This Instant Pot BBQ chicken is perfect for game days or your next meal prep. You can make everything from sandwiches and nachos to loaded fries or spuds. The possibilities are limitless.
It’s an easy recipe that takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. Each serving has 18 grams of protein with just 3 grams of carbs and 165 calories. And I’ve included plenty of substitution notes for using chicken breast instead of chicken thighs in case you need to make your batch even lower in calories. But enough talk, let’s get into it!
How to Make BBQ Instant Pot Pulled Chicken
You’ll find a recipe walkthrough below so you can see what your Instant Pot BBQ chicken should look like at each step. I’ve included ingredient substitution notes and tips along the way. If you’re a Kinda Healthy Recipes veteran, you can jump down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post and come back if you have a question.
Step 1: Coat boneless skinless chicken in olive oil and a bbq chicken seasoning blend.
The recipe calls for chicken thighs, but you can use chicken breast or half and half. I’ve included nutrition facts for all three variations in the notes section of the recipe card below. But like I mentioned in my chili coconut pulled chicken thighs, the small amount of extra fat in thighs makes for tender, juicy finished product. Go with thighs!
For the bbq seasoning blend, I’m betting you have everything on hand. If not, you could get by with an omission or submission here and there. You’ll be adding some bbq sauce in step 3 to help cover your bases.
Step 2: Cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes per side using the Instant Pot’s sauté function.
Make sure your Instant Pot is completely hot before adding the bbq chicken. Similar to my Mexican shredded chicken thighs, you want a quick sear on both sides to create the food geek friendly Maillard reaction (read: flavor creation)! While you could get away with just throwing everything in and pressure cooking, the few minutes of contact with the heated pot are really worth it.
Step 3: Add bbq sauce, seal, and cook with high pressure for 5 minutes.
To keep the ingredient list and cook time on the short side, the recipe calls for your choice of bbq sauce. I used local-to-me Stubb’s Bar-B-Q sauce. Their original is on the lower calorie side, but the Sticky Sweet is worth the extra calories in my opinion. G Hughes also makes sugar free BBQ sauces that are really flavorful if you’re okay with a few artificial sweeteners. Have fun here—any sauce will get the job done!
I make a homemade Japanese barbecue sauce that’s amazing for making chicken and rice bowls.
Just make sure you move the chicken thighs around and get some sauce on the bottom to deglaze the pot before sealing.
Step 4: Shred the cooked chicken and add back to the bbq sauce.
I like to transfer the chicken to a separate bowl for shredding to keep my delicate hands burn-free. But if you didn’t want to dirty another bowl, you could attack yours with meat claws like I mentioned in my Instant Pot buffalo chicken dip and pork tenderloin carnitas recipes.
Unlike other pulled chicken recipes on my blog, this Instant Pot bbq chicken doesn’t call for reducing the remaining sauce, but that’s always an option. If you want an extra thick bbq sauce, you can use the sauté function on the Instant Pot to reduce the sauce while you shred the chicken in a separate bowl.
Optional: Broil for 8-12 minutes for crispy edges on your pulled bbq chicken.
I use the 8-quart Instant Pot Duo Crisp for recipe development, which has the broil function. I’m sure the air fryer attachment or similar accessories have comparable functions. If you don’t have anything that can do this, you can simply transfer your bbq pulled chicken to a baking sheet and broil in the oven. It’s definitely worth the hassle!
I’ll also add that if you don’t plan on broiling, it’s probably worth taking a few minutes to reduce the remaining bbq sauce a bit.
Serving Your Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
Pulled pork sandwiches are always a good move to keep things simple. But if you haven’t seen my BBQ chicken nachos that uses this chicken, head over there right away. I’ve also made BBQ chicken stuffed sweet potatoes, BBQ chicken sliders, and BBQ chicken mac and cheese using this recipe.
In case you’d like to get creative and incorporate your leftover pulled BBQ chicken into other recipes, I’ve got you covered. I used leftovers from my pressure cooker pulled pork recipe to make things like pulled pork pizza. Swap the pork for your bbq chicken and rock on.
It also works great as a substitute for rotisserie chicken in recipes like my BBQ chicken wraps.
