Instant Pot Whole Chicken – Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!

Sharing is caring!

Instant Pot Whole Chicken. These four words will make your day and solve your dinner woes. Are you looking for a flavorful, tender Instant Pot Whole Chicken Recipe that is easy? You have to try cooking a chicken in an instant pot. Why? 1. It is such an easy recipe. 2. The chicken meat turns out so tender and moist.

Not what you want for dinner tonight? Check out our other Instant Pot Recipes. 

This makes the perfect dinner for any night of the week! After cooking your whole chicken, let it rest, slice it and serve with a side dish and vegetable. Or use the chicken meat for chicken tacos or burritos, even use it for chicken sandwiches… If you don’t have an Instant Pot yet you can try any of these easy chicken recipes. 

Here are two other chicken recipes we love

• Easy Perfectly Oven Roasted Chicken This is a recipe for a whole chicken roasted in the oven and comes out so tender.
• Lime Chicken is a 30-minute recipe perfect if you are in a hurry.

Honestly, we love chicken dinners and cook the chicken all the time, so it made sense to try making an instant pot chicken recipe. I hope you like ours because we think it’s a winner, winner chicken dinner! We always use organic chicken you can grab them online or from your favorite grocery stores. 

Instant Pot Whole Chicken

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I decided to get my Instant Pot! I grabbed it last year on Cyber Monday. How ironic that this chicken recipe landed on the exact day I decided to see what all the fuss was about cooking with an instant pot.

I’m happy to say I have enjoyed using mine all year long. During tennis season with Sammie, it saved me more than a few times for getting dinner on the table fast. You can see a few other instant pot recipes we made at the end of today’s post.


As I make more recipes in my instant pot I promise to share them. If you are on the fence about getting one I say hop on board. You won’t regret it. For our family of 3 (or 4), the 6 quart is perfect. If you have a larger family get the 8 quart Instant Pot. As there needs to be space at the top where liquids don’t go over.

Now, that you know that let’s get cooking this chicken dinner! 

Instant Pot Whole Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

Be sure to cut your vegetables on a clean cutting board. Keep your chicken separate from vegetables until you add them to the chicken.

• 2 white onions (or yellow if you prefer which is sweeter)
• 3 garlic
• 2 lime
• 1 poblano pepper (or jalapeno pepper) chopped
• chicken broth (1 cup)
• 1 whole chicken 
• nonstick spray
• spices – 1/2 tsp. Salt, 1 tsp. Pepper, 2 tsp. or more of Paprika, 1/2 tsp. Cumin (If you like spicier chicken you can add a little cayenne powder)

How to make a whole chicken in the instant pot?

Instructions

1. Pre-spray your instant pot with nonstick spray. 
2. Clean out your whole chicken, discard any packaged items.
3. Rinse out your whole chicken
4. Wipe your chicken dry with paper towels
5.  Then wash your hands with soap and water. Set your chicken to the side.
6. Cut your onion in quarters
7. Cut your limes in quarters
8. Seed (scrape seeds out with a knife) and Chop your poblano pepper ( Use care and wash hands immediately after handling peppers.) 
9. Peel your garlic cloves
10. Stuff your chicken with onion, garlic, and lime
11. Spice rub your chicken (wash hands with soap and water)
12. Place the instant pot rack onto the bottom of the pot
13. Add some onion, garlic to the bottom of the pot
14. Then place stuffed chicken to pot breast side up
15. Add chicken broth
16. Set cook time to PRESSURE COOK, and move pressure valve to SEALING position (proper setting)
17. Cook for 20-26 minutes depending on the size of your chicken. (6 minutes per pound*ref) The internal temperature in the thigh should be at least 165°F using an instant-read thermometer. If not done cook a few minutes longer. 
18. When done you will need to let the pot release pressure; Leave the valve on the SEALING position and let it release naturally. (If in a hurry wait at least 10 minutes (follow your instant pot manual), then carefully push the SEALING valve to VENTING- DO NOT do this before the 10-minute countdown after the cooker is done cooking. )

Ta-Da!

