Instant Pot Shredded Chicken

Instant Pot shredded chicken is juicy, tender, and pulls apart like a dream. Plus this recipe is super hands off–just throw everything into your Instant Pot and let it do the work. With only 5 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to pressure cook, this recipe achieves the perfect slow cooker quality of chicken in relatively little time.

And did we mention how versatile this shredded chicken can be? Throw it in a soup or chili, toss it into a salad, pile it on a plate of fresh spaghetti, or wrap it into a burrito or taco. Tailor the seasonings to fit your dinner needs. And presto. Magic. Delicious shredded chicken.

This chicken recipe has legitimately been a godsend for us these days. With a new baby, time is a premium. But we value eating healthy dinners together as a family and taking care of our little babe, so we had to find a balance.

I wanted to create a chicken recipe that was easy, hands off, filling, healthy, AND easily thrown into a variety of dishes. No pressure, right?

But this recipe seriously checks all those boxes. My husband and I make this recipe every week! Then we throw it on top of pasta, add it to our favorite chicken tortilla soup, or fold it up in a tortilla and call it a wrap. It has been a life saver.

Ingredients

• Chicken breast – we use chicken breasts from Costco or Walmart, which are fairly large. We have not tried this recipe with chicken thighs. We recommend fully thawing the chicken before cooking, but if you’re using frozen chicken, just increase the cook time from 30 minutes to 40 minutes.
• Low sodium chicken broth – cooking the chicken in broth keeps the chicken juicy and tender and adds tons of flavor.
• Seasonings – our go to is salt, pepper, granulated garlic and Italian seasoning, but feel free to add whatever you like. We vary our spices according to our needs. Check out our recommended modifications below!

How to Make Shredded Chicken

Add the thawed and trimmed chicken to the 6-quart Instant Pot bowl. Season with garlic, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper. Pour the chicken broth over the chicken.

Close and seal the Instant Pot lid. Check that the vent valve is set to “sealing” not “venting.” Select “Pressure Cook” and set the timer for 30 minutes. If the chicken is frozen, set the timer for 40 minutes. The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to pressurize (this is included in cook time listed).

When the timer goes off, carefully set the valve to venting. Allow the pot to fully vent before removing the lid. Use a fork or meat claws to shred the chicken, either in the pot or on a separate surface. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe Modifications

We always recommend using the base of chicken, chicken broth, and salt and pepper, but we modify the other seasonings regularly to suit our needs.

• Lemon pepper – add fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon pepper seasoning
• Citrus – add fresh squeezed orange juice, lemon juice, and lime juice, lemon and lime zest, and pepper or use a packaged seasoning mix (like McCormick mojito lime or baja citrus Grill Mates)
• Chipotle – add chipotles in adobo, honey, garlic, and cumin
• Smoky – add paprika, brown sugar, garlic, and thyme

How to Use This Shredded Chicken

• Soups or stews – like our chicken and gnocchi soup or creamy chicken tortellini soup
• Chilis – try our creamy white chicken chili
• Burritos or tacos – like our shredded chicken burrito
• Enchiladas
• Quesadillas
• Empanadas
• Loaded nachos
• Pasta or spaghetti squash – try our baked spaghetti squash alfredo
• Salads
• Pizza

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