The longest experiment of all times: Instant Pot Chicken. How long to pressure cook a whole chicken, chicken legs, chicken thighs, chicken drumsticks, chicken wings AND chicken breasts. I’ve got chicken coming out of my ears now!

First the bad news. Um, I’m never eating chicken again in my life I think. Ew! I’m also never eating rice again after my Instant Pot Rice post. Only veggies for me the rest of the month please!
The good news: you don’t have to get to that point because I got you all the numbers with my experiments ;)
Here is your Instant Pot Chicken Encyclopedia!
Before I start. This is all for thawed (NOT FROZEN) chicken and chicken parts. AND it’s all cooked on the trivet with water at the bottom, not touching the chicken. You can add whatever seasoning or sauce you want. Or you can cook it on top of rice or beans or whatever else cooks in the same amount of time. This is simply the minimum times you need to have the chicken or chicken parts IN there.
Now let’s get to the details. Shall we?
Warning: this is a VERY long post talking about my experiments and results. If you’re in a rush, you can justĀ Jump to Recipe and there I list just the results.
Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot
So the interweb research said 25 minutes pretty much for any size chicken. Some tested a 3lbs chicken, some tested a 4 lbs chicken, nobody tested both or more at several different times.
I wanted to find the magic formula for consistent results because not all my chickens are always the same size, right?
SOOOO, I cooked 3lbs (1300 g) chickens at 18 minutes, 23 minutes and 25 minutes. In all three experiments, the internal temperature made it to 165F so a small chicken basically CAN “in theory” be cooked for 18 minutes only. HOWEVER, the thighs and drumsticks were not nice and tender and rather weird in texture. Plus, there were just a little bit not so clear juices but lightly pinkish (temp was fine though, inserted into both thighs and breasts, so safe).
23 minutes was perfect and 25 minutes was great. No major difference to be honest so I’d say 23 minutes is the magic number for a small chicken 3 lbs and under.
The big chickens 4lbs 7oz (2000g) I tested at 22 and 25 minutes. 22 minutes just barely got to 165F (4 minutes into resting period) but same as for the small chicken after 18 minutes, the texture wasn’t really that perfect. The one cooked for 25 minutes was absolute perfection.
Conclusion and magic formula for Instant Pot Whole Chicken:
20 minutes + 1 minute per lbs on High Pressure + Natural Pressure Release
Instant Pot Chicken Breast
Holy cow – or maybe I should say holy chicken – this was the one that gave me the biggest headache. So first I tested three 10-oz (280g) breasts at 4 minutes, 5 minutes and 6 minutes. After 4 and 5 minutes, it didn’t make it to 165F in the resting period but the 6 minutes one was at 155F after opening and within 4 minutes resting time made it to 165F internal temperature.
My conclusion then was approx. 2 minutes per 3.5 oz (100g), right? WRONG! If you cook a 3.5 oz (100g) tiny chicken breast for 2 minutes it’s totally overcooked (like 200F kinda overcooked). Also, I’ve cooked two same weight but different thickness breasts at the same time but they had different internal temperatures after cooking.
Naturally, the next experiment was the thickness. A 1.2-inch thick (3 cm) breast cooked to 165F in 4 minutes.
My conclusion then was 50 seconds for every 1/4 inch OR 1 minute for every 3/4cm, right? WRONG! Because a 1/2-inch chicken escalope was completely overcooked after 2 minutes (like 200F kinda overcooked).
By now I’m about to give up, right? Only, I’ve already tested 1/2-inch chicken escalopes and tiny chicken breasts, medium sized 1-inch thick 7-oz (2.5cm/200g) chicken breasts and large 1.5-inch thick 10 oz (4cm/280g) breasts and I know at what times they properly cook through without completely overcooking.
