How To Slow Cook Chicken In Instant Pot

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How To Store Instant Pot Chicken

How To Cook Frozen Chicken In An Instant Pot (Instapot)
  • Leftover cooked, shredded, or diced Instant Pot chicken can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight.
  • Shredded Instant Pot Chicken is IDEAL for meal prep. Make a big batch at the beginning of the week, divide into individual containers, then use it all week long.

What Are Some Flavor Ideas For Instant Pot Chicken

Want to spice things up? Try some of these suggestions to quickly transform a plain chicken breast:

  • Change up the liquid: skip the chicken stock and opt for beer, apple juice or pineapple juice instead.
  • Add some Asian flair: add a tablespoon of miso paste and a splash of soy sauce to the chicken stock.
  • Go for Mexican flavors: add in 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1/4 teaspoon chili powder and finish off with a squeeze of fresh lime juice to the chicken stock.
  • Make it Mediterranean: add 1 teaspoon each of dried oregano and garlic powder to your stock.
  • Be bold with Buffalo chicken flavor: embolden your chicken stock with 1/4 cup hot sauce or your favorite wing sauce, 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon celery seed. Top finished chicken with blue cheese.

Instant Pot Coconut Chicken

Spice up your weeknight dinner game with boneless, skinless chicken thighs cooked with soy sauce and vinegar in the Instant Pot; a little bit of unsweetened coconut milk added in at the end makes for a super creamy sauce that you’ll want all over a side of jasmine rice.

Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Coconut Chicken

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Fresh Vs Frozen Chicken Thighs In The Instant Pot

One of the great advantages of Instant Pot cooking is you can cook straight from frozen, no thawing required. To cook chicken thighs of any kind from frozen, you’ll want to up the cooking time to about 14 minutes . See below for exact cooking times.;

Related: Cooking Frozen Chicken in the Instant PotWhat You Need to Know

Why Does Chicken Get Rubbery In Instant Pot

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice

According to;Greatist, Overcooking might play a role in your chickens tire-like texture! Leaving chicken in a , pan, oven, or grill for just a little too long can suck the moisture right out and leave you with a dry, rubbery bird. Without moisture, the protein fibers in the chicken become elastic.

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Best Way To Shred Instant Pot Shredded Chicken

Shredded Chicken With Stand Mixer: Use my favorite method in your stand mixer!;Place fully cooked chicken breasts into the KitchenAid Stand;Mixer . With your paddle attachment connected and chicken inside the mixer, turn it on low/medium until shredded! I promise its worth the extra bowl to clean! It makes shredding chicken so easy, especially if youre making a big batch!

No stand mixer? No problem

Shredded Chicken Using the Fork Method: You can shred the chicken by hand with two forks!

How To Use Instant Pot Chicken Breast

Congratulations! You’ve got tender, juicy chicken breast that’s ready to use in this week’s meals. Rub a little butter and salt on your whole chicken breasts and reheat for an easy weeknight meal . Use cubed chicken in Chef John’s top-rated Spicy Chicken Noodles. Shredded chicken makes Mexican night a breeze when used in this Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup or Baked Chicken and Rice Chimichanga. Browse our entire collection of chicken recipes for more inspiration.;

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Time To Make Instant Pot Chicken And Gravy

Serves 6

Method

Grab your chicken and sprinkle 2 teaspoons salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper all over it, inside and out.

Tuck the wings behind the back.

Add 1 tablespoon of ghee to the pressure cooker, and hit the Sauté function on your electric pressure cooker. Swirl the melted ghee to the middle of the pot if it looks like the fat is pooling on the sides.

When the fat is shimmering, sear the chicken breast-side down in the center of the pot for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.

Flip the bird breast-side up. Cook for another 5 minutes or until browned on the back.

Dont worry if the skin sticks and tearsthe skin wont be crispy when youre done cooking anyway. Youre just browning the skin to deepen the flavor of the gravy.

Transfer the chicken to a plate and add the remaining tablespoon of ghee to the pot. Once the ghee melts, toss in the chopped onions, 6 garlic cloves, and a sprinkle of salt. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until softened.

Stir in 2 teaspoons tomato paste and cook for about 30 seconds.

Turn off the sauté function . Pour in ½ cup broth, scraping up any browned bits.

Add a steamer insert to the bottom of the pressure cooker

and lay the bird on top of it, breast-side up.

Cover and pressure-cook on high for 20 minutes .

Then, turn off the electric pressure cooker , and immediately release the pressure manually.

Open the lid and transfer the chicken to a plate or carving board. Tent the cooked bird with foil, and rest it for 10 minutes.

Three: Cook On High Or Low According To The Times Below

Instant Pot Duo Gourmet Slow Cook Chicken Enchiladas

These cooking times are a suggestion based on my experience, but I always suggest checking your chicken for doneness early with an instant read thermometer. When done, your chicken should be 165 degrees F. If your chicken is not cooked through after the cooking time has ended, place it back in the slow cooker and continue cooking until done.

