Instant Pot Whole Chicken, cook a rotisserie style whole chicken in your Instant pot, in under an hour. It’s a game changer for meal prep!

So, I finally used my Instant Pot for more than just shredded chicken. I know it’s silly, but for some reason, for months I was afraid of my Instant Pot. But once I started cooking with it more often at the end of last year, I never looked back.

My fave way to get a base protein for the week is to either roast a whole chicken, or pick up a rotisserie, and while both are great options, it’s less expensive to buy a whole chicken yourself over picking up a rotisserie. And sometimes, I don’t have three hours to roast a bird, but when I do, it’s still my favorite thing, ever.

But pressure cooking a whole chicken in the Instant Pot is the quickest way to get an entire bird cooked in under an hour, and how can you even argue with that?! I like to prep the chicken, saute, and cook. Then I remove the bird and refrigerate to later pick apart for other meals.

This whole chicken is amazing for so many dishes; last week I made a stir-fry, Buffalo Chicken Salad, and tossed the rest with zucchini and pesto, and mozzarella. I was able to get three meals for two of us out of this bird. If you’re making this whole chicken for a family of 4-6, you may get a great meal with a few leftovers, so it just depends on your family’s needs.

I made Jason fully clean it, so I could use the bones for bone broth, and while I did that in the slow-cooker, I’m totally going to try making a broth next time in the Instant Pot!

Since I tend to use the meat from this whole chicken for several meals, I use a very basic seasoning mix, which is included below. If you know you’d like to use this for a specific meal, then feel free to customize your bird however you like!

Instant Pot Whole Chicken: ready in 45 minutes!

whole chicken in the instant pot

Instant Pot Whole Chicken, cook a rotisserie style whole chicken in your Instant pot, in under an hour. It's a game changer for meal prep! gluten free, low-carb, paleo and whole30 compliant!

5 from 2 votes

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 35

Total Time: 45

Servings: 6

Calories: 340kcal

Author: Nichole Crews

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, approx 4-5lbs
3 tablespoons Kosher salt, divided
2 tablespoons pepper, divided
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided - or avocado oil
3 cloves garlic, whole
1 large yellow onion, quartered
1/2 lemon halved
1 cup chicken stock or broth - or water

Instructions

Remove all parts from the chicken cavity (usually in a bag); rinse and pat dry with a paper towel.
Salt the cavity with half of the salt and pepper. Place the garlic cloves, onion and lemon in the cavity of the chicken. Using kitchen twine, tie the legs of the chicken.
Mix together remaining spices with 2 tbsp oil to create a rub. Rub HALF of mixture on the breast side of the chicken.
Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Add 1 tbsp oil. Place the chicken, breast side down, in the preheated Instant Pot.
Carefully rub the remaining spices on the other side of the chicken.
Allow the breast side to crisp up, 4-5 minutes. Carefully flip the chicken over to the other side, 4-5 more minutes.
If your Instant Pot came with a trivet, you can remove the chicken, add the trivet, and place whole chicken over trivet, breast side up. Add in the chicken stock, or water.
Place the lid on and lock it. Set to manual high pressure for 25 minutes. Once done, allow the Instant Pot to depressurize naturally, about 10-12 minutes.
Remove from Instant Pot. Transfer the chicken to a serving dish, or cutting board. Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before carving.