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. I like serving it with potatoes, or rice, vegetables, and gravy for a delicious dinner.
How long to cook boneless chicken thighs in instant pot is 5 minutes pressure cooking and 4 minutes browning time. Continue to read for tips, how to season, and more.
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 thighs 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 the chicken 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.
Let me show you how to cook boneless chicken thighs in instant pot and how long to cook it.
Related: Instant pot chicken drumsticks, Air fryer boneless skinless chicken thighs, Oven baked boneless chicken thighs
Ingredients
Here are what you will need to make boneless chicken thighs in the instant pot:
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 Skinless 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, and 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 thickens.
Frozen Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs In Instant Pot
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 the instant pot to saute then add oil into the inner pot.
When the oil is heated, add the chicken 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 to 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.
Chicken is cooked when it is tender and the internal temperature when checked with an instant thermometer is at least 165F.
Let the chicken rest for a few minutes before serving them.
What To Serve With
Here are some suggestions for side dishes to serve with:
Vegetables like Instant pot baked potatoes, instant pot carrots, pan fried vegetables, air fryer broccolini, and boiled carrots go well with it.
Some potato dishes I love to serve it with are Air fried potatoes, onion mashed potatoes, seasoned potato wedges, Parmentier potatoes, and air fryer vegetables.
Rice dishes like spicy rice, Jollof rice, and yellow rice
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 it in ziploc bags, label it, and store it 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
- Experiment with seasonings of your choice. Some I have used and love are chicken seasoning, jerk seasoning, and Peri Peri seasoning.
- Don't forget to deglaze the pot after browning the chicken to prevent burn notice.
- You can cook potatoes in the pot at the same time. Dice them into medium size and add them to the trivet just before pressure cooking.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving. This is so the internal juice has time to redistribute after cooking.
- Toss in sauces like BBQ sauce, buffalo, lemon butter, herb butter, etc for more flavor.
More Chicken Thigh Recipes
More Instant Pot Recipes
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Recipe
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
- Experiment with seasonings of your choice. Some I have used and love are chicken seasoning, jerk seasoning, and Peri Peri seasoning.
- Don't forget to deglaze the pot after browning the chicken to prevent burn notice.
- You can cook potatoes in the pot at the same time. Dice them into medium size and add them to the trivet just before pressure cooking.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving. This is so the internal juice has time to redistribute after cooking.
- Toss in sauces like BBQ sauce, buffalo, lemon butter, herb butter, etc for more flavor.
I had thighs defrosted, but didn’t want to do the same ol’ same ol’. I stumbled upon your recipe. It was wonderful! I omitted the cayenne for the kiddos, but added potatoes. Instead of water, I used broth to deglaze and did a cornstarch slurry for the gravy. I served with steamed broccoli and it was great! My house still smells delicious. I’ll definitely make again. Thank you!
Wonderful! Thank you for the feedback 🙂
Wow! So flavorful!! Gonna make this for my kids when they come for dinner!
I'm glad you like it 🙂
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.