How to make a whole chicken in Instant Pot, tender juicy inside and crispy outside.
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My husband and I love to cook and entertain and our family usually comes to our house for Christmas dinner. My husband loves to cook chicken, or sometimes two or three chickens. The usual way he would cook it in the oven and the results were fine. But the process was quite messy and time-consuming.
I was always horrified to make the whole chicken in Instant Pot, but after checking out multiple recipes, I was on a mission to make the Instant Pot whole chicken while being tender and juicy inside with fall of the bone and crispy skin on the outside. And by fall off the bone, I don’t mean for the meat to be so soft that it falls off the bone and you eat it with the fork.
I’ve made multiple whole chickens in Instant Pot, including Amy & Jacky’s method with Zero minute pressure cook time, but mostly pressurizing it and cooking it inside the water and then releasing the pressure naturally for 20 minutes. This method was a fail for me. While some parts of the chicken were ok, the inside didn’t cook all the way through.
Below I outline the process and it is pretty simple. No need to be afraid. All you need is a whole chicken, favorite spices, Instant Pot, and the oven with the broil function. Or Air fryer.
Please save this Pinterest-friendly photo pin below. If you’re not cooking the whole chicken in your Instant Pot right now, you will easily find the recipe in your saves later.
Ingredients:
Whole chicken up to 5 and 1/2 pounds or whichever can be fit into your Instant Pot. The one I use is Instant Pot 6 Qt 9 in 1
Optional: Stuffing of choice, like stuffing, onion, apples, garlic, thyme, rosemary…etc
Tip on how to make the chicken juicier and more flavorful – Brine method
Before you proceed, I wanted to give you a heads up on how to make the chicken meat super juicy and not dry while being flavorful. This step is completely optional but the chicken brine may help make the meat more tender and juicy. Here’s the simple chicken brine recipe.
Directions
1. Wash the chicken. Pat dry
2. Rub and season the chicken with salt, pepper, and seasonings of your liking
3. Place Instant Pot on Saute mode, let it heat up. Add a TBS of oil and place chicken inside of the Instant Pot and let brown (about 5 minutes per side). Note: Or you can set it on a separate pan to brown the sides of the chicken if that sounds easier.
4. If you brown the chicken in IP, once done, take the chicken out. Be careful, it’s hot. I used heat-resistant gloves to help me get the chicken out. Add half a cup of water while still being in saute mode. At this time it will best to de-glaze the bottom of the pot by scraping the bottom with a wooden spatula.
5. Once you deglazed the bottom of the Instant Pot, add another half cup of water, place the trivet on the bottom, and then place the whole chicken inside the Instant Pot (on top of the trivet)
6. Set the Normal High pressure and timer to 10 minutes. Don’t let the time fool you and do not worry, the chicken should cook through. You may set the pressure cook for longer if you wish, but you don’t want to end up with over-cooked rubbery chicken meat.
7. Once the timer beeps, let it be a natural release. The natural release should last about 15 minutes.
8. Once the pressure is released, open the lid, take out the chicken and place it on the prepared sheet that will go inside the oven to broil and crisp the skin. Or you can send it to the air fryer.
9. Broil it on high broil for 7-10 minutes on each side. or air fry at 350F for 7-10 minutes on each side.
Once done, you may enjoy your chicken IMMEDIATELY! Voila!
Below is the handy printable recipe and the video of making the whole chicken in Instant Pot, entire process in action. Including the clip when my husband was helping me to flip the chicken and broke the chicken leg while I was filming. In this video bit, you can already clearly visually see how juicy chicken was. I did get mad at him for breaking the leg but we sorted this out and it came out a good visual bit. But do learn from my mistake – do not flip your chicken using thongs, it is best to use your own hand, secured with kitchen gloves or silicone gloves, and flip it easily with your hands. Or flip the chicken using wooden spatulas. Whichever method worked well for you when you were flipping the chicken.
Instant Pot whole chicken, tender juicy inside and crispy outside.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Ingredients
Whole chicken up to 5 and 1/2 pounds or whichever can be fit into your Instant Pot. The one I use is Instant Pot 6 Qt 9 in 1
1 TBS oil. I use Avocado oil
Favorite spices and chicken seasoning. I use Badia Rotisserie Chicken seasoning.
Chicken stock or bouillon
Optional: Stuffing of choice, like stuffing, onion, apples, garlic, thyme, rosemary...etc
Instructions
1. Rinse the chicken. Pat dry
2. Rub and season the chicken with salt, pepper, and seasonings of your liking
3. Place Instant Pot on Saute mode, let it heat up. Add a TBS of oil and place chicken inside of the Instant Pot and let brown (about 5 minutes per side). Note: Or you can set it on a separate pan to brown the sides of the chicken if that sounds easier.
