17 Easy Freezer Dump Meals For Your Instant Pot
If you’re like me, you find yourself scrambling around at 2 p.m. looking for something to put together for dinner. Many times we just end up eating pizza or fast food. I absolutely adore these freezer dump instant pot meals to really help cut down on the number of meals we eat out. I try to make sure that I put a bag of frozen veggies into each meal or cook some veggies as a side. This is a great way to get a home-cooked meal and save TONS of money each month. I absolutely love my Instant Pot! I have the 5 quart Instant Pot and it is plenty big for anything that I want to cook in it. You can get one here.
I made these meals this week when our local grocery store had boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs on sale for $1.37 a pound. This is an amazing price for chicken. Ground chuck was also on sale as well as frozen veggies. So, I hit the meal-prep jackpot! Each of these meals cost me less than $5 to make and that is for a family of 5! Yes! Five people can eat for less than $5 with the proper planning. I had them all prepped and ready to put into the freezer within 3 hours. Now, we have enough meals for 17 dinners. In between these, I will usually cook something from scratch or order takeout. Most of these can be easily converted to slow cooker recipes simply by adding about a cup of water and cooking on low for 6 hours. I hope you enjoy these as much as our family does and it helps your money save big each month! Please let me know which of these are your favorites or any other creative ways you may use them! Take a look at all of the Instant Pots and accessories available now.
Grocery list: (PRINT grocery list)
- 30 boneless skinless chicken breasts (sliced into about 6 pieces each)
- 18 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 3 lb ground beef chuck
- 1 lb smoked sausage
- 1 lb dried kidney beans
- 1 Bell pepper
- 1 stalk Celery
- 1 pkg brown (beef) gravy mix
- 2 packets of Ranch Dry Dressing Mix
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 Bottle of Teriyaki Sauce
- 1 Bottle of zesty Italian Dressing
- 1 Bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce or your favorite wing sauce
- 2 cans pineapple chunks
- 4 cans tomato sauce
- 2 cans stewed Italian tomatoes
- 1 jar orange marmalade
- 1 small jar minced garlic
- Brown sugar
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Ginger
- 1 jar soy sauce
- 1 can cranberry sauce with whole berries
- 1 Bottle of Lemon Juice
- 2 Bottles of BBQ Sauce
- 1 Bottle of Southwest lime marinade
- 1 Bottle of Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce
- 1 stick Butter
- 1 Jar of Salsa or picante sauce
- 17 gallon size Ziploc Storage Bags
- Oriental frozen veggies x 2
- Frozen mixed veggies x 2
- Frozen corn x 2
- Frozen Carrots
- Frozen Italian veggies (12 oz) x 2
- 12 oz frozen Parisian vegetables
- Frozen broccoli
* * Adding your veggies into these freezer meals and cooking them with the meat will make your veggies very well done. If you like your veggies a little more firm, feel free to cook them on the stove top instead of adding them to the meals. My family loves the veggies added into the meals 🙂 You can also cut the cooking time to 20 minutes and see if that works better for your family’s preference.
Orange Chicken
- Gather your ingredients
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 jar of orange marmalade
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup BBQ sauce
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw then cook in the instant pot on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve over white rice and enjoy!
Red Beans and Rice
- Gather you ingredients:
- 16 oz smoked sausage
- 16 oz dried kidney beans
- 2 cans tomato sauce with 2 cans of water (10-12 oz cans)
- 2 tsp Cajun seasoning
- 1/2 cup frozen seasoning mix (chopped onions, bell peppers, and celery)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump bag into instant pot, add 4 cups of water and cook on manual for 1 hour.
- Serve over white rice and enjoy!
Spaghetti
- Gather your ingredients:
- 1 lb of ground beef, browned and drained
- 1 can of stewed Italian tomatoes (10-12 oz can)
- 2 cans tomato sauce (10-12 oz cans)
- 1 can of water
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 3 tsp dried oregano
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp dried minced onions
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 15-20 minutes.
- Serve over spaghetti pasta and enjoy!
