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Made with an easy homemade dry rub and sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, Instant Pot BBQ Chicken is a quick and easy recipe filled with extraordinary flavor! It is perfect for a busy weeknight dinner, serving a crowd, meal-prep, and can be served in endless ways.
No Instant Pot? Try out my Crockpot BBQ Pulled Chicken recipe.
I took my wildly popular Instant Pot Chicken Breast recipe and put a BBQ spin on it. And let me tell you, this recipe for Instant Pot BBQ Chicken delivers!
From the sweet and savory dry rub to the thicken and tangy BBQ sauce to my uber secret ingredient (spoiler alert--it's pineapple juice!), this recipe for Instant Pot BBQ Chicken results in super tender, super juicy, super flavorful shredded BBQ chicken.
Think Instant Pot Pulled Pork but with chicken. Which makes this easy family dinner recipe, lower in fat, easier to make, and more affordable. And you are going to LOVE it!
Recipe Highlights
Notes on Ingredients
- Chicken: Use boneless chicken breasts or thighs.
- Dry Rub: The homemade dry rub is made with brown sugar, salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper to give this shredded BBQ chicken incredible flavor.
- Pineapple Juice: While you can opt to use water or low-sodium chicken stock in place of the pineapple juice, using pineapple juice as your cooking liquid will help to flavor AND tenderize the BBQ chicken.
- BBQ Sauce (Optional): The dry rub + pineapple juice makes this chicken SO flavorful, you don't need to add barbecue sauce to the shredded chicken. That said, feel free to add your favorite store-bought or homemade BBQ sauce to the shredded chicken AFTER pressure cooking.
How to Make Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
The following tips are provided to help you achieve perfect results. You will find the ingredient quantities and detailed instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Coat Chicken in Dry Rub. After combining the spices and brown sugar together, use that mixture to generously coat the chicken.
Kristen's tip
Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel before adding the rub. This will help the dry rub to really adhere to the chicken, ensuring each bite is incredibly flavorful.
- Layer Ingredients. Pour the pineapple juice (or chicken stock) into the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Add the chicken.
- Pressure Cook. Pop the lid on the Instant Pot, seal the vent knob, and set to cook on high pressure. (See recipe card for exact timing based on size and if you are using fresh or frozen chicken).
- Let Pressure Release Naturally. After the cooking time has elapsed, do not do a quick release of pressure! This will cause your chicken to be tough and rubbery! Instead, let the pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes.
What is Natural Pressure release?
To do a natural pressure release means to simply means to let the Instant Pot pot sit undisturbed after the cooking time has elapsed. As the temperature decreases inside the Instant Pot, the pressure will dissipate and the lid will unlock.
- Shred Chicken. After the pressure has been released, remove the seasoned chicken from the Instant Pot and place it into a large bowl. Add a bit of the cooking liquid and then use two fork to shred the chicken to make pulled chicken.
Speed It Up
This Instant Pot BBQ Chicken is SO tender it won't take much effort to shred using forks. That said, make the process even easier using a handheld kitchen mixer on low speed or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on low.
- Add BBQ Sauce. If desired, add a bit of barbecue sauce to the shredded chicken and toss to coat.
How to Serve Instant Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken
One of my favorite things about this recipe is the endless ways that this pulled chicken can be served. Below find some of my favorite serving suggestions.
- Make a Sandwich: Pile the shredded chicken onto your favorite bun, drizzle with extra BBQ sauce, and add a scoop of classic creamy coleslaw for a creamy crunch.
- Loaded Potato: Top an Instant Pot baked potato or Instant Pot sweet potato with BBQ chicken, shredded cheese, and green onions for a hearty all-in-one meal.
- Add to a Quesadilla: Layer cheddar cheese and shredded BBQ chicken between two tortillas, then toast in a dry skillet until golden and melty. Serve with extra BBQ sauce for dipping.
- Make a Crazy Good Salad: Swap grilled chicken for this shredded BBQ chicken to make a BBQ ranch chicken salad in record time.
- As a Pizza Topping: Make a BBQ pizza recipe with ease using this leftover chicken. Or add to pita bread along with BBQ sauce and cheese to make one of our favorite versions of pita bread pizza.
- Add to Mac & Cheese: Make a delicious mac and cheese bowl by topping Stovetop mac and cheese or Instant Pot mac and cheese with some of this shredded BBQ chicken.
More Favorite Instant Pot Chicken Recipes
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or thighs
- 2 tablespoons dry rub, see recipe below
- ¾ cup 100% pineapple juice, see recipe note
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup BBQ sauce, + more to taste
Homemade Dry Rub
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, dark or light
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
Instructions
For the Dry Rub
- In a small bowl, combine the 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper together in a small bowl until everything is well combined.
For Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and sprinkle the prepared dry rub evenly over the chicken to coat both sides. NOTE: If your chicken is frozen, skip this step and simply sprinkle the dry rub mixture over the chicken once it is in the Instant Pot.
- Add ¾ cup 100% pineapple juice and ¾ cup water to the inner pot. Add the seasoned chicken (or frozen chicken) to the inner pot. It is okay if your chicken is overlapping slightly. If needed, sprinkle the dry rub mixture over the chicken inside the inner pot.
- Place the lid on the inner pot and be sure the vent knob is sealed and/or the lid is locked. Set to cook on High Pressure by hitting the manual or pressure cook button and use the +/- buttons to adjust the cooking time. For Thawed/Fresh Chicken: 7 Minutes on High Pressure*For Frozen Chicken: 11 Minutes on High Pressure**If your chicken is really thick or large, increase the cooking time by 1 minute.
- Once the cooking time has elapsed, allow the pressure to release naturally for at least 10 minutes before doing a quick release of any remaining pressure. Once pressure has been released, remove the lid from the pressure cooker.
- Remove the cooked chicken from the inner pot and place it into a large mixing bowl, along with ¼ cup of the cooking liquid from inside the inner pot. Use two forks or a handheld mixer on low speed to shred the chicken, adding more liquid as needed to keep the meat nice and moist.
- Once the chicken has been shredded, feel free to drizzle with BBQ sauce if desired and toss to coat.
- Serve the shredded BBQ chicken as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Originally published in 2023.
Served it on top of salad, and it was delicious! Next time I'll use it for quesadillas, that sounds amazing! (Also, thanks for the tip about using natural release on the IP.)
I am so happy to hear you enjoyed! And I think you will love it in quesadillas.
This BBQ Chicken is one of the easiest and most convenient recipes I've tried! Thanks to the Instant Pot! It turned out incredibly delicious and impressive!
Thanks for sharing! I am so happy to hear you enjoyed!
We all love BBQ chicken pizza. It was easy to make in the Instant Pot and the chicken tasted amazing on our homemade pizzas!