• Home
  • Email List
  • Cookbooks
  • FAQs
  • Instant Pot Secrets
  • Sponsor Me

365 Days of Slow Cooking and Pressure Cooking

Easy slow cooker and Instant Pot recipes for each day of the year

  • Filter Recipes
  • Instant Pot
  • Slow Cooker
  • Chicken
  • Beef
  • Pork
  • Meatless
  • healthy
  • Soups

June 13, 2019

Instant Pot Creamy Salsa Chicken

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

Instant Pot Creamy Salsa Chicken—tender bites of chicken with an amazing sauce of just 3 ingredients: salsa, lime juice, and sour cream. This chicken and sauce tastes great over rice or rolled up in a tortilla. Plus it’s so fast and easy to make, you can even use frozen chicken.

Pin this recipe for later!

Instant Pot Creamy Salsa Chicken--tender bites of chicken with an amazing sauce of just 3 ingredients: salsa, lime juice, and sour cream. This chicken and sauce tastes great over rice or rolled up in a tortilla. Plus it's so fast and easy to make, you can even use frozen chicken.

Instant Pot Creamy Salsa Chicken

I love it when the fastest, easiest recipes taste the best. That is the case with this Instant Pot creamy salsa chicken. I threw my chicken in the pot frozen, came back to shreddable chicken and then created a quick and easy sauce. I loved the sauce so much that I wanted to serve it over rice so it could really soak into the rice and let me enjoy every bite. Next time I make this I will use the pot-in-pot method to make the rice. WINNING.

A few ingredient notes:

  • I used frozen chicken breasts. You can also use thawed chicken, bone-in chicken or boneless thighs. Just note the time changes in the recipe card below.
  • Fresh lime juice is a game changer. Don’t use the stuff from a bottle. I like to buy a big bag of limes and juice them all. Then I freeze the juice into ice cube trays and put them in a ziploc bag in the freezer. They come in handy for recipes like this one!
  • I always have a big container of Pace Picante sauce in my fridge so that is what I used and what I prefer. You can also use regular jarred salsa.
  • I stirred in sour cream to make it creamy and so tasty. You can use greek yogurt in the place of sour cream.

More Recipes You’ll Love…

Instant Pot Creamy Dill Chicken

Instant Pot Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

Instant Pot Chicken Adobo

What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?

To make Instant Pot Creamy Salsa Chicken I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly.  It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.

Instant Pot Creamy Salsa Chicken--tender bites of chicken with an amazing sauce of just 3 ingredients: salsa, lime juice, and sour cream. This chicken and sauce tastes great over rice or rolled up in a tortilla. Plus it's so fast and easy to make, you can even use frozen chicken.

Pin this recipe for later!

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

Instant Pot Creamy Salsa Chicken


★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

  • Author: Karen
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Description

Tender bites of chicken with an amazing sauce of just 3 ingredients: salsa, lime juice, and sour cream. This chicken and sauce tastes great over rice or rolled up in a tortilla. Plus it’s so fast and easy to make, you can even use frozen chicken.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 cup water or broth
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (frozen is okay)
  • 1 cup picante sauce or salsa
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • Optional: grated cheddar and chopped cilantro

Instructions

  1. Add water into Instant Pot. Place chicken into the pot. Pour the picante sauce over the top of the chicken.
  2. Cover and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 15 minutes for thawed chicken or 18 minutes for frozen chicken (or go by this more precise method). When time is up let the pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move the valve to venting.
  3. Remove the lid. Shred up the chicken. Stir in the sour cream and lime juice. If the sauce needs to be thickened turn on the saute setting and add in a lump-free mixture of 2 Tbsp cornstarch and 2 Tbsp cold water. Stir until thickened. 
  4. Serve chicken and sauce with rice over tortillas with cheddar and cilantro if desired.  

Notes

You can also use bone-in chicken (18 minutes) or boneless thighs (same as breast, can be frozen or thawed).

Make in the slow cooker: Add chicken and picante sauce into slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. Shred up the chicken. Stir in the sour cream and lime juice. If the sauce needs to be thickened turn slow cooker to high and add in a lump-free mixture of 2 Tbsp cornstarch and 2 Tbsp cold water. Stir until thickened. 

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @365dayscrockpot on Instagram

*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.

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

25 Comments Filed Under: 5 ingredients or less, All Recipes, Chicken, Dump and Go, Gluten Free, Instant Pot, Mexican

Recommendations

Comments

  1. Chris D. says

    June 21, 2022 at 7:02 pm

    As usual for your recipes, 5 stars. I used Guacamole Salsa and used the pot in pot for rice. It was delicious.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 21, 2022 at 7:33 pm

      guacamole salsa sounds amazing! Thanks for the 5 stars!

