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Some of the best and tenderest chicken you’ll eat that’s made in minutes thanks to the Instant Pot. Plus that BBQ sauce – 10 out of 10!
By now you all know how madly, deeply I am in love with my Instant Pot 8 qrt Pressure Cooker. Wait you don’t know this? Oh honey we need to talk! Come grab a seat at my kitchen table, have a cookie (or 3) and let’s chat.
You see I cook every day. Every. Single. Day. And while cooking and baking (really anything that involves being in the kitchen and creating) is my passion. It allows my creative side to come to light and lets my engineering mindset take a breather. You see when I’m in the kitchen I don’t think. I know that sounds odd (or even cocky which I don’t mean) but for me, it just makes sense when I craft a new recipe.
It took those days where when I got home from work I just didn’t have the energy to stand in the kitchen for 30 minutes making a meal. I was tired, the gym kicked my butt, I needed a shower, I had 400 TKW emails to answer, I had to work on another recipe posting, I had to make sure I spent quality time with you guys on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram and oh yeah, feed Mr. Fantabulous. I won’t even go into my also logging into my day job and checking on emails and stuff.
You see if you’re like me you grew up where the pressure cooker that our Moms and Grandmothers used was deadly. They’d hiss, they spit, heck they’d even blow their lids off if you let the pressure build up too much or not have enough liquid in it. That was the only kitchen appliance that I was forbidden to touch. Heck, I wasn’t even allowed in the kitchen when my Mom would use it.
Nowadays they are the ‘norm’ yet when these new electric ones came out, it was scary as it was ‘new’. I went to Google just to read more about it and understand the mechanics of pressure cooking.
What is Pressure Cooking
Pressure cooking is a cooking method that takes a pot and tops it with a special airtight lid and seal. By sealing a liquid in a pressure cooker traps the vapor that rises from the liquid. This in turn raises the pressure inside the pressure cooker along with the maximum temperature that the liquid can reach.
In layman’s terms, the increased temperature and pressure significantly speed up the cooking process. The pressure infuses the hot steam into the food. By utilizing this method, pressure cooking can cook foods in about one third the ordinary time on average and often over 10 times faster.
Normal and Quick Release
With this pressure cooker there are 2 types of release methods
- Quick – Fast pressure release means that the cook should use the valve, or pressure releasing mechanism particular to their cooker (such as a button to push, a lever to twist, or a slide to pull), to release pressure once the timer goes off. For thick recipes (such as a chili or a risotto), right after this release, the still unopened pressure cooker should be given a few small jolts to release any super-heated seam pockets in the food.
- Normal – Slow pressure releases pressure using the pressure releasing mechanism. By letting the machine release it for it, it lets the pressure drop slowly from your electric pressure cooker. During this slow release, the cooking continues, so it is recommended for certain cuts of meats, and some desserts. When pressure is fully released, the float (pressure indicator) will drop and the lid will unlock to open.
Let’s talk about these luscious boneless thighs. I was at the butcher shop and he had an in-store special. 99 cents a pound with no limit! Now I normally don’t buy thighs as I’m not a huge fan of dark meat. Don’t get me wrong, it tastes great but it’s not the healthiest part only due to it having a higher fat content.
However, it’s also the most flavorful part. So you guys all know me, I firmly believe in ‘Everything in moderation so I can eat these, just not all the time.
Myoglobin is the hemoprotein (an oxygen-carrying protein) responsible for giving dark meat its reddish color. The more myoglobin, the darker the meat and the richer the nutrients. Myoglobin provides muscles with the oxygen they need during exercise or movement. And since chickens don’t fly they use their legs and thighs to get around thus building up the muscles and making the meat ‘dark’.
So I bought a few pounds and came home to make lunch. Since I had a crap ton (official term here folks) of stuff to get done, I didn’t have a lot of time to be putzing around in the kitchen. Don’t you hate it when real life gets in the way of your passion? Since I had made boneless chicken breasts in the pressure cooker a million (and 7) times before I figured the time would be about same. I whipped up some bbq sauce then thinned it out for the pressure cooker, tossed it all in and for 10 minutes I was able to sit and relax before I got all those things on my list done.
When they were done, which literally they were almost falling apart they were so tender, I kicked the pressure cooker over to brown to thicken up the sauce and popped these babies under the broiler to crisp up. And like clock work Mr. Fantabulous came out to the kitchen (or more like his nose pulled him into the room) sniffing away. When he saw me pull these slightly charred, sticky bbq thighs out of the oven he immediately went and got us sodas, plates and silverware. Oh how cute! He thought I was going to share! LOL However I’m a good wife and gave him some along with a small salad. He INHALED these things! He kept saying how tender and juicy they were. That the flavors were insane. When I told him what they were he said “but… but I don’t like dark meat…” I just smiled and said “looks like you do now honey!”
PrintPressure Cooker Honey BBQ Boneless Chicken Thighs
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Ingredients
- 2lbs boneless chicken thighs
- 2 cups honey bbq sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1–2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 3 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Pat dry the thighs dry. Add the thighs into the Instant Pot 8 qrt pressure cooker.
- In a bowl whisk together the sauce, water, paprika, cayenne, brown sugar, honey, salt, and pepper. Pour over thighs. Lock the lid down and set it to High pressure, for 10 minutes.
- When the 10 minutes is up do a quick release. While the quick release is relieving pressure, place the oven to broil with a rack in the middle. Line a rimmed pan with foil and place a cooling rack on top. Lightly spray the rack.
