Instant Pot Whole Roasted Chicken Recipe

There are a few things that, at some point along your journey toward being a competent home chef, you must learn how to make. These include properly cooked pasta and rice, a good omelet, potato soup, grilled steak, and a roasted chicken — not baked chicken breast or thighs, but a whole roasted chicken, cooked intact, bones, wings, legs, and all. Think you don't have time for cooking a whole bird? Think again, thanks to technology.

"Instant Pot whole chicken is truly revolutionary," says chef and recipe developer Susan Olyinka of The Flexible Fridge. "To have a roast ready in this amount of time is unheard of! It's perfect for busy families."

And what's more, this recipe is perfect for someone new to cooking whole chickens, making what might have seemed intimidating instead entirely approachable. "This is pretty easy and straightforward. It's searing the meat and then letting the Instant Pot do the hard work," Olayinka explains.

Beyond how easy it is to prepare this whole roasted chicken, there are two great things about a roasted chicken in general: the different types of meat you get ... and the leftovers! "We always love whole chicken in my house," says Olayinka, adding, "My husband usually claims all the bone meat, and my toddler son and I love the chicken breast. And the leftovers are golden. I use them to make a chicken broth with the bones. And any leftover chicken I use to make soup."

To start off, get a small bowl and place into it the paprika, thyme, garlic, onion, salt, and black pepper, and mix them together well using a whisk or fork. Now rub the chicken with that spice rub, including getting plenty into the cavity.

Next, turn the Instant Pot to sauté mode at the high setting and select 10 minutes. Then place the butter into the Instant Pot, allow it to melt, and then brown the whole chicken by letting it cook on each side for two to three minutes, using tongs to turn it to heat each side.

Perhaps rather unbelievably, given that you spent about 10 minutes hands-on time and all of 45 minutes cooking the bird, your whole roasted chicken is now done. After those 15 minutes are up, quickly release the remaining steam, then carefully open the Instant Pot lid, remove the whole chicken, and place it onto a serving platter.

"Great serving ideas are roast potatoes or roasted sweet potatoes and any vegetables like roasted carrots, parsnips, and so on," says Olayinka. And of course, then there are all those leftover ideas. To preserve any leftover meat, it's a good idea to slice it down into more manageable size (remove wings and thighs and slice chicken breast into strips) and place these in airtight containers in the fridge for three to four days. This is assuming you have any leftovers, of course.