These Instant Pot Chicken Thighs are an easy, healthy dinner made right in your electric pressure cooker! Add your own sauces and seasonings or bbq sauce. Quickly and easily cook chicken thighs in your Instant Pot from FRESH or FROZEN, bone in or boneless — no need to thaw!
I know, I know. We’re mixing things up a little with these Instant Pot Chicken Thighs today.
Around here, you see a lot of chicken breast recipes, and that is primarily because they are lean, easy to cook, and relatively inexpensive. I often buy a giant box and it lasts us a month or so in the freezer. This post on How to Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot has been so popular that I knew I needed to brand out a little!
Since then, I’ve experimented with cooking an Instant Pot Whole Chicken from frozen, frozen and partially frozen Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin, as well as using frozen ground beef in the Instant Pot to make taco meat. And I’m just getting started!
If you have an electric pressure cooker, I’d love to hear what your favorite things to make are. I’m always looking for new ideas!
And if you’re looking for more dinner inspiration, check out these chicken thighs recipes from the Food Network!
How to cook Instant Pot Chicken Thighs:
- Because I’m all about EASY these days (the 5 month old baby limits my dinner prep time!), I normally use boneless chicken thighs in this Instant Pot recipe. The difference in cook time is significant, so make sure you read through thoroughly.
- I pretty much always use skinless chicken, because I know I’m not going to eat the skin anyways. The choice is up to you, though, as skin or no skin won’t affect cook time. You will, however, really want to make sure you brown it well first on saute!
- If you choose to brown your chicken before pressure cooking, it’s important to deglaze (scrape the bottom of the pot) well first so that you do not get a burn notification. Simply add the chicken broth while on saute, wait for it to get hot, and then scrape the bottom of the pot well with a sturdy spoon.
- I like to cook my chicken breasts or chicken thighs in the Instant Pot with chicken broth and simple seasonings, and then add thicker sauces and finishing seasoning or spices at the end, after it is cooked. The reason for this is that thick liquids can clock up the steam release valve and cause a burn notification if the sauce sticks or begins to caramelize on the bottom of the pot. No one needs that head ache!
- I’ve included a super simple homemade bbq sauce that we use to glaze the chicken thighs after cooking. Feel free to use my recipe, or serve with your own favorite sauces or seasonings, or simply shred the chicken for salads and sandwiches.
How to cook frozen chicken thighs in the Instant Pot:
To cook frozen chicken thighs in the Instant Pot, you will have to adjust the cook time and it will take longer to come to pressure. You will also not brown the meat first if cooking from frozen.
Some people say that it doesn’t take any longer to cook meat from frozen in the pressure cooker, but I have done numerous, numerous tests on whole chickens, chicken breasts, chicken thighs, pork tenderloin and ground beef and I have not found that to be true. You do need to increase the cook time.
For frozen chicken thighs, increase the time by 5 minutes for a total cook time of 12-13 minutes.
How to cook bone in chicken thighs in the Instant Pot:
*I tested this recipe with bone in chicken thighs weighing about 150-175 grams or 5.3-6.2 ounces.
To cook fresh bone in chicken thighs: You will follow the same directions, but the cook time for bone-in chicken thighs is 10 minutes plus 10 minutes natural pressure release. This means when the timer goes, you press off or cancel and let the pressure release gradually.
To cook frozen bone in chicken thighs: You will follow the same directions, the cook time for bone-in chicken thighs from frozen is 15 minutes plus a natural pressure release of 10 minutes.
Note that the skin will not be crispy, so you can choose to either remove it before or after cooking. I scrape it off after, because it adds moisture to the meat during the cook time and comes off more easily after cooking.
BBQ Instant Pot Chicken Thighs
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 8)
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon oil optional
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons liquid honey
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
Instructions
- Season both sides of the chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
- OPTIONAL: Turn Instant Pot to saute and wait until it says “hot”. Add 1 tablespoon oil, and brown chicken thighs on each side for 1-2 minutes per side. Turn off. If you brown the chicken, you’ll need to make sure the bottom of the pot is clean before starting to pressure cook — see notes above.
- Add chicken broth, close the lid, turn the valve to sealing, and set to Manual, high pressure, for 8 minutes.
- Once the cook time is up, turn the Instant Pot to off and let pressure release naturally for 10-15 minutes. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking liquid and drain the rest.
- Stir together the ketchup, honey, Worcestershire sauce, corn starch, vinegar, garlic, mustard and reserve cooking liquid. Pour into Instant Pot and turn to saute.
- Let cook until thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Information
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Mayna says
I have 1.3 lb bone in chicken breast. Would you recommend the same cooking time for this?