It doesn’t make much sense to me (I feel like I need a math PhD to understand it) BUT I’ve got a table for you and we can all just not care about the formula, I would probably have to include surface and distance to heat source and all kinds of complicated things nobody would want to calculate each time they made a breast anyway, so here is a handy bullet list instead:
Conclusion and table for Instant Pot Chicken Breast:
- Breasts or escalope or cubed chicken UNDER 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) = 0 minutes High Pressure + 5 minutes Natural Pressure Release (about 3.5oz / 100g breasts)
- Breasts OVER 1/2 inch (1.3cm) but UNDER 1.2 inches (3cm) = 4 minutes High Pressure + 5 minutes Natural Pressure Release (about 7oz / 200g breasts)
- Breasts OVER 1.2 inches (3cm) but UNDER 1.5 inches (4 cm) = 6 minutes High Pressure + 5 minutes Natural Pressure Release (about 10oz / 280g breasts)
Now, before we jump to the next category, I’ve got to confess one thing. I didn’t like the texture of any of the pressure cooked chicken breasts. My favorite method to cook chicken breasts is and will always be pan-fried. It gives the juiciest and softest breasts of all.
HOWEVER, for mixed things like Instant Pot Chicken and Rice it’s awesome!! To choose which rice you want to cook with which piece of chicken check out this Instant Pot Rice guide. OR cook it in a ton of delicious sauce such as in this Instant Pot BBQ Chicken recipe and it’ll taste absolutely amazing!
Instant Pot Chicken Leg
The whole leg or just thighs and drumsticks are a lot easier to cook. AND, they taste amazing pressure cooked. Not like the breasts. They become super tender and delicious!
There is a much higher margin for success. Where breasts shouldn’t be overcooked or they become mega dry, all the bone-in parts are way more forgiving and actually benefit from overcooking because the longer they cook the softer they get and the easier they are to pull apart from the bone. Of course, there is an upper time-limit but it’s REALLY high.
So the least amount of time whole legs seem to need (independent of size) to get to the safe 165F is 18 minutes but it’s hard to remove the meat from the bone after such a short time. The longer you cook it the more tender it becomes and more fall-off-the bone. I’ve cooked it at 22 and even 30 minutes and at around the 22-minute mark it becomes really tender and still at 30 minutes they were great. So I’d say 22 minutes is great if you’re cooking them alone but you can go all the way to 30 minutes if you’re cooking them with whole sweet potatoes that need that long or wild rice for example.
Conclusion for Instant Pot Chicken Leg:
22-30 minutes High Pressure + 5 or more minutes Natural Pressure Release
Instant Pot Chicken Thighs & Instant Pot Chicken Drumsticks
I haven’t tested cooking them to 30 minutes but “in theory” they should be just fine because if the whole leg is fine up to that time the individual parts should be, too.
My goal testing was finding the minimum time, clearly. Chicken thighs at 10 minutes high pressure + 5 minutes natural pressure release got me the 165 F but with slightly pink fluid and very hard to remove from the bone. Extremely weird texture.
At 15 minutes high pressure they become extremely tender and fall-off the bone. I myself have cooked them for up to 22 minutes and full natural pressure release and they were still divine. Super soft and juicy.
For drumsticks, I noticed that 15 minutes seems to be the absolute minimum for starting to soften down. Anything under may make it to safe temp but not fall-off the bone. I myself have cooked to up to 22 minutes and just like the thighs they were divine. Super soft and juicy.
Conclusion for Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Instant Pot Chicken Drumsticks:
15-30 minutes High Pressure + 5 or more minutes Natural Pressure Release
Instant Pot Chicken Wings
Almost all recipes I found online all suggested 5 minutes HP + different times natural pressure release. The 5 minutes did get them to the safe 165F after the resting period BUT they were far from fall-off the bone.
Just like for the whole legs or just thighs and drumsticks longer cooking equals more tender and fall-off the bone meat.
Chicken breasts and bone-in dark chicken really cook completely different.
Anyhow, after a 10-minute high pressure cooking time + 5 minutes or more natural pressure release I noticed they become nice and tender. The wings of the big whole chicken that cooked for 25 minutes had perfect wings, too. So I guess 25 minutes is still fine.
