Instant Pot Salsa Verde Chicken
This Instant Pot salsa verde chicken is made with every day ingredients and is so flavorful and delicious. Slow cooker instructions included!
Meet your new favorite Instant Pot dinner! This chicken is packed with bold, bright flavors, and you seriously won’t believe how easy it is to make.
Why This Recipe Works
Alternate title: Why You Want to Put This on Your Menu Plan ASAP.
- This Instant Pot salsa verde chicken is a dump-and-go recipe. No pre-mixing or pre-cooking. Everything goes in the Instant Pot and then you can set it and forget it.
- Although the cooking time is just a quick 10 minutes, if you aren’t available to shred the chicken right after it cooks, no worries. The chicken and sauce can stay warm in the Instant Pot for several hours (before shredding or after the chicken is shredded and added back in).
- This recipe makes use of easily available, pantry-ready ingredients, making it one of those slam dunk meals when you’re late to the dinner planning game and don’t know what to make!
- It can be doubled or tripled for a crowd. And it falls into that beautiful category of build-your-own meals, which work great when feeding large groups (or picky eaters!).
That is just a beginning highlight of why this Instant Pot chicken is so dreamy. The flavors are out of this world, and it can be served so many ways!
Notes on Key Ingredients
Here are a few quick notes for ingredients to help ensure the best flavor for your taste preferences.
- Salsa verde: As is probably obvious, this ingredient is really important. It is the foundation of flavor for this chicken recipe, so choose a salsa verde brand you like the taste of – and choose a spice preference to fit your style. My favorite salsa verde to use is Herdez or Trader Joe’s brands.
- Green chiles: You can use mild, medium or hot chiles, depending on the heat level you want. I don’t drain them before using in this recipe.
- Broth: The broth is important if making this recipe in the Instant Pot. In my recipe testing, without the broth, the burn warning was triggered in the IP. Adding the broth helps avoid this (as well as greasing the Instant Pot – so don’t leave out those steps!). FYI: Newer Instant Pots (manufactured within the last few years) tend to throw the burn warning much more frequently than original/older Instant Pots.
- Salt: I am mentioning salt specifically here, because it is really important to wait and add the salt at the end of cooking, since the salsa verde and green chiles will already have salt added (to varying degrees).
- Pantry spices: We are relying on dried spices and herbs here, like garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, cumin, and smoked paprika (which is optional, but highly recommended).
- Chicken: This recipe can be made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs.
At the end, if you want a thicker sauce, remove the chicken and simmer the sauce using the Saute setting until slightly reduced and thickened. This is totally optional.
How to Serve This Salsa Verde Chicken
This Instant Pot salsa verde chicken can be served several different ways!
- Serve the shredded chicken over rice with chopped cilantro, diced avocados, crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and any other desired toppings.
- Serve the shredded chicken in tortillas (taco- or burrito-style) with whatever toppings you’d like.
- The chicken can also be used to top salads or just to eat on its own.
This ultra-tasty chicken garners two thumbs up and declarations of “this is bussin'” from my family. It’s one of those widely loved dinners that pleases everyone’s palates, especially because they can dish it up however they like! I hope you love it, too!
Bonus: the chicken can be cooked, shredded, and frozen (with the sauce) for a great freezer meal option.
Instant Pot Salsa Verde Chicken
Ingredients
- 16 ounces salsa verde, mild, medium or hot
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 4-ounce can green chiles, mild, medium or hot
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika (optional, but highly recommended)
- 2 to 2 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs
- ½ teaspoon salt, more or less
For Serving:
- Chopped cilantro
- Tortilla chips
- Cooked rice
- Shredded cheese
- Tortillas
- Avocados
Instructions
- Lightly grease the Instant Pot insert with cooking spray (this helps prevent a burn warning from occurring during cooking).
- To the insert, add the salsa verde, chicken broth, green chiles, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and smoked paprika. Stir to combine.
- Nestle the chicken into the broth mixture (but don't press the chicken all the way to the bottom of the pot).
- Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 10 to 15 minutes (or all the way). Release the remaining pressure, if needed.
- Shred the chicken (either remove it and shred in a separate dish or shred right in the Instant Pot).
- Toss the shredded chicken with the sauce. IMPORTANT: Taste and add salt, if needed. Keep covered and warm until serving.
- Serve the chicken and sauce over rice with shredded cheese, diced avocados, chopped cilantro, and crushed tortilla chips or serve the chicken in tortillas with desired toppings.
Notes
Sauce: If you want the sauce thicker, remove the chicken after cooking, turn the Instant Pot to saute and let the sauce simmer for 5 to 6 minutes until slightly thickened.Â
Slow Cooker Instructions: Lightly grease slow cooker. Add all the sauce and seasoning ingredients in the slow cooker and stir to combine. Nestle the chicken in the sauce. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours until the chicken shreds easily. Shred the chicken (in the slow cooker or remove to a dish and shred). Toss the chicken with the sauce, add salt to taste, if needed, and keep warm.
Serving: 1 serving (just chicken and sauce), Calories: 270kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 40g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 121mg, Sodium: 1008mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 6g
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
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