Instant Pot Braised Paprika Chicken
Make savory and creamy Instant Pot Paprika Chicken using frozen chicken thighs, tomatoes, oregano, and cream cheese over buttery egg noodles for an easy chicken dinner.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This is a kid-approved recipe that starts with frozen chicken! This fast Instant Pot chicken recipe has a sweet and savory tomato-paprika sauce and tender shredded chicken that tastes like it’s been braising all day but only cooks for 9 minutes at high pressure.
We love chicken dinner recipes that start with frozen chicken! They’re perfect for those days when you forget to take the meat out of the freezer or didn’t plan ahead. In about half an hour, you’ll have juicy shredded chicken in a herby tomato sauce.
How to Make Instant Pot Paprika Chicken Thighs
This Instant Pot Paprika Chicken recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
The flavor in this braised chicken dish comes from savory sautéed vegetables, dried oregano, sweet paprika, and a creamy tomato-based sauce.
The great part is that there’s just a few minutes of sauteing before you seal up the pot and pressure cook. That way, this recipe takes about 30 minutes.
When the chicken is fully cooked after pressure cooking, shred it so it soaks up all of the rich sauce. This sauce gets its rich texture and flavor from cream cheese and a quick cornstarch slurry.
Can I Use Bone-In Chicken?
This recipe uses boneless, skinless frozen chicken thighs. But you can use bone-in thighs if that’s what you have. Simply cook at high pressure for 20 minutes and use a quick pressure release.
Serving Suggestions
We love to serve the creamy shredded paprika chicken over egg noodles. However, you can use any of your favorite starchy bases or side dishes. Try our fluffy mashed potatoes, or Instant Pot white rice.
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes
Try these other easy instant pot chicken recipes next:
- Instant Pot Chicken and Mushrooms features a creamy and rich mushroom gravy over chicken breasts.
- Lemon Tarragon Chicken has a light and refreshing herby sauce with tender chicken breasts.
- White Chicken Chili is a hearty and fully-loaded Tex-Mex soup with a kick.
Do you LOVE this recipe?
Leave us a review below to tell us why!
Instant Pot Braised Paprika Chicken (From Frozen)
This recipe for Instant Pot paprika chicken uses frozen chicken thighs in a creamy tomato sauce over egg noodles for a kid-friendly dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 boneless skinless frozen chicken thighs
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/3 cup cream cheese
- Cooked egg noodles, for serving
- 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley leaves, for serving
Instructions
- Select Sauté to heat the pressure cooking pot. Add the butter. When melted, add the onion and sauté for about 3 minutes until tender. Stir in the chicken broth, paprika, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
- Add the chicken, trying not to overlap the pieces too much. Layer the tomatoes on top. Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and 9 minutes cook time.
- When the cook time ends, use a quick release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid. Check the chicken. It should register 165°F on an instant-read thermometer. (If not, return to high pressure for another 1-2 minutes, with another quick release.)
- Remove the chicken to a plate and shred with two forks.
- In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water until smooth. Add the slurry to the pot. Select Sauté and bring the sauce to a boil, stirring constantly until it thickens. Turn off the pressure cooker and stir in the cream cheese and chicken.
- Serve over hot egg noodles and sprinkle with parsley.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 273Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 80mgSodium: 843mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 4gSugar: 5gProtein: 13g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
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Super easy and super delicious. I upped the red pepper flakes to 1/4 tsp for extra zip and my non-sauce loving husband said it was great on the noodles. Thank you for the recipe from someone who always forgets to defrost the meat.
Thanks for the rave review Karen! Sounds like a great way to change it up.
If using chicken drumsticks how long would you cook? I scored some for half off and would love to try this dish tonight.
So our regular cook time for chicken legs is 4 minutes with a 10 minute natural release, followed by a quick release. And the shorter cook time shouldn’t affect the other ingredients in the recipe. If you try it, will you please let me know how it turns out?
How long if the chicken is not frozen? Thanks
For boneless thighs, I use 9 minutes cook time whether they’re fresh or frozen. Thanks for the heads up—I’ll update the post! 🙂
I hope you love it!!!
Can I use thawed chicken thighs?….If so what do you think would be the adjusted cooking time?
I use the exact same 9 minute cook time whether my thighs are thawed or frozen! 🙂 I’ll update the post to include that.
I hope you love it!
Omg, where did you get that doggie???? I would love to know the breeder!
The breeder is The Perfect Doodle, and she’s just over an hour away from my home. She’s been really great to work with and the puppies have been really well socialized!
What bread are those cute dogs? How big do the get?
She’s part Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, part miniature Poodle. For the breed, so much depends on the size of the poodle parent. 🙂 Since her parents are 14 and 18 pounds, we expect she’ll be somewhere in that range.
Not too big, since we’re looking for an indoor lap dog, but big enough to play with my kids and not get hurt. 🙂 We are SO excited!!!
Sounds good. Can you give an idea of how many pounds of meat you’re using? Thighs come in all sizes. Can you recommend timing if I were to use thawed chicken (either breasts or thighs). Thanks.
Our grocery store sells a pack of four chicken thighs that are usually between 1.5 to 2 lbs for the whole package, so that’s what we usually use. I’ll update the recipe, thanks for the heads up.
If you’re making it with thawed boneless chicken breasts, I’d probably dice it first and cook it for 4 minutes with a 7 minute release. if you’re cooking it whole, 7 minutes with a 5 minute natural release should work.
Can you give a cooking time if your chicken thighs are defrosted?
For boneless thighs, I use 9 minutes cook time whether they’re fresh or frozen. Thanks for the heads up—I’ll update the post! 🙂
I hope you love it!!!
Wow! Serious yum factor and my favorite part is frozen chicken!!! I always forget to take the meat out of the freezer!!!!
There are only two of us, but instead of cutting the recipe down, I want to freeze for a later hassle free dinner. I know I don’t want to freeze with the cream cheese in it so will add that when I reheat. Do you suggest freezing before thickening with cornstarch? Either way it will be a quick and easy dinner – I am just looking for your opinion.
I think you could be successful either way! I’d probably wait to thicken after freezing, just so you can get an idea of how much liquid evaporated out in the reheating process. (If you’re reheating in the pressure cooker, not much will have evaporated, but more will have if you’re reheating on the stovetop.)
I hope you love it!!!
Is the puppy a Golden Doodle? so sweet
Thanks Marlene! It’s part Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Poodle – a Cavapoo. (For those who don’t subscribe to our emails, we sent out a picture of Jenn’s new puppy in the email this week along with a link to this recipe.)