Conclusion for Instant Pot Chicken Wings:
10-25 minutes High Pressure + 5 or more minutes Natural Pressure Release
Leave Skin On Or Remove When Making Instant Pot Chicken?
I’m a big advocate of always leaving the skin on, at least if you’re cooking only the chicken. If you’re cooking it on top of rice for example, the dripping fat WILL mix into the rice. You’ll have to decide if you’re ok with that depending on how fatty your other meals were during the day.
When you’re cooking only chicken on the rack with water in the bottom, the fat will drip into the water but the skin will keep the meat moist.
Now, be aware that the skin will NOT crisp up when cooked in the instant pot. It will be rubbery and yucky. You have two options after your chicken is cooked through. Either remove the skin and discard OR put under the broiler for a couple minutes for it to crips up.
Quick Pressure Release vs Partly or Full Natural Pressure Release for Instant Pot Chicken
Always let the pressure release naturally for at least a couple of minutes or you risk of all the steam evaporating really quickly and drying out the chicken.
Safe Chicken Temperature and Resting Period
The internal temperature for safe consumption of chicken (yes, all parts of it) is 165F.
This does not mean that the chicken has to be at 165F right after opening the lid of the pressure cooker. For chicken breasts always aim for rather 155F. Within 4-5 minutes the temperature will rise to 165F. If you aim for 165F right after opening the lid, you’r chicken will overcook during resting time.
ALWAYS, let chicken rest at least 10 minutes after cooking before cutting into it. If you cut into it right away all its juices run out and you’re left with extremely dry meat.
Chicken parts with bones in them are safe to eat at 165F but not tender. Always aim for rather 185F or more for those parts to get to fall-off-the-bone consistency.

Instant Pot Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 chicken leg
- 1 chicken thigh
- 1 chicken drumstick
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 chicken wing
Instructions
- Add trivet into instant pot, add 1 cup water, add whole chicken or 1-2 chicken legs (in one layer), 2-4 chicken thighs (in one layer), 2-6 chicken drumsticks (in one layer), 1-4 chicken breasts (in one layer), 2-12 chicken wings in one layer.
- Here are minimum and maximum times for juicy, tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken parts, for more information read through the blog post:WHOLE CHICKEN: 20 MINUTES + 1 MINUTE PER LBS HIGH PRESSURE + FULL NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE.CHICKEN LEGS: 22-30 MINUTES HIGH PRESSURE + 5 MINUTES OR MORE NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASECHICKEN THIGHS: 15-30 MINUTES HIGH PRESSURE + 5 MINUTES OR MORE NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASECHICKEN DRUMSTICKS: 15-30 MINUTES HIGH PRESSURE + 5 MINUTES OR MORE NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASECHICKEN BREAST: UNDER 1/2 inch THICK = 0 minutes High Pressure + 5 minutes NPROVER 1/2 inch but UNDER 1.2 inches THICK = 4 minutes High Pressure + 5 minutes NPROVER 1.2 inches but UNDER 1.5 inches THICK = 6 minutes High Pressure + 5 minutes NPRCHICKEN WINGS: 10-25 MINUTES + 5 MINUTES OR MORE NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE
Nutrition
Werra Watson says
So I did the 6 minutes on the chicken breasts and the 5 minute NPR the temperature only read 140………. they are in the oven cooking now
What went wrong?
Lorena says
Oh no, I’m so sorry to read this. Let’s try and figure out what it could have been. Was your chicken breast UNDER 4cm thick at the thickest point?
Werra Watson says
Lorena the thickest one was 2.5 inches.
Lorena says
Oh, so there we have it. That’s why it didn’t cook through. You had very thick chicken breasts. I can’t find chicken breasts that thick here in Montreal so I haven’t been able to test chicken breasts thicker than 1.5 inches. I recommend you pound them a little next time to make them a little flatter (about 1.5 inches) and that way you’ll be able to use the 6 mins HP + 5 NPR
S says
Hey , for the chicken do you keep the ‘keep warm’ on or off when in NPR?
