How To Defrost Chicken In Instant Pot
How to defrost chicken in instant pot perfectly and super quickly!
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker
Ingredients
- Frozen chicken breasts, thighs, or your choice
Instructions
- Place Trivet in Instant Pot: Insert the trivet into your Instant Pot. This helps to elevate the chicken and allows for even heat distribution.
- Add Water: Pour in 1 cup of water. The steam generated from this water is crucial for the pressure cooking process.
- Arrange the Chicken: Place your frozen chicken pieces on the trivet. Try to spread them out as much as possible. If they're clumped together, they might not defrost evenly.
- Seal and Set Instant Pot: Close the lid of your Instant Pot and set the valve to the sealing position. Choose the "Pressure Cook" or "Manual" setting.
- Low Pressure and Short Time: This is the key part. Set your Instant Pot to cook at low pressure. For the time, you'll want to go short – start with 1 minute for chicken breasts
- Quick Pressure Release: Once the timer goes off, let the pressure release quickly. This quick vent helps prevent the chicken from cooking too much.
- Check the Chicken: After releasing the pressure, open the lid and check your chicken. It should be mostly defrosted but not cooked. If it still feels too frozen, you can repeat the process for an additional minute or two.
- Use Immediately: Once defrosted, it's best to cook the chicken immediately to ensure food safety.
Notes
The time the Instant Pot spends coming up to pressure is when the chicken will be doing most of its actual defrosting
The high temperature of pressure cooking isn’t the most even method to thaw chicken, but it’s pretty darn quick.