Pickles and chicken may sound like an odd combination, but it's the flavor you didn't even know you wanted to try and fall in love with. This Instant Pot Pickle Chicken dinner is made with three easy steps!
I don't know about you, but I am head-over-heels in love with the chicken from Chick-fil-A. I've always felt like they must be adding crack to it or something because it's definitely addictive. Well, come to find out, it's not crack - it's pickle juice! While we can't confirm that it's true, we've heard from several former employees that once upon a time, they used pickle juice in their brine, which gives it a unique flavor. Think about that the next time you bite into a sandwich, and I guarantee you'll taste it! So this Instant Pot pickle chicken is meant to remind us of our favorite chicken place. And you get to eat the pickles too!
More Whole Chicken Recipes
How to Make Instant Pot Pickle Chicken
And this is the AMAZING Result
FAQS
What is the flavor like? This recipe yields a moist and tender chicken with a mild hint of pickle flavor.
Can I get more pickle flavor if I marinate the chicken in pickle juice? Yes. You can marinate the chicken in pickle juice for 1-4 hours if you want a more intense pickle flavor.
Can I eat the pickles? Absolutely!
Can I use a frozen chicken? We have not tested this, or any of our recipes, with frozen chicken. As a rule, we don't recommend cooking from frozen. It's a quality thing. You can cook from frozen, but the quality will not be as good as cooking from fresh or thawed chicken. As we haven’t tested it, we cannot recommend a cook time.
Can I use chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken? You could do that, but I can’t say how good it will be. The whole chicken is really the best way to go. The cook time would be different as well. As we haven’t tested it, we cannot recommend a cook time.
★ Did you make this Instant Pot Pickle Chicken? Please give it a star rating below! ★
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Pickle Chicken
Ingredients
- 5 lb. whole chicken
- 24 oz. jar of kosher dill pickles
- 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. black pepper
Instructions
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper (and any other seasonings that tickle your pickle). Stuff the chicken cavity with the pickles.
- Pour the pickle juice from the jar (about 1 ½ cups) into the pot and insert the trivet. Place the chicken on top of the trivet, breast side up.
- Lock lid and cook for 35 minutes at high pressure. Once cook time is complete, allow pressure to release naturally. Crisp the skin using the following methods, or serve as is.
To crisp skin in Instant Pot Duo Crisp:
- Place air fryer lid on pot and set to broil for 10 minutes. Carefully remove from Instant Pot and enjoy!
To crisp skin in oven:
- Carefully transfer chicken to an oven-safe dish and place under a broiler for 5-7 minutes.
Patty
Do you suppose this recipe would work for oven roasted or crockpot chicken?? No instapot at my house?
Gary
I'm sure it would! I'm actually going to oven-roast a pickle chicken next week.
Jacqueline
Did you try this in the oven yet? Curious on results
Gary
Not yet, but it's on my list to try before the end of the month.
Bryan
Get an Instant Pot! You won't regret it.
Becky
Very, very good! I love chicken and always looking for new recipes. This one's a keeper!
X-CFA manager
Sounds delish! I will need to try it.
...
However, Chick-fil-A does not use pickle juice in their brine. As a former long time manager, the chicken does not have a pickle juice brine. It comes lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. The raw chicken is then dunked into a simple milk and egg wash. From there it goes into the coater. The coater is where the CFA magic happens. I don't know what's in it. That recipe is locked away tight. In fact, 3 different companies go into the making of the coater to protect the recipe. One mixes one half of the ingredients, and a second mixes the other half of the ingredients. Both ship them off to a third party who mixes together and packages to go out to the stores.
Yes, I wish it was as simple as pickle juice.
Jayne
Thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding about Chik-Fil-A's recipe/process. I LOVE their chicken, as well as their company's values and ethics. However, living an hour from the nearest city large enough to have a Chik-Fil-A, I'm happy to try this recipe. 🙂
CFA-IDGAF
here's the thing. I'm way happier that I can get it to taste just like CFA by adding pickle juice. Cool story bro but I dont know why you're all proud that CFA's process is much more complex. Good. That's how it should be, they're a company with the means. Us? We're just looking to make some tastey ass chicken
April Hatcher
I've also worked at CFA and in previous years late 90s. The grilled chicken and strips was actually marinated in part pickle juice part water mixed with a seasoning pack. Then later everything came frozen ready to bread/grill.
