One Pot (Frozen) Chicken & Sweet Potatoes [Pressure Cooker]

One Pot (Frozen) Chicken & Sweet Potatoes

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Ever have those times when you need to get something ready for dinner, but you have limited time - ya know… perhaps you got home from work late, your kids are screaming for dinner, there was an after school practice or event and the kids are home later than usual - and to boot, you forgot to take something out of the freezer that morning.

Never happens to you, right?

You’re staring at a package of frozen solid chicken breast & rock hard whole sweet potatoes.

A pizza delivery could get on the table faster than that, right? There goes the healthy, money saving weeknight dinner goal. Ugh...

Guess what? Think again!

With your Pressure Cooker, you CAN get that healthy meal to the table! And, you can get it there dirtying only one pot, without thawing anything, without turning on the oven, and you can do it in about 35 minutes TOTAL - including prep, cook time and pressure release time!

One Pot (Frozen) Chicken & Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

about 1.5 lbs frozen, boneless chicken breast (about 3 large)

seasonings of choice

4 medium sweet potatoes, whole

2-3 T olive oil

1 cup cooking liquid, water or chicken broth

Essential Tools

Pressure Cooker - I love my IP-DUO Instant Pot

short, wide diameter trivet or cooking rack

a pair of Tongs

Directions

Pour 1 cup cooking liquid, water or broth, in bottom of pressure cooker insert. Place short trivet over cooking liquid.

Remove frozen chicken breast from packaging and place on trivet. Drizzle with 1-2 T olive oil and seasoning liberally with seasonings of your choice.

I used salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, crushed red pepper and dried thyme, & plenty of it, on BOTH sides of my frozen chicken breast - season well!

Clean sweet potatoes well. Do not puncture skin. 

Rub skin with 1-2 T olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place around pressure cooker insert, directly over chicken.

Close lid to pressure cooker & close vent knob. Select High Pressure cook setting and adjust cook time to 16 minutes. It will take about 10 minutes for your pressure cooker to come to pressure then cook time countdown will begin.

For Instant Pot, close lid, turn vent knob to Sealing, Press “Manual” button and use “+/-“ buttons to adjust cook time to 16 minutes. Display will show as “On” until pot comes to pressure, then cook time countdown will begin. 

Using thawed Chicken breast? Cut cook time down to 10-12 minutes and cut sweet potatoes in half for even cooking.

When cook time is complete, allow pot to naturally release pressure (NPR) for 5 then quickly release remaining pressure (QPR).

For Instant Pot, when cook time completes, pot will beep and automatically turn on Keep Warm while natural pressure release takes place. Display will show as L0:00 and time will count up, i.e. L0:01, L0:02 - this will allow you to keep track of how long pressure has been releasing.

Open lid of pressure cooker and feast your eyes on your just-in-time, healthy, FAST, from FROZEN Chicken and Sweet Potatoes!

Carefully remove sweet potatoes and chicken with tongs.

Serve immediately, perhaps along with an easy salad or quickly steamed veggies.

If desired, top sweet potato with butter & a sprinkle of cinnamon - I like mine plain!

One Pot (Frozen) Chicken & Sweet Potatoes

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Barbacoa Shredded Beef [Instant Pot Pressure Cooker]

Barbacoa Shredded Beef

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This Barbacoa Shredded Beef is the bomb!

I don’t even care how lame that sounds - it seriously is the bomb. My husband LOVED it.

My Instant Pot Pressure Cooker has become my bestie / BFF / best friend! This Barbacoa Shredded Beef is ready to eat in half the time it takes in an oven, and a fraction of the time it would take in a slow cooker. You do not sacrifice anything (flavor, quality, tenderness) with this “short cut” via Pressure Cooker, I promise!

There are many uses for this delicious, full flavor Barbacoa Shredded Beef - meat for tacos, burritos or enchiladas, on a salad, stuffed into a potato, over rice in a rice bowl, in a hash with eggs, between a few slices of bread for a yummy sandwich… the gift of beef that keeps on giving! 

This would be GREAT for a party, especially if sports are involved. Set out some accompaniments and tongs to serve up the Barbacoa Shredded Beef right out of the pot!

