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.
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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
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
- 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
- Add water into Instant Pot. Place chicken into the pot. Pour the picante sauce over the top of the chicken.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
*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.
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?
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.
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?
I did not use a trivet for this recipe. I used 1/2 cup water. Then the chicken then the salsa.
Can I make this in a 3qt?
yes
for future questions like this read this article: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-halve-instant-pot-recipes/
Thank you!!
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.
Yeah, the size of chicken breasts is really different so the precise method is probably best
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!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you are having fun in the kitchen. It is a joy!
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.
Taco seasoning is a great idea!
Lime juice tip – brilliant!
Thanks I learned it from a friend so I can’t take the credit.
This sounds delicious. Would the measurement be the same if I substitute plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream?
yes
sounds delicious–would also like to make in crockpot
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!
How could I make this recipe in the slow cooker ?
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!
If the chicken is frozen, would you say low for 8 hours?
yes I would