Buffalo Ranch Chicken
- Gather your ingredients
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 cup of your favorite hot sauce (I use Louisiana hot sauce)
- 1 (1 oz) package ranch dressing mix
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 – 12 oz bag frozen carrots
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve with potatoes or rice and enjoy!
Teriyaki Chicken
- Gather your ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 bottle teriyaki sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 – 12 oz bag frozen Oriental veggies
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve over rice and enjoy!
Beef Stroganoff
- Gather your ingredients:
- 1 lb ground beef chuck, browned and drained
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 can beef broth
- 1 packet brown (beef) gravy mix
- 1 – 12 oz bag frozen Parisian veggies
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve over egg noodles and enjoy!
Chili
- Gather your ingredients:
- 1 lb ground beef chuck, browned and drained
- 16 oz dried kidney beans
- 2 cans tomato sauce with 2 cans water
- 2 Tbsp dried minced onions
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot, add 4 cups of water and cook on manual for 60 minutes.
- Serve with cornbread or corn chips and enjoy!
Lemon Garlic Chicken
- Gather your ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 – 12 oz bag frozen broccoli
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve over wild rice and enjoy!
Zesty Italian Chicken
- Gather your ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 bottle of zesty Italian dressing
- 1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 – 12 oz bag frozen Italian veggies
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve over Risotto and enjoy!
BBQ Chicken
- Gather your ingredients:
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 2 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce
- 1 – 12 oz bag of frozen corn
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve with potatoes or rice and green beans and enjoy!
Salsa Chicken
- Gather your ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 jar salsa or Picante sauce
- 1 bag frozen fiesta veggies
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve with Spanish rice and enjoy!
Honey Mustard Chicken
- Gather your ingredients:
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cups honey BBQ sauce
- 1/4 cup brown mustard
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 – 12 oz bag of frozen peas and carrots
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve with potatoes or rice and enjoy!
Southwest Lime Chicken
- Gather your ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 bottle of Southwest marinade
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 – 12 oz bag frozen southwest veggies
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve with Mexican rice and enjoy!
Cranberry Chicken
- Gather your ingredients
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 Can of cranberry sauce with whole berries
- 1 Can pineapple chunks (drained)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- Salt to taste
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve with stuffing and enjoy!
Hawaiian Chicken
- Gather your ingredients
- 3 Chicken breasts
- 1 can pineapple chunks (drained)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 – 12 oz bag of frozen oriental veggies
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve over white rice and enjoy!
Chicken Cacciatore
- Gather your ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cans tomato sauce
- 1 can stewed Italian tomatoes
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 3 tsp dried oregano
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp dried minced onions
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve over white rice or your favorite pasta and enjoy!
Creamy Ranch Chicken
- Gather your ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 pkg ranch dressing mix
- 1 can cream of celery soup
- 1 can of chicken broth
- Dump all of the ingredients into a gallon size freezer bag and freeze.
- When you’re ready to use; place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
- Dump into Instant Pot and cook on manual for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve over white rice or your favorite pasta and enjoy!
Selene Mason
January 13, 2017Could these not be cooked from frozen? I know you can cook chicken from frozen
Rachel
January 13, 2017Absolutely, you could 🙂 You’d probably only need to add about 5 more minutes of cooking time.
Selene Mason
January 14, 2017Thanks for quick reply. Heading out with my shopping list soon 🙂
Kimberly
December 31, 2017You don’t have to add time to the IP for cooking from frozen! The way the pot works is that it takes longer to come to pressure if the ingredients are frozen — this allows for thawing as it comes to pressure. I have been using the IP and other brands of electric pressure cookers for 4 years and I use it multiple times a day, I have never added time for frozen. 🙂
Rachel
January 1, 2018Me either 🙂 I do find that sometimes the shape is odd for the pot when it’s frozen, so I like to use it semi-thawed, just for easier fit.
Rebecca
January 15, 2018I saw a suggestion to freeze your meal in the large round ziploc reusable Tupperware, and the plop easily into the instant pot that way. I haven’t tried this yet myself though.
