When To Use Natural Release
Certain recipes need, taste and come out better using Natural Release. But in general, I try to develop Instant Pot recipes with Quick Release. Because time, friends. Time. I need to feed my hungry family asap. Aint nobody got time for NR.
But lets go over recipes when you want to use Natural Release:
Instant Pot Chicken Is So Easy
Cooking chicken in the pressure cooker or Instant Pot works similarly to poaching. The biggest difference is that you use less liquid and you can press a button and step away while the pot is doing its thing.
The chicken cooks in water, seasoned with salt, bay leaves, and garlic for a little bit of extra flavor. You can add any aromatic spices or vegetables to the water, really, depending on how you want to flavor the meat. Ginger and green onion would be nice if you plan to use the chicken on top of an Asian-style salad, for instance.
- New to the Instant Pot? Check out our post How To Use an Instant Pot: A First-Timers Guide.
I Love My Instant Pot Paleo Recipe Book
The I Love My Instant Pot Paleo Recipe Book covers breakfast to dessert with all courses in between.
I pored over all the recipes searching for the perfect thing to share at this busy time of year and found so many things I want to make: Quick Lime Marmalade , Homemade Chai Latte , Bison Sloppy Joes , Tom Kha Goong .
As one would expect with the speed and ease of Instant Pot cooking, the recipes are simple, straight forward and easy to follow. There are no fussy cooking techniques and recipes that will keep your breakfast, lunch and dinner table hopping with effortless interesting food.
There is an easy primer in the beginning of the book on using your Instant Pot, as well as accessories the author suggests.
I found the format easier to absorb than the Instant Pot manual. I also love that there is a list in the back of the book of Paleo Yes and No Foods to help if one is following a paleo regime. Youll love the recipes whether you are eating Paleo or not.
From the first thumbing through this cookbook these Instant Pot Smoked Paprika & Garlic Chicken Legs jumped off the page.
Smoked Paprika is one of my favorite spices with a deep, earthy flavor and gorgeous burnt red color.
Despite having only 4 ingredients this recipes is flavor-full and with a quick broil at the end the chicken legs are perfectly seared with juicy meat and crispy skin.
Ready in less than 30 minutes with little active cooking time.
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Why You Will Love These Instant Pot Chicken Tenders
- Quick and easy: Ready to serve in under 15 minutes and with just 5 ingredients, this recipe is a breeze!
- Kid-friendly: If you have a picky eater in your house, I promise you these will be devoured in no time!
- Healthy: High in protein and low in fat and carbs, these are a great healthier appetizer option.
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Can I Add Potatoes And Cook Them With The Chicken
Yes, you can add cut up potatoes and arrange them in the liquid. Use a mix of water and stock. Once the cooking time is over, remove chicken and trivet and mash the potatoes right in the pot. You can also add baby potatoes, cut in half, around the chicken on a trivet and still make the gravy from the liquid.
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Place Chicken In The Pot
If possible, its best if chicken breasts are separated rather than frozen together in a large chunk. Simply place the meat in the liquid with as little overlapping as possible. If your chicken breasts are frozen together, you can either run some hot water over them and wedge them apart with a butter knife. Otherwise, you will need to increase the cooking time. The amount of time to increase will vary depending on how large the pieces are.
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Can You Overcook Chicken In Instant Pot
Interestingly enough, we actually find it really difficult to overcook shredded chicken in the Instant Pot. In fact, the more time that the chicken has to sit in its own juices and break down with pressure, the more tender and shreddable it becomes. Granted, you dont want your chicken to pressure cook for double the time that we recommend in hopes of it becoming ultra-shreddable, but do know that overcooking it is actually more difficult than it may seem.
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Instant Pot Chicken: How To Cook Chicken In An Instant Pot
Instant Pot Chicken is my favorite way to cook chicken for quick family dinners, meal prep, or to prep for shredding. It makes the chicken so moist and its such a simple method. This post will go over the step by step process for making chicken breast, thighs, legs, tenders, wings, and even a whole chicken in a pressure cooker.
What To Use Shredded Chicken For
The possibilities are truly endless, yall. Shredded chicken can be used in *so* many different ways, and having pre-cooked shredded chicken on hand makes mealtime incredibly easy! Weve listed several different recipes to make great use of your shredded chicken below, and in each of them, youll simply skip the step that calls for cooking the chicken, and sub in your already cooked chicken instead!
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What Size Of Instant Pot Can I Use
Any 3 quart, 5 quart, 6 quart or 8 quart.
Same recipe. Same cooking time. Same water amount.