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Instant Pot Chicken With Quinoa Pistachios And Apricots

This is going to be your new go-to healthy weeknight dinner. Full of protein and fiber, this dish is light, yet satisfying. The heat of the chile and ginger balance out the sweetness of the apricot, and the pistachios provide a pleasant crunch.

Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken with Quinoa, Pistachios and Apricots

How To Make Shredded Chicken In A Pressure Cooker

If youre on the fence about pressure cooking chicken, now is the time to try it. This Instant Pot chicken breast recipe is probably the easiest and most versatile one to start with. It requires just three ingredients, plus salt and pepper to your liking. It doesnt get any easier than that! Its the fastest, best way to make shredded chicken.

Place all the ingredients in your pressure cooker, push a couple buttons, and youre all set. Ten minutes later, youll have perfectly juicy chicken breast. Shred it with two forks, or one of the other methods below. Voila!

Quick and easy pressure cooker chicken breast.

Feel free to customize the spices in this Instant Pot shredded chicken recipe to your liking. There are really two main ingredients chicken and chicken broth. But, I find that adding Italian seasoning as the third ingredient makes it so much better.

You can get as creative as you like with the spices. I like to keep it simple, so that the chicken can be used in a variety of recipes later. Italian seasoning works with pretty much anything.

One thing I do recommend is to make sure you use chicken broth and not water. Some people make shredded chicken with water, but you get a lot more flavor using chicken broth. This makes the biggest difference when the chicken itself is white meat, like chicken breast.

This is also the reason that this pressure cooker chicken breast recipe doesnt call for much salt. The chicken broth already adds most of the sodium needed.

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Does The Slow Cooker Brown Or Crisp The Chicken

  • No, the slow cooker can not brown food for there is no browning element.
  • I use paprika to give a browned look for my whole chicken recipes.
  • You can put your slow cooked chicken under a broiler in an oven if you want crispy skin. Be sure your slow cooker is rated for such high temperature first, or place the chicken on a sheet pan.

Instant Pot Pulled Chicken Ingredients

Instant Pot Asian Chicken

Here are the basic ingredients to make shredded chicken in the instant pot. Scroll down for full chicken quantities and instructions.

  • Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts: Boneless chicken thighs will work great here, too.
  • Fine Sea Salt& Black Pepper: Flavor that chicken! You can also spice it up by using a Taco Seasoning or a Cajun Seasoning.
  • Garlic Granules: You may know it also as garlic powder. It adds great flavor!
  • Chicken Broth or Water: Personally I recommend using chicken broth as it will result in the most flavorful shredded chicken, but you can use water, too!

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Adding Vegetables & Potatoes

Make this more of a complete meal by adding in vegetables and/or potatoes. When I do this, I keep things simple and use bell peppers and onions. I also eat this with more vegetables though, usually a simple side salad. You can add up to one pound of vegetables to this recipe like carrots, celery, asparagus, squash, green beans etc. For the potatoes, I tend to use;one pound of baby red or yellow potatoes. Waxy potatoes work better for the slow cooker but you can absolutely use another potato like russet or even sweet potatoes. Cut your vegetables and potatoes into larger chunks than you usually would. This will help them hold their shape better during the cooking progress.

after with potatoes, bell peppers, & onions

If you would like your skin-on chicken to have crispy skin after its done cooking, remove the chicken from the slow cooker or electric pressure cooker and place it under the broiler for a few minutes.

How To Make Instant Pot Whole Chicken

If you have an Instant pot or a Crockpot Express you have the option to make this recipe under High Pressure.

It takes a slightly different approach when you use the High-Pressure option.

You then need to brown the chicken first in olive oil using the Brown/Sauté option.

Brown the whole chick on both sides so it gets some color. This takes 5 to 8 minutes. Put the chicken on the trivet.

Then sprinkle the seasoning on the chicken. Use a brush to rub the seasoning on the chicken.

Because you need water to get an Instant pot too high pressure you have to add about 1 cup of chicken broth.

Now add the chopped garlic and onion to the chicken as well. Put the lid on the multicooker and turn the steam release valve to seal.

Then turn the Instant pot to Poultry and set the time to 30 minutes. Quick-release the Instant pot when the timer is done.

If you want crisp chicken skin then put the cooked chicken under the broiler for 5 minutes.

To prepare the gravy read the instructions above. You only need to add a little cornstarch to get a thicker gravy.

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What About Other Countertop Cooking Devices

Instant Pot, the headline-making pressure cooking device with a cult-like following, has instructions on its website that say there’s no need to defrost frozen food prior to cooking it. While it doesn’t specify frozen chicken, the guidelines advise consumers to plan mealtime accordingly since “frozen food will prolong the pre-heating time and cooking time.”

When asked whether it’s OK to cook frozen chicken in an Instant Pot, a representative from the company’s customer service team told TODAY the practice is definitely safe and advised home cooks to simply tack on an additional five minutes of cooking time.

Food experts also have differing opinions adding frozen chicken into slow cookers. Some, like Tom Super, senior vice president of communications at the National Chicken Council, think its fine.

“It is entirely safe to prepare frozen chicken in a slow cooker or Crock-Pot as long are you are familiar with the make and model of the device,” Super told TODAY.

