How to Make Shredded Chicken in an Instant Pot

Make your meal planning easy with a large batch of shredded chicken. Use it for meals during the week or freeze it for next time you are in a pinch!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe 

Cooking chicken for the week in a pressure cooker will save you time and money! This method makes it quick and easy to batch cook large portions of chicken to have on-hand for easy weeknight meals.

This is the first post in our Shredded Chicken Meal Prep series. We use this recipe to make chicken that’s ready for a meal this week and can be kept on-hand in the fridge or freezer for quick meals later on. 

(For more about this meal prep series, click here.)

Cooking Shredded Chicken for the Week in an Instant Pot

We kept the seasonings in this shredded chicken recipe very basic—just salt and pepper. This allows your shredded chicken to work for all kinds of cuisines, from Italian to Mexican to BBQ.

We purposely left out other spices so you could have a blank slate for you to cook up a big batch of shredded chicken that you can use in a variety of meals throughout the week.

✅ This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, Cosori, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.

Step By Step Instructions for Making Shredded Chicken in the Instant Pot

Making a large batch of chicken is really easy in your Instant Pot. Let me share a few tips and tricks that I like to use when I’m making shredded chicken.

Cooking the Chicken

You can start with defrosted or frozen chicken breasts in this recipe with no change to the cook time. (As long as the chicken breasts are frozen in separate pieces, not frozen together in a solid block.) 

Note: Using frozen chicken breasts will increase the total cook time since the pressure cooker will take at least 10-minutes longer to come to pressure. 

Simply add the chicken broth and the chicken to the pressure cooking pot, along with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Select High Pressure and set the cook time for 8 minutes. (use 9 minutes if your chicken breasts are quite thick in the center).  

Tip: When using your Instant Pot, you cook your chicken breasts longer if you plan to shred it (8 to 9 minutes) than you would if you planned to cut it into slices (about 5 minutes). This ensures that the chicken cooks until it is fall-apart tender.

Shredding the Chicken

We like to let the chicken cool for a few minutes before trying to shred it. We find that it is easier to shred than when it’s super hot or cooled completely.

Tip: If your chicken appears dry after shredding, add some of the cooking liquid until it reaches the correct consistency.

While there are lots of specialty tools you can use to make shredding chicken easier (we’ve tried several), I keep going back to my tried-and-true methods: the two-fork method or the stand-mixer method. 

Two-Fork Method: This one is exactly what it sounds like. Grip a fork in each hand so the curve faces the cutting board. I like to use my non-dominant hand to stab the chicken breast and use my dominant hand to pull the fork across the edge of the chicken, pulling it apart.

Here’s a video of using two forks to shred chicken, if you’re a visual learner. 

Stand Mixer Method: This one is really easy if you have a KitchenAid or other brand of electric stand mixer. Just place the chicken in the mixing bowl and pop on the paddle attachment. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed until the chicken begins to break up. If you’d like, turn it up one or two notches, but be careful not to over mix the chicken.

I like to pulse the mixer for a minute or two, then check the mixer. If there’s a large piece that won’t incorporate, I like to pull it out and hand shred it just to prevent the rest of the chicken from overmixing.

I often will use the two-fork method when I’m shredding a chicken breast or two, but since this recipe calls for 6 pounds of chicken, I prefer the stand mixer method simply because it’s quicker. 

Storing the Chicken for Recipes

After cooking, divide the chicken into portions, depending on your recipe. 

If you plan to use the chicken for multiple recipes over the next few days, you can place the chicken in individual airtight containers in 2-cup or 3-cup portions, depending on the recipes you’ve selected. Then pop them in the fridge until needed (up to 4 days).

If you plan to freeze some of the chicken, I recommend dividing the chicken into 1-cup portions and freezing them this way—that way, you don’t have to have chosen any recipes ahead of time. 

