I’m continuing to love my Instant Pot Electric pressure cooker, and as requested, I have another recipe for you–Pressure Cooker Chili-Lime Chicken! If you don’t have a pressure cooker- don’t turn away, this is still a great recipe that you could use with any other cooking method so stick with me.
boneless skinless chicken breasts
The first few times I cooked boneless, skinless chicken in my pressure cooker, I was disappointed. It always had a funny texture; kind of dry and mealy- similar to when you overcook it in a slowcooker. After several trial and error experiences, I finally figured out I was cooking it waaaaay too long. For me, the magic number has been 6. Six minutes under high pressure and I get perfectly cooked, juicy, flavorful chicken that my family loves. I also discovered that I didn’t need lots of extra moisture, like broth. When extra liquid was added, it simply diluted the flavors and turned quite soupy. To remedy this, I put this chicken in without any additional fat; simply a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a handful of seasonings. It results in the perfect amount of flavor-packed juices to toss the chicken in.
Although I make this a lot for dinners, I also love to make it simply to keep in my fridge for quick meals during the week. I posted this pic on our health and fitness Instagram account, @ourbestbites_fitclub and I’m probably going to eat it again every day this week because it was so good! If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can still use this same rub and just toss your chicken on the grill or under the broiler. It’s very similar to this Grilled Taco Chicken that we love.
kitchen staples
This recipe was born and stays a go-to week night recipe for me because these are things I always have on hand.
If I don’t happen to have fresh limes around, I always have a big shaker jar of TrueLime (seriously one of my FAVORITE pantry ingredients. It’s granulated fresh lime and works brilliantly in just about everything.)
how to make it
I just toss boneless, skinless chicken breasts into my pressure cooker and squeeze a lime over it, then add chili powder, cumin, onion powder, salt and pepper, and some fresh minced garlic. You could even use garlic powder if you didn’t have fresh garlic on hand. I also add just a bit of liquid smoke which gives it the perfect hint of smoky flavor. I use my hands to just toss everything around and make sure it’s well coated.
I generally use chicken breasts that are a little over than an inch thick at most. I would say if they’re any thicker than that I’d probably just cut them in half to make sure they get cooked through.
I have an Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker, if you want to read more info about it, I’ve written about it, here!
You could probably do an immediate steam release, especially since you’re going to shred the chicken anyway (immediate release tends to break food up a bit sometimes) but I generally let it sit for just a few minutes as I’m prepping dinner and then release. Your chicken should look nice and plump and juicy. I always pop an instant-read thermometer in there just to make sure everything is to temperature. It should be at least 165 degrees.
Take the chicken out and shred it with two forks and pop it back in the pan and toss it with the juices.
You’re left with really flavorful chicken, perfect for salads, tacos, burritos, you name it.
It’s great to keep in the fridge to pull out for quick meals throughout the week.
I love to have it on hand for meals while my kids are at school and I need a quick, healthy, filling lunch. It’s so easy to toss in a wrap, or in a bowl with leftover quinoa or rice and some veggies.
Try it out and let me know what you think!
Looking for more pressure cooker recipes? Try these!
Pressure Cooker BBQ Ribs
Pressure Cooker Brazilian Black Beans
8 Must-Have Pressure Cooker Recipes (including this one!)
Pressure Cooker Chili-Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 medium or large sized limes
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt use a little less is substituting table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 6 cloves garlic finely minced or pressed
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
Instructions
- If chicken breasts are more than 1-inch thick, cut in half. Place chicken in pressure cooker pot. Squeeze in the juice of both limes. Sprinkle all seasonings and liquid smoke over chicken and add garlic. Use clean hands to rub spice mixture all over all sides of chicken.
- Secure lid on pot and cook at high pressure for 6 minutes. When finished let rest for 5 minutes and then release steam. (Or if you're short on time, just do immediate steam release). Check temperature of chicken with an instant-read thermometer and make sure internal temperature is at least 165 degrees.
