Instant Pot Shredded Chicken

This Instant Pot Shredded Chicken is so easy to make, then shred and meal prep for tacos, soups, salads and pastas. Moist shredded chicken breasts or thighs in a pressure cooker from fresh or frozen in 20 minutes.

Pressure Cooker Shredded Chicken

This Instant Pot shredded chicken is not really even a recipe. But I make it all the time. So, we have to talk about it.

So many chicken recipes call for cooked chicken. Cubed or shredded. Making shredded chicken in Instant Pot is the best!

It is easy, fast and healthy compared even to baked chicken, for example.

Ingredients for Instant Pot Shredded Chicken

It is really simple.

• Chicken breasts or thighs: You can use either, both shred well. Chicken breast is more lean and dry. Looks prettier than shredded thighs though. Chicken thighs are more juicy and flavorful.
• Seasonings: Garlic powder, salt and pepper. Other than that you just need chicken and water because 90% of time I end up adding shredded chicken to chicken salad or chicken tostadas – recipes that have their own seasonings.
• Water or broth: I use water but you can use broth if you think it adds flavor.

How to Make Shredded Chicken in Instant Pot

If you are new to Instant Pot, I highly recommend to check out my Instant Pot guide.

• Prep: Add 1 cup water and trivet or no trivet. Doesn’t matter.
• Add and chicken: Then lay chicken breasts or thighs as many as you can fit in a single layer. You do not want to stack them on top of each other. Season by sprinkling spices on top.
• Cook: Cook on High pressure fresh chicken under 2.5″ thick – 10 minutes, fresh 3″ and more – 12 minutes, frozen – 15 minutes. Wait 5 minutes and then Quick Release the pressure.
• Shred chicken: If you look around online, there are so many ways to shred chicken or meat in general. You can do so using 2 forks or meat claws. If you are making many lbs of chicken breasts at a time, I have seen people using a hand mixer.
• Rehydrate meat: Add broth from cooking in 1/4 cup increments until desired juiciness. It helps a lot!

More Tips for Instant Pot Shredded Chicken

• Shredding: Warm chicken shreds more easy than cold chicken.
• Cubing: Instead of shredding, you can cube chicken. For example, for healthy chicken pot pie.
• Frozen chicken: You have to make sure chicken pieces are separated. You cannot cook even 2 frozen together chicken breasts in a pressure cooker because the center will be raw inside. When cooking frozen chicken in Instant Pot, it takes pressure cooker to come to pressure a bit longer than with fresh chicken.

How Store, Freeze, Use and Reheat

Storing: Shredded chicken will last for up to 5 days in the fridge. Perfect for meal prep on Sunday for a busy work week ahead.

Freezing: You can also freeze shredded chicken for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Freeze in 2 cups portions for easy use in recipes.

Reheating: To thaw, just place on a counter for 2-3 hours. I also remove the lid to speed up thawing. You can also place a blob of frozen shredded chicken on a trivet in Instant Pot with 1/2 cup water and Steam for 2 minutes.

Use in recipes: Chicken tostadas, healthy chicken salad, chicken quesadilla, low carb chicken enchiladas.

More Instant Pot Recipes

Did you know we have entire Youtube channel dedicated to healthy Instant Pot recipes and tips?! Make sure to subscribe and hit the Bell icon not to miss new videos.

• Instant Pot frozen chicken (whole)
• Instant Pot black beans
• Instant Pot brown rice
• Instant Pot chickpeas

Hope you enjoy this super easy Instant Pot shredded chicken. I often make this recipe after a trip to Costco.

Instant Pot Shredded Chicken {SO JUICY!}

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 10 reviews

This Instant Pot Shredded Chicken is so easy to make, then shred and meal prep for tacos, soups, salads and pastas. Moist shredded chicken breasts or thighs in a pressure cooker from fresh or frozen in 20 minutes.

• Author: Olena of ifoodreal.com
• Prep Time: 2 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 17 minutes
• Yield: 8 servings 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Instant Pot
• Cuisine: North American

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1–3 lbs boneless chicken breasts or thighs, fresh or frozen*
• 1 cup water
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• Ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. To the Instant Pot, add water and place trivet inside or skip trivet.
2. Lay chicken pieces in a single layer (if using frozen make sure they are separated) and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Toss to coat evenly with tongs or hands.
3. Close the lid, set pressure vent to Sealing and press Pressure Cook on High or Manual for 10 minutes for fresh under 2.5″ thick, 12 minutes for fresh 3″ and plus thick or 15 minutes for frozen chicken breasts or thighs.
4. Display will say ON, Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure, you will see a bit of steam coming out from a valve, then float valve will rise and countdown will begin.
5. After 10-15 minutes your chicken is ready, Instant Pot will beep and display will say OFF.
6. Wait 5 minutes and do Quick Release by turning sealing valve to Venting position.
7. Open the lid and your chicken breasts are ready for meal prep, casseroles, salads etc.
8. Shred or cube, and save the stock at the bottom for soup.

Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Freeze: Fully cook, cool completely and freeze in an airtight container or resealable freezer bags for up to 3 months. Thaw in a fridge or on a counter.

Notes

Really, you just need chicken and water to make shredded chicken in Instant Pot. Because 90% of time I end up adding shredded chicken to recipes that have their own seasonings.

★ Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.

1 cup, cubed2040 g294.5 mg4.5 g1 g0 g0 g0 g38.3 g124.1 mg

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