Five ingredients go into the pot, you press one button, and dinner is handled. Every recipe here comes from Laurie Fleming at Fork To Spoon, and every one keeps the shopping list to five items or fewer, with the usual roundup rule that salt, pepper, oil, and water do not count (and neither does the bun you serve it on).
The Instant Pot is what makes this work on a night when you have no plan. It cooks chicken from frozen, turns a bag of meatballs into a meal, and needs only one pot to wash. Most of these are done in under 30 minutes; the pulled pork takes longer but asks nothing of you while it cooks.
1. Instant Pot Crack Chicken
The five: chicken breasts, cream cheese, a ranch seasoning packet, bacon, shredded cheddar.
Chicken and cream cheese go in the pot with the ranch, pressure cook for 15 minutes, then shred and stir in the bacon and cheddar. About 30 minutes start to finish, almost all of it hands-off. Pile it on buns, spoon it over rice, or scoop it with chips.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot Crack Chicken
2. Instant Pot Salsa Chicken
The five (well, three): chicken breasts, a jar of salsa verde, a taco seasoning packet, plus a splash of olive oil.
Season the chicken, cover it with salsa, and pressure cook until it shreds with a fork. The salsa is the sauce and the cooking liquid at the same time. Use it for tacos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, or nachos all week.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot Salsa Chicken
3. Instant Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken Breast
The five: chicken breasts, BBQ sauce, chicken broth, apple cider vinegar, honey.
Broth goes in first, chicken on top, then the whisked sauce over everything. Shred it right in the pot and stir it back into the sauce. It feeds a crowd on sandwiches, tacos, or salads and reheats well for lunches.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken Breast
4. Instant Pot Cream Cheese Chicken
The five (four, really): chicken breasts, cream cheese, Everything But the Bagel seasoning, red pepper flakes.
Score each breast, tuck the seasoned cream cheese into the slits, and cook the chicken in foil boats on the trivet for 18 minutes at high pressure. It comes out stuffed, creamy, and looking like you tried much harder than you did. Serve with rice or a bagged salad.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot Cream Cheese Chicken
5. Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Pork
The five: pork shoulder, brown sugar, BBQ sauce, apple cider vinegar, liquid smoke.
Sear the pork, pour in the sauce and liquid, and let the pot take it from there. This is the longest cook on the list, but the work is five minutes at the start and five minutes of shredding at the end. Leftovers freeze well, so one Sunday batch covers two lazy weeknights.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Pork
6. Easy Instant Pot Meatball Subs
The five: frozen meatballs, crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, dried parsley, plus sub rolls and cheese to serve.
Frozen meatballs and a can of crushed tomatoes go straight into the pot for 5 minutes at high pressure. Spoon the saucy meatballs onto rolls, top with cheese, and dinner is on the table. This is the one to make on the night you forgot to plan anything at all.
Get the recipe: Easy Instant Pot Meatball Subs
7. Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs
The five (three, actually): frozen meatballs, BBQ sauce, grape jelly.
The classic party meatball, done in about 15 minutes. Pressure cook the frozen meatballs in water, drain, then stir in the BBQ sauce and jelly until glossy. Serve over rice for dinner, or set out toothpicks and call it a picnic.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot BBQ Meatballs
8. Instant Pot Honey Garlic BBQ Meatballs
The five: frozen meatballs, ketchup, honey, soy sauce, minced garlic.
Same no-thaw method, different sauce: sweet, sticky, and garlicky, ready in about 20 minutes. Layer the sauce on top rather than stirring it in before cooking, which keeps the pot from throwing a burn warning. Spoon over rice with a bag of steamed broccoli.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot Honey Garlic BBQ Meatballs
9. Easy Instant Pot Frozen Meatballs and Egg Noodles
The five: frozen meatballs, beef broth, egg noodles, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic (plus a pinch of Italian seasoning).
Meatballs on the bottom, noodles spread on top, lid on. The noodles cook in the broth so there is no second pot to boil and nothing to drain. It is the closest thing to a one-pot Swedish meatball dinner you can make without browning anything.
Get the recipe: Easy Instant Pot Frozen Meatballs and Egg Noodles
10. Instant Pot Copycat Kraft Mac and Cheese
The five (four): elbow macaroni, butter, milk, cheddar cheese powder.
The blue-box flavor made from scratch in one pot. The pasta cooks in water under pressure, then the butter, milk, and cheese powder get stirred in for a glossy sauce with nothing to drain. Add a bag of frozen peas or leftover shredded chicken and it is a full dinner.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot Copycat Kraft Mac and Cheese
11. Instant Pot Boxed Mac and Cheese
The five (three): one box of mac and cheese (Kraft, Annie’s, any brand), milk, butter.
For the night when even the copycat version is too much. One cup of water and a third of a cup of milk go in with the dry macaroni from a 7.25-ounce box, then the butter and cheese packet get stirred in at the end. Under 10 minutes, no boiling, no draining.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot Boxed Mac and Cheese
12. Instant Pot Hot Dogs
The five (one): hot dogs. Water in the pot, buns on the side.
The laziest dinner on the list, and the one that feeds the most people. Set the timer to zero minutes; the time it takes the pot to build pressure is all the cooking they need. A 6-quart pot holds up to 24 dogs standing upright, and they keep on the Warm setting until everyone wanders in. Pair with the boxed mac above and you have a full kid night in under 15 minutes.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot Hot Dogs
Four habits that make lazy-night Instant Pot dinners work
- Stock the three things that show up in half these recipes: a bag of frozen meatballs, a pack of chicken breasts, and a jar of sauce. Add a seasoning packet and you are never more than 30 minutes from dinner.
- Thin liquid first, thick sauce on top, and do not stir before you seal the lid. Ketchup, BBQ sauce, and tomatoes sitting on the bottom are what trigger the burn warning.
- Shred in the pot with two forks. It saves a cutting board and keeps the meat in its own juices.
- Freeze the extras. Pulled pork, shredded chicken, and saucy meatballs all reheat well for the next week that gets away from you.
Bookmark this list for the nights when takeout is tempting and cooking feels like too much. Every link goes to the full recipe card on Fork To Spoon with exact amounts, pressure times, and release instructions
