Use your Instant Pot pressure cooker to make the absolute most mouthwatering, tender and juicy bbq pulled chicken. This recipe is done and on your plate from start to finish in under an hour with plenty enough to feed an entire family. No need to wait all day for a slow cooker, or deal with expensive smokers. This really is the perfect recipe for all the Instant Pot craze!
Use both thighs and breasts for perfect pulled chicken
This recipe uses both boneless skinless chicken thighs and breasts to make the prefect pulled chicken. Chicken thighs are dark meat and provide that extra flavor boost and super tenderness, while the breast meat provides the perfect texture while, especially once we sear the meat with our amazing rub. Speaking of rub…
Start with the best damn rub!
To make the most delicious bbq pulled chicken in our Instant Pot, we’re going to start with an awesome rub that will provide such an amazing flavor. The rub is actually pretty simple – brown sugar, salt, black pepper, white pepper (more on that in a minute), onion powder, paprika, ground mustard and a little cayenne. These flavors are the base for a great bbq chicken taste and will be infused in to the chicken during the pressure cooking process. If you’ve seen some of RecipeTeacher’s other popular recipes such as Best Damn Instant Pot Pork Chops, Best Damn Instant Pot Pulled Pork and Best Damn Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin, you’ll see that we use a similar rub. For chicken, we’re gonna bump up the salt a little, and also help bring out a robustness and a bit of a punch with some white pepper. White pepper is one of my favorite seasonings to use in chicken dishes. It doesn’t have the heat of cayenne, but allows us to still kick up the zing and provides the chicken with that little extra something that’s oh so good. White pepper is available at most supermarkets and will be a welcome addition to your spice/seasoning repertoire.
Sear the meat first
After we’re coated our chicken pieces with the delicious rub, it’s time to give it a good sear. With the Instant Pot on saute mode, give the chicken a good sear on each side for about 2-3 minutes each. Do it in two batches to make sure you can get all the pieces nice and seared. The caramelization of the sugars and other seasonings will create a rich, deep flavor that’s essential to the overall dish. And once all the chicken is seared, you’ll want to pour a half cup of broth into the pot and scrape it good with a wooden spoon. This is known as deglazing. It’s also necessary, as the pot will not come to pressure unless all those bits are scraped up. And do not toss that stuff away! It’s another essential part of our bbq flavor profile.
Pressure cook for 15 minutes with 10 minute natural release
After we deglaze the bottom of the pot, pour in another cup of low-sodium chicken broth, the Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke and lay the pieces of chicken directly into the liquid. Squeeze it all in there as best possible. Most all of it should be in the liquid. It doesn’t need to be completely submerged. Then secure the lid, set vent to “sealing”, and pressure cook (manual) on high for 15 minutes. When the cooking time is complete, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes. If the pin hasn’t dropped after 10 minutes, go ahead and quick release the rest and remove the lid.
Add BBQ sauce if you like, but it’s not necessary
Once the coking is complete and you’ve removed the lid, use tongs and remove the chicken into a separate large bowl. Scoop about a ½ cup of the liquid out of the instant Pot and put it into the bowl with the chicken. Use 2 forks and shred away. The chicken will already be falling apart.
PrintBest Damn Instant Pot Pulled Chicken
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: About 6-8 servings
Description
A tender and delicious BBQ pulled chicken made easy in your Instant Pot pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
- 3 tbs brown sugar
- 1tbs kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- 1.5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp liquid smoke
Instructions
- Trim any excess fat from chicken. Cut breasts in half so each piece is about the same size as the thighs.
- Add 1 tbs olive oil to Instant pot and press saute. Add all dry ingredients in a large 1 gallon ziplock bag and shake to mix well. Add chicken pieces to bag with 1 tbs olive oil, seal bag and shake for a minute, massaging the seasoning to cover all the pieces of chicken. When Instant Pot reads “hot”, use tongs and carefully add the pieces of chicken. Don’t force all the pieces to fit, do 2 batches. Let the chicken sear for 2-3 minutes and then carefully flip the pieces and do the other side for another 2-3 minutes. Remove to plate when done and proceed with 2nd batch.
- After all the chicken is browned, pour ½ cup of broth into the pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape all the bits from the bottom. Don’t skip this step, it’s important. Once the bottom is scraped up, add the other cup of broth, the Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke. Then add chicken. Squeeze all the chicken in as best you can – most should be covered with the liquid, but not all. Secure lid, set vent to “sealing” and pressure cook on high for 15 minutes. When cooking time is done, allow pressure to naturally release for at least 10 minutes.
- Once pressure is released and pin drops, carefully remove lid. Use tongs and remove chicken to a separate bowl. Add about ¼ cup of the juices from the Instant Pot and use 2 forks to shred chicken.
- You’re ready to add your favorite BBQ sauce (probably about ½ cup), but you can just add more of the juices from the pot – the taste of that alone is unbelievable!
- Serve on warm brioche or other rolls and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 45min (including building pressure and release time)
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: BBQ
Shirley
I’m wanting to make this for Easter, can this be made ahead of time and frozen? Would it taste as good?
RecipeTeacher
Hi Shirley. It can indeed be frozen and it freezes well.
Paulina Zychowicz
So good! Was really impressed by the perfect combination of flavours.
Melissa
Best easy recipe with an amazing taste! No need for additional BBQ sauce. Used for pulled chicken sandwiches, grilled cheese, and fajitas. My 10 month old and 3 year old loves it as finger food.
Kelsey
I just made this using an instant pot for the first time and it came out sooo good! It was so juicy and tender and flavorful. I used 3 large chicken breasts because that what I had on hand, and I was so surprised at how good it came out. I think I’m going to use the instant pot for all my chicken dishes now lol.
Deidre
So, so good! Question….I doubled the recipe as I was feeding a large group for a birthday. By the time I browned all the chicken in the pot, the brown sugar was burning. I had also used a cast iron skillet for browning, so I deglazed that with the broth and transferred it to another Pot and finished cooking. When you made this, did your sugar burn?
Jess
This recipe looks amazing! Friends of ours swear by it. We only have a 3 qt. Would we just half everything but keep the cooking time the same? Thanks!
Jeannie Ryan
Jess, doesn’t look like she has answered you. I have been using the Instapot for years and yes I would half everything and use the same amount of time and release just don’t go above the max line in your Instapot.
CeCe
You’re right – no bbq sauce needed- the sauce is delicious. My husband thinks he has to put ketchup or bbq sauce or steak sauce on all meat. I said “wait! taste the sauce in the pot first”, and he didn’t add any bbq sauce! I made in crock pot instead but followed directions exactly otherwise. I usually make shredded bbq chicken with bbq sauce and only chicken breasts and don’t sear first. This was way better!
Cheryl
Made this today and it is delicious. I added a small can of crushed tomatoes to the remaining juices and cooked it down a bit and it made a delicious bbq sauce.
RecipeTeacher
That sounds like a great idea, Cheryl. Thanks for the feedback!
Victoria
This was delicious. Thank you! No BBQ sauce required!
Lyssa
Simply amazing. I used liquid aminos in place of Worcestershire sauce for allergy purposes, but aside from that, I followed the recipe exactly as written. I will never even bother with another bbq chicken recipe again!
Richard Needham
Wow! I hardly ever post comments on recipes but this was so good and easy. I made this last week and served it on brioche buns with chopped up pickles and mustard on the bottom and a big slice of tomato from the garden on top. Amazing. Then we had the rest as a topping on salad and in quesadillas. I am making again this week and will freeze some for the future.