- Shred chicken and return to pot and toss in juices. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
Notes
- If using frozen chicken breasts, I usually do 12 minutes high pressure. If using "thin cut" frozen (I buy them in bags at Costco) they cook in 6 minutes!
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Questions & Reviews
This is a FAVORITE family recipe. However, my daughter is on a mission and does not have a crock pot or instant pot. Is there a way to make this without either??? She misses this meal so much!
No problem! I’d just cover a pan with foil and cook it in the oven. 350 until chicken reaches 165 degrees!
Great flavor! Hubby loved it! I didn’t have liquid smoke on hand so I used smoked paprika and a little water in its place. Excited for the leftovers!
I use this recipe to season my chicken all the time, at least once a week. It is so yummy!! I prefer it without the smoke flavor but it’s still great with it as well. 🙂
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe! Our 14 year old made this with ease. It turned out perfectly!!!
Love this recipe! After trying a couple times I doubled the chili powder, cumin,onion, and pepper because flavor preferences but left everything else the same. Thank you! 🙂
Our family LOVES this chicken! It makes awesome chicken tacos. So fast and so easy!
Thanks to this recipe, we’ve made it probably 20 times in the last year. Huge crowd fave and super easy.
This is my all time favorite pressure cooker recipe! I just made it and used the chicken on a quesadilla. So good!!
I love this recipe! It’s a go-to for our family. I hardly ever write reviews but I just pulled the recipe up on my computer for the umpteenth time and thought eh, what the heck! The people need to know that this is so good and easy! I’m a busy mom of two and I usually make a double or triple batch of this (same cook time and works great every time) and I shred it in my kitchen aid stand mixer because that is the best kitchen hack EVER! Then I freeze any leftovers in quart freezer bags for easy weeknight meals. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe. -The May Family
This recipe is so good! It is one of the first things I ever made in my Instant Pot and I still make it all the time. I love that it can be made from pantry and freezer ingredients. My favorite way to eat it is on corn tortillas with brown rice, cheese, onion, and a little sour cream. The recipe makes a lot and it freezes beautifully. I absolutely love this chicken and I am about to make some more right now!
Honestly, this is FANTASTIC! The only change we made to the recipe was to use a bit of smokey paprika instead of liquid smoke. I used 6 large, thawed chicken breasts, the juice of 2 whole limes, and did 6 minutes for the IP setting. My husband ended up being 2 hours late getting home and so I just let the chicken sit in the instant pot on warm and worried that it might be overcooked and maybe dry, but … no … it was SOOOOO good! The most tender and juicy chicken we’ve ever had with spot-on flavour and so much juice! We didn’t shred ours, by the way. It was perfect and preferred as whole pieces and great as left overs for lunches for the week. Sliced on a salad … mmm mmm mmmmm. We will probably be making this every week. And I will probably be making and adjusting for my no-nightshades adult son. I might try tumeric instead of chili powder for him.
Amazing recipe!
Super quick and easy. Love the Instant Pot. The chicken was done before my fried rice. Flavorful chicken. Will definitely do this one again.
This recipe has become a staple in our house! It’s easy, fast, nutritious and everyone that’s tried it loves it! Thanks for sharing it 🙂
I just bought an instant pot and I’m so excited to use it!
I read your post about not adding the liquid that the booklet that came with the instant pot says it has to have (1 1/2 Cups).
Your recipe looks and sounds delicious and I want to try it, but I want to be sure I don’t ruin anything…yep scared of the new appliance! so…don’t add the 1 1/2 cups of liquid and I’ll be fine? also do you do this with other recipes? Just wondering, cuz it sounds to me in some things I’d just be boiling the meat.
HELP PLEASE and THANK YOU!!
No, you don’t need to add additional liquid. Your chicken releases enough liquid to cook everything. If you are creating your own recipes, I suggest always having at least the 1 1/2 cups of liquid in there, but if you are following another established recipe from someone who knows what they’re doing (ie: me 🙂 just follow the recipe as written 🙂
Thanks!!! 🙂