Instant Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken Breasts with Potatoes & Carrots

Instant Pot lemon garlic chicken breasts cook with soft, buttery potatoes and carrots for an easy one-pot meal. This is healthy home-cooked comfort food!

this recipe

Here's what I love about this recipe for Instant Pot chicken, potatoes and carrots: The entire meal - healthy, home-cooked comfort food - cooks in one pot at the same time.

Layer up the lemon-garlic chicken breasts, potatoes and carrots, cook for 10 minutes on high pressure, and dinner is ready!

Another thing I love about Instant Pot chicken breast and vegetables? Melted butter and chives. If you haven't had this combination in awhile, I highly recommend it over the steamed potatoes and carrots.

If you're lucky, you might have leftover, cooked chicken breast that can be turned into lunch or dinner the next day. Add it to macaroni salad with chicken, throw it into quinoa fried rice, or make chicken salad.

What you'll love about this recipe

• All the ingredients cook at the same time
• The chicken breast is moist and the veggies are soft-tender
• A generous amount of seasoning on the chicken infuses flavor into the potatoes and carrots as they cook.
• The whole dish has a wonderful lemon-garlic flavor and aroma.

How to cook instant pot chicken breasts

Most of the time I cook chicken thighs in my Instant Pot, because they are much harder to overcook and are a juicier, more flavorful cut of chicken. That's why I use chicken thighs in this recipe for Instant Pot chicken and white rice and for this Instant Pot chicken and brown rice recipe.

But sometimes, chicken breasts are what you want, right?

Here's the best way to cook Instant Pot chicken breasts:

1. Set the chicken on a trivet, so it steams above 1 cup water. If the chicken is sitting directly in water, it will boil instead of steam, which makes the meat tougher.
   
2. Cook for 10 minutes on high pressure plus a 5 minute quick release. This cooks chicken breasts nicely, without overcooking them.
   
3. Season very generously. I usually add ½ teaspoon salt for every pound of chicken breasts. You can also add black pepper, lemon pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, or your favorite chicken seasoning.
   
4. Let the chicken breasts rest for 10 minutes before slicing. This helps lock in the juiciness and keeps the chicken moist.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Pour 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot. Set the chicken breasts on top of a trivet. Drizzle olive oil on the chicken breasts and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried oregano and fresh lemon zest.

2. Layer potatoes and carrots on top.

3. Cook for 10 minutes on high pressure. Wait 5 minutes then do a quick release of steam.

Storage

Leftover cooked chicken breasts can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. As you know, cooked chicken is very handy for lunches, salads and quick dinners.

To freeze cooked chicken breast, either whole or sliced, simply put the cooled chicken in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag. Seal the bag almost all the way, then squeeze out as much air as possible. To defrost frozen cooked chicken, place in the refrigerator overnight. 

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