Pressure Cooker Whole Chicken

My husband has been on a pretty solid streak of making himself salads for weekday lunches.  Nothing terribly fancy: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, a protein, and some olives or cheese with homemade dressing. For the protein, he tends to use canned tuna, beans, or rotisserie chicken. So when I heard that you can make your own “rotisserie” chicken in a pressure cooker, I knew I had to try it! May I introduce you to: Pressure Cooker Whole Chicken!

The recipe is quite straightforward… season your chicken, brown on all sides, and then pressure cook. Pressure cooking doesn’t result in crispy skin, but boy does the meat stay juicy!

Ingredients:

• 1 (3 to 4 pound) whole chicken
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup water
• the juice of 1 lemon

Before you do anything, be sure that the chicken actually fits in your pressure cooker. I used a 3 pound chicken and it just fit in my COSORI 6 Qt Electrical Pressure Cooker. Also be sure to have the steam rack that comes with your electric pressure cooker handy.

Combine the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, thyme, oregano, rosemary, and ground pepper in a small bowl.

Rub the mixture all over the chicken, patting to adhere.

When you’re ready to cook the chicken, press the Saute/Brown button on your multi-pot. Press “adjust” and change to “more/high” and press On/Start. Once the multipot has preheated, add the olive oil. Add the chicken to the pot and brown for approximately 5 minutes on all sides (about 20 minutes).

Remove the chicken from the pot and add the water. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

Add in the steam rack to the pot and add the chicken on top.

Cover and lock the pressure cooker. Press the Poultry button and then adjust the time to 18 minutes for a 3 pound chicken or 24 minutes for a 4 pound chicken. Make sure the steam valve is closed and press On/Start.

 

Once the unit has reached optimal cooking pressure (~5 minutes), it will beep once and start counting down . You’ll notice that the pressure release valve (red) rises up during this time.

The pressure cooker will beep 3 times to alert you when cooking has finished. It will automatically go on to “keep warm” mode for up to 6 hours. Once cooking is complete, turn off the pressure cooker by pressing “stop/cancel” and unplugging the power cable.

Let the unit cool down for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the float valve drops down. Using an oven mitt, move the pressure release value to the “release” position to let out any remaining pressure in the unit. Wait again for the float value to drop down before opening the pressure cooker.

Remove the chicken and let cool before shredding. Squeeze lemon juice over the chicken. (Note: If you plan on making chicken stock, reserve the liquid that is in the pressure cooker.) If you prefer crispy skin, you can broil the chicken for approximately 5 minutes — be sure to watch the chicken so it doesn’t burn! (Note: my photos are of the chicken straight from the pressure cooker, I didn’t broil mine.)

I’m really impressed with how tender the chicken came out! I was able to easily remove it from the bone just using tongs after it cooled to room temperature.

This was a surprisingly simple way to have deliciously juicy chicken for the week!

I mentioned above making chicken stock in the pressure cooker, so stay tuned for that recipe later this week!