I know meal planning saves money. I know that if I just take 15 minutes to figure out what we’re having for dinner for the next 7 days, the rest of my week goes SO MUCH SMOOTHER.
But I also know that sometimes, things don’t always work out as planned.
That’s why there’s Instant Pot BBQ Chicken.
In my course Grocery Budget Bootcamp, I teach my students the importance of having a back-up plan.
We live in the REAL WORLD where schedules get busy and things come up at the last minute. But when you have a back-up plan, you can still save money and eat healthy without relying on the drive through.
That’s where this Instant Pot BBQ Chicken comes into play. This dish is everything that a back-up plan should be:
- Super fast – We know the Instant Pot gets dinner on the table fast, but depending on the type of chicken you use, dinner can be ready with 6 minutes of cooking time.
- Super easy – You only REALLY need two ingredients – can it get any easier?
- Super tasty – If your favorite BBQ sauce tastes good as good as my homemade BBQ sauce, then you can’t go wrong!
If you’ve been reading this blog for any period of time, you know that I’m all about quick and easy.
- Need an easy bread recipe? → Man Bread
- Need a hands-off way to make a healthy breakfast? → Instant Pot Oatmeal
- Simple recipe to replace sugary cereal? → Cinnamon Granola with Coconut Oil
- Easy dessert for hot summers? → Homemade Ice Pops
- Quick snack for ravishing teenagers? → No-bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Instant Pot BBQ chicken isn’t any different – just two main ingredients and you’re off to the races!
What to make with Instant Pot BBQ Chicken?
In case you’re wondering what you should do with Instant Pot BBQ chicken – besides eat it – here’s some of our favorite ways to serve it:
Sandwiches
Both Instant Pot BBQ chicken and my homemade bun recipe freeze well, which means BBQ chicken sandwiches for dinner now AND later.
Or you can go the grilled cheese route – a few slices of No-knead Artisan Bread (because it tastes similarly to sourdough), a scoop of BBQ chicken and a couple slices of cheddar? YUM.
Salads
Doesn’t a BBQ chicken bacon ranch salad sound SO GOOD?! Use this recipe and use the BBQ chicken in the recipe below and you’re done!
Or what if you make this salad, but wrap it up inside homemade tortillas?!
Pizza
If BBQ chicken pizza doesn’t win you over, I don’t know what will… pick your poison:
No matter which you pick, top with your favorite BBQ sauce, this Instant Pot BBQ chicken and cheese and BAM – dinner is done.
Can you make Instant Pot BBQ chicken with frozen chicken?
Y’all are my people. You and me? We get each other. That’s why when you forget to take your chicken out to thaw the night before and you wonder if you can make this recipe using frozen chicken, I’m not judging. I got your back.
And yes, yes you can make Instant Pot BBQ chicken with frozen chicken! I’m including a time variation in the recipe just for you. 😉
What size Instant Pot do I have?
I have the Instant Pot 8-quart DUO, which might be overkill for this simple recipe, but it’s perfect when I want to make a few pounds of beans at a time (hooray for batch cooking!).
On the fence about an Instant Pot? Here’s what you should know before you buy.
Can you use a different cut of chicken?
Oh yes! I made this with both chicken breasts and the ever-wonderful budget-friendly chicken legs.
My one piece of advice is that no matter what cut of chicken you use, take the skin off. Cooking the skin in this recipe will make the sauce kind of greasy, and you don’t want that.
Instead, save the chicken skin for homemade chicken stock (your choice, slow cooker chicken stock or Instant Pot chicken stock!)
I usually get my chicken from Costco since they tend to have great prices on organic chicken. But I’ve also tried chicken from Butcher Box and it was really good! It’s a great option if you want organic pastured chicken and can’t find it locally.
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Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
This Instant Pot BBQ chicken recipe works with breasts, thighs, legs, thawed chicken, or frozen. It’s never been easier to make shredded barbecue chicken!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 2 1/2 lbs 1x
- Category: Main Meals
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 cup your favorite BBQ sauce
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (optional)
- 2 Tbsp liquid aminos or soy sauce (optional)
- 2 – 2 1/2 lbs chicken (thawed or frozen), skin removed**
- 1 onion, sliced into rings (optional)
Instructions
- Place ingredients in the Instant Pot in the order listed.
- Close the Instant Pot and turn the sealing valve to “sealing.”
- Press “pressure cook” or “manual,” make sure the pressure is set to “high” and adjust the timer to 15 minutes if using fresh chicken, or 25 minutes if using frozen chicken.
- Let the pressure release naturally.
- Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot and place on a plate. Shred the chicken with two forks and place the meat back into the pot, stirring with its juices.
- Serve hot!
Notes
** I tested using chicken breasts and chicken legs and both were good. If you use chicken breasts, reduce the cook time to 6 minutes for fresh, 10 minutes frozen. If you do a combination of white and dark meat, use the time for dark meat as indicated in the recipe.
38 Other Meal Ideas
From adding it to homemade macaroni and cheese to BBQ chicken pot pie to BBQ chicken stuffed peppers to BBQ chicken hot pockets to BBQ chicken potato nachos… find TONS of great ways to use this Instant Pot BBQ chicken right here.
Plus, if you’d like some more freezer meal ideas, especially ones that include grocery lists, meal plans, and more, check out the Freezer Family Bundle HERE.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. My best friend just gave an instant pot as a gift, now I know what recipe to make with it.