Rachel
January 17, 2018That sounds like a fantastic idea!
Mim B
January 15, 2017For your creamy ranch chicken, you can’t pressure cook dairy. It will curdle.
Rachel
January 15, 2017Nope, it works great 🙂 I just made this last week. It’s actually the one I cook the most.
Lancelot
September 9, 2017I tried it, and the cheese did in fact go bad. Ruined the chicken. So don’t do this one.
Rachel
September 10, 2017I’m not sure which recipe you’re referring to. The only one with cheese is the creamy ranch with cream cheese and I make this one often. This is one of our faves 😀 I have never had the cheese go bad on me. Can you tell me more about how you prepared it?
Linda
January 18, 2018Ty
Susan
February 2, 2018I too have made several recipes in the IP with cream cheese and never had a problem.
Nellie
January 26, 2017How many people do these packages feed.
Rachel
January 27, 2017These will all feed my family of 5 for at least 1 meal with leftovers 🙂
gretchen
January 28, 2017Made the chili – I found it was WAY too much water after adding the 4 cups at the end. Was that a misprint?
Rachel
January 28, 2017I just made the chili 2 days ago. I added the 4 cups and it was great. We like soupy chili. If it is too much liquid for your taste, then absolutely try reducing it 🙂 I hope this helps.
Natalie
January 28, 2017I really liked the variety of meals that were shown here so I put them together to get out of my cooking rut. I am new to the Instant Pot but when I made the first meal, Lemon and Garlic chicken, the broccoli was non existent after cooking and my chicken was miniature sized. I followed the recipe but am not pleased with the result. I almost feel that I am better off cooking most of these recipes on the stove top. Any hints or clues as to how I can cook the food all together and not lose the veggies and shrink the meat?
Rachel
January 28, 2017I have made the lemon chicken several times. My kids love it with rice. I only slice my chicken across the breast to make strips. I do not cut into bite sized pieces. This may help. You can, absolutely cut down the cooking time on any of these to 20 minutes if it is too long for your preference. You can also put everything in the freezer bag except the veggies if you like and cook the veggies separately if this makes them too mushy for you. A lot of that depends on the brand and cut of frozen vegetables you use. I hope this helps.
Sherri M Coffield
August 26, 2018I wonder if you defrost the chicken before hand but add the vege’s frozen would keep the vegetables from getting mushy?
Rachel
August 27, 2018I just cook everything like the recipe calls for and wait to add the veggies. I add the veggies then cook it for an extra 2 minutes.
Judie Lawson
January 29, 2017These recipes look wonderful. Do I need to add extra water to these for use in my instant pot? It seems that there is very little liquid in some of the recipes. (I scorched my first recipe when I first got my pot due to little water). Thanks.
Rachel
January 30, 2017No, with the veggies added, you will have plenty of water 🙂 You can cut the time down to 20 minutes if you’re concerned about over-cooking. I hope this helps!
Rebekah
February 2, 2017What about the release instructions? QR? NPR? Thank you!!
Rachel
February 2, 2017I always use quick release 🙂
Rebekah Burton
February 2, 2017Thank you!!
Chris
February 5, 2017What size jars of salsa, marmalade, teriyaki sauce. What size cans of tomato sauce, broth , tomatoes ect… 8, 12, 16, 24? Made the teriyaki chicken with 12 oz jar 16 oz would of been better. Was good but more sauce would of been better. Made the lemon garlic chicken the broccoli was overpowering and I doubled the garlic and lemon.
Rachel
February 5, 2017I use the smallest jar/can (soup size can) of each of them. If you like more sauce, then by all means, use a bigger jar 🙂
Kira
March 14, 2017Is there a way to cook the spaghetti pasta in the instapot with everything else for the spaghetti recipe? I am planning on using these recipes while my kitchen is being redone, so I will be without a stove to cook the pasta on and basically living off of my instapot and a microwave. Any thoughts appreciated!