4. If you brown the chicken in IP, once done, take the chicken out. Be careful, it's hot. I used heat-resistant gloves to help me get the chicken out. Add half a cup of water while still being in saute mode. At this time it will best to de-glaze the bottom of the pot by scraping the bottom with a wooden spatula.
5. Once you deglazed the bottom of the Instant Pot, add another half cup of water, place the trivet on the bottom, and then place the whole chicken inside the Instant Pot (on top of the trivet)
6. Set the Normal High pressure and timer to 10 minutes. Don't let the time fool you and do not worry, the chicken should cook through. You may set the pressure cook for longer if you wish, but you don't want to end up with over-cooked rubbery chicken meat.
7. Once the timer beeps, let it be a natural release. The natural release should last about 15 minutes.
8. Once the pressure is released, open the lid, take out the chicken and place it on the prepared sheet that will go inside the oven to broil and crisp the skin. Or you can send it to the air fryer.
9. Broil it on high broil for 7-10 minutes on each side. or air fry at 350F for 7-10 minutes on each side.
Notes
Tip on how to make the chicken juicier and more flavorful - Brine method
Before you proceed, I wanted to give you a heads up on how to make the chicken meat super juicy and not dry while being flavorful. This step is completely optional but the chicken brine may help make the meat more tender and juicy. Here's the simple chicken brine recipe.
Irina is a NYC area food blogger and recipe developer, loves to cook, travel and entertain. Follow her blog and enjoy her tips on Food & Travel, Lifestyle & Healthy delicious recipes.
9 Comments
Looks fantastic! Did you cook from fresh or frozen? Also what size Instant pot did you use?
Is it better to cook the chicken in the instant pot breast side up or down? Does either way keep the breast meat jucier?
I was thinking to save the final cooking water to add to bone broth I will make later after we eat the chicken. I chopped up small some celery, onion, carrot, & garlic and sauteed them in the IP after removing the browned chicken. Then I added the 1C of water and deglazed. The whole chicken then sat on the trivet on top of this water veggie mix.
I brined the chicken in stock (in a freezer bag so I only needed 2 cups), and reserved that stock for deglazing /cooking. Skipped the broil to save time & energy, still turned out great!
Next time I will add the veggies for gravy too!
I did want to say our poultry board (Canada) says not to wash your chicken, as they are washed before packaging, and you will just end up spreading salmonella all over your sink/counter etc. Just a thought.
Glad it came out great! As for washing the chicken and spreading salmonella…yuk!! I would wash kitchen sink every time after raw meat… thanks for bringing this up
What temerature is the chicken when you take it out of the IP? I have been using 6 minutes per pound about 25 min. total and 10 min slow release, then broil. If I understand your instructins you state 10 min total and full slow release, just checking befor I try it
Didn’t measure the temperature and the chicken is fully cooked inside. This is correct, 10 minutes high pressure and full natural release.. please let me know if you try and how yours came out
This is a fantastic recipe for undercooked pink chicken! I used a 4.8 pound chicken had to keep adding more time to the instant pot and finally got the job done after a total of 20 minutes of pressure.
Looks fantastic! Did you cook from fresh or frozen? Also what size Instant pot did you use?
The Instant pot size I have is 6.9 quarts. Didn’t try frozen, I cooked from fresh, since I needed to sear the sides of the chicken.
Is it better to cook the chicken in the instant pot breast side up or down? Does either way keep the breast meat jucier?
I was thinking to save the final cooking water to add to bone broth I will make later after we eat the chicken. I chopped up small some celery, onion, carrot, & garlic and sauteed them in the IP after removing the browned chicken. Then I added the 1C of water and deglazed. The whole chicken then sat on the trivet on top of this water veggie mix.
I cooked breast side up, but i don’t think it really matters at all…. Your idea is wonderful to make a gravy veggie mix… Glad you enjoyed!
I brined the chicken in stock (in a freezer bag so I only needed 2 cups), and reserved that stock for deglazing /cooking. Skipped the broil to save time & energy, still turned out great!
Next time I will add the veggies for gravy too!
I did want to say our poultry board (Canada) says not to wash your chicken, as they are washed before packaging, and you will just end up spreading salmonella all over your sink/counter etc. Just a thought.
Glad it came out great! As for washing the chicken and spreading salmonella…yuk!! I would wash kitchen sink every time after raw meat… thanks for bringing this up
What temerature is the chicken when you take it out of the IP? I have been using 6 minutes per pound about 25 min. total and 10 min slow release, then broil. If I understand your instructins you state 10 min total and full slow release, just checking befor I try it
Didn’t measure the temperature and the chicken is fully cooked inside. This is correct, 10 minutes high pressure and full natural release.. please let me know if you try and how yours came out
This is a fantastic recipe for undercooked pink chicken! I used a 4.8 pound chicken had to keep adding more time to the instant pot and finally got the job done after a total of 20 minutes of pressure.