Instant Pot Tilapia

This Instant Pot frozen tilapia and vegetables recipe has never been easier to make! It’s an Instant Pot recipe we come back to time and time again. You can just cook the filets alone or add carrots, green beans and squash at the same time below it to steam to tender.

How Long to Cook Frozen Tilapia in Instant Pot

With a trivet and some water you too can enjoy a flaky piece of fish with tender carrots, green beans and potatoes in just 8 minutes. We chose 3 frozen tilapia fish fillets but you could use a different type of fish too.

Timing may vary just slightly but typically it’s spot on. This will work in your Ninja Foodi or Crockpot Express machine too. Surprisingly, cooking meat fresh or frozen doesn’t seem to make a difference under high pressure. You would follow the same directions below either way, just the thickness and amount would change things. Go figure! 😉

If you’d rather use fresh fish we have a post on different pressure cooker fish recipes here as well. Salmon is another favorite we’ve made pretty often. These are the ingredients we used to make it just right:

You could add chunks of whole or halved baby potatoes into the bottom instead of these. Use as many that will fit under the trivet.

Ingredient Notes

We generally cook / steam 3 medium sized frozen tilapia fillets at a time to feed us. They can overlap a bit and still get done in this case. I wouldn’t add more than about 4 at a time to allow the steam to circulate properly.

You can add vegetables into the mix too if you like. I usually add small potatoes like petite or cut into fourths. Green beans frozen are best and Carrots chunked and peeled are great choices.

You will need some Water or broth to steam it all. Fish should be set on a trivet so it doesn’t touch the liquid or it will get a bit mushy. And I like to add a pat of butter, salt and pepper to the top for flavor.

Cooking Tips

This is how it looked inside the pot so you can have a good visual. Keep in mind that the larger your vegetables are the more firm they will be once they’ve been steamed / pressure cooked. If you like them quite soft then quarter your new potatoes instead of slicing them in half etc.. When done the best way to crisp the outsides is a minute of air fryer tilapia heat.

Can you use fresh fish fillets?

Absolutely. This tilapia was frozen and the timing is appropriate for that. If it had been defrosted I may have set it for 5 minutes instead. With the carrots and potatoes though you’d need a bit longer time so the fact that they were frozen helped balance out the cook time.

We have made Instant Pot fish and vegetables using stackable pans and that works great too. We used defrosted fish for this one. However, if you want to stick with an easy method using inexpensive Instant Pot accessories this is it.

How to Cook Frozen Fish Fillets in Instant Pot

You’ll want to prep your vegetables by washing and slicing them. The larger they are the firmer they will be when done. Place all of them at the bottom of your pot and season as you’d like. Put a trivet on top of that. It may not reach the bottom and might just rest on the food beneath it but that is fine.

Pour in your cup of water or broth in. You will essentially be steaming your fish and liquid is required to reach pressure. Fish is placed on top of your trivet with butter and seasonings. Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure followed by a quick release.

After you release the pressure, open the lid away from you to avoid burns. Serve on a plate with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon if you like.

How do you know when frozen tilapia is done?

The flesh of tilapia should change from translucent to opaque.When you insert a fork into the thickest part of the fish and twist gently, the flesh should flake easily. Most reliable is to use a meat thermometer. into the thickest part, it should reach an internal temperature of 145°F

You can print recipe below and keep it on hand so you too can make it often for dinner. If you’re looking for more easy InstaPot recipes we have many. Pressure cooker fried cabbage is another great side dish, or dinner with some ham or bacon in it.

• Instant Pot cheesy potatoes work well with fish as well.
• If you only have a Ninja Foodi no problem!! You can make Ninja Foodi fish like this the same way or air fryer salmon for dinner.