Creamy Garlic Instant Pot Chicken Thighs (pressure cooker) - The Recipe Rebel (2024)

FAQs

Does chicken get more tender the longer you cook it in an Instant Pot? ›

This dinner staple cooks up perfectly every time in the Instant Pot. You can aim for firm but juicy chicken for cubing, or let it cook a little bit longer for tender shredded chicken.

How to Make Juicy Boneless Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot. The key to getting perfectly juicy boneless chicken breasts is to cook them on a trivet, above the liquid. I find that this results in a better texture than cooking them on the bottom of the pot.

Rubbery Instant Pot shredded chicken is usually the result of overcooking the meat.

Because chicken breast is so lean, just a couple of extra minutes of cook time turns them from juicy to overcooked and dry. Thighs, on the other hand, are a fattier cut, and not prone to dry out as quickly even after an extra minute or two of cooking.

Without watching over your shoulder in your kitchen, the most likely reason is overcooking. Pressure cookers are powerful, and it can be a fine line between perfectly done vs. too much. Longer cook times squeeze more moisture out of the tissue, leaving it drier and tougher.

Ultimately, slow cooking allowed our chicken to be perfectly seasoned without compromising the meat texture, a luxury pressure cooking can't afford.

All Cuts of Meat Can Become More Tender in a Pressure Cooker

But there's more to tender meat than simply choosing a particular cut. As you'll know, starting with great ingredients is a must, but how you treat them in the cooking process is also of paramount importance.

Because dark meat contains more tendons, chicken thighs are a tough cut, but because they contain more fat than white meat, they become tender and juicy when cooked properly. They also boast more flavor than white meat.

Overcooking might play a role in your chicken's tire-like texture. Leaving chicken in a pan, oven, or grill for just a little too long can suck the moisture right out and leave you with a dry, rubbery bird. Without moisture, the protein fibers in the chicken become elastic.

Open the pot, then use a digital thermometer to check the thickest part of a piece of chicken—it should be at least 165oF.

Does chicken need to be submerged in a pressure cooker? ›

Chicken breasts, thighs or drumsticks

By placing cooking liquid in the bottom of the pressure cooker and placing the chicken in the steamer basket above the liquid, you are guaranteed tender, moist chicken every time. However, you can also use the cooker to make a sauce and cook your chicken submerged in flavour.

Oh also, when you make this, don't skip the part where I tell you to add some water or chicken broth to the Instant Pot (or crockpot). You'll want to do this so that the meat doesn't dry out. I also add the broth to the containers with cooked chicken to help keep it moist.

Overcooking leads to dry, tough, sawdusty meat with nearly no flavor. High doneness temperature for food safety. Salmonella is the food safety enemy in chicken that dies only at higher temperatures. But cooking chicken breast to an instant thermal-kill doneness temperature will cause it to dry out excessively.

Your meat will be juicier and more tender

The longer cooking time and the low heat complement each other perfectly. As a result, even though the meat is cooked for far longer, it doesn't dry out because the temperature is low. As a result, this is the best way to retain all the natural juices of the meat.

You use quite a bit of water in the pressure cooker so you can cook the bones for enough time so the bones become soft. Then you can grind them up easily with this grinder. Chicken bones, cooked at high pressure in a pressure cooker, take about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours.