Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken–tender shredded chicken with lime and cilantro flavors. An easy recipe that can be made with frozen chicken in minutes.
Related: SLOW COOKER Cilantro Lime Chicken Sliders recipe
Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken
When I told my husband what I was making he was skeptical and took an unseasoned portion of chicken for himself to smother in barbecue sauce. Then I let him have a bite of the finished product and he was surprised, “whoa! this is really good!” I told you it’d be good. Why did you even doubt me?
What do I serve with Instant Pot cilantro lime chicken? Basically this is a light chicken salad with Mexican flare. You can serve the chicken cold or hot, it’s up to you. I served mine warm. If you’re cutting carbs from your diet you can serve this chicken as a lettuce wrap or serve it with an avocado. If you freely eat carbs serve the chicken on a bun, roll, rice or wrapped in a tortilla. For lots of lime cilantro flavors serve this over cilantro lime rice!
What kind of chicken do I use? I used frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts. For keto diet and more flavor use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. You can also use a combination of the two.
How long do I cook chicken in the Instant Pot? Chicken can vary widely in how thick it is and therefore the pressure cooking times can vary widely. I ended up cooking my frozen chicken breasts for 15 minutes (with a 10 minute Natural Pressure Release). Some chicken breasts (usually organic) are much smaller and would require less time. For more info on figuring out how to cook chicken breasts watch this video…
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Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken Sliders
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Tender shredded chicken with lime and cilantro flavors served on a mini bun or roll. An easy recipe made with frozen chicken in minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 (about 1 1/2 pounds) boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen is fine)
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice
- 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 4 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
- Salt and pepper
- Optional for serving: slider buns, rolls, tortillas, lettuce leaves
Instructions
- Place chicken in bottom of Instant Pot. Pour broth over chicken.
- Cover and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 15 minutes on high pressure. Once the time is up let the pot count up to 5-10 minutes and then move the valve to venting.
- Use tongs to place the chicken on a cutting board. Shred the chicken (I use these*) and place it in a bowl.
- Stir the garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, lime juice, mayonnaise and cilantro into the bowl. Coat the chicken with the mixture.
- Taste the chicken and then add additional salt and pepper to taste, as needed. (I used ½ tsp of kosher salt).
- Serve chicken as desired.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
To make gluten free: Just check your broth to be sure it does not contain gluten. Can be served on corn tortillas, GF bread, or Chick-fil-A sells gluten-free buns for $1 and they are so moist and yummy!
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe (just chicken)
- Calories: 273
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 145 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Carbohydrates: 1 g
- Protein: 38 g
Keywords: chicken, frozen chicken
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
After I doubled the mayonnaise, cumin, garlic powder and chili powder – we love it. For us, the original amounts were not enough flavor, but I could tell it would be great if I just doubled those items. I didn’t need to double up on the cilantro because I chopped mine fairly small so it already had a lot of cilantro flavor. Really great recipe because it’s good and it’s easy!! If you’re not sure how you will like it, you can make the original, taste it and if it’s not enough flavor you can add more of those 4 items above. ( I should also say that I didn’t use the full amount of cumin – I cut that spice by 1/3). This time we ate it in a tortilla with some diced avocado. Next time I want to try this over the cilantro lime rice recipe on this website. Karen, thank you for a great recipe. I know I will keep making this one because it’s such a time and effort saver- and delish!
★★★★★
Liz, you are right about doubling that sauce! It is the bomb…so good
I love this easy and tasty recipe! I don’t have access to fresh cilantro but 2 TBS dried works perfectly. This is so good in a lettuce wrap and goes terrific with Zatarans Caribbean, cilantro lime, or chicken garlic rice. Thank you Karen for your wonderful recipes!
★★★★★
I love Zatarans! Thanks for the idea!
I’m sorry but, I can’t seem to find the link you referred to for the time chart for cooking chicken. Thanks!
Here you go! https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-cook-chicken-breasts-in-the-instant-pot-frozen-or-fresh/
I have an aversion to mayonnaise. Can I make it without the mayo or would I need to substitute something in its place?
Could you sub in some greek yogurt? That’s probably what I would do. Or maybe some guacamole!
I made this for dinner last night. My wife said I could make it again anytime.
I was going to make as the recipe stated, but after planning sliders and lettuce salad I found out that I was feeding at least 1 more person and didn’t have enough slider buns so I used flour tortillas and made Chicken Tacos instead. They were wonderful!!! Luckily I had doubled the recipe so I had plenty. I had this as slider for lunch today as well.
So glad you liked it! And I’m glad that your wife approved too 🙂