Perhaps on that note, you may want to double this recipe for ample supply if you’re serving for a large party, or if you want lots of yummy leftovers!

Barbacoa Shredded Beef

Ingredients

2.5-3 lb chuck roast, thawed and cut in 2 equal pieces

Barbacoa Seasoning Blend:

1 T chili powder

1 T cumin

1/4 - 1/2 t ground chipotle pepper, based on heat preference

1/2 t paprika

1 t dried cilantro

1 t dried oregano

1/2 t onion powder

1 t garlic powder
1/4 t clove, can substitute all spice

1 1/2-2 t salt, based on salt preference

1/2-1 t pepper, based on heat preference

zest only, 1 lime

1/4 t cayenne pepper, optional for extra spice

Cooking Liquid:

3/4 cup beef broth or water

1 T worcestershire
1 T apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lime

2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

1-2 chipotle peppers in Adobo, chopped, optional (can be spicy for some people)

Essential Tools

Pressure Cooker, I LOVE the 7-in-1 Instant Pot Pressure Cooker

Zester, I have this Dragonn Stainless Steel zester

Meat Shredding tool, like these Meat Shredder claws, or 2 large forks

Directions

In small mixing bowl, mix Barbacoa Seasoning blend.

Cut chuck roast into two equal pieces.

Evenly distribute and rub in Barbacoa Seasoning on all sides

If you have the time, cover with plastic wrap and allow meat to marinate for 1-12 hours in the fridge (if you’re really in a time crunch, you can skip).

If you had the time to do so, remove marinated chuck roast from fridge and allow to come closer to room temperature for about 20 minutes (again, you can skip this is you’re in a time crunch - allowing the meat to come closer to room temperature allows it to cook evenly).

Turn Pressure Cooker on Sauté or Browning mode. 

For Instant Pot, press Sauté button then press Adjust button and turn on High.

Brown both pieces of chuck roast on all sides, about 5 minutes total.

Remove meat from pressure cooker, set aside. 

Add cooking liquid (broth/water, Worcestershire, apple cider vinegar and lime juice) and deglaze, aka scrape all bits off, bottom of pressure cooker insert.

Don’t skip this step! Your pot may not come to pressure with burnt buts on the bottom.

Add garlic and chipotle in adobe, stir. Return chuck roast to pressure cooker, directly into cooking liquid.

Place lid on pressure cooker. Close vent knob. Select High Pressure cooking setting and adjust cook time to 60 minutes. Once cooker comes to pressure, cook time countdown will begin.

If using a different cut of meat, cook time will vary.

For Instant Pot, place lid on pressure cooker, turn vent knob to “Sealing”, press Manual button, then use “+/-“ buttons to adjust cook time to 60 minutes. Display will show as “On” until Pot comes to pressure, then cook time countdown will display.

Once cook time is complete, allow pressure cooker to naturally release pressure (NPR) for 15-20 minutes. Quickly release any remaining pressure (QPR) by opening vent knob, then remove lid.

Remove chuck roast to cutting board or plate.

Turn Pressure Cooker on Sauté or browning mode. Allow cooking liquid to reduce while you shred the beef.

Shred Barbacoa Beef with meat shredding tool (or 2 large forks). Remove any chunks of fat, as desired.

Return Barbacoa Shredded Beef to cooking liquid.

Turn off pressure cooker or if you need to keep your beef warm for a while, turn pressure cooker on it’s warming setting.

For Instant Pot, press Keep Warm button and use “+/-“ buttons to adjust time you want pot to remain on Keep Warm.

Serve as desired - there are so many options!

I love making tacos, quesadillas, burritos, taco salad or enchiladas with this Barbacoa Shredded Beef. 

Today, we made Barbacoa Beef Rice bowls - yellow rice, sautéed peppers and onion, corn and of course the Barbacoa Shredded Beef.

Barbacoa Shredded Beef

If desired, top with your choice of toppings - perhaps salsa, cilantro, sour cream, hot sauce, jalapeños, extra lime… whatever floats your Barbacoa boat! 

SO YUM!

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