- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- 3/4 cup BBQ sauce
- 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp mild chili powder
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instant Pot
Place the chicken in the Instant Pot.
Sprinkle the chicken with mild chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper.
In a small bowl, mix together the BBQ sauce and the crushed tomatoes. Pour this mixture over the chicken.
Set for 10 minutes on high pressure. Naturally release the pressure for 5 minutes and then manually release the rest of the pressure.
Take the chicken out of the Instant Pot and place it on a cutting board. Using 2 forks, shred the chicken. Or you can place the chicken into a stand mixer and shred the chicken on low, yes this really works!
Put some chicken aside for younger kids, once shredded, the chicken won’t have a ton of BBQ sauce on it. This is a great time to put some aside for your kiddos if they won't go for the full BBQ sauce chicken.
Carefully pour the BBQ sauce out of the instant pot into a small bowl or measuring cup (don’t worry, we will add some of this back in later). Because the chicken releases water when cooked, I have found that most of the time when I cook chicken in an Instant Pot there is just way too much liquid. I have found that most kids don’t like soggy salsa chicken so I like to control the amount of BBQ sauce that goes back into the Instant Pot with the chicken. I usually use about half in this recipe, but this will vary everytime.
Place the shredded chicken back into the Instant Pot and then add the BBQ sauce back in a little at a time, until you have the right chicken and BBQ sauce ratio.
Age: 9 months and up
Storage: you can store any leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Frozen Chicken: if using the Instant Pot, you can definitly use frozen chicken. I would add 2 minutes onto the cooking time. But no other moditifcations are needed.
BBQ Sauce: you can use any BBQ sauce you have on hand, though I would recommend using a mild version if serving to kids;).
Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
Calories: 150kcal, Carbohydrates: 10g, Protein: 16.8g, Fat: 4.3g, Saturated Fat: 1.2g, Cholesterol: 50mg, Sodium: 344mg, Potassium: 195mg, Fiber: 0.8g, Sugar: 7g, Calcium: 20mg, Iron: 1mg