Easiest Instant Pot Whole Chicken

This is the easiest Instant Pot Whole Chicken you’ll ever make! The spice rub is just like rotisserie chicken and you can cook the vegetables at the same time.

Ingredients in this recipe

You don’t need too many ingredients to make a roast chicken in the Instant Pot. Here’s what you need:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 whole chicken
• Yukon gold potato
• Carrots
• Onions
• Spices for the spice rub (chili powder, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, rosemary, thyme)

How to make a whole chicken in the Instant Pot

It’s SO easy to make this roast chicken! Here’s how:

1. Make the spice rub, then rub chicken with olive oil, and two thirds of the spice rub.
2. Add water and trivet to Instant Pot.
3. Create a pouch out of foil and add in veggies. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and then season with remaining third of spice rub.
4. Create a little whole in the veggies and place chicken on top.
5. Pressure cook for 25 minutes. As a general rule, cook for 5-6 minutes per pound of chicken.
6. Let the pressure release naturally, then serve and enjoy!

Ingredient substitutions

• Yukon gold potatoes – Because the potatoes are part of the side dish, feel free to use any variety of potato that you like.. I use Yukon gold because they have a firmer flesh than starchy potatoes such as russets. As a result, they hold their shape better. You can even use sweet potatoes if you want to, but you’ll have to cut them into smaller pieces to ensure that they cook all the way through.
  
• Carrots – You can peel and chop large carrots, or feel free to use baby carrots instead. Using average size baby carrots, 4 to 5 will equal one regular carrot.
  
• Yellow onions – I like the sweetness of yellow onions, but white onion will also work
  
• Spice rub – You’ll find the instructions for making the spice rub in the paragraph below. If you’d like to save some time, you can use 2 1/2 tablespoons of an all-purpose seasoning, like Mrs. Dash.

Making the spice rub

To make the spice blend, add 1 teaspoon of each of the following spices to a small bowl. Then whisk or stir them together to combine.

• paprika
• garlic powder
• chili powder
• onion powder
• dried thyme
• dried rosemary
• salt 
• black pepper

If you want to make a larger batch so you can have extra on hand to season other things, simply double or triple the amount of each ingredient.

Then, measure out 2 1/2 tablespoons of spice rub to use for this recipe.

Using frozen chicken

While it is possible to cook an entire frozen chicken in the Instant Pot, it does take a longer time for the bird to cook.

It takes about 25 minutes to pressure cook a 4 pound chicken if it isn’t frozen, plus time for a natural pressure release. 

For a 4 pound frozen bird, increase the cook time to 50 minutes. Then, allow the pressure to release naturally, just as you would for a fresh chicken.

What to serve with the chicken

You’ll already have some cooked vegetables to serve with the chicken, but there are plenty of other side dishes that go well with poultry. Here are a few ideas:

• Dinner rolls or breadsticks
• Instant Pot rice or cauliflower rice
• Buttered noodles
• Mashed potatoes
• Steamed vegetables
• Corn casserole
• Stuffing/dressing

Storing and reheating

When the meal is over, be sure to wrap up any leftovers and store them in the refrigerator. They should keep well there for 4 to 5 days.

You can leave the meat on the bone if you’d like to, but removing it makes it easier to reheat later. Plus, it’s more convenient to use for making sandwiches or other recipes with leftover chicken. 

This Instant Pot vegetable bean soup is fantastic with chicken added to it. Or, use the leftover chicken to make chicken salad!

Freezing leftover chicken

Before freezing any leftovers, you will need to remove all of the meat from the chicken bones. This is easiest to do while the chicken is still warm.

To prevent freezer burn, be sure to store the meat in an airtight container or a freezer-safe storage bag.

Once frozen, the leftover chicken will keep well in the freezer for about 3 months.

More Instant Pot chicken recipes

• Instant Pot Frozen Chicken
• Instant Pot Chicken Breasts 3 Ways
• Instant Pot Chicken Thighs

Meal prep tools for this recipe

• Grab some glass meal prep bowls to store the leftovers
• I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box,conveniently delivered to me frozen
• Get a meat thermometer to make sure your chicken is cooked through