Just make sure chicken breasts fit in a single layer. If your Instant Pot is small and you want to cook large amount of breasts, do so in a few batches. Piling up chicken in a few layers will result in undercooked chicken.
Also note that larger pressure cooker take longer to come to pressure about 8-10 minutes.
Instant Pot Chicken Drumsticks Ingredients
The ingredients for this well seasoned easy instant pot chicken drumsticks or pressure cooker chicken drumsticks are simple. You will need:
Chicken You can use fresh or frozen. The cooking time varies but i have noted the cooking times for both in this post.
Paprika
Oil Vegetable, sunflower, coconut or olive oil.
Barbeque sauce or buffalo sauce Optional
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How Long Does It Take To Cook Chicken In The Instant Pot
When cooking the chicken in the Instant Pot, it will take about 10-15 minutes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure before it starts the timer.
The actual cook time of the chicken will be around another 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.
Afterward, you can either do a quick release or add in 5 minutes of natural release as well to extend the cooking time of the chicken.
It will take about 35 minutes from start to finish to cook the chicken in the Instant Pot.
How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Breast
- Place chicken breasts in the inner pot of the instant pot and season with salt and pepper.
- Add in 1 cup pineapple juice or chicken stock and season with minced garlic or garlic powder.
- Place lid on instant pot and be sure vent knob is pointed towards sealed.
- Set pressure cooker to the cooking time based on the size of chicken breasts. NOT how many chicken breasts you are cooking.
- Once the cooking time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes before doing a quick release of pressure. This is key to keeping your chicken breasts tender–don’t be tempted to do a quick release of pressure.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the liquid and let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving or shredding.
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Key Ingredients For Instant Pot Chicken Legs
Chicken Legs Head to the grocery store or local butcher shop and pick up the meatiest chicken legs you can find. In this recipe we specifically use chicken drumsticks, which are often referred to as chicken legs. When placing the chicken legs in the pot, be sure to stand them upright on a trivet. The meaty part of the leg should be facing down. Cooking them this way will ensure that the thickest part of the chicken leg is cooked all the way through. You can also use frozen chicken legs in this recipe follow instructions as normal, then increase the cook time to 12 minutes.
Chicken Broth This recipe requires liquid at the bottom of the Instant Pot to create steam which then cooks the chicken. You have the option of using one cup of water here. However, I recommend chicken broth as it packs in so much more flavor.
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How Long Does It Take To Cook Drumsticks In The Instant Pot
Chicken drumsticks cook in the Instant Pot for 10 minutes on high pressure with a quick release for fresh and 12 minutes with a quick release for frozen chicken.
I made some yesterday that I had thawed out for about a day and were still semi-frozen. I did them for 11 minutes and they turned out perfectly. A quick release doesnt dry these out, in my experience.
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What Is An Instant Pot
Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker. It is a small kitchen appliance that cooks food fast under pressure unlike slow cooker cooks food slow on low heat setting. In Instant Pot, steam from water you add builds up pressure and cooks food in sealed environment super fast. An Instant Pot is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, sauté pot, slow cooker, steamer, rice cooker, yogurt maker and warmer all in one appliance.
The end result is tasty and tender food in fraction of the time and with minimal effort. Foods like dried beans do not have to be soaked. Tough cuts of meat come out tender. Food is more flavorful than cooked on a stovetop. I have never tasted better roast than Instant Pot pot roast. Its a magic pot!
If you dont have an Instant Pot yet but are thinking about buying one, I explain which Instant Pot to buy in my humble opinion.
Perfect Instant Pot Chicken Breast
The Instant Pot reigns supreme when it comes to making meals quickly. Within minutes, I can have perfectly cooked rice, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken stock, or beans.
But chicken breast can be a bit more tricky to cook perfectly. Thankfully, after 20 plus tries, I have perfected cooking Instant Pot Chicken Breast. In fact, now I prefer preparing chicken breast in the Instant Pot over any other cooking method.
Whether fresh or frozen, I can whip up Instant Pot Chicken Breasts in record time and they turn out perfectly tender and juicy every single time.
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How To Cook Frozen Chicken Thighs In An Instant Pot
To cook frozen chicken thighs in your Instant Pot, first make sure that the chicken thigh pieces are separate and not frozen together. This will ensure that the chicken cooks evenly.
Skip the step of browning the chicken on sauté mode. Add 1 cup of water to the inner pot and place the metal trivet in the inner pot. Put the chicken thighs on top of the trivet.
Since the spice rub wont stick well to frozen chicken, I recommend sprinkling half of it on the top of the chicken thighs after you place them on the trivet. After cooking you can add a little more seasoning and then brown the meat if you wish.
