Instant Pot BBQ Chicken! Sweet, fall-apart tender and perfect for sandwiches, salads, BBQ plates and more!
This Instant Pot BBQ Chicken is an easy recipe you can make for a weeknight meal. You can use in so many ways!
I like serving it on buns for chicken sandwiches or for a delicious meal over rice. It is also one of my favorite recipe for meal prep!
It’s also delicious in a BBQ chicken salad with romaine, black beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado and ranch dressing. This chicken is versatile, easy and delicious!
However you serve it, this easy instant pot barbecue chicken is one of my favorite recipes for busy weeknights!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
This recipe uses a combination of boneless chicken breasts and boneless thighs. I like the texture when
Onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, brown sugar and grated onion give this chicken delicious flavor.
The flavor of this BBQ chicken really depends on what kind of BBQ sauce you use. Use your favorite bbq sauce for this instant pot bbq chicken recipe!
How to Make Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
This instant pot pulled chicken can be made in 4 easy steps.
- Place the ingredients in the instant pot in this order: chicken broth (or water), chicken, onion powder, garlic, powder, paprika, salt, BBQ sauce, grated onion, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. (Do NOT stir. You want the water to stay on the bottom of the pot so the instant pot comes to pressure.)
- Place the lid on the instant pot making sure the valve is in the sealing position. Press manual (high pressure) and set the cook time to 15 minutes.
- Let the pressure natural release for 10 minutes. Then quick release the venting position to remove the remaining pressure.
- Remove the cooked chicken and shred it. Reduce the liquid by pressing the “saute” button and simmering the sauce until thickened if necessary. Add the shredded meat back into the sauce.
Note: This recipe has been updated since the video was published. In recent years I’ve recommended add a cup of water or chicken broth, not stirring, removing the chicken and reducing the liquid, then adding the chicken back in. This ensures the instant pot doesn’t give you the dreaded burn notice!
I like using a combination of chicken breasts and chicken thighs for the meat. The meat turns out so much more moist this way than compared to using all chicken breasts.
I used to make BBQ chicken in the slow cooker all the time, but now I prefer it in the instant pot. It is so easy to throw everything in and walk away. Plus it takes just a fraction of the time.
For an allergy-friendly meal, enjoy this on toasted gluten-free buns with a side of my favorite Dairy-Free Coleslaw!
Expert Tips and Tricks
Use Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce: Not all brands are gluten-free so check the label! I use Lea and Perrins which is gluten-free.
Choose a Good BBQ Sauce: The flavor of this chicken is highly dependent on what kind of BBQ sauce you use. I love the flavor of Sweet Baby Ray’s – but lately I’ve been using Stubbs Sweet Sticky BBQ sauce (such a good price on Amazon!) because it doesn’t contain high-fructose corn syrup. Use your favorite barbecue sauce!
Chicken Breasts + Thighs = Yum: I like using a combination of chicken breast and thighs in this recipe. The chicken thighs keep the dish moist and delicious!
More Instant Pot Recipes
I hope you like this recipe as much as we do! If you try it be sure to leave me a comment/rating below. I’d love to hear from you!
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Instant Pot BBQ Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 cup chicken stock or water
- 2 lbs chicken thighs
- 1 lb chicken breast
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups BBQ sauce
- ½ cup grated onion, plus juice
- 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Place the ingredients in the instant pot in this order: chicken stock (or water), chicken, onion powder, garlic, powder, paprika, salt, BBQ sauce, grated onion, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Do NOT stir. You want the water to stay on the bottom of the pot so the instant pot comes to pressure.
- Place the lid on the instant pot making sure the valve is in the sealing position. Press manual (high pressure) and set to 15 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes. Then quick release the venting position to release the remaining pressure and open the pot.
- Remove the chicken and shred it. If necessary, reduce the liquid by pressing the "saute" button and simmering the sauce, stirring often, until thickened. Add the chicken back to the sauce before serving.
- Add more BBQ sauce if desired. Shred and enjoy on sandwiches, salads, BBQ plates and more!
Annie says
Add one last step after pressure cooking chicken. In order to reduce liquid, change setting to sauté for 8 to 10 minutes. Sauce will thicken.
Barbara Latham says
How do the leftovers hold up? If I need to reheat, should I add chicken broth or more BBQ sauce to keep it from drying out?
Thanks
Erin Collins says
Yes I would try reheating it then adding more BBQ sauce if needed!
Kelsie says
My 8-qt IP needs 2 cups of liquid to reach pressure properly. Will this recipe meet that need? or do I need to add a second cup of broth? and if so, how do I account for that with the other ingredients?
Vashiona Moore says
Easy and delicious!!! Thanks You for this great recipe!
Liz Herbst says
Sooooo easy and good!
The “sauce” after cooking is very thin, because she added the broth/water to prevent burning. This was done after the video was made.
I removed the chicken and shredded it and added some of the bbq liquid to moisten. Then I cooked the remaining liquid on the stove until it thickened (beautifully, and soooo delish!). I put it in a jar to add to the chicken when serving as we weren’t eating it right away. It’s very yummy! Thank you!
Theresa Danskon says
My 16 year old son is does not like anything I cook. He would live on pizza if I let him. I made this last night and he loved it. He had seconds and guess what he asked for me to make tonight? Yep, I this recipe…thank you!
Rissa says
Is the chicken thighs in recipe with bone? If not can you tell me how long to cook it if using bone in?
Erin Collins says
I use boneless chicken thighs but you can use bone-in with the same cook time!
Marisa says
First recipe I made in my 6qt instantpot! Followed the written instructions (omitted added brown sugar) but as it was building pressure I got the food burn message. I just kept it cooking and had a small bit of sauce lightly burned on bottom when I cleaned it out. Chicken was delicious, sauce was a ljttle more watery than I would have wanted. I’d make it again though. Thanks for the recipe.
Rebecca says
I used chicken breast and needed to go an extra few minutes, so I’d raise the time to 18-20 minutes for whole chicken breasts. Used the Stubbs sauce and it was amazing flavor! Easy recipe, excited to add this one to the Arsenal!
Mo says
Just made this recipe and it was delicious! The bbq sauce I used was quite sweet already, so I cut down on the amount of additional sugar. Also the sauce was a little too thin for me. Next time I make this I will halve the amount of stock/water
John Ze says
Seasoned and seared the chicken first to get some extra texture. Used two cups of stock, used some to deglaze the pan after after searing. Easy and delicious. Nothing but compliments on this.
Linda Kelley says
Made this for the first time and I didn’t have chicken thighs so I used 3 lbs of. Chicken breast. Followed the rest of the recipe and it came out delicious. My family really enjoyed it. I will definitely fix this again and again. Quick, easy and cleanup is easy.
CYNTHIA Wall Roden says
Best ever bbq’d chicken. So good, I’m making it again tonight!! Follow directions and it will turn out so tender and delicious!
Jill says
This recipe is easy and quick. I agree with other reviews that the sauce is a little thin. Today, I tried it with 1/2 of a cup of water to begin and frozen chicken breasts. I figured that the frozen chicken has a little moisture from ice crystals, and it came out fine. Not necessarily recommending this for everyone since some people get a burn notice pretty easily, but it was fine with my instant pot. I did saute just the sauce afterwards for a few minutes, and it seems to be the right amount of sauce and not too thin.
Emily Hocker says
If you halved the recipe, would you need to adjust the cook time?
Erin Collins says
No the cook time would remain the same!