Whole Chicken with Lemon and Herbs (Instant Pot)

instantpot-wholechickenlemonherb This Instant Pot Whole Chicken recipe can be made with fresh or frozen chicken. It is moist, juicy and so much easier than roasting. Slathered in garlic butter and cooked to perfection in your pressure cooker in just 30 minutes.

1 (4 lb) whole chicken (1.5 kg)
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp. dried parsley (0.9 g)
1 tsp. dried oregano (0.9 g)
1 tsp. dried rosemary (2.1 g)
1 tsp. dried thyme (1.4 g)
1 tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
1½ cups low sodium chicken broth
1 onion, quartered
1 lemon, quartered

To Serve:
lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Unwrap your chicken and remove any bag from the inner cavity if there is one. Gently loosen the skin but do not remove it.

Make the Garlic Butter:
In a small bowl, combine butter, parsley, oregano, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Spread butter evenly under the skin of the chicken.

*At this point, you can cook or freeze. To freeze, wrap in plastic wrap and place chicken in a large freezer bag. Freeze for up to 6 months.

Cook's Notes: to cook from frozen, or thaw before cooking and follow remaining steps.

Place the trivet in the Instant Pot and add chicken broth. Add chicken and place onion and lemon quarters around and under the chicken if desired (the lower pieces of chicken will absorb the lemon flavour, so don’t use it if you don’t want that).

Put the lid on and set the valve to sealing. Set the Instant Pot to manual, high pressure (the default), and 32 minutes (or 8 minutes per lb of chicken). It will take about 15 minutes to come to pressure and begin counting down. Other weights:

For 2.8 lbs (1260 g) Whole Chicken: 18 minutes Natural Release
For 3.2 lbs (1450 g) Whole Chicken: 20 minutes Natural Release
For 3.6 lbs (1633 g) Whole Chicken: 22 minutes Natural Release

When it is done cooking, turn the Instant Pot off and let pressure release naturally for 5-10 minutes before moving the valve to venting and releasing remaining pressure.

Open the lid and insert a meat thermometer into 3 or 4 places where the meat is the thickest. Be sure that it reaches 165°F in all places. Peel the skin off the chicken (or move to a broiler to brown if desired). Serve with freshly squeezed lemon juice , if desired.