Instant Pot Shredded Chicken

How to cook frozen chicken in the Instant Pot–Instant Pot Tips

Easy Instant Pot Shredded Chicken is a meal prep staple and this simple, no-fail recipe is super versatile, too. Shredded Chicken is an easy, healthy protein that you can add to salads and veggie bowls, burritos, enchiladas, tacos, wraps, sandwiches, omelettes or scrambles. Add your shredded chicken to your favorite soup, stew or stir fry. Its a great addition to cauliflower fried rice or breakfast egg bites. Serve over rice or pasta , or simply add your favorite mayo and make a quick chicken salad for lunches or quick meals.

Like my shredded beef recipe, this Instant Pot Shredded Chicken is a meal prep and meal planning super-star staple in our house and for so many of my clients. Of course if you dont have an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, you can also easily make this in the slow cooker, I included those directions below. I personally find the Instant Pot brings the best results, the meat is always moist and ready in a jiffy. You can even make your Instant Pot Shredded Chicken from chicken thighs, or a mix of chicken thighs and chicken breasts.

See all my tips and recipe suggestions below, to make this a weekly staple food you can always have on hand. Cook once and eat LOTS a great way to stay planned out, to feel less overwhelmed at mealtime and ultimately successful with your health goals.

Breasts or Thighs. Or Both.

Frozen Chicken?

Forget the Forks. For Easy Shredding Your Hand Mixer or Stand Up Mixer work GREAT!

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What Is A Slow Cooker

Lets start with what is a slow cooker. A slow cooker is an appliance that simmers food at very low heats for a long period of time. The thing that makes a slow cooker distinct from all the other methods of preparing food is that slow cookers can cook food at a much lower temperature than other appliances. You may also know slow cookers by the name Crock-Pot, this is a trading name owned by Sunbeam Products. Slow cookers are typically used because the low heat that they operate at can allow typically tough, chewy foods to become tender, and melt-in-the-mouth.

Crock-Pot

Tools Youll Need To Make This Instant Pot Chicken Recipe:

  • My recipes are tested in my 6 quart Instant Pot its an older version and for this reason the manual lists 1 cup of liquid as the minimum. I know that the 8 quarts and some of the newer ones list different requirements. For this recipe, you can easily change the liquid to match your manuals suggestion.
  • Theres really not much else youll need! I know everyone has different thoughts on cooking meat on or off the trivet, but with chicken breasts I usually place them on the bottom in the liquid.

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Chicken Thigh Cooking Times

Boneless Chicken Thighs.

  • Cook on LOW for 3-4 hours or HIGH for 2-3 hours
  • Chicken thighs are less likely to dry out than chicken breasts, so you have flexibility to cook the chicken on high.
  • Based on medium boneless chicken thigh with a weight of 4.5 ounces.
  • Be sure to add or subtract time if your piece of chicken is smaller or larger.

Bone-in Chicken Thighs.

  • Cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours.
  • Based on medium bone-in chicken thigh with a weight of 5.5 ounces.
  • Be sure to add or subtract time if your piece of chicken is smaller or larger.

Instant Pot Chicken Breasts Quick Tips

Instant Pot Chicken Thighs with Lemon Sauce
  • Get a digital scale. I use one similar to this*.
  • If you are cooking more than one chicken breast choose ones that are similar size and thickness. If you cook a large chicken breast with a small chicken breast one will be overdone and one will be underdone. Cook chicken breasts of similar size to get consistent results every time.
  • For FROZEN chicken: Weigh your chicken breasts. Lets say your chicken breast weighs 12 ounces. Youll use a pressure cooking time of 12 minutes. If youre cooking more than one chicken breast and the average weight of the breasts is 12 ounces youll still only cook it for 12 minutes. The one minute per ounce rule is for sliceable chicken. If you want shreddable chicken then add 3 minutes to the total cooking time. So in the example I just used you would cook the chicken for 15 minutes for shreddable chicken.
  • For FRESH chicken: use the formula in step 3 but subtract 2-3 minutes of cooking time .
  • Use a 5 minute natural pressure release for frozen or fresh chicken. This means when the time is up you let the pot sit there for 5 minutes and then move the valve to venting.
  • Use 1 cup of broth or water in the bottom of your Instant Pot. Use a trivet, if possible. Lay the chicken on top of the trivet. For even cooking stack your chicken breasts on top of each other cross ways. Or if possible lay the chicken in one even layer on the trivet. If you dont have a trivet you can lay your chicken directly in the bottom of the pot with the liquid.
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    Im so glad that I finally got this Instant Pot pressure cooker chicken breast recipe right. One of my favorite staples to make ahead is a large batch of shredded chicken. I used to make it in the slow cooker, but last fall I discovered that its so much faster in my Instant Pot.

    I totally adore this method now. The prep is as care-free as a slow cooker, but the whole thing is done in 15 minutes flat, from start to finish. And, that even includes five minutes of natural release time. This creates optimal texture.

    So, are you ready to learn how to make pressure cooker chicken breast in your Instant Pot? Here, Ill show you.

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