Paleo Pulled Barbecue Chicken Is One of the Easiest Things to Make in Your Instant Pot
One of the first things you should do when you get an Instant Pot is try making pulled chicken. There are a million variations on the recipe, because when you cook raw chicken breasts in the Instant Pot covered in sauce, they come out moist, juicy, and perfectly cooked to tear apart with a pair of forks. Many recipes have you use bottled sauce to cook the chicken breasts, but this Paleo-friendly and Whole30-compliant version has you make your own sauce from scratch. The sauce cooks right in the Instant Pot with the chicken, though, so it’s a super-easy, beginner-friendly Instant Pot recipe.
The sauce gets its sweetness from dates instead of sugar or honey. You’ll purée them with tomato sauce, apple cider vinegar, spicy brown mustard, garlic and onion powder, and some smoked paprika. Once everything is smooth, you have a perfect homemade barbecue sauce that’s ready to cook with.
Use the Instant Pot’s sauté function to cook diced onions and minced garlic until they’re soft, then turn off the Instant Pot and add boneless, skinless chicken breasts seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, and your favorite barbecue rub or seasoning. Pour the barbecue sauce over the chicken, then cook the whole thing on high for 12 minutes.
When the timer goes off, quick-release the Instant Pot pressure. Pull the chicken apart with a pair of forks until it’s thoroughly shredded. Instant Pot chicken breasts cooked in sauce like this are very easy to tear apart, so you should have nice, juicy pulled chicken in no time. Use the Instant Pot’s sauté function to cook down the sauce to thicken it.
The author recommends serving the chicken on top of a potato or a bowl of greens. Shredded chicken is extremely useful for grain bowls and make-ahead lunch bowls, too. And you can always pile it on bread for a wonderful, sloppy pulled chicken sandwich.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot BBQ Chicken from Paleo Running Momma
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