Instant Pot Whole Chicken

There are so many Instant Pot Whole Chicken recipes out there with an added variety of herbs and spices in the recipe. This recipe has none of that. Plain and simple this is a recipe to steam a plain chicken, debone, and reserve for those recipes that call for cooked chicken. Frankly, an Instant Pot chicken is no substitute for an oven-roasted one. I’ve tried several and have always been disappointed. But I quite often steam a whole chicken when I need to replenish my cooked chicken reserve and make more chicken bone broth. So here’s my tried and true recipe for that.

I buy my organic chickens two-at-a-time from Costco. One goes in the freezer unopened (which I usually oven roast) and the second is cooked in the Instant Pot. Last fall I took advantage of Amazon’s Black Friday sale to purchase my third Instant Pot, an 8-quart version. It is absolutely perfect for cooking whole chickens and large roasts. The additional space around the meat has made a world of difference in the juiciness and evenness of the cooking process. If you only want to own one Instant Pot, I recommend getting the larger version. If I had bought the larger version for my second pot, I’d still only have two (instead of three). If I didn’t make yogurt so often, I could actually get by with one. But I digress…

The first step is to place into the pot the handled trivet that comes with the pot. Then, note the weight of the chicken indicated on the wrapping (or weigh it), unwrap the chicken and remove any organs/neck bones inside the cavity. Place the chicken on the trivet. Pour in 1 cup of water or chicken broth.

Place the cover on the unit, set the valve to seal. Multiply the weight of the chicken by 6. This will be the number of minutes necessary to cook the chicken. My chicken is exactly 5 lb according to my Taylor scale. Press the POULTRY button and use the PLUS/MINUS buttons to increase/decrease the minutes necessary (30 in my case).

Once the timer has beeped. Let the pot set on WARM for 10 minutes. Hit the CANCEL button to turn off the Instant Pot. Let it set for another 10 minutes. Then carefully open the valve to release any remaining pressure (there won’t be much, if any). Carefully remove the trivet and chicken and place on a plate to cool.

Once it is cooled enough to handle, debone. As you can see, it is unbelievably juicy. And despite the fact there are absolutely no seasonings and I used water, it tastes pretty darn good. Here’s my one caveat: every once in a while I run into a tough chicken. It looks juicy just like above, but when I taste test it, it’s chewy. Since my chicken is always totally thawed, I have decided that some chickens are just tough. When that happens I dedicate the batch to my dog food recipe and move on to making the chicken broth. Since I have had the greatest success with the Costco organic chickens, I try to stay with that particular brand. I guess what I am trying to say here is do not assume it’s the pot or your cooking process. However, it is important that your chicken is not crammed into the pot. You want your chicken to be evenly steamed and the steam cannot do its job if parts of the chicken are crammed against the side preventing it from evenly circulating. You might try again with a smaller chicken or switch brands.

I usually get around 2 lb of cooked chicken from a 5 lb whole chicken. Today, as you can see I got just over 1½ lb. If you plan to make chicken bone broth, reserve the skins and the bones. You can find that recipe here: Instant Pot Chicken Bone Broth.

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Instant Pot Whole Chicken

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Pressure and Resting Time

55 mins

Total Time

1 hr 30 mins

 

Ingredients

• 1 whole 3 to 5 lb chicken, totally thawed
• 1 cup water or chicken broth

Instructions

1. Unwrap chicken and remove any chicken parts in cavity. Place chicken onto trivet in pot.
   

2. Lock lid into place and ensure valve is sealed. Multiply weight of chicken times 6. Using the poultry setting, set the timer for the number of minutes needed for the chicken's weight.

3. Once the pot has beeped, let it sit for 10 minutes on WARM. Then hit the CANCEL button and let it sit for another 10 minutes.
   

4. Carefully open valve to release any remaining pressure. Once the lid has unlocked, open the pot, remove the chicken and place it on a plate to cool.
   

5. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, de-bone.
   

Notes

It can be hard to estimate overall time needed for an Instant Pot recipe as the time needed to come to pressure and start the timer countdown varies depending on how full the pot is and/or how cold the ingredients in the pot are. For this recipe I allowed 15 minutes for the come-to-pressure time, 20 minutes for the natural-pressure-release (NPR) time, and 20 minutes for the chicken to become cool enough to debone.