Pressure Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken Thighs

This Mexican shredded chicken is perfect for your next Taco Tuesday or meal prep. The chicken is fall-apart-tender, packed with flavor, and picky eater approved. And it’s a super easy recipe you can have on the table in about 30 minutes.

Each serving has 22 grams of protein with just 2 grams of carbs, 11 grams of fat, and 200 calories. And I’ve included notes for swapping chicken thighs for chicken breast in case you’d like to bring the calorie and fat content down a bit, but we’ll get to that later!

How to Make Mexican Shredded Chicken Thighs in a Pressure Cooker

I’ll walk you through the recipe, covering ingredient modifications and pressure cooker notes in the post below. If you’re a pressure cooker chicken expert and would like to skip ahead, you’ll find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.

In case I forget to cover your question in the post, feel free to drop a comment at the bottom.

Step 1: Coat boneless skinless chicken thighs in olive oil and season with chipotle chili powder, garlic powder, dried oregano, salt, cinnamon, and coriander. 

Like I mentioned in my shredded chicken guide, boneless skinless chicken thighs are simply the bee’s knees when it comes to shredded and pulled chicken recipes. The tiny bit of extra fat goes a long way in making tender, juicy chicken that falls apart when shredding with forks. It’s also great for flavor and reheating without turning to rubber, too!

All that said, you could certainly swap them out for chicken breast if that’s all you have on hand or if you wanted to save some calories. Here’s a nutrition breakdown for chicken breast only and half chicken breast, half chicken thighs (per serving):

• Macros with chicken breast: 170 calories, 26g of protein, 2g of carbs, and 4g of fat 
• Macros with 1 pound of each: 190 calories, 24g of protein, 2g of carbs, and 8g of fat

As for the spices, I’m betting you have everything on hand except maybe ground coriander. If that’s the case, pick some up. It makes a difference! You can use it in other recipes like my air fryer Mexican potatoes and chili coconut ground chicken.

Step 2: Using a pressure cooker’s sauté function, cook the chicken thighs for 2-3 minutes per side. 

I used the 301 model 6.5-quart Ninja Foodi for this Mexican shredded chicken. I’ve tested it in an 8-quart Instant Pot with nearly identical cook times as well.

One important tip for this step is to make sure the pot is hot before you add the chicken thighs. If it’s not, you won’t get the magical Maillard reaction we’re after here. You’ll also end up with chicken that’s not fully cooked after pressure cooking if you put the chicken in too soon.

A good way to test if the pot is ready is to flick some water inside. If it sizzles, you should be good to go.

You’ll have some crowding in the pot with all 2 pounds of chicken thighs, and that’s okay. You just want to develop a little color on both sides. The pressure cooking will fully cook the chicken thighs.

Step 3: Add a 12-ounce cerveza, seal, and pressure cook the chicken thighs for 5 minutes.

Feel free to use any cerveza or beer for pressure cooking. Most of the alcohol will cook off, but some may remain in a shorter cook like this. If you’re concerned about the alcohol content, use a non-alcoholic cerveza like I used for my healthy carnitas. Or swap the beer 1:1 for chicken broth.

You might lose a little flavor, but it’s not a make or break substitution by any means. If you wanted another alcohol-free option that still brings the flavor, check out the combo I used for my pressure cooker pork tenderloin carnitas.

Pressure cooking notes: I always recommend using a food thermometer to make sure chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF. It’s also worth mentioning, chicken breast tends to be thicker than thighs. So using chicken breast may require a slightly longer cook time.

Step 4: Use a pressure cooker’s sauté function to reduce the remaining liquid while shredding the chicken thighs. Add the chicken to the sauce and broil for 10 minutes.

With the 12-ounce cerveza and rendered fat and water from the chicken thighs, you’ll probably want to reduce the remaining liquid at least a little bit. If you wanted to speed things along, you could always create a 2:1 cornstarch slurry and mix it in.

The broil function is unique to the Ninja Foodi and Instant Pot Air Fryer + Pressure Cooker Combo. So if you’re using another pressure cooker without this function, you could transfer the shredded chicken to a baking sheet to broil in the oven.

