Tuesday, September 15, 2020

BBQ Chicken in the Instant Pot

I've been working from home full time since the middle of July, but starting this week, my coworkers and I have been assigned one day a week to be in the office.  My day is Wednesday.  Which means tomorrow morning, I'll have to get up a little earlier, and, more stressfully, pack a lunch!

Thanks to the rain dump that Hurricane Sally is causing over the region, I expect I'll be stuck inside the office building and that the day will be gloomy, kinda like it is today.  So while last fall and spring I was able to enjoy a picnic lunch midday, that won't be the case tomorrow.  What to do? What to do?

I've been reading about how to make chicken in the Instant Pot - there's even a Poultry button on the front of the model we have.  When Publix had a BOGO free sale on boneless, skinless chicken breasts a few weeks ago, I bought some and put it in the freezer.  The Internet says the Instant Pot doesn't really care if your chicken is fresh or frozen rock solid, the cooking will be the same.

Erin over at Meaningful Eats has an Instant Pot BBQ Chicken recipe that she posted a while ago, but there are still people discovering it and commenting on the success of this method.  Bonus, it's gluten-free as well!  I thought pulled BBQ chicken sounded like something that could form the basis of a few meals including an office lunch.

I didn't have exactly the same ingredients as her recipe, but the modifications worked.  And the technical parts of the recipe were key to the success of making this in the Instant Pot.  Here's what I did, in order of adding to the Instant Pot:

1 1/4 c. Progresso chicken broth
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, partially defrosted
1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, paprika, and salt
2 T dried minced onions
3 T brown sugar
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 c. G. Hughes BBQ Sauce

Manual, high pressure, 15 minutes, 10 minutes natural release, then QR the remaining pressure.

Temp check of the chicken showed it was cooked through, so it was time to shred.  The chicken pulled apart easily but still maintained moisture and had flavor infused. The "sauce" left in the pot was pretty runny; it would be okay over rice if you were going to use serve it right away, but not for having a "saucy" sandwich.  Of course the recipe says add additional sauce after the chicken is done, so that wasn't surprising.  And I still have a half-bottle of the G. Hughes.

I intend to use some of the chicken on top of a salad for lunch tomorrow - a sort of BBQ Chicken and Salad.  I also think I'll put a serving's worth into the freezer to see how it keeps.

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