I recently acquired an Instant Pot for my birthday this year after reading countless reviews of how quickly and easily things can be cooked. With a 2-year old on my heels and knowing I’d be alone with her in LV for an undetermined amount of time, quick and easy translated to “miracle” and “survival.” Before I share this recipe, I want to make something clear to anyone who may not be familiar with an Instant Pot.
An Instant Pot is a pressure cooker. This means it has to pressurize to cook the food. It also means–ready for this?–the pressure has to be released!
See that little black nozzle? That’s where and how the pressure is released. See that part that protrudes or pokes out? Yeah, THAT’S NOT WHERE THE STEAM COMES FROM!
I am a BIG fan of blogs. I research every new purchase and read countless blog entries from real people who’ve really used the products. One brilliant (note sarcasm) blogger recommended using a kitchen towel on top of that black nozzle to turn it and release the steam. At NO TIME did it occur to me that that the steam might come out of the little holes on TOP of the nozzle. It is a miracle I still have all the fingers on my right hand. Admittedly, however, I still flinch when I go to release the steam 😭 I now use a long spatula to poke the nozzle to the venting position 👌🏻
On to the recipe!
One of my FAVORITE slow cooker meals consists of chicken, a jar of salsa, and taco seasoning. Although the Instant Pot does have a slow cooker feature, I have a toddler I need to feed in about 2 hours. So, I decided to toss in whatever ingredients I had lying around and see how it turned out!
Since we’re new to LV and took as few items with us as possible, I haven’t yet built up my seasoning and spice stash. But I DID manage to find minced garlic, cumin, and cilantro–which I’m convinced should be in every dish containing salsa 💃🏼 …because…cilantro! Yum! 😋
The chicken 🐔 breasts I had were super thick, so I ended up cutting them up a bit to ensure quick cooking. They were also still a bit frozen. I seasoned them with salt, pepper, and cumin.
I tossed a teaspoon of garlic in the Instant Pot. If we’re being honest, I have no idea why. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to taste it through the flavor of the salsa and the cumin, but I think garlic makes everything better…so in it went! I added half the jar of salsa, the chicken, and the rest of the salsa.
After that, I set the IP to manual or “Pressure Cook” to 12 minutes and did a 10 minute natural release while I took a bath 💁♀️💅🏻
The final result was shredded chicken that I then used with chopped spinach in quesadillas that my daughter wouldn’t eat. Luckily, I made a bunch and froze them so she could choose not to eat them later, too! 👍
But! Look at all that left over salsa! Not one to waste an ingredient before attempting to turn it into something that ends up being inedible, I tossed in one cup of rice and cooked it on high using the “rice” button. Oddly enough, the rice is the only thing my toddler ate! And I never used that cilantro 🤷🏼♀️
Salsa Chicken
- 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Salt, pepper, cumin to taste
- One jar of salsa
Directions:
- Pour 1/2 jar of salsa into instant pot followed by the chicken seasoned to taste.
- Add the rest of the salsa,
- seal the IP and cook on manual for 12 minutes.
- Natural pressure release for 10 minutes.
- Tip: use remaining liquid by adding 1 cup of rice and cooking on high!
- Disclaimer: Although this is the recipe I used, please keep in mind that the size and thickness of the chicken you use may alter the cooking time.
OC to LV 