Thanks :)
Lorena says
I always keep the keep warm function off. I practically use my Instant Pot 90% of the time as a “set it and forget it” device.
Faina says
Thanks for this guide! I wonder if time needs to be increased with amount of chicken. I have about 5.5 pounds of drumsticks from costco and was thinking to cook all of them in one go in the IP. Any thoughts whether 22 minutes would still be enough?
Lorena says
Hi Faina, if they all fit in one layer it won’t be necessary to increase cooking time. If you have to stack you might want to add another minute or two.
SB says
Just wanted to say that I’ve referred to this post more times than I can count, to cook my chicken in the IP.
Thank you so much for a super helpful post!
SB
Lorena says
I’m so so happy to read you find my post useful. Thank you for taking the time to comment!
stephanie says
Just starting to get the hang of my IP after over a year of owning it. I am loving it for prepping chicken for the week. I just bought frozen thin sliced chicken breasts and layered them about 3 deep in my 6Q IP. I did 2 minutes high pressure then 5 minutes NPR. I poured one cup of chicken brother in the bottom and cooked them on the trivet. The top ones were a bit too well done, but the bottome ones were still a bit raw in some places. Am I just not able to stack in the IP? Because only about 2 breasts would fit side by side…is that just how it has to be done?
Thank you thank you for your recipes!
v/r,
Stephanie
Lorena says
Hm, you could get those egg trivets that are stackable and make two layers of side-by-side chicken breasts so they don’t lie on top of each other. I think that could work for large batches.
Brittany says
I just wanted to quickly mention something for everyone asking about stacking chicken pieces on top of one another vs. laying them side by side:
Iāve had a lot of success with standing the pieces up on end. That way you can fit more pieces in the pot, but they all still cook evenly. For example, I cook leg quarters quite often bcuz theyāre inexpensive — if I laid the leg down, Iād be lucky to fit 2 of them, but by standing them up around the perimeter of the pot and then one in the middle, I can easily fit 4 and sometimes 5 leg quarters, and they all come out super tender and falling off the bone!
I hope this is helpful to some degree, but if anyone sees something wrong with it, Iād definitely like to know that too. Iām still a major newby with my IP!
Lorena says
This is brilliant Brittany! Thank you so much for sharing this information!
Abha says
Thank you for such a detailed post. I’m curious if one has to put the chicken on the trivet? I have Costco sized pack of chicken drumsticks and want to cook it to shred it. Can I put the liquid in and dump the drum sticks in it? How much liquid? Thank you!
Lorena says
Hi Abha, it’s all in the recipe card: “Add trivet into instant pot, add 1 cup water, add chicken drumsticks (in one layer)”
Abha says
I seemed to have missed it! In any case I added about 3 cups of stock and dumped about 18 drumsticks in to the IP without the trivet. I forgot to release pressure after 5 mins or so and did it only after close to 15mins of NPR. It was fall off the bone soft. I could have released the pressure a little sooner because this made the texture a bit too soft, but still totally useable.
Thanks again for this guide! It was super helpful!
Trevor H. says
Many thanks for such useful data. I eat lots of chicken and this is the best info than I’ve found. You appreciate the science of cooking :) I especially like how you prefer NPR to prematurely releasing all that expensive steam. My aim is to modify recipes to use NPR whenever possible. It’s greener, and who wants a steamed up kitchen anyway? I wonder, could inserting slugs of butter Kiev-style into chicken breasts and wrapping in foil prevent the dryness?
Lorena says
I’m so happy to read you found the guide useful. I’m not sure if it would work but you can most definitely try, sounds amazing :)
laura says
This is very helpful. Are you using chicken just out of the refrigerator, or at room temp?
Thanks,
Laura
Lorena says
Hi Laura, so glad you found it useful :) This guide is for chicken right out of the fridge.
