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Instant Pot BBQ Chicken – sweet and tangy, fall apart tender and juicy chicken. It is ready in minutes and perfect for sandwiches, salads, wraps, or to just eat with a fork!
One of my favorite meals is pulled pork. You can have it in the middle of the summer with Smoked Pork Butt or in the middle of winter with Instant Pot Country Style Ribs. It doesn’t really matter to me, just the flavor of tender and juicy pork with a delicious barbecue sauce is my kind of meal.
As soon as I started using my Instant Pot, I quickly realized how well it does at making tender and juicy chicken. It is great for Chicken Tacos because the meat stays juicy.
I always think that the crock pot dries out the chicken, no matter how much liquid you use or how short of time you cook it. But the Instant Pot does something magical to it, and I love how it turns out.
Making BBQ chicken in the instant pot could not be easier to do. I like to use a homemade sauce that comes together in just about 5 minutes. But you could use your favorite jarred sauce to cut down on the prep time even more!
What You’ll Need
Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post for the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card.
- Chicken Breasts – you can use chicken thighs if you prefer
- Water
- Ketchup
- Brown Sugar
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Spicy Brown Mustard
- Black Pepper
If you want to use a store bought barbecue sauce in place of this, you absolutely can!
How To Make Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
- In a bowl or large liquid measuring cup mix together all of the ingredients for the sauce.
- Add your chicken to the base of your Instant Pot. The beauty of this recipe is you can use fresh or frozen chicken and all that changes is a few minutes in cook time.
- Pour in a little water to ensure you don’t get the burn warning.
- And then pour the barbecue sauce over the chicken.
- Put the lid on, make sure the vent is closed, and put it under high pressure for 15 minutes. If you are using frozen set it for 20 minutes.
- Let it naturally release for 5 minutes, and then quick release to finish.
- Once the lid is unlocked, use 2 forks to shred the chicken and mix it with the sauce in the pot.
The best part about making instant pot bbq chicken is you can start with fresh or frozen chicken breasts. You can even use chicken thighs for that matter! Just make sure they are boneless or the cooking times will change.
To Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts In The Instant Pot
It will take about 20 minutes under high pressure to cook chicken from frozen. This will depend on how thick your chicken is. If you have very thin pieces that are separated, then it may take closer to 15 minutes.
But with how big chicken breasts tend to be in the store lately, most of them are probably 2 inches thick and close to a pound each, I find that 20 minutes under pressure is what you need.
How To Serve Shredded BBQ Chicken
- Hamburger Bun or English Muffin
- BBQ Chicken Wrap
- Loaded Baked Potatoes
- Put on Salads
- Quesadillas
- BBQ Chicken Nachos
- Tacos
What Goes With BBQ Chicken
- Air Fryer Potato Wedges
- Tossed Salad
- Homemade Baked Beans
- Buttermilk Biscuits
- Cornbread
- Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
Absolutely! You can mix together the sauce, pour over chicken breasts in the crockpot or even the oven. Just cook until the chicken is cooked through and you can shred it.
Yes, you can use any barbecue sauce you like. This is a basic recipe, but you can make my favorite Homemade Barbecue Sauce, or a sweeter version with Coca-Cola BBQ Sauce, or you can just use a bottle of your favorite store bought kind.
This chicken is great to have in the fridge all week to use for lunches or quick dinners. Just store in an airtight container for 4-5 days. And yes, you definitely can freeze it. Let it cook and then store in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight.
Instant Pot BBQ Chicken is ready in just minutes, so it is perfect for busy weeknights. You can easily double the recipe with the same cooking time, so you can have leftovers all week and turn them into something new each night.
More Chicken Dinner Recipes
- Chicken Salad
- Smoked Chicken Breast
- Instant Pot Crack Chicken
- Sour Cream Enchiladas
- Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 3/4 cup water
Barbecue Sauce
- 1 1/2 cups Ketchup
- 3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Cider Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Spicy Brown Mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Place chicken in the base of the Instant Pot. Pour in the water.
- In a small bowl whisk together all of the ingredients for the barbecue sauce. Pour over the chicken.
- Close and seal the lid for the Instant Pot. Cook under high pressure for 15 minutes. Let it naturally release for 5 minutes, and then quick release to finish.
- Remove chicken and use 2 forks to shred. Add back to the pot and toss with the sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Already dreaming of all the ways I can use this chicken this week. This tasty chicken makes meal prep a snap!
Awesome! It came out so tasty and tender, My family loves it as well!
Love the flavor of this chicken! BBQ for daaaaays
You just gave me an awesome idea for dinner tonight! I can make so many dished with this Instant Pot chicken!
Yummy! This is going to be a great dinner tonight! Excited to use my instant pot for so many recipes now!
I will be using this method for so many meals, it works perfectly!
The meat is so tender it literally falls apart. That sweet and tangy sauce is addictive!
This is seriously my favorite chicken recipe. It’s incredibly easy, tender, juicy and full of flavor and there’s so much you can do with it!
This was so easy to make and turned out really good! Perfect for busy weeknights!