Cook frozen chicken thighs on high pressure for 15 minutes and then do 5 minutes of natural pressure release. You may want to brown the cooked chicken thighs under the broiler in the oven for a few minutes. Or, you can pour the water out of the Instant Pot and brown the cooked chicken thighs on sauté mode for a few minutes.
How To Shred Chicken
There are a couple different ways that you can go about shredding chicken, but ultimately, the way you choose to shred it is totally up to you and the equipment you have on hand! Heres a breakdown of our two favorite shredding methods:
- Two forks shredding method: this method calls for dumping all of your cooked chicken into a bowl and using two forks to shred it by hand. We recommend going this route when you have a small to moderate amount of chicken to shred. Shredding with two forks is really easy, but can be a little bit time-consuming if you’re shredding, say, 5 pounds of chicken at a time.
- Stand or hand mixer shredding method: this is definitely our preferred method, and is done by either transferring your cooked chicken to a large bowl or the bowl on your stand mixer, and letting the mixer do the work for you! We like to go this route no matter what, but it is especially helpful when you’re making enough chicken for several meals throughout the week and need an easy way to get it shredded QUICKLY! This method is a real life-saver for Cook Once-style meals!
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How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Recipe
Heres how I do it, I toss four frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts in, add water, seal it, close the vent, and set the pressure to high for 10 minutes. Then, after the 10 minutes, I quickly release the pressure and remove the chicken. Thats it! From frozen to tender, juicy, delicious, and almost like a miracle chicken in 10 minutes!
From that point, you can use your pressure cooker chicken any way that you desire. From serving it with side dishes to shredding it to use in all sorts of recipes. I like to do both!
Ive shared with you before how I like to make shredded chicken for the week to use in recipes using my slow cooker, I still do. Sometimes, Ill use the slow cooker and sometimes Ill use the pressure cooker and sometimes Ill just bake it in the oven. It depends on the mood Im in. Gosh at the possibilities!
Heres my pressure cooker chicken printable recipe card. I hope you love it as much as we do!
How Long To Cook Instant Pot Chicken Breast:
- Dont overcook overcooked chicken breast is not anyones favorite thing, but is somewhat difficult to do in the Instant Pot because the steam provides such a moist environment for the chicken to cook in.
- Dont undercook undercooked chicken breast is just plain dangerous! Be sure to check the internal temperature of the chicken to ensure its at least 165 degrees F.
- The exact cook time is going to depend on a variety of things, including the size and shape , and also the model of Instant Pot you have, as some run hotter or cooler. My recipes are tested in the 6 quart model with Bluetooth. Its important to take these these factors into consideration but I find a cook time of 8-10 minutes is always perfect and juicy for the chicken
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Chicken Breast Instant Pot Cook Times
BONELESS, SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS
Fresh Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 8 minutes, vent immediately to release any remaining pressure
- Based on 10-ounce boneless chicken breasts
Frozen Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 12 minutes, vent immediately to release any remaining pressure
- Based on 10-ounce boneless chicken breasts
BONE-IN CHICKEN BREASTS
Fresh Bone-In Chicken Breasts
- 10 minutes, natural release for 5 minutes
- Based on 12-ounce bone-in chicken breasts
Frozen Bone-In Chicken Breasts
- 25 minutes, vent immediately to release any remaining pressure
- Based on 12-ounce bone-in chicken breasts
How To Use An Instant Pot
- Before cooking always inspect your Instant Pot to make sure:
- Cord is plugged in both in electric outlet and in the base unit .
- Base unit under the inner stainless steel pot has no debris and is dry.
- Sealing ring is in and fitted properly onto the lid .
- Add water and ingredients.
- Close the lid and set valve to Sealing position. This will ensure pressure will be sealed inside the pot when it comes to pressure.
If you leave the valve on Venting, steam will keep shooting from it eventually running out of water, Instant Pot not pressurizing and causing Burn. Make a habit to turn it to Sealing right after closing the lid.
- Start Instant Pot by selecting Pressure Cook or Manual button. Name of the button will depend on the model of your Instant Pot. Regardless the model, display should say On. Not the set time you selected for the recipe thats next step.
- Water gets heated and pressure builds up. During this time it is OK to see some steam coming out of a steam release valve.
- Instant Pot comes to pressure, seals itself and food is being cooked. You will see countdown from set cook time begin now.
Float valve on Duo models is pink and protruding. On Lux model it is stainless steel color and is more set in.
- Now you have to release the pressure. There are 2 ways to do so: Natural Release or Quick Release. Usually the recipe will indicate which one to use.
- Dinner is ready!
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