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.
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes
More Chicken Dinner Recipes
Instant Pot or not, I turn to chicken for quick weeknight dinners all.the.time. I’m linking to some of my favorite easy chicken dinners below, but be sure to also have a browse through all of my chicken recipes here (there are over 100 of them!).
- Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta
- One-Dish Italian Chicken and Cauliflower
- Chicken Pasta Bake With Creamy Alfredo Sauce
- Salsa Chicken
- Air Fryer Chicken Fajitas
Podcast Episode About Making Instant Pot Chicken Breasts From Frozen
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this chicken dinner, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintInstant 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 1/4 cups long grain white rice
- 2 cups unsalted chicken broth
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 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.
Jane says
I made it just as written and it came out perfect! I have a 6qt cooker. Thank you for sharing how you made it.
Christine Pittman says
Thank you for the feedback, Jane!
Lolly says
Made exactly as described except had frozen chicken tenderloins. Used herbs de Provenance and it’s delish!  Adding it to the rotation!  Thanks for posting!Â
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Lolly!
Brittany says
Yummy!! I used low sodium chicken stock and 3 tsp of roasted chicken Bouillon instead of salt to add more flavor. I cooked mine for 8 minutes since my instant pot is stronger than the one used in this recipe (I have the Duo Evo Plus 8qt) But it came out slighty under so I had to pop the chicken in the oven for a few. I should have stuck to recipe and done 9 minutes!!! My rice did not burn and was yummy. Will definitely try this again and follow the cooking time!Â
Christine Pittman says
Thanks for the feedback, Brittany! Glad you enjoyed.
Stephanie says
This recipe is now my favorite!! I made it tonight and my family absolutely LOVED it! Everyone had seconds! I added time because my chicken breasts were not only frozen but frozen together. The chicken came out so juicy and tender. The rice was a bit over cooked but it tasted great! I’m not changing a thing…Thank you
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Stephanie! Thanks for letting us know your results.
Liz says
Why can’t i see the comments? Your disclaimer says the reviews are mixed in the comments but I can’t see them to see where others may have gone wrong? Can you turn them back on so they are visible?
Christine Pittman says
Sorry about that, Liz. I’m not sure what happened, but we’ve gotten that issue resolved. Thank you for bringing it to our attention!
Cindy says
I rinsed the rice and put the chicken on a trivet – I still got the dreaded burn notice and had to finish cooking the chicken on the ooktop.The rice burned, but some was salvageable.
MaryAnne Matherly says
I have made this recipe several times. My family including grandchildren like it. It’s a keeper as my husband says.
Christine Pittman says
So nice to find new keeper recipes, MaryAnne! Happy to hear the whole family enjoys this one.
Cathy S says
Turned out perfect for us.  I was worried due to comments on not enough liquid.  But, since we don’t like ‘creamy’ rice, I took a chance.  Rice came out nice and fluffy and chicken super tender.  Will add this to my dinner rotation.
Christine Pittman says
Happy to hear that, Cathy!
BradO says
This is great! thanks so much for posting this recipe. Worked great in my new IP. But more importantly it helped me understand some of the principles of pressure cooking. And now I find this method is a great starting point for a lot of variations.Â
One thing I noticed is how tender the chicken is and I can take 2 forks and shred the chicken after opening the pot, then continue in sauté mode to simmer in some different spices or sauces. Â
The point is a good recipe will lead you to understand how to make it your own. Thanks for getting my gears going.
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Brad! Hope you explore some of our other IP recipes too.
Charisse says
Thank you for this recipe. I frequently seek out frozen chicken recipes. I made this largely as instructed and it turned out pretty well. The chicken I was using was on the large side, so I think when I do this the next time, I will allow for a couple extra minutes of pressure cooking. There were a few crunchy rice pieces too, so perhaps a 1/4 cup more chicken broth will also do the trick. I substituted mushrooms for the carrots. From reading other comments, I sauteed garlic and onion before adding the rice for a little extra flavor. This was my first time making the rice in the InstantPot with the chicken and it was great. No more need for the rice cooker! Thank you for posting this recipe!
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Charisse! Thanks for the feedback and sharing your substitutions.