Hey! Love your site. Question: I tried the BBQ chicken recipe for the IP Ultra. Only had 5 thighs & used 18 oz. of sauce (put it on the bottom). Part of chick was a bit frozen so I set timer to 20 mins. Within 10 mins., though, I continued to get the dreaded BURN notice. Seal corrected, but kept getting BURN over & over. Finally took chick out & it was definitely scorched. Chick only reached 130 degrees & finished it in oven. It was tasty, but I want to use my new IP. Ideas? Thanks
★★★★
Hi Velinator – thanks!! I think you were getting the error because of the sugar in the BBQ sauce. Did you add the ACV and the soy sauce/liquid aminos? Most BBQ sauces have A LOT of sugar, and the ACV and soy sauce help to dilute it a bit. I use my homemade recipe that has only 1/2 honey for 32+ ounces of sauce… I’d try it again, use half the sauce and sub apple juice or beer instead. That should help!
After I read a comment about burn notice from BBQ sause I am afraid to try….
Pressure cooker set for 7 minutes for 3 skinless chicken breasts but not done. Can not shred. Placing back in sauté for 30 minuets. Better to follow recipe.
I agree. 🙂
Tried it with frozen chicken & it was excellent! We liked how the sweetness was cut with the ACV & liquid aminos. Paired it with roasted cabbage…yum! Wonderful, quick meal! Thanks!
You’re very welcome Megan!
I would not say that the liquids are optional, I only had bbq sauce and ACV on hand and didn’t have the soy sauce, but there wasn’t enough liquid in the pot and I got a burn notice. Had to add chicken broth to it so it would come to pressure and not burn. I think maybe the liquid needs to go in first and bbq sauce last.
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Put the onion rings at the bottom of the IP, your liquid next (I used 2tbps Maggi and Worcestershire), then your chicken breasts (I like to season them with salt and pepper on both sides, or some Montreal Chicken Spice), and pour the BBQ sauce directly onto the chicken. The onions are almost like an organic trellis for the chicken until the IP comes up to pressure!
★★★★★
Worked excellently! Had a very easy and tasty dinner. Noticed there were two seemingly contradictory cook times for the chicken, but we tried the longer cook time because 10 minutes seemed very short looking at others’ comments. We did 25 mins plus about 15 minutes of “cool down time” to release the pressure in the IP, and maybe this extra time in the heat made the meat a bit too tough, but not much. Still delicious. No warnings from the cooker, so the added liquids must have been the kicker! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
In making this recipe, I started out with about 3/4 cup of sauce, most of which was bottled ketchup, plus 2 lbs boneless skiness chicken thighs. When it was done cooking, there was at least three cups of liquid in the pot and it was more like barbecue chicken soup! I removed the chicken and had to cook down the liquid on Saute for about 10 minutes to get it back to a sauce consistency. Condensation cup was attached but there was no liquid in it. Did I do something wrong?
I’m going to have to put it at one star until you correct the times. I followed the recipe exactly except for adding the onions. I got a burn notice within the first few minutes of coming to pressure. While looking at the comments, I realized others had to add broth AND that the time for frozen chicken is supposed to be 10 minutes, not 25 (I see it in the notes, but not in the recipe). Please fix!!
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Hi Amanda,
The longer time listed is for frozen bone-in chicken (i.e., chicken legs). It’s 10 minutes for frozen boneless breast. I will clarify this in the notes on the post. You may have received the burn notice from BBQ sauce that was too thick (or with a higher sugar content). I would recommend cutting a thick BBQ sauce with chicken stock or water. 🙂
I just made this BBQ Insta Pot chicken. And man was it ever good. Chicken was half frozen, and defrosted. It took 24 minutes on manual to make. I didnt have the liquid it wanted, but i did have white vinegar. And it worked perfect. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
★★★★★
First time instant pot user here! I have frozen chicken breasts and don’t understand the *note* directions. How long do I cook the chicken for? It says in the instructions 25 minutes, then does it mean subtract 10 minutes from that time for frozen breasts?
Hi Denise! If you have frozen chicken breasts, you would cook for 10 minutes TOTAL. Sorry about the confusion!
Recipe worked perfectly and tasted great!
★★★★★
I have an 8 qt. IP and I plan to cook with frozen chicken breasts. Do I need to add more liquid than the BBQ sauce (because I am not using aminos or ACV)? I do not want to get the burn notice.
Also, I see to set the pressure time to 10 minutes for frozen – do you still NPR?
Hi Mariah! I’d substitute water for the aminos and ACV. Yes to NPR – it helps with the texture!
I ended up using aminos and ACV…and I still received the burn notice. I deglazed then added 2 cups of chicken broth (to be safe) and restarted the IP using the original 10 minutes. It turned out great.
★★★★
Love this recipe! If I wanted to double it (using frozen chicken breasts), would I double the cook time too?
Nope! You can double and triple recipes in the Instant Pot and the cook time stays the same!
Super easy and flavorful! I used a mix of remaining bbq sauces I had on hand, eyeballed the vinegar and soy sauce, probably had more chicken, but too much is never a bad thing. 🙂 Came out so tender, from frozen. Served with salad, baked beans and corn bread instead of sandwiches. Yummo!! Keeper.
★★★★★
Worked great for me! I added maybe 1/2 a cup of water to it because my BBQ sauce seemed pretty thick, but I don’t think I needed it. 10 minutes for 2 huge frozen boneless chicken breasts was perfect and they were super moist. Of course, since I added more liquid, I ended up with a very thin sauce. But, I just used the left over juices to pour on the pulled chicken a bit and then saved the rest to use as a future marinade! Put on buns and added BBQ sauce to the top. It was delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
You’re most welcome, Melissa!
Perfect recipe. This one is a keeper! Made it exactly as written, with frozen chicken breast. So good! THANK YOU!
★★★★★
You’re most welcome, Mam2!!
Hi Tiffany,
Could I use the slow cooker to make this instead of an instapot? How long do you think I should cook it for?
Thanks so much
CJ
I’m sure you can! I’d go for 4-6 hours on high, 8-10 hours on low.