Instant Pot Mexican Chicken

Over the weekend there was a sale at Kroger on bags of frozen chicken, so I stocked up on a few of them! But, I already had some frozen chicken in the freezer, so I decided that I would try a new recipe! I have heard some bloggers out there talking about using a jar of salsa to season chicken, and I was curious. Most of the recipes were in the crockpot, but I wanted to try it out in my Crock Pot Express. (my instant pot)

I love having the ability to cook meats quickly, and still have a tender, flavorful product. In the “pressure cooker”, you need to have some liquid for it to cook properly. Otherwise, you wind up with an error code. I knew the salsa was probably not enough, and I wanted the chicken tender enough to shred. I decided to go with chicken broth and salsa so as to give the chicken more flavor.

This easy chicken recipe can be used in so many recipes.

I can tell you that it turned out AMAZING and full of flavor, with just a little kick. (a kid friendly kick, because I am also a huge wimp) The reason I wanted it to be tender enough to shred is because I was using it for taco salad. You could also use this chicken as a main dish(served with Mexican rice and a veggie), for enchiladas, soups, tacos/burritos, or even fajitas.

Best of all, you set it and walk away. For taco salad, I used a bag of tortilla chips, 2 cans of black beans, guac, avocado slices, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream. If you are dairy free like I have to be, sprinkling a little nutritional yeast on top will give a little cheese taste.

Basically you crunch up the tortilla chips and layer whatever ingredients you want and enjoy. The kids will all love it, and will go back for more. And so will you because it is delicious, and the way the salsa/broth combo soaks into the chips…mmm! Here is the recipe for this versatile Mexican Chicken. 

Print Recipe

Instant Pot Mexican Chicken

Servings: 6 -8

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs
• 3/4 jar of your favorite salsa
• 2 cups Chicken broth
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions

• Place chicken in the pressure cooker.
• Pour chicken broth over the chicken.
• A few shakes of salt and pepper on the chicken.
• Pour the salsa as evenly as possible over the chicken.
• Close and lock the pressure cooker.
• Make sure the steam valve is closed.
• Press the Poultry button.
• Cook for 25 minutes on high pressure.
• Allow pressure to release naturally at the end of cooking or wait 10 minutes and use a utensil or oven mitt to open the valve and release the steam.
• * If you are shredding this is easily done using two forks. Stab one fork into the chicken and use the other to pull the chicken apart into shredded pieces.