If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you probably know about my recipe for Slow cooker Pulled Pork. Instant Pot Pulled BBQ chicken is similar, only it uses chicken and it’s made in the Instant Pot. Okay…maybe it’s not that similar at all!

It’s one of those recipes that makes you think of summer, hometown fairs, and for me…the days I worked in a nursing home. I worked the night shift, and one of the nurses would bring in pulled BBQ chicken all the time and we’d eat it at about 3am. I don’t think about that job or my nurse friend very often anymore, but the chicken has stuck with me. (Yeah, food sometimes makes a bigger impression than people.)

All these years, I’ve been making Instant Pot BBQ chicken not in the Instant Pot, but in the slow cooker. Which is still a great way to do it. I’ll post the recipe some day. But it’s so much faster in the Instant Pot. You won’t need to spend hours slaving in the kitchen to get dinner on the table with this recipe. You start by dumping it all into your Instant Pot, and let the pressure cooker do all the work for you. The pot will steam, simmer and stew your meal until it’s juicy tender and full of flavor, then turn itself off so you’ll have more time to put together a side dish or dessert like Apricot Galette or Easy Vanilla Cinnamon Buns. High-tech cooking at its finest!

Anyway, I digress. Let’s get down to the how-to, shall we? (Printable recipe below.)

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Ingredients for Instant Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Sensuous Slathering BBQ Sauce

The barbecue sauce is what makes the recipe in my opinion, so it’s important that you get that kind. It’s not too thick and sweet. We have Dinosaur BBQ locally so the sauce is fairly easy to find in stores. It’s also less expensive in the stores. However, if you want to find it on Amazon, you can use my affiliate link above.

The recipe is simple:

Place all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot. I usually put the chicken on the bottom and then the rest of the ingredients on the top. Order doesn’t matter.

Using the meat setting, cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.

When the Instant Pot beeps, pull out the chicken and shred. You can use two forks or meat claws. I personally prefer the meat claws, but in a pinch, forks work just as well.

Place the chicken back into the Instant Pot. Stir it in with the sauce until it’s all coated.

Using the saute function, cook about another 3 minutes or until the BBQ sauce thickens slightly. If you are using a thicker BBQ sauce, this may not even be necessary. Dinosaur BBQ sauce tends to be a little bit on the thinner side.

Serve Instant Pot Pulled BBQ chicken alone, in a wrap, or on buns with Blue Ribbon Coleslaw.

Tools for Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Chicken:

Instant Pot – I have both the 6 quart and the 8 quart Instant Pots. I love them both equally, but my 6 quart Instant Pot Viva is newer and therefore has a better lid design. The old design had a wobbly lever that you had to move between sealing and venting. The new one automatically seals when on the pressure cooker setting, which makes for less user error. I was guilty of leaving it on venting and then wondering why it wouldn’t come to pressure. The newer models take care of that problem. And they have a handy little button to press to release the pressure too.

Meat shredding claws – You can substitute forks for this, but I love how simple the claws make the shredding process!

Wooden Spoon Set – this is one of my favorites.

Good Utility Knife – I have the Tasty knife set and I love it, but any good utility knife will do.

Can you freeze it?

Yes! Instant Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken freezes very well. A lot of times I’ll make a double batch (in the 8 quart Instant Pot) and freeze half for another night when I don’t feel like cooking. Or haven’t gone grocery shopping, which is much more likely.

Is Instant Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken diet-friendly?

Well, I guess that would depend on what kind of diet you’re on. If you’re on a keto diet, you could substitute in some keto-approved BBQ sauce. If you’re on a low fat diet, the chicken is nice and lean, but again, the sugar in BBQ sauce is the culprit here. I’m sure it’s possible to make it that way, but I haven’t tried it myself. My diet is basically everything in moderation.

Easy Instant Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken

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