Ashley Fehr says
Bone in chicken will always require a longer cook time, and unfortunately I haven’t cooked any bone in chicken breasts in my Instant Pot so I can’t say for sure how long it would need
Terry Holland says
I made this last night and it was really good. I was amazed that I made my own BBQ sauce!!!! This was a good recipe.
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Terry! I’m glad!
Amanda says
Wow! What can I say except this is the BEST bbq chicken recipe EVER! Definitely a keeper! Thank you so much, because making a quick, easy, super delicious meal when it is 100 degrees outside, you just can’t beat using your instant pot!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Amanda! I’m so happy to hear that!
Judy Cathey says
Delicious!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you!
Dirk says
Do you still sear them if they are frozen? (kind of a silly question, but I wasn’t sure)
Ashley Fehr says
You won’t really be able to sear them if they are frozen, but they’ll still be great!
Jennifer says
This is my 4th time making this recipe and the family loves it! This chicken makes great pulled chicken sandwiches.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Jennifer! I’m so glad!
Debby says
Do you remove the chicken while cooking the sauce and then mix the chicken back in when the sauce is thickened?
Ashley Fehr says
I don’t always remove it but you can! It doesn’t take long for the sauce to thicken
Christine mcelhinney says
We loved it. I used my Ninja Foodi and the 13 minute cooking time for the semi-thawed chicken thighs was perfect. I will definitely make this again.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Christine!
Susan says
If we don’t have the ingredients and using premade bbq sauce, should we still use the chicken stock to cook the chicken and do we saute at the end with the bbq sauce?
Ashley Fehr says
Yes, you still need the clear liquid to cook the chicken and add the thicker sauce at the end.
Karen Kostyk says
You don’t mention whether you should do a natural release after cook time and if so, how long?
Ashley Fehr says
Sorry! I will update the recipe. Always a natural release with meat, especially chicken. I would let it release for 10-15 minutes.
Debi says
I made this using one pack of frozen boneless organic chicken thighs from Costco. It was a solid block of frozen chicken and after cooking 13 minutes and letting it come to natural release it wasn’t to an internal temp of 165. So i sautéed it with the bbq sauce and then turned it off and loosely covered it until it came to temp. It was “amazing”, my hisband’s words.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Debi! I’m so glad you liked them!
Dinah says
Thanks for this comment because my chicken is currently a block of ice and will likely have to do the same! LOL
Cara E Bruno says
I only have balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar. Are either ok or should I just use the bottle of premade bbq sauce that I have? Thank you
Ashley Fehr says
It’s a pretty small amount so I think balsamic would be fine!
Jenna Edwards says
Sorry just now saw the sauté is optional 🙂
Ashley Fehr says
No worries! I hope you enjoy them!
Jenna Edwards says
Hi. I want to try this! If you are using frozen, do you skip the sauté part or do anything differently?
Cory says
OMG! So finger lickin good! I made with 4 FROZEN thighs…worked perfectly, and now I have extra sauce for tomorrow…maybe on rice. Seriously good sauce.
Ashley Fehr says
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that!
Allison says
I prepared 4 frozen solid chicken thighs exactly as directed and let it NR for 13 mins and had blood pouring out of my chicken so I added back to IP for 10 extra minutes and will let it NR for 10 again. If that doesn’t work, I will have to check my seal. Idk why it would work for everybody else and not myself if not for an improper seal.
Ashley Fehr says
That doesn’t sound quite right Allison. Are you sure your valve is set to sealing and you are using high pressure?
Marguerite says
If I double the recipe, do I use he same time for frozen chicken thighs?
Ashley Fehr says
As long as they are not stacked right on top of each other. If they are stacked directly on top of each other, the overlapping chicken will take longer to cook. If you can stagger them, then it shouldn’t take any longer.
JJ says
Hi! I want to try out this recipe using frozen boneless skinless thighs…after step 3, should I do natural release for 10 minutes, which is what you recommend for bone-in thighs? (I have no idea if bone-in vs boneless makes a difference in what sort of pressure release to use, sorry.)
Ashley Fehr says
I would do a natural pressure release for all kinds of chicken. I hope that helps!
Jennifer says
These were perfectly cooked and the sauce was amazing!
Tayler Ross says
I love how much easier dinner id with the Instant Pot! This chicken looks amazing!
Ashley Fehr says
Yes, so super quick!
Sarah @Whole and Heavenly Oven says
Nothing beats a good instant pot chicken! I would put this BBQ chicken on literally EVERYTHING!
Ashley Fehr says
So versatile!