I’ve gone Low Carb/High Fat in my diet recently because, for my body, this works the best for me. And that means a lot of meal prep for me or I will resort to high carb items for convenience. Truth is, if you meal prep then the rest of the week is really convenient. You just have to get a routine and spend a day making stuff… but if you are like me and have an instant pot, that “spending a day” becomes just an hour or two. Let’s make some Instant Pot Chicken for use in various ways during the week so we don’t have to cook all the time, shall we!?
You can also make Beef in the instant pot. Here’s a blog with 10 ways to make beef in an instant pot!
Ingredients
- Chicken
- Seasonings
- Butter
- Bouillon or stock
- salt and pepper to taste
The type of chicken you want depends on you. I used tenders because they are the perfect size to slice into chunks or shred and put into a salad. I usually put one tender in a bowl of salad every day for lunch. This works out well for my husband too. If you prefer, breasts work just as well with the same cooking time and instructions, as well as dark meat, like thighs.
Here’s How We Do The Thing
You do not have to use a trivet but it will help to be sure you do not get the “Burning Food” warning in your instant pot. Add 1 cup of broth or bouillon to your instant pot plus one cup of other liquid. This can be more water or broth. If you use a trivet, you can use only one cup of liquid, but the chicken will turn out better if you have 2 cups of liquid total. Place the trivet and then place the chicken. I was able to make a three-layer stack of chicken tenders in my instant pot and still got the chicken cooked through. If you have a layered trivet, even better, but it’s not necessary.

Cook Time
This depends on if you want to shred your chicken or have it stay together when you cut it into cubes. A shorter cook time will have the chicken stay a bit more firm so that you can have cubed chicken instead of shredded style. Also, the cut of meat will matter for this. I find that tenders are a lot more likely to fall apart in a shredded fashion than breasts are.

The cook time really isn’t affected by the cut of meat, but rather the weight. You only need 6 min if you do not want to shred it. I found that Natural Release, vs quick release would make the chicken more likely to shred, too.

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Need More Salad Ideas?
Check out our Baked Strawberry Feta Salad Recipe or our Instant Pot Potato Salad Recipe.
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How to Cook Chicken in the Pressure Cooker
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
- trivet (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken
Optional / Suggestions
- seasonings of choice
- 1 cube bouillon
- butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Fill the pressure cooker with at least 2 cups of liquid. This can be water or broth or any combination of liquid that you choose as long as the total liquid is 2 cups. The Use of a trivet is optional. For tenders, I choose to use one but for breasts, I don't unless I want a slightly less moist outcome.
- Set the pressure cooker to High for 6 min. Longer if you have more than a pound of meat. Add about 2 minutes per pound over 1 pound. Use a meat thermometer to be sure your internal temperature on your chicken is at least 165°F.
- When the timer finishes, you can choose to quick release the pressure for more tender meat or let it naturally release for a more cooked and flakey/shred-able meat. Whichever you choose, be sure to press the release valve to ensure all pressure is gone before releasing the lid.
- Allow the meat to cool completely before you cut or tear it.
Notes

Keep the broth from your Instant Pot Chicken, you can use this instead of buying chicken broth for your next recipe.
Discover Delicious
Looking for more beginner-friendly recipes? Click here!
More Keto!
Check out our Keto Sushi Rolls and our Keto Lemon Cheesecake.
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Prefer visual learning?
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Share your thoughts!
Let us know what you think about this recipe by leaving us a rating and review below!