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salsa chicken tacos with candied jalapenos
Rebekah

Easy Instant Pot Salsa Chicken (w/ Frozen Chicken)

A kid-friendly staple, made easier and faster by the Instant Pot. The recipe uses frozen chicken, so you can whip up dinner with little pre-planning. It's also very flexible – you can serve the chicken in tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, on a salad, or in a Mexican-style pasta dish.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 8 people
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: American, Mexican
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2.5 lbs frozen chicken breasts
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 15 oz cans fire roasted diced tomato
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 8 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1 7 oz green chiles
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp kosher salt

Equipment

  • Instant Pot

Method
 

  1. Prep your onion, garlic, cilantro, and lime.
  2. Add all ingredients to the Instant Pot, reserving some cilantro for garnish. Mix well until combined.
  3. Set the Instant Pot to “Pressure Cook” for 15 minutes. On some models, this is the manual setting with high pressure. If using fresh chicken, reduce cooking time by 10 minutes. When the timer goes off and the Keep Warm setting begins, wait 10 minutes before releasing any remaining pressure, and turn the valve from Seal to Vent. *If using a slow cooker, cook on High for 3 hours or Low for 6 hours.
    15 minutes high pressure
  4. Pull out the chicken breasts and shred them. Once shredded, add the chicken back to the pot and mix well.
    shred the chicken
  5. Set the Instant Pot to Saute, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced to your liking (10-15 minutes). This step is optional but will enhance the flavor of your chicken as opposed to draining off excess liquid. *If using a slow cooker, transfer the entire dish to a pot on the stove, bring to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce until excess liquid has boiled off.
    saute setting
  6. Serve on a warmed tortilla with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, avocado, more cilantro, and candied jalapenos. Enjoy!
    salsa chicken tacos with candied jalapenos

Notes

Note: If you use a slow cooker for this recipe, I recommend cutting down the quantity of chicken stock. That liquid is needed for the Instant Pot, but not so much for the slow cooker. You can either omit it entirely or scale it back from 2 cups to half a cup.