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Easy Instant Pot Chicken with Cheese Sauce

white plate with chicken, broccoli, and carrots with cheese sauce
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5 from 1 review

Tender, Juicy Instant Pot Chicken with creamy garlic and herb cheese sauce over top.  This is a chicken dinner winner!

Ingredients

Scale

For the Brine

  • 1 cup hot water
  • 3 cups cold water 
  • ¼ cup Kosher salt
  • 1 – 1 ½  pounds chicken tenderloins or boneless skinless chicken breasts – see note

For the Chicken Seasoning

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon paprika

Garlic and Herb Cheese Sauce

  • 5 oz spreadable herb cheese (like Boursin)
  • ¼ cup chicken broth
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

For serving: white rice, brown rice, or quinoa

Instructions

  1. To prepare the brine, place a gallon-sized resealable bag inside a bowl and pour in 1 cup of hot water and ¼ cup kosher salt.  Seal shut and gently shake to dissolve the salt.  Then add 3 cups of cold water.  If the water still feels warm, add a few ice cubes to chill it down quickly.
  2. Add chicken to the brine, seal shut, and place the bag in the fridge, in a bowl, in case the bag leaks.  Brine the chicken for 4-6 hours (even an hour will work).  
  3. Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry with a paper towel.
  4. In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika; sprinkle over both sides of the chicken.  
  5. Add 1 cup of water to the pressure cooker pot and place a trivet inside.  Stack chicken on top of the trivet.  Try to keep the chicken in a single layer as much as possible so it cooks evenly.
  6. Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position.  Cook at high pressure for 6 minutes.
  7. While chicken cooks, prepare the Garlic and Herb Cheese Sauce.  Combine herb cheese, chicken broth, and lemon juice in a saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat on the stovetop.  Add more broth if a thinner sauce is desired.  Take off the heat and stir in basil and chives.  Place lid on top to keep warm.
  8. When pressure cooking is complete, allow pressure to naturally release for at least 10 minutes, then release any remaining pressure. 
  9. Serve chicken over a bed of rice or quinoa with a few spoonfuls of the cheese sauce over top.

Notes

  • Cooking the chicken on a trivet above the water results in a very tender, flavorful bite.  I do not suggest cooking the chicken directly in the pot since my attempts at this resulted in a chewy, flavorless chicken. 
  • If using chicken breasts, I suggest slicing them into chicken tenderloin shaped strips.  This will give you the juiciest, most flavorful chicken.  If you would like to keep the chicken breast whole, cook for 10 minutes instead of 6.
  • Try to keep the chicken in a single layer as much as possible.  Stacking the chicken directly on top of each other may result in undercooked chicken. 
  • If you have a short and tall trivet that will allow the chicken to be stacked with space in-between them, the recipe can be doubled. 
  • How to Cook Chicken and Rice at the same time: If you have a short and tall trivet, you can cook the chicken on one layer and white rice on another layer.  To do this, place the chicken on the lower rack, then add 1 cup of white rice and 1 ¼ cups chicken broth to a 7×3 cake pan and stack it on a trivet above the chicken.  The rice can be doubled if desired.  Cook time remains the same.  If you own a double-stack rack system designed for pressure cookers, this will work for that as well.
  • If you have the luxury of two pressure cookers, you can have the white rice, brown rice, or quinoa cooking in a separate pressure cooker as the chicken cooks.

Find it online: https://instafreshmeals.com/easy-instant-pot-chicken-with-cheese-sauce/