Instant Pot Chicken

When visiting back east my little grandson Henry would say, ta-da all the time when he finished something. Then when watching Sesame Street with him it dawned on me that’s where he picked it up. Thanks, Elmo and Henry. Now you have me saying it.

I was back there helping my daughter who just had a baby girl. You can see photos on my Instagram of behind the scenes …

If they were here they would love this finger licking chicken dinner. 

Continue to Content

Yield: 6

Instant Pot Whole Chicken Recipe

Print

Instant Pot Whole Chicken. These four words will make your day and solve your dinner woes. Are you looking for a flavorful, tender whole chicken recipe that is easy? You have to try cooking a chicken in an Instant Pot. Why? 1. It is such an easy recipe. 2. The chicken meat turns out so tender and moist. Grab the Instant Pot Whole Chicken Recipe and get cooking! 

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 26 minutes

Additional Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 1 minute

Ingredients

• 1 Whole Chicken (about 5.5 lb. or your desired size)
• 2 white onions peel and quarter
• 3 cloves garlic peeled
• 2 limes quartered
• 1 poblano pepper chopped roughly
• 1 cup chicken broth
• nonstick spray like Pam
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 2 tsp. Paprika or more
• 1/2 tsp. Cumin

Instructions

1. Pre-spray your instant pot with nonstick spray. 
2. Clean out your whole chicken, discard any packaged items.
3. Rinse out your whole chicken
4. Wipe your chicken dry with paper towels
5. Then wash your hands with soap and water. Set your chicken to the side.
6. Cut your onion in quarters
7. Cut your limes in quarters
8. Seed (scrape seeds out with a knife) and Chop your poblano pepper ( Use care and wash hands immediately after handling peppers.) 
9. Peel your garlic cloves
10. Stuff your chicken with onion, garlic, and lime
11. Spice rub your chicken (wash hands with soap and water)
12. Place the instant pot rack onto the bottom of the pot
13. Add some onion, garlic to the bottom of the pot
14. Then place stuffed chicken to pot breast side up
15. Add chicken broth
16. Set cook time to PRESSURE COOK, and move pressure valve to SEALING position (proper setting)
17. Cook for 20-26 minutes depending on the size of your chicken. (6 minutes per pound*ref) The internal temperature in the thigh should be at least 165°F using an instant-read thermometer. If not done fully cook a few minutes longer. 
18. When done you will need to let the pot release pressure!
19. Leave the valve in the SEALING position and let it release naturally. (If in a hurry wait at least 10 minutes (follow your instant pot manual), then carefully push the SEALING valve to VENTING- DO NOT do this before the 10-minute countdown after the cooker is done cooking. )

Notes

The size of the chicken will determine the overall cook time. A smaller chicken will be less time. A larger chicken will be more time.

Start with these spices to make your rub- 1/2 tsp. Salt, 1 tsp. Pepper, 2 tsp. or more of Paprika, 1/2 tsp. Cumin (If you like spicier chicken you can add a little cayenne powder) Adjust as needed or desired. 

The instant pot comes with a rack for cooking. 

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 32Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 1mgSodium 351mgCarbohydrates 7gFiber 2gSugar 2gProtein 1g

Not all nutritional information is always 100% accurate.

We served this chicken dinner with Mexican rice and a salad. But, you can serve it with any sides you like. Even tortillas, and avocados. Who says dinner has to be complicated? 

• New here? Be sure to subscribe. You get a free printable recipe binder and cooking resources too! 
• Pin it for later

Ready to try more instant pot recipes?

• Instant Pot Chicken Tacos and Avocado Topping Recipe (make with boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
• French Dip Sandwiches (Instant Pot)
• The Best Potato Corn Chowder To Warm Up To (Instant Pot)

Sharing is caring!