Rachel
March 15, 2017I don’t see why not with the spaghetti. I would cut the cooking time to 15 minutes and add 2-3 cups of water with the pasta. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out 😀
Kira
April 7, 2017It worked out great! The sauce did come out a little soupy so I may adjust the water content next time, but I added some cornstarch to thicken it up and that worked well.
Sarah
August 26, 2018I usually add 1-1.5 cups of water or beef broth but I don’t put the spaghetti directly on the bottom because I tend to get the dreaded burn error. I usually add a bit of meat mixture to bottom, evenly spread spaghetti noodles over that, then cover noodles with remaining meat mixture and do not stir. Add water/ beef broth on the sides. The problem I have with spaghetti noodles is they stick together so when I put them in pot I tend to fan them out so they won’t stick together as much.
Rachel
August 26, 2018I agree completely! Rotini is my favorite pasta for the Instant Pot 🙂
Jasmine
March 20, 2017Quick question! I want to half these recipes because it’s just my hubby and I. Would the cooking time be the same or would it be halved? I haven’t used an instant pot before (even though I’ve had one since Christmas) and want to switch between the instant pot and crockpot for meals when we bring our newborn home.
Veronica
March 22, 2017Thanks so much for recipes that don’t need onions! I have an allergy and it’s very difficult to find recipes that work. I just finished shopping off the printable list and was getting ready to start when I realized that the ingredients for Red Beans and Rice are not on your printable grocery list. Thought you’d like to know
Ginger
January 15, 2018I’m allergic to onions as well. Glad to hear many of these are onion free. Whew.
Rachel
January 17, 2018Yes! Plus you can just leave them out if they do have onions 😀
Brooke
May 12, 2017I’m putting these together tonight for my postpartum recovery (37 weeks on Sunday!) and I’m so glad to have found recipes for Instant Pot freezer meals! Thank you!!
I did want to point out that the shopping list is missing a few things…sausage and kidney beans for red beans and rice, 2 more cans of tomato sauce and kidney beans for chili. I was just labeling my bags in prep for filling them and discovered the missing stuff.
I added more meat to my recipes because we have 4 adults and 3 children eating, and it came out to about $8/meal, which is fantastic!! Might bump up to $10/meal once I buy the rice/pasta/potatoes for serving.
Again, thanks!!
Maria
May 13, 2017What are Parisian vegetables?
Rachel
May 14, 2017They have mushrooms and broccoli in them 🙂
Tina
May 27, 2017I just made 15 of these Instant Pot meals and froze them! I can’t wait to see how they turn out. Thank you for putting this together. I had a little difficulty, though. I printed out the grocery list and went shopping, but I found out while preparing the meals that the list that prints out is not the same as the one you have on the page. These are the differences if you want to update the printable sheet:
-For the 30 boneless skinless chicken breasts it does not say to cut them into 6 pieces each so I was really short on chicken and fortunately I had more in my freezer to use.
-1 lb smoked sausage is missing
-1 lb dried kidney beans is missing
-1 can cream of mushroom soup is missing
-12 oz frozen Parisian vegetables is missing
-Neither the page nor the printable sheet mention cream cheese is required
-I found number of frozen vegetable bags was incorrect
I’m not trying to complain! I hope you can fix these problems so others will have everything they need to make your dishes.
Thanks,
Tina
bart
June 23, 2017Is this high pressure or low pressure? 20 min seems like a long time for high pressure
Rachel
June 23, 2017This is the regular manual setting on the instant pot.
Angela
August 7, 2017Did you find the times to be accurate? I thought the times seemed long to me too.
Rachel
August 7, 2017These times are accurate for my instant pot, but I have found that each instant pot/pressure cooker can vary by plus or minus 5 minutes.
Amanda
August 20, 2017Could you add the potatoes and rice into the freezer meal? Would that change cook times? Looking for something easy for the hubby to cook.
Rachel
August 21, 2017You could and it wouldn’t change the cook times, but the rice and potatoes will, likely, be overcooked.