Holly says
Hi! I had a bit of a brain freeze yesterday and forgot to pull chicken from the freezer earlier in the day so when I came across this recipe for chicken and rice using frozen breasts I was thrilled. I did make a couple of adjustments for my personal taste by sautéing onions and garlic before adding the rice and using a 2 to 1 ratio of liquid to rice, but kept the cooking time the same and it came out perfectly! No sticking or burn notice and the rice was creamy like risotto. Thank you for posting this, and reposting as it saved dinner. I’m still learning the ins and outs of the Instant Pot when it comes to cooking times and the order of ingredient adding, but this is definitely a keeper!
Christine Pittman says
Glad it saved your dinner, Holly! We’ve got plenty more Instant Pot recipes for you to try. :)
Donnie says
Tried this today. I did not have any problems with burning.
I halved it. I used 1/2 the amount of rice, and 1 14.5oz can of chicken broth (just over 1 cup), and 2 frozen chicken breasts and a handful of baby carrots.
It turned out well, though it was a little bland (I did use the full amount of Italian seasoning), but drizzling it with some Italian dressing made it much better.
All said, a very good recipe that I’ll make again. I’d like to play around with the seasonings a bit.
Christine Pittman says
Thanks for your feedback, Donnie!
Megan says
Delicious!!!! No problems with the recipe! I used frozen chicken tenders instead of breasts and put frozen peas on top instead of carrots. Turned out amazing!!!
Christine Pittman says
That’s great, Megan! Thanks for sharing.
Donna Walford says
Epic fail I’m afraid. This is the first time I’d experienced such a problem with the burn. Very frustrating, wish I’d read comments before launching in and cooking.Â
Christine Pittman says
Sorry about that, Donna. So many love this one, but it seems it doesn’t work for everyone.
Tara says
Hi! We made the dish and it turned out Incredible!! We used the trivet to hold the frozen chicken and mixed the unwashed basmatti rice with the chicken stock. Â Sprinkled salt and pepper with garlic and rosemary. Â And added the carrots around the rim of the pot. Â Turned out great for us! Â This is a keeper and going into the rotation!
Thank you – what a HUGE timesaving meal?!
Christine Pittman says
That’s wonderful, Tara! So happy you enjoyed.
Kim says
Made as directed, rice was quite yummy. The chicken was cooked through, but bland, so I drizzled it with some Italian dressing. Next time I’ll use half the amount of the chicken and mix it in with the rice when done. Will probably skip the carrots. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t fabulous. Broccoli or peas mixed in would be good.
Christine Pittman says
Thank you for the feedback, Kim!
Cathy says
Turned out perfect!  I was concerned about the rice being too soft.  I’m not a fan of the risotto texture.  After reading comments about not enough liquid for the rice, I figured it would be exactly how I would like it. And I was right!  Rice was perfectly fluffy!  I used regular stock (with salt), rinsed my rice clear, and followed as written.  Definitely adding to my regular menu!  Thank you!
Christine Pittman says
That’s great, Cathy. Thanks for sharing with us!
Larry Watkins says
Using a 6-quart Instant Pot. Used full ingredients list, but the sealing pop-up never sealed. I can only assume that the rice cooked OK but soaked up all the broth. Rice & carrots were great, but chicken was still somewhat raw. So took out the rice/carrot mix, poured more broth into instant pot with chicken and voila! Enough liquid for steam & cooked perfectly. Will use more liquid next time at the beginning & see if that works. Not giving up on this recipe!
Caitlin says
I tried this evening. The flavor is wonderful, unfortunately I had extra liquid – like soup rather than rice. I have no idea what I did wrong. Bad measurements on my part I’m sure. I’m definitely going to try again with less liquid, I 2as really looking forward to the creamy risotto style rice.
Christine Pittman says
Thanks for sharing your results with us, Caitlin! Sorry it didn’t turn out perfectly.
Joanne Monroe says
Great recipe … definitely bookmarked to use again (and again). Made it tonight and followed the directions as posted. The only ingredient I had to switch out was the rice. I used arborio because it’s all we had on hand. What a perfect substitution! So our risotto-like rice actually was risotto and it was soooo good! I seasoned the chicken (Costco – frozen and individually packaged) with herbes de Provence and garlic, and it was super moist, the rice (as stated) was perfect, and the carrots were tender and sweet.Â
Christine Pittman says
That sounds fantastic, Joanne! So happy you want to make it over and over. :)