Home Chicken 20 Minute Shredded Salsa Chicken (from frozen) in the Instant Pot

20 Minute Shredded Salsa Chicken (from frozen) in the Instant Pot

by Ann
4 comments

AND over 20 stellar recipes and ideas for using shredded chicken!

Have you ever wanted some shredded chicken in a hurry, but realized you didn’t have any chicken thawed? The good news is if you have a pressure cooker, you can actually cook up that frozen chicken in just 20 minutes with almost no prep time at all.


Now, I do have to let you know the 20 minutes is the COOK time. Pressure cookers require time to come up to pressure. And then once the cook time is done, you should let it naturally de-pressurize for 20 minutes. So if you count that time, it takes about an hour to cook this chicken. Then you’ll need to let it cool down and shred it. But, guys, NO defrosting! Just throw the ingredients in and press the button to get it started. And the flavor is seriously spot on, especially if you use a delightful tasting spicy salsa like my Cilantro Almond Salsa.

Years ago, before I joined the Instant Pot craze, my work friends would tell me how they could cook up salsa chicken from frozen in their Instant Pots. I was definitely intrigued. Except that they reported that the results weren’t amazing tasting. Easy, but not amazing. I’m not so into that. I want easy AND amazing.

Perhaps they just didn’t have great salsa to work with or perhaps they didn’t follow this method, but now that I’ve discovered THIS recipe, I do this all the time. The chicken is juicy, tender, perfectly shredded. And delicious. Ready for anything you might want to use it for. It’s become my go-to recipe if I want shredded chicken. So great for meal prep!

You can also cook up a batch and freeze it and then pull it out when you want some chicken.

Shredded Chicken for the Super Bowl!

I’m writing this post the Monday before Super Bowl LVI. I know so many of you are making plans for what you’ll serve/eat while you’re watching that big game. Buffalo Chicken Wings are always on the top of the list for football parties, but I also know that Buffalo Chicken DIP is one of THE top things to serve and you know what you’re going to need in order to make Buffalo Chicken Dip? Yeah, shredded chicken.

Yes, you can get a rotisserie chicken or even use chicken from a can. But hey, if you can have better flavor with hardly any effort, why not pull out the Instant Pot and let it do the work for you? I’ve got tons more great ideas for your game day munchies below.

How to use Shredded Chicken?

If you’re reading this post, I’m sure you already an idea of how you want to use this shredded salsa chicken. But what ELSE can you use it for? Shredded chicken is super versatile and an amazing thing to have on hand for easy meals anytime.

Game day people: I know you’ll find some superb ideas here for your Super Bowl spread!

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Instant Pot Shredded Salsa Chicken (from frozen)

  • Author: Ann
  • Prep Time: 5 min
  • Cook Time: 20 min
  • Total Time: About an hour
  • Yield: 46 servings 1x
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Pressure Cooker
  • Cuisine: Mexican
  • Diet: Diabetic

Description

Flavorful, juicy shredded chicken cooked directly from frozen chicken with minimal effort thanks to the pressure cooker


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup chicken broth (or 1 cup water + 1 teaspoon better than bouillon chicken flavor)
  • 1/4 cup of your favorite salsa (my favorite is cilantro almond salsa)
  • 13 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped (or if you’re in a hurry, throw it in whole)
  • 1/4 of an onion, peeled & chopped (or skip the chopping and use large chunks)
  • 1.52 lb. frozen chicken parts – you can use breasts, thighs, legs, tenders … just don’t use wings as they don’t have much meat on them. 
  • About 2 Tablespoons or so of taco seasoning mix (I used my Qdoba Taco Seasoning)

Instructions

  1. Put the chicken broth, salsa, garlic and onion into the pressure cooker, then add the frozen chicken. It’s best if you can break the chicken pieces apart, but not necessary. Sprinkle it all with taco seasoning. 
  2. Pressure cook on high for 20 minutes, then let the pressure release naturally for another 20 minutes. Use tongs to remove the chicken from the cooker and set on a plate until cool enough to touch. 
  3. Pull off the chicken meat and separate from the skin, bones and tendons, setting the meat in a small mixing bowl. Shred with two forks or pull the chicken apart into shreds with your fingers. If the chicken is dry, add in some of the juices from the cooking liquid. As the chicken cools, it will absorb the moisture. 
  4. Pour the remaining juice through a strainer to remove any remaining bones or tendons. Save this good broth for soup or use it for making enchilada sauce or for soup or beans. 
  5. Use the shredded chicken for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, nachos or anywhere you’d like some good-tasting shredded chicken! 

Notes

Some say you can use your food processor with a quick pulse a few times to shred the chicken meat, but I personally don’t like the results with that method. However, it is a time-saving idea that might be great for you, depending on your preferences.

I recommend bone-in, skin-on chicken parts for best flavor, but I have also used boneless, skinless chicken breasts/tenders with good results.

If your chicken pieces are frozen together in a chunk or  if you’re cooking significantly more frozen chicken, adjust the cooking time up 5 – 10 minutes. 

Feel free to play with the amounts of broth and salsa you use in this recipe to fine-tune it to your liking; just make sure you have at least 1 cup of liquid for pressure cooking.

RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/   © Copyright 2022, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

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