- Gently remove the thighs from the pressure cooker with tongs and place on the rack, set aside. Set the pressure cooker to browning and stir the sauce until thickened ~10-15 minutes. Slather on some sauce on top of the thighs. Put the pan in the oven, under the broiler for 2-5 minutes (just enough to lightly char the sauce).
- Flip the thighs over, cover with more sauce and broil for 2-5 more minutes or until they are nicely charred. Place the sauce in a container for serving. Store any leftovers in the fridge.
Looking for more Pressure Cooker recipes?
Pressure Cooker Wings with Bourbon Honey BBQ Sauce
Pressure Cooker St. Louis Ribs with Whiskey BBQ Sauce
Pressure Cooker Perfectly Poached Chicken Breasts
Fantabulous Pressure Cooker Pork Ragu
I have about 4 large pcs. of chicken breast for this recipe, do you think it will turn out the same or does it need to be made with thighs. Also I’m using an 8qt PPC XL. Thank you!
It looks awesome, but 2 lbs is too much for my family. Do I cut the entire recipe in half? Would that be enough liquid? Also would the amount of time change? Thanks
Hi Megan!
As long as you have at least 1 cup of liquid in your pressure cooker you’ll be fine.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I had over 3#s of chicken thighs and wanted to cook them all at once in my 6qt Power Cooker. I put half on the bottom, put sauce over them then put the rest in and more sauce on top, set my pc on cook for 12 min. They came out perfect. Then took them out and broiled them adding sauce on them three times. I used Baby Rays, but put the rest of the ingred. In it to give it more bang.
While broiling I thickened the sauce some in my pc. Thanks for the receipt.
You are most welcome Marilynn! I’m so happy you loved these! Thank you for such kind words!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I did the same with baby rays ! Loves this recipe!!!!! ——> over rice rice babayyyyy 😉
Yeah! Thank you!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I was so hungry for BBQ chicken, but since I live in Pennsylvania and it’s snowing extremely hard and below 30 degrees, I decided to search for a recipe for my Instant Pot. This is the first one that popped up so I decided to give it a try…..and I’m really glad I did. It is by far the best BBQ chicken we have ever eaten.
★★★★★
Yeah! Thank you so much Diane! I’m so happy that you got your ‘bbq’ even in the snowy PA!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Seriously the BEST bbq chicken recipe ever! I saw your recipe and pictures so I decided to try it. I was a little intimidated at first because I have never used our pressure cooker before tonight. It was delicious and my whole family raved about it. Thank you and I look forward to making this again.
★★★★★
Hi there! I know this post is super old, but I am working up the courage to use my InstantPot and this popped up. It will be the inaugural cooking! My question is, if I were to use bone-in thighs (because I already have them and don’t care if I mess them up..lol), how much would I increase the cooking time by?
I always use bone in thighs and I use the same cooking time. Check the temp with a meat thermometer when they are done and if not up to temperature keep them under the broiler a bit longer. This is one of our favorites.
Thanks Jodi! I’m so happy you love this as much as we do!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Yeah!!! Welcome to the wonderful world of pressure cooking! You will fall in love!!!
With this recipe the cooking time is the same for bone-in as it is boneless.
I can’t wait to hear his much you love using your IP!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Hello! I’m brand new to pressure cooking and want to try this recipe. Two questions:
1) Do you put the meat directly in the liquid/sauce stuff while it cooks, or does the sauce go on the bottom and the meat goes on that little trivet thingy?
2) Do you recommend marinating the chicken in the sauce or will it cook right in?
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Tracy,
Yeah! Welcome to Pressure Cooking! You’ll LOVE IT!
Okay so yes, you put the meat directly in the sauce as it cooks (but only the amount that I list in the recipe). You are pressure steam cooking it, not boiling it. No you don’t have to marinate it as it’ll infuse the flavor as it pressure cooks! Also check out this post for tidbits – https://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2017/03/14/tuesdays-tip-with-the-kitchen-whisperer-pressure-cooker-tidbits/
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Awesome recipe. I put the chicken in the Air Fryer for 7 min on 400 after the Instant Pot. It was amazing!
★★★★★
Yeah! Thank you so much Stacie! I’m so happy you guys loved it! You’re like the 5th person that has raved about the Air Fryer. I may just have to look more into that!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
It is only my husband and I
Can you do 1 lb
Would I half the bbq sauce and same amount of water??
Hi Linda! Yes halve the bbq sauce but only reduce the water to 1/3 plus 2 TBL. You just need to make sure it’s liquidy as you need to ensure there is at least 1 cup of liquid. It can’t hurt it if you add the full amount of water. It will just take a tad longer reduce and thicken.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
So I want to try making an Indian curry using a curry spice mix and boneless thighs in my Electric Pressure Cooker. I’m thinking 1 lb thighs, spice mix, and 2 cups water cooked at 10 mins at high pressure with quick release. Any suggestions for trying to do it differently as I’m kind of new to pressure cooking?
Cheers
Bill
Hi Bill,
2 cups is too much liquid. Go with about 1 1/4 cups. The rest is fine time wise. If you want to, use stock instead of water.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I love indian/ pakistani food and make curry all the time. i usually saute onions, garlic, and ginger in butter or oil in the pot first, then add tomatoes ( if tomato based) and the curry spices and add the thighs into that. You can cut them up or use whole.