Instant Pot Million Dollar Chicken–-tender bites of chicken with cheese, bacon and ranch dressing mix. An easy dump and go chicken dinner that tastes like a million bucks!
Note: the slow cooker instructions are listed in the recipe card below
Instant Pot Million Dollar Chicken
This is one of those chicken dinners that everybody needs to have in their back pocket. I got started late on cooking dinner and it didn’t really matter because I threw the chicken, broth and cream cheese into the Instant Pot and set it to cook for 5 minutes. While the chicken was cooking I prepared the other ingredients and a side dish of steamed veggies. Once the chicken had pressure cooked I stirred in the remaining ingredients and had dinner on the table in hardly any time at all.
And guess what?! This chicken tastes as good to me as something more time intensive like chicken cordon bleu. It’s got all the good stuff…cheese, bacon, ranch, a bit of mayo, green onions and cream cheese. The sauce and chicken taste so good served over a bed or rice (or low carb cauliflower rice).
Recipes and Ingredient Notes
- Chicken tenders–boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins are usually found next to the chicken breasts in your grocery store. They are like chicken strip sized pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast. They are priced a little more than chicken breast but work wonderfully in this million dollar chicken recipe as well as Instant Pot Honey Lime Salsa Verde Chicken. They only need a 5 minute pressure cook time and turn out very tender. If your grocery store doesn’t sell chicken tenders separately, it’s quite easy to cut your own. Just take a boneless, skinless chicken breast and cut it lengthwise into pieces about ½ inch thick and you’re left with essentially chicken-tender sized pieces of white meat. I haven’t tried this recipe with frozen chicken yet. If you do try that I would increase the cooking time by a couple minutes. There might be more liquid that comes off of the chicken too so you may need to use more cornstarch.
- Cream cheese–I found that I am able to add the cream cheese in with the chicken and pressure cook it. This softens the cream cheese nicely so that you can just stir it in and make a sauce out of it. You can also add the cream cheese in later with the mayo, cheese, bacon etc.
- Cheese–I used Colby Jack cheese that I shredded off the block. Colby jack cheese is soft and mild and melts nicely. You can also use cheddar, monterey jack or pepperjack cheeses. I do suggest grating off the block for a creamier texture.
- Bacon–If you don’t want to cook up bacon then use bacon crumbles (I buy the big bag from Costco). Use about ½ cup loosely packed.
- Mayo–if you don’t like mayo you can use sour cream or plain yogurt in its place.
- Is Instant Pot Million Dollar Chicken keto friendly? This recipe only contains 6 grams of carbs per serving. If you want to cut that down further then you can eliminate the cornstarch and use a low carb thickener like arrowroot powder.
What should I serve with Instant Pot Million Dollar Chicken?
If you’re trying to eat low carb then I would suggest serving this with a side of steamed broccoli or over a bed of riced cauliflower. Other choices are over mashed potatoes, noodles, quinoa or rice. I like throwing a bag of veggies in the microwave for ease and convenience.
More Instant Pot Recipes You’ll Love…
Instant Pot Million Dollar Spaghetti
Instant Pot Million Dollar Meatballs
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Instant Pot Million Dollar Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- ½ cup chicken broth (or ½ cup water and ½ tsp better than bouillon)
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken tenders (or boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced in half horizontally)
- 2 Tbsp dry ranch dressing mix (I prefer Hidden Valley)
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1–2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 ½ cups shredded Colby jack cheese
- ½ cup diced green onions
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Pour broth into Instant Pot. Add chicken into Instant Pot. Sprinkle the chicken with ranch dressing mix. Dump the cream cheese on top.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit for 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- For this part it’s easiest if you remove the chicken and place it on a plate. Then turn Instant Pot to saute. Stir the cream cheese into the broth. Thicken with a cornstarch slurry. In a small bowl stir together 1 Tbsp of cornstarch with 1-2 Tbsp of water, until smooth. Then pour the mixture into the Instant Pot. The cornstarch mixture will thicken up contents of pot quickly. Stir in the mayo, cheese, bacon and green onions.
- Toss the chicken back into the Instant Pot and coat in the sauce.
- Serve chicken with sauce over cauliflower rice, rice, potatoes, noodles etc.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Pour broth into slow cooker. Add chicken into slow cooker. Sprinkle the chicken with ranch dressing mix. Dump the cream cheese on top.
- Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours, or until chicken is cooked to 165° F.
- Stir the cream cheese into the broth. Thicken with a cornstarch slurry. In a small bowl stir together 1-2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 1-2 Tbsp of water, until smooth. Then pour the mixture into the slow cooker. Stir in the mayo, cheese, bacon and green onions.
- Cook on high for 15 more minutes, without the lid, or until sauce has thickened.
- Serve chicken with sauce over cauliflower rice, rice, potatoes, noodles etc.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
*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.
Is it half the cream cheese before cooking and the other half for the sauce?
The whole thing of cream cheese gets added in at the beginning and then you stir it in with the broth after the pressure cooking time is up…because it’s still in block form. Make sense?
Good and easy, but too bland for me. Some worstershire, hot sauce, onion powder and black pepper improved it a lot. Also I used boneless thighs. I let them stay in the pot an extra 5 minutes before releasing press and they were perfectly cooked.
Good additions! That sounds great!
Eating this as I write this review and have to say…..Karen you nailed it again!!! Super easy, tasty and yummy. I didn’t have green onions on hand but everything else is awesome. Will probably add more bacon next time (can never have to much) and the green onions for color or maybe green pepper.
Love your recipes.
Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Thanks so much for the 5 star review Lynn!
I made this with what I had on hand (no green onions, no bacon) and it was absolutely delicious. I can’t wait to try it with onions and bacon.
★★★★★
no bacon?!?!? haha!! Next time it will be brought to a whole new level!
Sauce was fabulous, I did jazz up the sauce some with hot sauce and garlic. The chicken tenders were overcooked and under flavored, next time I will season them more and sauté before cooking.
★★★★★
Dang! I’m sorry they were overcooked. Mine were perfect. Maybe use 3 minutes next time??
Can you make this with boneless, skinless thighs?
yes that would be great! I would increase the cooking time to 12 minutes for fresh thighs or 15 for frozen.
WHOA, girl! You must have read what’s left of my mind! I just found a bg of frozen tenders in my freezer & was getting ready to check out your cookbook to try something new tonight. Checked email first & BANG! problem solved. Will come back tomorrow with stars. Thank you AGAIN!!
You nailed it! Wouldn’t change a thing, but I did add some garlic. Was delicious. Will also be looking for your answer on using the boneless thighs. Thanks again.
★★★★★
I’m happy to hear that you found a great way to use chicken tenders! and for thighs I would increase the cooking time to 12 minutes for fresh thighs or 15 for frozen.