Chrystie says
Hi! Thank you SO much for your dedication to accurate methodical info. I am curious if you have tried further cooking with the weird texture pieces that were safe but unpleasant. I intend to use my pressure cooker to pre cook chicken pieces and then āpanā fry them later at dinner time, so they will cook more quickly (because you canāt deep fry in a pressure cooker). Iām wondering if the texture would get better with frying after minimal cooking. My issue is that I donāt want fall off the bone chicken if I need to handle and continue cooking them later.
Lorena says
Hm, I’ve never thought of pan-frying afterward. It could definitely improve the texture of chicken breasts. Chicken thighs come out nice in the instant pot and what I’ve done already is pressure cook and then broil so the skin gets nice an crispy. I can imagine that if you cook chicken thighs and then store in the fridge till dinner time and then just pop in the hot oven for about 5 minutes + 5 minutes broiling they are reheated and nice and crispy?
Jex says
Hi do you have any recommendations on the timings for 8-10 large chicken legs stacked up? Also how much extra time would you add if they were frozen?
Lorena says
The time “should” be the same for 1 or 10 chicken legs, even if they are stacked. Use the longest chicken leg time suggested. The only thing I’ve tried from frozen so far is skinless boneless chicken thighs and 30 minutes worked well. I haven’t experimented any more with frozen chicken, so no advice, I’m sorry.
Jennifer says
Thanks so much for this guide! I’ve used it for numerous forms of chicken and it is a great resource. Love the way chicken is so tender in the InstantPot! And the leftover broth even is practically bone broth! I keep the bones to make actual bone broth, so multiple usage!
Nell says
Thanks for this post. It is a big help. I was really disappointed with the instruction that came with my Instant Pot, so I appreciate your hard work.
Just a note: I save the juices from the pot, place in the fridge to let the fat gel so I can remove it, then use the juices for cooking Mashed Potatoes or rice. Adds a lot of taste.
Lorena says
That’s delicious!! A great way to speed up the fat separating process is to use a fat separator. It’s just like 10 dollars off of Amazon :) I posted a photo of one with beef juices in it in the recipe car of my Instant Pot Pot Roast. If you use that, you can make your mashed potatoes right away to eat with your chicken :D
Elena says
do you cook your potatoes in the instapot a well? If so, what times? and I assume soup setting?
Lorena says
Yes, I cook my potatoes in the IP as well but the timing depends on the potatoes and what I want them for. Mashed, whole baby, etc. I should write a post about that. You just sparked the best idea ever! I never use any of the buttons the IPs have. I use only manual for everything. Small baby potatoes I cook for 5 minutes HP + quick release. Starchy yellow or white potatoes I peel and cut into chunks and then cook for 5 minutes + NPR and by then they are super mushy.
Lyndsay B says
Hi, so I usually made baked chicken (seasoned with butter and other seasonings) with potatoes and broccoli in the oven but it takes forever! I tried it in the instant pot using the trivet but all of the juice just went to the bottom where the water was. Can I just pressure cook it with the butter and other items without the water and trivet for better tasting and more flavorful chicken and potatoes?
Melissa says
I would! The butter will keep it from sticking.
Lorena says
It won’t work because your instant pot requires a minimum amount of liquid to GET to pressure. If there isn’t 1 cup for a 6-quart or 2 cups for an 8-quart in the pot it will never get to pressure and the chicken will start burning to the bottom. What you can do is use chicken broth instead of water, then take the chicken out and hit the soup button and bring to a boil and stir to reduce the sauce. You can also add a cornstarch slurry to make it more gravy-like
Amy says
Not all heroes wear capes. Thank you so much!!!
Lorena says
all the hearts in my eyes! Thank you for your amazing comment!
Rick Moore says
Can you stack the chicken leg quarters to cook more chicken or do I need to get stackable trivets to separate the chicken. Already have the trivets that came with the instantpot
Lorena says
I think stacking them with trivets you’ll be able to cook at the timing I suggest. Putting one on top of the other you might have to add a couple minutes pressure cook time (not double, just a couple minutes 2-3 more) to make sure they are cooked through.