Pulled chicken, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… I love thee in a sandwich, tossed in a salad, or tacos, quesadillas or soups, mixed with BBQ sauce and topped with coleslaw…basically I love thee just about every way. Ok, enough with the poetry, let’s learn how to make Pulled Chicken in the Crock Pot or Instant Pot!
(This post contains affiliate links. I may make a commission off sales while your price remains the same)

How to Make Pulled Chicken in The Instant Pot or Crock Pot~ Paleo, Whole 30

It’s So Simple You Almost Don’t Need a Tutorial…

…except that’s how I make money, so you do need one. To make pulled chicken I use an Instant Pot. A crock pot is great too though so don’t panic.The advantage of the Instant Pot is that it takes minutes versus hours, but either way you end up with tender, juicy chicken you can use in a variety of ways throughout the week, as mentioned in my corny poem above.

How to Make Pulled Chicken in The Instant Pot or Crock Pot~ Paleo, Whole 30

How You Do It:

I like to use a combination of bone in, skin on chicken breasts and thighs for pulled chicken. Bone in, skin on gives you the moistest most flavorful chicken, and because breast meat is much drier than thigh meat I think four thighs/two breasts is the perfect ratio. Of course you can mix it up in whatever way floats your boat. To add even more flavor I roughly chop a yellow onion and a clove or two of garlic, add 1 cup of broth and cook that bird to juicy perfection!

How to Make Pulled Chicken in The Instant Pot or Crock Pot~ Paleo, Whole 30

How To “Pull”

To shred the chicken you have two options. Option 1: two forks. After removing the skin and separating the meat from the bones, you use one fork to hold the meat down and use the other fork to ‘pull’ the chicken into shreds. If you have a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer you can simply place meat in the mixer with the ‘flat beater’ attachment and let the machine take care of it in seconds. Both ways work well so don’t sweat it if you don’t have a mixer.

How to Use Your Pulled Chicken:

Use pulled chicken in my 15 Minute Chicken Tortilla SoupBlackened Chicken and Quinoa Salad, or my BBQ Pulled Chicken Sammys and Slaw!

The Recipe: Pulled Chicken: Crock Pot and Instant Pot

What you will need: an Instant Pot or crock pot.This recipe is Paleo and Whole 30 compliant!

Pulled Chicken: Instant Pot or Crock Pot
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
30 mins
 

I offer two ways to make pulled chicken: Instant Pot or Crock Pot. Both work perfectly well but the Instant Pot version is done in 15 minutes! You can use pulled chicken in tacos, soups, salads, on top of pizzas, pastas...you name it, it works!

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: easy dinner recipe, Instant Pot
Servings: 6 servings
Author: Linda Spiker
Ingredients
  • 2 bone in skin on chicken breasts
  • 4 bone in skin on thighs
  • 1 yellow onion peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1-2 cloves garlic peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
For Instant Pot:
  1. Salt and pepper chicken to taste, set aside
  2. Place broth, onions and garlic in bottom of Instant Pot
  3. Add wire rack trivet and place chicken on top
  4. Plug in Instant Pot (yeah, you gotta do that)
  5. Seal the Instant Pot lid closed and make sure steam vent is in 'sealed' position
  6. Press "manual", "high pressure" and press the + or - button until the timer says 14 minutes

  7. Wait a few seconds and the machine will say "on" and make a beep. That's it. The pressure will build and soon the machine will cook and count down the minutes. When it gets to zero you'll hear a beep and the machine will switch over to "low" keeping the chicken warm until you are ready to shred.
  8. With a hot pad or wooden spoon carefully turn steam vent to 'open' and allow steam to completely release before opening lid.
  9. Remove chicken, discarding broth and onions
  10. Use forks to remove skin from chicken (discard)
  11. Remove meat from bones and use two forks or kitchen aid 'flat beater' to shred chicken (see instructions in blog post above)
  12. You may now use the chicken as is, or add bbq sauce, taco seasoning, moroccan seasoning, cajun spices etc...whatever you decide!
For Crock Pot:
  1. Salt and pepper chicken to taste, set aside
  2. Place broth, onions and garlic in bottom of crock pot, add chicken on top
  3. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours
  4. Remove chicken, discarding broth and onions
  5. Use forks to remove skin from chicken (discard)
  6. Remove meat from bones and use two forks or kitchen aid 'flat beater' to shred chicken (see instructions in blog post above)
  7. You may now use the chicken as is, or add bbq sauce, taco seasoning, moroccan seasoning, cajun spices...whatever you decide!

STANDARD FTC DISCLOSURE and Privacy Policy: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note that I only endorse products that are in alignment with The Organic Kitchen’s ideals and that I believe would be of value to my readers. The Organic Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. View The Organic Kitchen’s Privacy Policy

 

All photos and recipes are copyrighted by Linda Spiker.

Post tags: Gluten free, grain free, dairy free, whole 30