I really do not have much creativity when it comes to cooking. My real goal is for it just to be edible. Tonight at 4:45pm I realized that I really needed a plan for dinner. All I had as a starting point was frozen chicken. This was not a plan. Here’s how my Instant Pot came to my rescue. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.
The Instant Pot was still on the counter from yesterday. We made corn on the cob – 1/2 cup water, four ears of corn shucked & cut in half, 4 minutes on high with quick release – it was perfect!!! So, in my procrastination to clean the kitchen it meant I had the Instant Pot out and ready to go. What I didn’t have was a recipe. I knew we had chicken breasts (still frozen) and broccoli (also frozen) and white rice. There had to be something I could whip up.
I spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out if I could cook the chicken frozen. The short answer is yes, you just add a bit of time. However the recipes I kept finding were all over the place. Some used chicken legs, others chicken thighs, some had bone in, most didn’t state frozen or thawed. My quick remedy was to run the chicken under hot water to thaw a bit while I figures out the rest of the meal.
I had two Instant Pot cookbooks from the library that I flipped through but none used plain white rice and I didn’t have wild rice on hand. I spent a few minutes on Pinterest looking for different recipes – still with no real luck. The closest I got did involve chicken breasts so I took a leap of faith and tweaked it for what I had.
Here’s what I did:
- Little bit of oil in the Instant Pot, turned it on to sauté & added about 1/4 chopped onion.
- Chopped up two chicken breasts – still partially frozen. Added to the onion & continued to brown for a bit
- Added salt/pepper and a clove of chopped garlic. Kept stirring so I didn’t burn anything (that’s known to happen when I cook…)
- Added 1.5 cups white rice plus 2 cups chicken broth, stirred a bit.
- Turned off Sauté – secured lid & made certain the valve was closed.
- Turned Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure for 7 minutes
- Cleaned up my mess
- Collected 1/2 cup milk, 8oz cheddar cheese, broccoli florets (slightly thawed, 3.5 cups)
- Once done, quick release of steam. Kept the lid off and placed it back on high.
- Added milk, broccoli. Stirred a bit.
- Added cheese. Stirred some more; turned the setting to warm & replaced lid.
- Grabbed bowls, glasses & silverware. Serving spoon as well.
- Removed lid – ready to eat (broccoli warm enough, cheese melted, chicken was perfect)
I had gotten up and started this meal prep at 4:45pm. Even after wasting quite a bit of time trying to figure out what to make and how to make it – we were all sitting at the table by 5:45pm. Clean up was again a breeze – everything into the dishwasher and just ONE pot to wash by hand. Technically it could go into the dishwasher but I prefer to wash it by hand (much to the boys dismay). Another Instant Pot success!