Chrisy Byram
January 25, 2018If i wanted to cook white rice with like the orange chicken and chicken teriyaki but do it PIP would the cook time be the same or would I cook the rice first then cook the chicken? I hate to have to wait for it to come to pressure twice.
Rachel
February 4, 2018I never cook rice in my IP. I don’t like the consistency of rice in the IP. I use a rice cooker 😀
Terra Pogue
August 28, 2017Hello😃 Super excited about all of this. I just did all these except for a couple because… I couldn’t locate parisian or Italian veggies🤔 Could you tell me what veggies are in these, individually, so that I could perhaps ‘diy’ my own mix?? Thank you much in advance!❤
Rachel
August 28, 2017Absolutely, Terry 🙂 Most Italian mixed veggies have red bell peppers, green bell peppers, and Italian green beans.
Mary
September 13, 2017I just made the chili and it’s in the freezer right now. It was really easy and I want to try more of your recipes. My question is, for the ground beef recipes you say to cook and drain, which I did. But for the chicken recipes it does not mention cooking them ahead. Is this correct? Thanks. Also, it seems as though the one gallon freezer bags are almost not big enough. Any thoughts/ideas?
Gregory Roth
October 29, 2017Some of these recipes such as lemon chicken doesn’t have much liquid, do you cook these pot-in-pot or add water to the food?
Rachel
October 29, 2017You don’t need extra water with the Instant Pot. None of the moisture escapes 😀
Michelle Applew
November 6, 2017Hi there! For the beef stroganoff, do you have to add water for the condensed cream of mushroom soup, or just add it “as is”?
Rachel
November 13, 2017It’s just as is. You do not lose any of the water from the beef or other ingredients, so there’s no need for extra water.
Heidi Sarge
November 18, 2017Hello, I’ve tried the BBQ Chicken and Lemon Garlic Chicken to what I thought was to a T… is the chicken PRECOOKED in these dump recipes? Because, both times, using raw these have left a ugly-looking chicken goop in their sauces. I’ve been forced to scoop the meat out and resauce, and I think with the Teriyaki, I’m going to just pull the meat out first, cook it, and then add the rest to see if better.
The Lemon Garlic one was a huge disaster for us because the broccoli degenerated to mush. I even went to the low end on the time too.
Please let me know if anything can be done. 🙁 These are our first freezer dump IP meals and so far, doesn’t seem like it’ll work for us.
Rachel
November 19, 2017Yes, I always use raw chicken. I like to cook the veggies separately, but I have also cooked it all together. It really depends on your preference. I cook them for 20 minutes and I have cooked all of these recipes. Yes, the veggies do get over-done when they are all cooked together in the IP (in my opinion), but my hubby loves them like that.
Tiffany
December 10, 2017This is going to be so helpful. Thanks for putting this together. What size cans of tomato sauce?
Rachel
December 10, 2017I think it’s 10.5 oz. The soup can size.
Jeanette
December 11, 2017What size are your cans of tomato sauce forme the recipes?
Rachel
December 11, 2017They are the soup size cans (10.5 oz)
alicia
December 26, 2017Do you have to thaw these before cooking? Or can they be done in the IP frozen?
Rachel
December 27, 2017I have prepared them both ways and they have turned out just fine 🙂 I prefer them with the vegetables cooked separately.
Denise
December 29, 2017Do these recipes fit in a 3 quart mini instant pot?
Rachel
December 29, 2017They probably would if you didn’t add the veggies 🙂 You could cook the veggies separately.
Stacey Christianson
December 30, 2017New to instant Pot are you using manual hi on these? Thanks so much recipes look awesome
Rachel
January 1, 2018Yes, I always use manual 🙂
Rachel
January 2, 2018Thank you for the recipes! 🙂
Something to pass along… freeze your ingredients into a bowl that is slightly smaller than the inner pot of the IP. When you’re ready to cook you meal; it’ll fit right into the pot!! 🙂 No waiting for it to defrost or awkward shape to deal with.
Cheers!
Rachel
January 3, 2018Great tip! Thanks 😀