG KUDOS TO YOU! By the way, I ADORE THIS RECIPE, YOU KNOCKED IT STRAIGHT OUTTA THE PARK!
★★★★★
Christine Pittman says
Thanks, fellow Christine! Hope you get a chance to try some of my other recipes.
Nancy says
Just tried this tonight and luckily wasn’t in a hurry as the pressure took a longer time to build up than I had expected. But our Jasmine rice was good and the carrots were perfectly done. My frozen chicken breasts were flat and huge, so I only did 3. They were cooked well but my husband still used bbq sauce as he does with all large pieces of meat. Will use this recipe again when I need a quick meal.
★★★★
Mary riggs says
How long would you cook the chicken if you had 6 to 7 breasts
Christine Pittman says
Mary, this recipe is pretty tricky, as you’ve probably seen from the comments. It works beautifully for some people and not well at all for others.
I haven’t tried doing it with 6-7 chicken breasts myself, and given the difficulties here, I don’t feel super-comfortable guessing. I’m assuming you have frozen chicken breasts, right? So they are going to add quite an extra chill to the mixture. You could try doing it for 12 minutes and see. I just would hate for it to not turn out for you. Sorry I can’t be more help!
Jay says
The best part about this recipe is you can make it with just water (no broth or seasonings) and feed your dog when sick or not, and then and a little asian spice after it is cooked and have some for yourself too. A win, win!!!
★★★★
Christine Pittman says
Thanks for sharing, Jay!
Anna says
Made this recipe tonight on a whim because I forgot to lay chicken out and followed it to the letter. It was probably the best dish I’ve made so far in my IP! Thank you for such a great flavorful chicken and rice with veggies recipe! Definitely going to be my go to for busy weeknights!
★★★★★
Christine Pittman says
Wow! Thanks, Anna!