However you end up serving your Instant Pot pulled BBQ chicken, I’d love to hear about it. Come back and let me your thoughts on this recipe and what you end up using it for in a comment at the bottom of the post. Recipe reviews are always helpful!
Instant Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 2 Tbsp 32g Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
- 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp Dry Mustard
- 1 tsp Chili Powder, optional
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 C 140g BBQ Sauce of Your Choice
Instructions
- Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Coat the chicken in the oil in a large bowl before adding the bbq seasoning blend. Stir to coat.
- Set a pressure cooker’s sauté function to high. Once hot, add the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes before flipping and cooking an additional 2-3 minutes.
- Add the bbq sauce and move the chicken around to get some sauce to the bottom of the pot. Seal and pressure cook for 5 minutes* on high with quick release pressure.
- Transfer the cooked chicken to a bowl to shred before going back in the sauce.
- Optional for Instant Pot Duo Crisp: Use the broil function for 8-12 minutes or broil on a baking sheet in the oven for crispy edges.
Notes
For Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken
My slow cooker BBQ chicken thighs recipe uses a similar seasoning blend, just one tablespoon of olive oil, and no additional BBQ sauce. You could take the extra step of searing the chicken in a large skillet before slow cooking for 2-3 hours, but that’s optional.Nutrition Facts Notes
- Each 3-ounce serving of pulled BBQ chicken has 3 WW SmartPoints (blue).
- Per serving with chicken breast: 135 calories, 21g of protein, 3g of carbs, 4g of fat, and 1 SmartPoint
- Per serving with 1 pound of chicken breast and 1 pound of chicken thighs: 150 calories, 19g of protein, 3g of carbs, 6g of fat, and 2 SmartPoints
Have you tried this recipe from frozen? What would the time need to be if so?
Cook times with thawed and frozen chicken in the Instant Pot are actually the same (more or less). The frozen chicken will take more time to come up to pressure but once you’re there, it should cook in the same time. Hope that helps!
Hi, I have the 8qt Dup Crisp as well. I thought it needs a minimum of 1.5-2cups of liquid to come to pressure/cook properly. Does anyone have issues with only uses 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce in an 8qt?
The chicken will release liquid as it cooks, and the BBQ sauce will be enough to get you started and avoid any “burn” errors on the Instant Pot. You can see how much liquid you have in the pot in the photo under step 3 in the post above.
@Mason Woodruff, thanks so much for the quick reply! I’ll make this tomorrow for loaded nachos, and might use chicken breasts I have already instead of thighs. Seems like a great recipe!
This is a go to in our house. I do use a crockpot for it. It’s great for salads, quesadillas, tacos, pizzas, plain, etc. You won’t be disappointed!
I make this on the regular and make a homemade coleslaw to go with it, so easy and filling
We make this chicken every week!! It’s so easy to throw together and use it in many different meals throughout the week.
I cook this at the beginning of the week and eat it through out the week. It’s supper easy and tastes great. Highly recommend if you are just starting to get into meal prep or are just looking for a new meal to cook!
I love this chicken and make it in bulk! Perfect for nachos, sweet potatoes, sandwiches, etc.
I haven’t tried this one yet, but I put it on our list of recipes to try from your website! I have no doubt it’ll be tasty, because every other recipe of yours has been a winner!
This has easily become my go to BBQ chicken recipe. I make it all the time and it never disappoints. I do use chicken breasts as that is usually what I have on hand and it works perfectly. This recipe curbs my sweet and savory cravings and it is easily used in tacos, quesadillas, on its own, with rice, on sweet potatoes etc! Sooooo good!!
Can you do this in the oven and not use an insta-pot?
You could! I would season the chicken with the oil and dry seasoning blend and do something like 18-20 minutes on a sheet pan at 400ºF until it reached an internal temp of 165ºF. Then shred, stir in some BBQ sauce (maybe 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup), and pop back on the sheet pan under the broiler for 5-10 minutes for the crispy edges. Or you could skip the broiler and brush some BBQ sauce on top of the chicken in the final 5-10 minutes in the oven before shredding and mixing with some more sauce. Hope that helps! Let me know if you try it out.