How to Make This Mexican Shredded Chicken in a Slow Cooker

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you could coat the chicken in the olive oil and seasoning blend before adding to a crockpot or slow cooker. Then pour the cerveza around the chicken, adding broth or water to mostly cover the chicken. Using my crockpot Mexican chicken as a guide, I’d ballpark the cook time to be around 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.

You could then transfer the shredded chicken to a baking sheet to broil in the oven and reduce the remaining liquid in a saucepan over medium heat to drizzle over the broiled chicken.

Serving Your Shredded Mexican Chicken

Not to toot my own horn, but this Mexican shredded chicken is so good, a little lime juice and cilantro is about everything you need for amazing tacos. You could also add a little freshly diced white onion and hit them with some fat free Greek yogurt like my Brushfire tacos.

My air fryer chicken quesadillas use this chicken, and it would also work great as a filling for my baked chicken tacos.

If you’re feeling extra creative, you could work it into my cheesy chicken burritos in place of the rotisserie chicken or make some of my low calorie tortilla chips for nachos. Check out my pulled pork nachos for a great example of chips to shredded chicken ratio.

Making Meal Prep Bowls

I recently used this shredded chicken to make high protein burrito bowls in bulk (pictured below).

You can make sheet pan fajita veggies by roasting sliced bell peppers and red onion with a little olive oil, salt, and garlic powder at 425ºF for about 45 minutes. Popping them in air fryer for 10-15 minutes at a similar temperature also does the trick.

Then make jasmine or basmati rice (or cauliflower rice) and stir in some lime zest and juice along with some chopped cilantro. All that’s left is some black or pinto beans and you’re ready to party.

All righty then. You’ll find the full recipe card below. If you have any recipe questions I didn’t cover, leave a comment at the bottom of the post. Otherwise enjoy your pressure cooker shredded chicken!

4.60 from 266 votes

Servings: 8 Servings

Pressure Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken

By Mason Woodruff

Tender chicken thighs pressure cooked with a blend of Mexican spices and cerveza then shredded and broiled to crispy perfection.

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

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Ingredients

• ▢ 2 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
• ▢ 2 Tablespoon (32g) Olive Oil
• ▢ 2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ▢ 2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• ▢ 2 teaspoon Chipotle Chili Powder
• ▢ 2 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Ground Coriander
• ▢ 12 oz Cerveza*

Instructions 

• Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Coat the chicken in olive oil in a large bowl before adding the spices. Stir to evenly coat.
• Set a pressure cooker’s sauté function to high and let the pot heat up. Add the chicken thighs and cook for 2-3 minutes to develop color before flipping and cooking an additional 2-3 minutes.
• Add the cerveza and make sure none of the chicken thighs are stuck to the pot. Seal and pressure cook for 5 minutes on high with quick release pressure (vent immediately) or until the chicken thighs reach an internal temperature of 165ºF.
• Remove the cooked chicken and shred. Use the sauté function to reduce the remaining liquid while you shred the chicken.
• Optional: Use the broil function for 8-10 minutes for crispy edges.

Notes

*I used Modelo Especial. Any cerveza or beer will do the trick. You can also sub the beer 1:1 for chicken broth.

For Slow Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken

Coat the chicken in the olive oil and spices and place in a crockpot or slow cooker. Pour the beer around the chicken. (You may need to add a little chicken broth or water depending on the size of your crockpot.) Cook on high for 2-3 hours until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF.

You could transfer the shredded chicken to a baking sheet to broil in the oven and reduce the remaining liquid in a saucepan over medium heat, if desired.

For Stovetop Pulled Chicken

Sear the chicken thighs in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add everything to the pot and simmer for 20-25 minutes, covered, until the chicken is fully cooked and fall apart tender. You can broil right in the Dutch oven for crispy shredded chicken.

Source: Dutch Oven Pulled Chicken

Nutrition Information Notes

Each 4-ounce serving of Mexican shredded chicken has 4 WW SmartPoints (blue).

With chicken breast instead of thighs, each serving has 170 calories, 26g of protein, 2g of carbs, 4g of fat, and 3 WW SmartPoints.

With half chicken breast and half chicken thighs, each serving has 190 calories, 24g of protein, 2g of carbs, 8g of fat, and 2 WW SmartPoints.

Nutrition

Serving: 4ounces, Calories: 200kcal, Carbohydrates: 2g, Protein: 22g, Fat: 11g

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