Instant Pot BBQ Chicken

Name: Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 28 min
Ingredients: 1 cup chicken stock (water, or juice); 1.5-2 lbs chicken breasts- about 3 or 4; ½ tsp onion powder; ½ tsp garlic powder; ½ tsp paprika (regular, smoked or Hungarian); Salt and pepper to taste; 1.5 cups BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Rays or your favorite); ½ cup grated onion (juice included); 2-3 tbsp brown sugar depending on sweetness of bbq sauce; 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce; Hamburger buns or bread slices; Sliced onions; Pickles; Sliced or cubed cheese; Jalepenos; Coleslaw

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This delicious Instant Pot BBQ Chicken will give you delicious bbq pulled chicken in less than 30 minutes! With your one pot pressure cooker, you simply put all the ingredients in and with a short cook time you’ll have some perfectly cooked bbq chicken. With the weather getting warmer, everyone is craving a little BBQ! Serve this dish with some refreshing Iced Tea Lemonade on the side!

Shredded bbq chicken surrounded by fixins

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Why it’s Awesome
Key Ingredients
Directions
Recipe Tips
FAQs
More Easy Instant Pot Recipes

Why it’s Awesome

It’s simple! This is a one pot dish which makes the clean up very easy. You don’t need a lot of previous experience to make this good BBQ recipe and it can be ready in 30 minutes or less! It’s an easy instant delicious chicken BBQ recipe with fixins suggestions too!

BBQ is so popular for a reason! The delicious flavor of the sauce cooked together with the chicken is a perfect combination. Friends and family will all love this recipe.

This is a gluten free recipe if you have anyone that can’t have gluten. You can serve it with gluten free bread as part of the fixins as well!

Key Ingredients

Chicken stock - You can use water in place of the one cup chicken stock if you don’t have it. For a sweeter sauce, use pineapple or apple juice instead of chicken broth.

Chicken - Boneless skinless chicken breasts are what this recipe calls for. If you want to experiment and try chicken thighs, just make sure to use an equal amount of chicken for the same cooking time.

BBQ sauce - My personal favorite barbecue sauce is sweet baby rays for it’s great flavor, but you can use any type of BBQ sauce you prefer!

Onion - Yellow or white onions are best in this and they will be grated with the juice included for cooking the chicken and you can also add some slices of onions for the fixins when you serve this dish.

Brown sugar - Depending on the sweetness of the BBQ sauce you are using and also your personal preference, you can add some brown sugar to the instant pot liquid to cook with the chicken.

Worcestershire sauce - A little bit of worcestershire sauce adds some tangy, savory and spiced taste to this recipe.

Fixins:

Hamburger buns - Or bread slices for serving this pulled chicken.

Pickles - Dill pickles are my favorite, but if you prefer sweet pickles go for it!

Cheese - Sliced or cubed cheese are great sides to add to your pulled chicken BBQ sandwich!

Jalapenos - If you like a little spice in your food, jalapenos have a great flavor profile with BBQ.

Coleslaw - One of the most essential sides in BBQ is coleslaw! The crunch and simple flavor balances perfectly with everything else on your plate.

uncooked chicken breasts, bbq sauce, broth, spices, brown sugar, onion

Directions

Add all the ingredients, except the chicken breasts, to the inner pot of the instant pot. Whisk to combine.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place the trivet inside the inner pot and place the chicken on top of the trivet. If you don’t have a trivet, make a foil rope and wind it around the bottom of the pot.

Close and lock lid. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. When the cooking cycle ends, use a natural release for 5 minutes. Carefully release any remaining pressure by opening the steam release valve.

When the pin drops, open the lid. Check that chicken is fully cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Let rest for about 5 minutes.

If you want to thicken the BBQ, use the sauté function to cook the sauce down until it's reached the desired consistency. Otherwise, pour off all but one cup of the sauce, return the chicken to the pot and shred with a hand mixer. Add more sauce as needed.

If you prefer, you can shred or cut the meat on a cutting board and add more sauce as needed.

cooked chicken breasts before and after shredding with a mixer in the instant pot insert

Recipe Tips

Be sure you're familiar with your pressure cooker. I made this in a 6 quart Instant Pot.

Be sure to cook chicken to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.

Frozen chicken breasts can be substituted for fresh. Cooking time should remain the same, but it will take longer to come to pressure.

You can also add some chopped fresh pineapple, or a small can of crushed pineapple when you add the broth for additional fruity flavor.

FAQs

How to store instant pot BBQ chicken?

You can store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Freeze in freezer safe containers for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and re-heat in the microwave.

Does BBQ sauce count as liquid in instant pot?

This recipe combines BBQ sauce along with chicken broth, water or juice and other ingredients whisked together and then the chicken is cooked in that sauce. The chicken will absorb some of the delicious BBQ flavor as it cooks, which is what you want!

Why is my instant pot chicken rubbery?

Overcooking is the main reason your chicken is rubbery. Also, not having enough liquid in the instant pot can make it become rubbery. If you stick to the suggested amounts of ingredients in this recipe, it will come out moist and tasty.