Cooking tender chicken for shredding in the pressure cooker is super quick and easy. This Instant Pot Shredded Chicken is excellent for tacos, burritos, sandwiches, and more!
Use it in Spicy Chicken Fajita Burritos or Easy Chicken and Cheese Flautas. It’s also great among your favorite salad toppings as well as in any recipe that calls for cooked chicken.
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I’ll send you budget recipes and money-saving tips every week!
Jump to:
Chicken is a kitchen staple at my house. Not only do I find it incredibly affordable at my local ALDI ($1.79/pound!) but I also use it in so many recipes week in and week out.
Learning to make instant pot shredded chicken was one of the best things I could have done to speed up and streamline my weekly meal prep. I buy a flat of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and then work some magic with both my pressure cooker and stand mixer.
Yep, I said stand mixer!
Why Make This
It’s quick! The Instant Pot makes quick work of cooking the chicken breast to be super tender while you’ll be amazed when you see how the stand mixer shreds the chicken in just a minute or two.
It’s super versatile. This recipe for Instant Pot Shredded Chicken can be used in so many different ways. You can make a bulk batch and freeze it in 2-cup portions for adding it to recipes anytime.
Ingredients
chicken – You can use any type of chicken pieces, but using boneless, skinless chicken breast is the easiest for making shredded chicken.
seasoning blend – Using a spice blend makes seasoning this chicken super quick and easy. There are so many great spice mixes to choose from that you can make yourself.
water – You always need a little bit of liquid in the pressure cooker to help build pressure. It’s just a cup for this recipe.
Variations
Feel free to change the seasoning mix or to replace the water with broth, juice, or a thin salsa or sauce.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Making shredded chicken is a two-step process using two favorite small kitchen appliances, the pressure cooker and the stand mixer.
Cook the chicken in the pressure cooker.
Be sure to read your manual and/or these cooking tips from Instant Pot.
- Place the chicken pieces in the pot of the electric pressure cooker.
- Season it generously with the seasoning mix. Add 1 cup water.
- Secure the lid with the pressure valve on. Turn the machine on and set it to manual for 12 minutes.
- When the machine beeps, press cancel and allow the pressure to naturally release. This may take up to 30 minutes.
Shred the chicken in the stand mixer.
While you don’t have to use a stand mixer, it makes shredding the chicken super quick and easy.
- Remove the chicken from the pot. Strain the broth and reserve for other recipes.
- Transfer the chicken pieces to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Turn the machine on low and shred the chicken until your desired texture. This should take 1 to 2 minutes. Alternatively, you can shred the chicken by hand with a fork.
FAQs
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken is a great thing to add to your freezer meal repertoire. Chill the chicken completely after shredding, then package it in meal-size containers to store in the freezer. To use, simply thaw and add to your recipes that call for cooked chicken.
Boneless, skinless chicken breast takes 6 to 8 minutes per pound to cook in the pressure cooker. The more you load in the pot, the longer it will take to cook. Bone-in chicken pieces take 10 to 15 minutes per pound.
Recipe Costs
Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.
- boneless, skinless chicken breast – $1.89/lb
- seasonings – $0.25
While your prices may vary depending on where you shop, you can expect to pay somewhere around $2.14 per pound or 54 cents/cup!
Note: A pound of cooked chicken usually results in 4 cups shredded.
Ways to Use Cooked Chicken
Tell us what you think!
We love to hear your experiences with Good Cheap Eats. Click the STARS on the recipe card or leave a STARRED comment to let us know what you think of the recipe.
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
Equipment
- Electric pressure cooker
- stand mixer
- fork
- large airtight container
Ingredients
- 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1 tablespoon Cajun Spice Mix or other favorite seasoning mix
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Place the chicken pieces in the pot of the electric pressure cooker.2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
- Season it generously with the seasoning mix. Add 1 cup water.1 tablespoon Cajun Spice Mix, 1 cup water
- Secure the lid with the pressure valve on. Turn the machine on and set it to manual for 12 minutes.
- When the machine beeps, press cancel and allow the pressure to naturally release. This may take up to 30 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the pot. Strain the broth and reserve for other recipes.
- Transfer the chicken pieces to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Turn the machine on low and shred the chicken until your desired texture. This should take 1 to 2 minutes. Alternatively, you can shred the chicken by hand with a fork.
- Refrigerate the cooked chicken for up to 4 days or freeze it in an airtight package for longer storage.
Cheri A.
I finally tried this recipe and it was great! I did use chicken stock instead of water, and I used some Italian seasonings on it. Thank you!
Julia
Love making this chicken in the IP! Great time saver. ??
Aubrey Hierholzer
What would the time conversion be for frozen chicken vs. thawed chicken?
Jessica Fisher
I don’t use frozen chicken in the instant pot, and the official Instant Pot site doesn’t give specifics. It will all depend on how much chicken you’re using, if it’s frozen solid and if it’s frozen in one solid blob or individual pieces. I’d start the cook time at 11 minutes/pound and then check it. If it’s not fully cooked, you’ll need to add another 5 minutes or so. It’s fine to restart the machine if something isn’t fully cooked the first go round.
Tiffany
So easy and so good! I used taco seasoning and they turned out delicious .
Ava
I do this all the time now and it’s a time and life saver! Just two days ago, my sister-in-law was saying she cooks/shreds chicken several times a month and what a chore it is – an all-day project – and I said, “Oh GIRL! You have got to get an Instant Pot, it will change your life!”
Jessica Fisher
Send her this post. 😉
Ava
LoL…done! 🙂
Kay
I’m going to try this! It’s so nice to have cooked, shredded chicken in the freezer. I often do that with a 10 pound bag of chicken quarters. That gives me several containers of chicken broth, and usually 7 or 8 bags (scant 2 cups per bag) to freeze. Then it is so quick to make chicken and rice in the IP, chicken and dumplings, or soups. I do dread the process of taking the chicken off the bone after cooking, but it’s worth it. I’m going to try your method with boneless breasts, because it looks like they’re moist, which isn’t always the case with chicken breasts. I don’t know if it’s a regional product (we are in SE Georgia) but we have McLib’s Dumplings that come in a box off the shelf (not frozen or refrigerated). They are so similar to rolled out dumplings, not at all like a pasta. I’ve seen them on Amazon, but they’re more expensive than in grocery stores. I enjoy your blog and recipes!