This Instant Pot Queso Chicken is crazy easy to make and so yummy! Even better, if you’re trying to watch your carbs or are following a keto diet, you can enjoy this dish guilt-free.
When I say this meal is easy, I mean it! It’s a dump-and-push-start Instant Pot recipe with very little hands-on time since the pressure cooker does most of the work.
If you’re looking for a delicious, low-carb or keto meal that even the kids will gobble up, you’re going to love this Instant Pot Queso Chicken!
How to Make Instant Pot Queso Chicken
This Instant Pot Queso Chicken is one you can whip up any night of the week since you likely have most of the ingredients on hand already.
Ingredients to Make Instant Pot Queso Chicken
To make this dish using your Instant Pot you only need a few basic ingredients:
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins
- 1 10 ounce can Rotel tomatoes
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup of broth
- 1 ½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
If you don’t have chicken tenderloins, you can use breasts, just slice them into strips to make sure they cook through completely.
For the Rotel tomatoes, you can control the spiciness of the dish by choosing the version that fits your heat tolerance. Original is a nice balance between mild and hot if you want something with just a little heat.
If you’re following a keto diet, use bone broth. Otherwise, chicken broth is fine.
Instructions for Making Instant Pot Queso Chicken
This recipe is pretty straightforward. No dicing, marinating, or sauteing. Really, the only thing you need to pay attention to is layering the ingredients properly to prevent a burn error and so things cook evenly.
First, lay the chicken tenderloins in the bottom of the inner liner of your Instant Pot.
Then, sprinkle the taco seasoning over the chicken.
Next, pour in the broth.
Add the Rotel diced tomatoes, making an effort to spread them evenly over the chicken.
Now, we just need to set the cream cheese on top. The inside of your pot should look like this:
Now, it’s time to pressure cook this meal! Secure the lid of your Instant Pot and make sure the valve is turned to Sealing. Press “Manual” and set the time for 15 minutes.
When the cook time ends and the timer beeps, allow for a 10 minute natural release (i.e. wait 10 minutes before turning the valve to Venting to release the pressure). Once the pressure has fully released, remove the lid.
Stir to combine the chicken and sauce. Make sure the cream cheese is completely incorporated.
We’re almost done! We just need to add the Monterey Jack cheese to make this dish extra cheesy and creamy.
Stir the cheese into the dish until it’s fully melted.
If you’re watching your carbs, you can spoon your Instant Pot Queso Chicken over cauliflower rice.
Not concerned about carbs? Serve it over regular rice or with tortilla chips (my kids’ favorite version).
Pair it with a side salad to round out the meal.
Instant Pot Queso Chicken Recipe
Prefer to print out the recipe? Here’s the recipe card with exact measurements and step-by-step instructions.
This keto and low carb friendly recipe is delicious.
- 2 lb boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
- 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 10 oz can Rotel tomatoes
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 cup broth
- 1 ½ cup Monterey Jack cheese shredded
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Place the chicken tenderloins in a single layer in the bottom of the Instant Pot.
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Sprinkle 1 tbsp of taco seasoning over the chicken. Then, sprinkle with salt and pepper,
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Pour broth over the chicken (use bone broth for keto, otherwise chicken broth is okay).
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Pour a can of Rotel tomatoes evenly over the top of the chicken.
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Place cream cheese on top of the chicken.
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Secure the lid on the Instant Pot and set valve to Sealing.
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Set the Instant Pot to manual for 15 minutes. When the cook time ends, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes before turning the valve to venting to quick release the remaining pressure.
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Remove the lid and stir the ingredients to fully incorporate the cream cheese.
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Add the Monterey Jack cheese, and stir to combine. Continue stirring until cheese has fully melted.
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Serve over cauliflower rice for a low-carb or keto meal alongside a salad. For a kid-friendly meal, serve over rice or with tortilla chips.
One reader recommended an alternate cook time for those who are concerned about overcooked chicken. Instead of setting the time for 15 minutes, she set hers to 3 minutes and then waited 6 minutes after the cook time ends before releasing the remaining pressure and had great results. I still recommend 15 minutes at high pressure since I dread undercooked poultry, but wanted to share her results for those who worry about overcooked chicken.
More Instant Pot Mexican Recipes
Are you a fan of Mexican food? It’s my favorite! Check out these other Instant Pot Mexican recipes:
- Instant Pot Beef Barbacoa
- Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowls
- Instant Pot Mexican Black Beans
- Instant Pot Quinoa Black Bean Salad
- Instant Pot Salsa Verde Chicken Tacos
- Instant Pot Steak Fajitas
- Instant Pot Taco Lasagna
- Instant Pot Taco Soup
- Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
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Kaydrie says
Loved the recipe! Some of my friends who do not have an instant pot were wondering how to make it. Any suggestions on cook time and instructions for that?
Corinne Schmitt says
They could make it in a slow cooker instead! Add everything but the broth to a slow cooker and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or on high for 6 to 8 hours. If they want it faster, it can be done on a stovetop bby sauteing the chicken for 4-5 minutes per side. Add all the other ingredients except the broth to a saucepan and stir over low heat until creamy. Pour over the chicken.
Rita says
Made this last night in my new Emeril multi cooker. Since I don’t know how to use the custom setting yet, I used the poultry setting which only allowed for 10 or 20 minutes, so I choose 10. It was perfect.
The only place I was a bit confused was with the (not Rotel) 10 oz can of organic tomatoes with green chili. It seemed to have too much liquid so I drained about half of the liquid. I did not get a burn notice. Made brown cilantro lime rice as a side.
Great dinner!
Gina Hesse says
I’m following the Keto diet and entered this recipe into Carb Manager and it shows 5 Carbs per serving. I thought that 1 carb seemed really low.
Hallie Slavens says
I turned this into a soup tonight by shredding the chicken and adding a little more chicken broth and a splash of heavy whipping cream. Served it with shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream. My 7 yr old daughter liked it.
Amy Cole says
If I have frozen chicken breast I would I adjust the recipe ?
Amy cole says
I meant to type how would I adjust the recipe?
Corinne Schmitt says
You actually won’t need to adjust the recipe. The pot will take longer to come to pressure with frozen breasts and thus, take longer to cook overall, but you won’t need to adjust the cook time. The sauce MAY be a little runnier because frozen chicken breasts release liquid as they cook. To avoid this, you could reduce the liquid slightly (no more than 1/8 of a cup).
Dave R says
I tried this recipe tonight and I got the dreaded food burn error. I followed the directions perfectly. And as I was doing it I was thinking there’s really not enough liquid in here and I guess I was right. Anybody else have that issue with this meal. I used fresh boneless breast cut them into tenders. I did strain the can of tomatoes I don’t know if that was an issue . It was fully cooked and still tasted amazing but it was extra dry because of the burn error. Any ideas
Hallie says
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but I would guess that if you don’t use the liquid from the rotel that you would need to up the chicken broth amount so that you have enough liquid in the pot. Going yuko try this recipe this week.