How to Cook a Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot

Cooking a whole chicken in the Instant Pot is so easy. You can cook from frozen or thawed and have a whole chicken done in around an hour. Now talk about a quick dinner.

When I cook a whole chicken for dinner, I love to roast it in the oven with my cast iron dutch oven. It comes out so good and has a nice crunchy skin. But sometimes I do not have that much time to do that. If that is the case, I use my Instant Pot and this method I am going to show you. It makes for a quick chicken dinner.

I also use this method to cook a whole chicken if I want to have it shred into a chicken salad or for my cheesy chicken and rice or another meal. There is no need for crunchy skin in those recipes and what I am looking for is a well cooked and easy to shred chicken. This is the best way to do that.

If you haven’t had much experience cooking a whole chicken (like I didn’t not that many years ago), give this a try and you will be amazed how easy it is. It is also much cheaper to cook a whole chicken instead of buying already pieced out parts.

The nice part is that you can make this chicken when it is already thawed or if you forgot to get it out of the freezer, from frozen works too.

What type of Whole Chicken to Use

Any type of whole chicken works for this recipe. You will be cooking according to how many pounds it is, so the time will fluctuate with the size of your chicken.

However, if you have a large chicken (over 5 or 6 pounds), make sure that it will fit into your Instant Pot. My Instant Pot is a medium sized one and can barely fit a 5.5 pound chicken. So keep that in mind if you have a smaller model of Instant Pot.

How to Prepare the Whole Chicken for the Instant Pot

• First, unwrap your chicken and rinse it in water. Check inside the cavity for any gizzards that might have been packaged in there.
• Next, drizzle the chicken with some olive oil and spread it around.
• Finally, season it up how you would like. You may want to just add a bit of salt and pepper if you are going to shred it for a recipe. If you are eating it for dinner as the main dish, you will want to put a bit more seasonings on it. Maybe some garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

How to Prepare Your Instant Pot – Frozen Chicken

• Add 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot.
• Pop the trivet into the Instant Pot that came with it. This will get the chicken off the bottom of the pot so that it doesn’t sit in the water.
• Place the chicken onto the trivet.
• Close the Instant Pot and lock into place.

How to Cook the Chicken in the Instant Pot – Frozen

• Set your Instant pot to “pressure cook” and select the number of minutes needed to cook your chicken.
• For a frozen chicken, the magic number seems to be about 11 minutes per pound of chicken. So if you have a 5 pound chicken, 55 minutes is what you would set your Instant Pot to.
• It is better to go a bit over on time than under and if you are nervous about it not being done, you can add a few minutes to the time and it shouldn’t be dry at the end. (It won’t be pretty looking 0if you go much over, but perfect for shredding).
• Let the chicken cook until the Instant Pot is done cooking and beeps. Now you will want to make sure you let it naturally release (let it sit and do nothing) the pressure for about 15 minutes. During that time it will continue to cook and you do not want to release the pressure early. It will not be done all the way if you do.

How to Prepare Your Instant Pot and Cook – Thawed Chicken

• If your chicken is thawed and you are cooking it to eat as a whole roast chicken, follow these steps. You will have a more crisp skin that is rotisserie style like you would get at the grocery store.
• Turn on the “brown/sauté” button and let the Instant Pot warm up for a minute.
• Coat the bottom of the pot with a tablespoon or so of olive oil.
• Place the whole chicken breast side down into the Instant Pot. Let it crisp up for about 4-5 minutes.
• Carefully turn the chicken to the other side with a large pair of tongs and let that side also crisp up.
• When the chicken has browned up, remove it to a plate or platter while you prepare the Instant Pot.

• Add 1 cup water or chicken broth to the Instant Pot.
• Place the trivet into the Instant Pot so that the chicken is not sitting in the water to cook.
• Put the chicken back into the Instant Pot on the trivet. Now season it up how you like – salt, pepper, onion or garlic powder, maybe some Italian seasoning or paprika. Use what your family likes and change it up each time you make it to see what you like best.

Cooking Time for Thawed Chicken

• Now you will close the Instant Pot and use the meat or pressure cook setting and set it to at least 6 minutes per pound. You can go up to 10 minutes per pound if you are nervous it won’t be done and it will still be nice and juicy. But if you have it go this long, it will be falling apart and not nice and whole at the end.
• Select the time for your size chicken:
• 3 pounds = 18-20 minutes
• 4 pounds = 24-30 minutes
• 5 pounds = 30-40 minutes

• When the time is up, it will beep and then that starts the pressure release. Let it release naturally (sit and do nothing) for at least 15 minutes. It will keep cooking during this time. Do not manually release the pressure at this time as it will not be finished cooking if you do.

What to do When the Chicken is Done Cooking

Once you have let the pressure release (let it sit and do nothing) for at least 15 minutes, take off the lid of the Instant Pot. You will smell the lovely aroma of a cooked chicken and see a bird that isn’t quite as pretty as a roasted one from your oven.

But you will see a perfectly cooked chicken that is ready for the dinner table or to shred up for another recipe.

If you are eating it right away, place on a platter and enjoy.

If you want to shred it up, either leave it in the pot to cool down or remove to a platter or large cutting board to cool down. When it is cooled down, you will be able to pick the meat from the bones.

Don’t Forget to Save the Broth

Cooking your chicken this way also makes a wonderful chicken broth to use for another meal.

When I remove the chicken, I then strain off the juice in the bottom of the Instant Pot. After straining out any solids, I put it in a quart sized jar to use in another meal.

You can also put the bones back into the Instant Pot when they are picked clean of the chicken meat and add more water. You can make more broth this way by setting your Instant Pot to “broth.”

Will this Chicken Have Crispy Skin?

This chicken will be similar to what you get at the grocery store for a rotisserie chicken if you decide to brown the skin first as described in the thawed chicken directions.

That means that the skin will not be crispy, but it will be like a rotisserie chicken.

If you want crispy skin, roast your chicken in the oven instead.

Will the Whole Chicken Fall Apart?

This style of cooking a whole chicken in the Instant Pot will result in the chicken meat falling off the bones when you pull it out. Use the trivet handles to pull the whole thing out and that will be your best bet for getting it all out and onto a platter.

How to use up the Chicken Meat

If not eating it right away:

• Shred it and make a quick chicken salad
• Use the shredded meat to make the best chicken pot pie
• Shred it and make a casserole dish like my cheesy chicken and rice dish
• Use the shredded meat and add salsa for quick chicken tacos or a base for enchiladas with this homemade enchilada verde sauce.

Other Chicken Dinner Ideas

• Easy Weeknight Chicken Skillet with Wine Sauce
• Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuits
• Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
• Cheesy Chicken and Rice

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