Instant Pot Ranch Chicken–an easy dump and go 5 ingredient chicken recipe with ranch seasoning mix and sour cream.

Instant Pot Ranch Chicken
This is lick off the plate good! I couldn’t believe that with only 5 easy ingredients how tasty this chicken and sauce were. You’re going to love this recipe for those busy nights when you don’t have much time to make dinner. It’s incredibly easy to make. All you need to do is add broth and chicken into the pot and sprinkle it with ranch dressing seasoning. Let the Instant Pot do the rest! You don’t need to babysit the dish or worry about overcooking the chicken. Then you’ll stir in a sour cream mixture and you’re ready to go! While the chicken is cooking you can prepare any side dish you want to serve with dinner. Try out ranch chicken this week!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
- Boneless chicken thighs–or breasts. If you use chicken tenderloins use a 4 minute pressure cook time.
- Dry ranch dressing mix–I like the Hidden Valley brand and I buy the big container at Costco.
- Sour cream–or plain yogurt
- Cornstarch
Steps
Add broth and chicken into Instant Pot. Sprinkle the chicken with ranch dressing mix.

Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 12 minutes.

While chicken is cooking whisk the sour cream and cornstarch together in a bowl until smooth.

When pressure cooking time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Stir a cup of the hot liquid into the sour cream mixture.

Stir the sour cream mixture into the pot. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Stir. When sauce has thickened turn off Instant Pot. Break up the chicken with a spoon.

Serve chicken and sauce over rice, potatoes or noodles.
Notes/Tips
- This chicken and the sauce are delicious! You’ll want to serve it with something that can soak up the sauce like rice, egg noodles or mashed potatoes. You can also serve it alongside a side of bread to sop up the sauce. Try serving some asparagus, broccoli or green beans on the side.
- You can make this with frozen or fresh chicken. I like to use frozen thighs from Costco. I use a 12 minute cooking time for fresh or frozen chicken. If the chicken is very thick and frozen then I add a couple minutes to the pressure cooking time. You can also use chicken tenderloins. They cook in about 4 minutes of pressure cook time (fresh or frozen). I always use a 5-10 minute natural pressure release time with raw chicken.
- When I stir the sour cream and cornstarch together I love using my little whisk*! It comes in handy all the time for many recipes.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Other recipes you can make with sour cream are Instant Pot Mexican Sour Cream Rice and Instant Pot Sour Cream Noodle Bake.
Can I Make The Rice At The Same Time?
Pot-in-pot rice is a method of cooking rice in a separate container placed inside the Instant Pot. This method allows you to cook rice and the chicken at the same time. Here’s how you can cook rice at the same time as the chicken.
Ingredients:
- 2 cup of white rice
- 3 cups of water
Instructions:
- Add the rice to a heatproof container that fits inside the Instant Pot (I often use this stainless steel pan*). Add in the rice and water.
- Add the chicken ingredients into the Instant Pot.
- Place the heatproof container with the rice on top of the chicken, using a tall trivet* to keep it elevated.
- Close the Instant Pot lid and set the valve to sealing. Cook as stated in the recipe card.
- Carefully remove the heatproof container with the rice from the Instant Pot. It will be perfectly cooked!
Note: You can use long grain white rice, converted rice, basmati rice, jasmine rice. Brown rice uses a longer cooking time (22 minutes) and won’t work for (pot-in-pot) this particular recipe.

More Instant Pot chicken recipes…
Instant Pot Unbelievable Chicken
Chicken in a zippy sauce of lemon juice, mustard and garlic. An easy dump and go recipe!
Instant Pot Smoky Mountain Barbecue Chicken
Tender chicken with the most delicious homemade smoky barbecue sauce. It’s made fast and easy in your pressure cooker.
Instant Pot Uncle Gary’s Chicken
Tender chicken in a tomato-based sauce with mozzarella and parmesan cheese all served over spaghetti.
Instant Pot Last Minute Chicken
A fast and easy chicken tenderloin recipe that you can make when you don’t have a lot of time.
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.


Instant Pot Ranch Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
An easy dump and go 5 ingredient chicken recipe with ranch seasoning mix and sour cream.
Ingredients
- 1 cup broth
- 2 pounds boneless chicken thighs (or breasts)
- 3 Tbsp dry ranch dressing mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Add broth and chicken into Instant Pot. Sprinkle the chicken with ranch dressing mix.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 12 minutes.
- While chicken is cooking whisk the sour cream and cornstarch together in a bowl until smooth.
- When pressure cooking time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir a cup of the hot liquid into the sour cream mixture. Stir the sour cream mixture into the pot. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Stir. When sauce has thickened turn off Instant Pot. Break up the chicken with a spoon.
- Serve chicken and sauce over rice, potatoes or noodles.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Add broth and chicken into slow cooker. Sprinkle the chicken with ranch dressing mix.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
- Whisk the sour cream and cornstarch together in a bowl until smooth. Stir a cup of the hot liquid into the mixture.
- Stir the sour cream mixture into the slow cooker. Turn slow cooker to high. Cook without the lid for about 10 minutes, until sauce thickens. Break up the chicken with a spoon.
- Serve chicken and sauce over rice, potatoes or noodles.
- 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.
My Crock Pot just quit on me This recipe looks delicious but I’m wondering if you use your InstaPot as the Slow Cooker for your slow cooker recipes? I’m anxious to know if I will be happy using my Instapot as a slow cooker? I understand that Low setting on the Instapot is the same as “Warm” on other slow cookers.
I haven’t used it much as a slow cooker. I think some people have success with it and others not so much. The main difference with heat is coming from the bottom (more opportunities to unevenly cook or burn on bottom). Whereas the real slow cooker the heat comes from the sides.
When doing the pot-in-pot rice method, is the rice and water supposed to be together in a container on top of the trivet? Or just rice in container and the 3 cups water down in the Instant pot along with the broth and chicken?
rice and water in the pot in pot dish on top of the trivet