This instant pot boneless chicken thighs recipe is simple, easy, and quick. You will love this pressure cooker boneless skinless chicken thighs that are well seasoned, flavorful, tender, juicy, and cooked to perfection.
We like serving it with potatoes, or rice, vegetables, and gravy for a delicious dinner.
I have a recipe for instant pot chicken thighs on the blog but that is for skin on bone in thighs. This is a dedicated one for the skinless boneless version which cooks faster, and is leaner than that one. You can also use this recipe for chicken breasts.
Instant Pot Boneless Chicken Thighs Recipe
This instant pot boneless skinless chicken thighs recipe is quick and cooks in less than 20 minutes in the pressure cooker.
It's well seasoned with a few herbs and spices but you can use or add a bit of your favorite homemade or store-bought seasoning.
Cooking it in an instant pot is quicker than making it in the oven or air fryer and it comes out perfectly cooked.
It's not every time one wants to deal with bone-in chicken and this recipe is just perfect.
It's easy to cook and no babysitting it while it cooks as the instant pot alerts you when it's ready.
It's a one pot recipe so less stress cleaning up after cooking.
I have used fresh ones but you can also use frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs. I have included instructions for that too.
Ingredients
Chicken thighs - Boneless skinless
Paprika
Black pepper
Parsley
Onion granules
Garlic granules
Bouillon
Salt
Oil - Vegetable, Sunflower or Olive oil.
Some other seasonings that you can use are this simple chicken seasoning, jerk seasoning, Cajun, lemon pepper are some others that will work with this recipe. You can alternate them so you have a different taste each time. No boring meals here!
How to Cook Boneless Chicken Thighs in Instant Pot
Season the chicken - Add paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic granules, onion powder, parsley, and salt to the chicken and mix till well combined. Set aside.
Saute - Put on the instant pot and set it to saute.
Add oil in the pot then add in the chicken thighs in a single layer and brown the sides to seal in the flavor (It takes about 2 minutes to brown each side).
When the sides are browned, take the chicken thighs out of the instant pot onto a plate.
Switch off the instant pot then add water into the pot. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits stuck in the pot (this process is called deglazing).
When you've deglazed the pot, put a trivet in it then arrange the browned chicken on the trivet.
Pressure cook - Cover the pressure cooker with its lid, turn the sealing valve into 'sealing'.
Set it to manual pressure cook for 5 minutes and afterward do 3 minutes natural pressure release.
When the IP is depressurized, open the lid and take out the chicken thighs.
You can then toss in sauces like buffalo sauce, bbq sauce, peri peri sauce or add garlic butter sauce.
Also, use the broth in the pot to make gravy or save it to use to cook other foods.
To make gravy just add in cornflour slurry, set the IP to saute and stir till the broth thicken.
Cooking It From frozen
To cook instant pot frozen boneless chicken thighs, run them under water to deglaze and remove ice then season with dry spice rub. Because it's frozen, you will not be able to brown the skin before cooking you will do it after cooking the chicken.
Add water to the pot of the instant pot and place a trivet in the pot. Arrange the chicken thighs on the trivet then close the IP with its lid.
Set the instant pot to pressure cook for 10 minutes and then do a 5 minutes natural pressure release.
If you'd like to brown it, pour the broth from the chicken into a bowl and wash the inner pot.
Set instant pot to saute then add oil in to the inner pot.
When the oil is heated, add the chicken thighs and brown the sides for 2 minutes each or till browned.
You can broil them in the oven if you prefer.
How long to cook boneless chicken thighs in instant pot
This depends on the size and thickness, and whether you're cooking it from fresh or frozen.
If cooking it from fresh, for average size using this recipe, it takes 14 minutes. 4 minutes to brown the sides, 5 minutes to pressure cook and 5 minutes natural release.
Cooking it from frozen will take 20 minutes.
Note that i did not include the time it takes the pressure cooker to come to pressure.
What to serve with
Here are some suggestions of side dishes to serve it with:
Instant pot baked potatoes, and instant pot carrots.
Air fried potatoes, and air fryer vegetables.
Boiled broccoli, and boiled potatoes or parmentier potatoes
Gravy, hot sauce, bbq sauce, peri peri sauce.
How to Store
Leave to cool, put in a Ziploc bag or airtight plastic container, and then store in the fridge where it will last for up to 3 days.
To store it in the freezer: Put in ziploc bags, label, and store in the freezer where it will last for up to 3 months.
You can reheat it in the microwave, oven or air fryer.
Leftovers can be repurposed and used in omelettes, soups, stews, curries, sandwiches and more.
Tips
- Don't forget to deglaze the pot to prevent burn notice.
- You can cook potatoes in the pot at the same time. Dice them into medium size and add them on the trivet just before pressure cooking.
- Toss in sauces like bbq, buffalo, lemon butter, herb butter, etc for more flavor.
More Chicken thighs recipe
More Instant Pot Recipes
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Instant Pot Boneless Chicken Thighs
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 5 pieces Boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Parsley
- ½ teaspoon Onion granules
- ½ teaspoon Garlic granules
- ¼ teaspoon Cayenne pepper or black pepper
- 2 tablespoons Oil olive, vegetable or sunflower oil
- 1 cup Water
Instructions
- Add paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic granules, onion powder, parsley, and salt to the chicken and mix till well combined. Set aside.
- Put on the instant pot and set it to saute. Add oil in the pot then add in the chicken thighs in a single layer and brown the sides to seal in the flavor (It takes about 2 minutes to brown each side).
- When the sides are browned, take the chicken thighs out of the instant pot onto a plate. Switch off the instant pot then add water into the pot. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits that'll be stuck in the pot (this process is called deglazing).
- When you've deglazed the pot, put a trivet in it then arrange the browned chicken on the trivet.Cover the pressure cooker with its lid, turn the sealing valve into 'sealing'. Set it to manual pressure cook for 5 minutes and afterward do 3 minutes natural pressure release.
- When the IP is depressurized, open the lid and take out the chicken thighs.You can then use the broth in the pot to make gravy or save it to use to cook other foods.
- To make gravy just add in cornflour slurry, set the IP to saute and stir till the broth thicken.
Notes
- Don't forget to deglaze the pot to prevent burn notice.
- You can cook potatoes in the pot at the same time. Dice them into medium size and add them on the trivet just before pressure cooking.
- Toss in sauces like bbq, buffalo, lemon butter, herb butter, etc for more flavor.
This was great! We used a little too much cayenne for our taste and will dial that down next time we prepare, but the whole family loved this and it smelled amazing when we opened the pot. Definitely a keeper.