      Reply
  2. Missy F. says

    March 12, 2021 at 5:05 am

    I mad this last night to serve over rice and it was excellent! I wanted to do the rice pot-in-pot as you mentioned you would do next time. How do you do that with different cooking times for the chicken and for the rice?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      March 13, 2021 at 11:52 am

      The rice turns out well even though it’s a longer cooking time for the chicken. Just place 1 cup rice to 1.5 cups water in a pot in pot dish and place it on top of a trivet on top of the chicken. You’ll be surprised at how it is perfectly steamed.

      Reply
  3. Paula says

    September 25, 2019 at 11:25 am

    In my new Insta pot if I am making this recipe with the lime juice and sour cream, in the beginning do I lay my chicken on the bottom of the pot or do I use a trivet to hold it up above the bottom of the pot? And how much water do I use?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 30, 2019 at 3:34 pm

      I did not use a trivet for this recipe. I used 1/2 cup water. Then the chicken then the salsa.

      Reply
  4. Eloisa Castillo says

    June 23, 2019 at 8:32 pm

    Can I make this in a 3qt?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 24, 2019 at 6:58 am

      yes
      for future questions like this read this article: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-halve-instant-pot-recipes/

      Reply
      • Eloisa says

        June 24, 2019 at 8:05 am

        Thank you!!

        Reply
  5. Tomas Kren says

    June 20, 2019 at 8:25 pm

    The difference in cook times between what’s in the recipe & the precise method are wildly different. Not sure which one to use so I split the difference. Awaiting the results.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 24, 2019 at 7:10 am

      Yeah, the size of chicken breasts is really different so the precise method is probably best

      Reply
  6. Linda says

    June 17, 2019 at 4:43 am

    Made this almost exactly as recommended except I didn’t have any Picante sauce so I used salsa. It was great. We love the lime juice! You have made cooking fun again. Thank you so much!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 24, 2019 at 10:39 am

      I’m so glad you are having fun in the kitchen. It is a joy!

      Reply
  7. Sharon says

    June 15, 2019 at 4:22 pm

    For us, this was a bit bland as made per the directions. After it was cooked, I added some homemade taco seasoning mix and it tasted much better. It was good over rice with tortillas served on the side. We also topped it with diced avocado, and will try it with green onions next time. The leftovers were great.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 24, 2019 at 10:44 am

      Taco seasoning is a great idea!

      Reply
  8. Brenda Bates says

    June 14, 2019 at 7:07 am

    Lime juice tip – brilliant!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 15, 2019 at 7:18 am

      Thanks I learned it from a friend so I can’t take the credit.

      Reply
  9. Erlyne says

    June 13, 2019 at 8:36 pm

    This sounds delicious. Would the measurement be the same if I substitute plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 13, 2019 at 9:19 pm

      yes

      Reply
  10. mindy goldberg says

    June 13, 2019 at 2:50 pm

    sounds delicious–would also like to make in crockpot

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 13, 2019 at 9:22 pm

      Crockpot instructions:
      Add chicken, broth and salsa to crockpot. Low for 4-6 hours. Shred chicken and add in lime juice and sour cream. EASY!

      Reply
  11. LR says

    June 13, 2019 at 1:33 pm

    How could I make this recipe in the slow cooker ?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 13, 2019 at 9:22 pm

      Crockpot instructions:
      Add chicken, broth and salsa to crockpot. Low for 4-6 hours. Shred chicken and add in lime juice and sour cream. EASY!

      Reply
      • Michelle says

        June 14, 2019 at 9:39 am

        If the chicken is frozen, would you say low for 8 hours?

        Reply
        • Karen says

          June 15, 2019 at 7:18 am

          yes I would

          Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Welcome!

Karen photo

Hi, I’m Karen. I know that dinner time can be less than relaxing. Busy schedules and cranky kids and a hundred other things can lead to weariness when it comes to putting dinner on the table. I can help! I make homemade, family-friendly slow cooker and Instant Pot dinners and share the recipes with you.

Stay In Touch

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Amazon Associates Disclosure

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.

365 Days of Slow Cooking © 2023 · Privacy Policy

MENU
  • Home
  • Filter
  • Instant Pot
  • Slow Cooker
  • Chicken
  • Beef
  • Pork
  • Meatless
  • Healthy
  • Soups
  • Email List
  • Cookbooks
  • FAQs
  • Instant Pot Secrets