Instant Pot Chicken Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it possible to overcook chicken in Instant Pot? ›

While all cuts of chicken are fair game for the Instant Pot, thighs are the most forgiving. Because chicken breast is so lean, just a couple of extra minutes of cook time turns them from juicy to overcooked and dry.

Add trivet into instant pot, add 1 cup water, add whole chicken or 1-2 chicken legs (in one layer), 2-4 chicken thighs (in one layer), 2-6 chicken drumsticks (in one layer), 1-4 chicken breasts (in one layer), 2-12 chicken wings in one layer.

Can you overcook chicken breast in an Instant Pot? Yes, you can! Pressure Cookers don't work the same as slow cookers, where longer cooking times equal more juicy and tender meat. Too much time in a pressure cooker will create dry tough meat.

Oddly enough, it can be really challenging to get the right texture when cooking boneless chicken breasts. They cook quickly in the Instant Pot, but if you don't cook them long enough they get a weird, rubber-like texture that's nearly impossible to chew, and if you cook them too long, their texture gets dry.

Overcooking or cooking at too high a temperature can result in tough, dry chicken. Undercooking can leave chicken undercooked and chewy.

Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat.

Chicken breasts are a less ideal choice for slow cooking. One reason why you shouldn't make boneless chicken breasts in a slow cooker is because they're too low in fat to withstand cooking for a long time. Your final product will likely come out tough and chewy.

Use multiple cooking pots: If you need to cook a large amount of chicken, you may need multiple pots, like multiple slow cookers or roasting pans. You'll want to avoid overstuffing a single pot so the chicken can cook evenly and thoroughly.

Once you're getting 4 “jiggles” per minute, or your dial gauge has come up to pressure, start your timer and process the chicken. If you're canning pint jars, you will process them for 1 hour 15 minutes (75 minutes). If you're using quart jars, you will process for 1 hour 30 minutes (90 minutes).

There's lots of water in the meat too, so even 1 cup added water will result in a fair amount of liquid after cooking. No you do not have to cover it. I usually do about 2 cups or so of stock.

What is the best meat to pressure cook? ›

You can still pressure cook leaner pieces – like eye of round and top sirloin – but these work best if they've been stuffed, shredded or rolled (with other ingredients). Best cuts of beef to use: Chuck steak, Round Roast, Shoulder, Pot roast, Ribs, Brisket, Oxtail.

You use quite a bit of water in the pressure cooker so you can cook the bones for enough time so the bones become soft. Then you can grind them up easily with this grinder. Chicken bones, cooked at high pressure in a pressure cooker, take about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours.

Overcooking chicken and buying woody chicken breast are two of the main causes behind rubbery chicken. You can stop this from happening by: buying “slow-growing” chicken. cooking your chicken in moisture.

Here's the shortest answer we can give you: For large boneless, skinless chicken breasts: cook them 20 to 30 minutes in a 375 degrees F oven. For large bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts: cook them 35 to 40 minutes in a 375 degrees F oven.

Pressure cooking, like slow cooking, will tenderize tough cuts of meat like beef brisket, beef chuck, pork shoulder and lots of other cheaper, tougher cuts. Pressure cooking (or slow cooking) is not the best approach for cooking expensive, tender steaks or rib roasts.

Cook It Slowly

This is certainly true when it comes to notoriously tough cuts of meat like beef brisket and pork shoulder. Cooking these cuts of meat slowly, either by braising, stewing or grill roasting, is the best way to get these tasty cuts of meat meltingly tender.