Instant Pot Poached Chicken
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All my meal prep starts with my protein foundation. It’s the most important part, everything else revolves around it. If I only have time to prep one thing, it’ll be chicken. I usually make my deli-style sliced chicken on repeat, but I wanted another option. Something more versatile that I could pull apart for sauces, curries, or anything where shredded chicken works better. So I gave Instant Pot poached chicken a try and it has become another addition to my rolling component prep. If you prefer plain sliced chicken without spice coating, this might just be the answer.
Instant Pot vs Stove Top
I tried poaching chicken on the stovetop first. The idea is simple enough. Submerge the chicken in salted water, bring it to a gentle simmer, and cook it on low until done. In practice it meant standing over the hob to make sure it wasn’t boiling too hard. For an ADHD brain that’s too much monitoring for something that should just happen in the background. I did it once and knew right away that I had to go straight to the Instant Pot.
The Instant Pot is just better for this since you don’t have to monitor the process. You’re free to do anything else for 20 minutes without worrying about the outcome.
Why I prefer freezing this over refrigerating
Plain poached chicken keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days, which isn’t a huge window. My brined deli-style chicken lasts up to 5 days in the fridge, enough time for two people to get through a full batch, but this plain version doesn’t have that same shelf life. Freezing makes more sense here. Portion it into freezer bags or silicone trays as soon as it’s cooled and it’ll keep for up to 2 months. Pull out what you need, defrost overnight in the fridge, and it’s ready to go.
Instant Pot Poached Chicken
Equipment
- 3L Instant Pot Duo. If you have a larger model, upscale the recipe. You can double for a 5L.
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken breasts
- 250 ml water
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Add 250ml water to the Instant Pot and dissolve 1 tsp fine sea salt in it, then place the 3-4 chicken breasts on top.
- Lock the lid and set the valve to sealing. Press pressure cook and set to high pressure for 15 minutes. It will take around 10 minutes to come to pressure.
- Once, done, do a natural release for 5 minutes then carefully switch the valve to venting to release any remaining pressure.
- Remove the chicken and leave to rest for 5 minutes.
- To slice: once slightly cooled, slice thinly across the grain.
- To shred: pull apart with two forks while still warm.