I really like my 1-cup Souper Cube tray for dividing the chicken. After freezing the chicken in the tray, I will pop the frozen cubes out of the tray and place them into freezer-safe plastic storage bags and store until needed (up to 6 months). 

Freezing them flat in quart-size freezer ziplock bags is another great way to freeze the chicken. Just make sure to write the date and contents of the bag on the ziplock.

Tips for Reheating the Shredded Chicken

If you’re using the shredded chicken in our recipes, you can defrost it first or you can toss it in straight from frozen. (Again, using frozen chicken will increase the total cook time of the recipe.)

If you’re making the chicken with a quick-cooking item like pasta or rice, you’ll want to defrost the chicken first. The longer time it takes for the pressure cooker to reach pressure means that your rice or pasta will be overcooked.

I prefer to defrost my chicken by placing it in a bowl overnight in the fridge. 

You can use the shredded chicken straight from the fridge with no change to the cook time. 

Ideas for Using Shredded Chicken in Recipes

This Shredded Chicken recipe is the foundation of our Shredded Chicken meal prep series. 

For the easiest meals, you can simply add an ingredient or two to get the chicken ready for sandwiches, burritos, tacos, soups, or casseroles. For instance, stir in a little BBQ sauce and you’re ready to eat a Barbecue Chicken Sandwich. Or add a little salsa and you’ve got a filling that’s ready for Taco Tuesday.

Or, you can use the cooked chicken as an ingredient in a quick weeknight recipe. Over the next several weeks, we’re going to post new recipes that call for pre-chooked shredded chicken so you can make a variety of weeknight meals.

• Chicken and Rice Soup
• Butternut Squash Soup
• Chicken Parmesan Pasta Bake
• Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Creamy Chicken Taquitos
• Chicken Cheesesteak (coming soon!)
• Green Goddess Salad (or Wraps) (coming soon!)
• Pulled Buffalo Chicken Melts (coming soon!)

Looking for Instant Pot Shredded Chicken recipes? 

Not meal prepping? Just looking for recipes that start with uncooked chicken and make a shredded chicken meal? We’ve got you covered!

Here are some of our favorite Instant Pot Shredded Chicken recipes:

• Instant Pot BBQ Shredded Chicken
• Chicken Caesar Wraps
• Instant Pot Creamy Chipotle Chicken
• Bruschetta Chicken
• Cilantro Chicken & Rice
• Shortcut Chicken Alfredo
• Homemade Lettuce Wraps
• Chicken Tinga Enchiladas
• Chicken Bacon Ranch (aka Crack Chicken)
• Instant Pot Braised Paprika Chicken
• Quick and Easy Chicken Enchilada Soup
• Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Recipe

Servings: 6 -7 cups shredded chicken

Prep Time: 2 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes minutes

Additional time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Course: Chicken

Cuisine: American

Learn how to make tender and juicy shredded chicken with the help of your Instant Pot. This versatile protein can be used in a variety of dishes, making meal prep a breeze!

5 from 4 votes

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Ingredients

• 6 large boneless skinless chicken breasts well trimmed (about 6 pounds total)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

Instructions

• Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper.
• In the pressure cooking pot, add the chicken and chicken broth. Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and 8 minutes cook time.
• When the cook time ends, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then finish with a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
• Remove the chicken to a tray and use two forks or a mixer to shred the cooked chicken.
• Divide the chicken in portions. (We generally use 2 or 3 cups cooked chicken per meal.) Cover and place in the refrigerator or freeze in 1-cup portions until needed.

Notes

You can start with defrosted or frozen chicken breasts in this recipe with no change to the cook time. (As long as the chicken breasts are frozen in separate pieces, not frozen together in a solid block.) Using frozen chicken breasts will increase the total cook time since the pressure cooker will take at least 10-minutes longer to come to pressure. 

Nutrition

Calories: 792kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 146g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 434mg | Sodium: 822mg | Potassium: 2610mg | Sugar: 0.1g | Vitamin A: 203IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 3mg

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