Elizabeth
I was a little skeptical that this would be good, but my husband wanted to try it. I actually really liked it! Very moist, and had a noticeable but mild pickle flavor, so it wasn't overwhelming. Leftovers heated well in our air fyer the next day. Will make again.
Jones
Cool idea! Chicken had a hint of pickle flavor, which was perfect.
Billy
Never knew Chick-Fil-A makes their chicken like this! Can't wait to try this at home. Thanks for sharing!
Gary
We can't confirm that they actually make their chicken like this, but the flavor reminds us of it a little.
Heather
Turned out great! Thanks!
J stover
I was not a fan. Chicken was dry and tasted like nothing.
Gary
Sorry you didn't enjoy it. Did it at least taste like chicken? 🙂
Angelina
😂😂😂
Kathryn
My family loved it! Thanks for the great recipe!
JKG
Would adding potatoes work? How would you do it?
Gary
Hmmm. I'm not not quite sure how to advise you here. There's really not a lot of space left after adding the chicken and pickles.
Candice
Not sure potatoes would be good cooked with the pickle juice. I think they’d take on too strong a flavor and I use quite a few pickles in my potato salad. But if you’re going to do it since the chicken takes up the whole pot I’d do the potatoes in the same pot and juice o. The trivet after the chicken. Maybe while it’s in the over browning up. If you try it please let me know how they turn out.
Yvette
But might make good potato salad🤷♂️
Lorena
What size instant pot is this?
Gary
All of our recipes are written for 6qt. IPs.
Miranda
This sounds so amazing!!! I think I'm going to use spicy dill pickles and see how much the spice comes through. Thanks for sharing!
Gary
Hey Miranda! Thanks for giving it a try. The pickles themselves will only add aromatic flavor. I don't think much spice will transfer to the chicken from pickles alone. (I could be wrong though.) I would recommend adding some spice to the chicken itself when seasoning on the inside and out.
Ransom
Super good recipe! I don't have a broiler but 7ish minutes at 500 as close to the top of my oven as I dared just about did the job for anyone who's worried about not being able to make this.
Definitely will be making this one again, thanks for sharing!
Michelle
Thank you! I don't have a broiler either and am making this tonight 🙂
christina
sounds delish! my only worry is that in the recipe specs, it says cook time 1 hr. but then in the actual recipe you say 35 min. that’s a lot of wiggle room ESPECIALLY for an instant pot. I’m afraid of cooking for only 35 min. and ending up with a partially raw bird or cooking for an hour and blowing my house up
Gary
35 minutes at high pressure is all you need. The hour includes 25 minutes for natural pressure release. 🙂
Jennifer
You have to account for the time of the pressure release plus the cook time before that.
Ruth
Tried this last night and it was... FANTASTIC! Juicy and flavorful. Love that it's so easy too. Thank you!!!
Dana
Do you broil the chicken with the pickles still in the cavity?
Gary
We did, and you can. But you don't have to. There's really no wrong answer. 🙂
Lane
Do you eat the pickles on the side, or discard?
Gary
We ate some of them. Really up to personal preference. 🙂
Susan
Chicken was super moist and juicy. Very, very slight pickle taste. Nothing overwhelming. 35 minutes was spot on in my instapot, 6 quarts. Broiling afterwards did give the skin a nice crisp, but I dont think it's a necessary step if you dont want to do it. I will make this again. Thanks!
Reba
Do you suppose you could use boneless, skinless breasts in this recipe and just dump the pickles in the pot around them?
Gary
You could do that, but I can't say how good it will be. The whole chicken is really the best way to go. The cook time would be different as well. As we haven't tested it, it'd be hard to recommend a cook time.
Jaime Thurston
Gary, can you use a frozen chicken or does it have to be defrosted?
Gary
Definitely defrost first. Even if you could use frozen, you'll get a better result cooking a thawed chicken.
Jaime Thurston
ok great, thanks so much! Going to make it later on this week!
Amy
I don't think you could shove the pickles in a frozen chicken?
Camdice
I’m doing this tonight. I seasoned my chicken and stuffed it this morning and it’s in the fridge marinating. Question, has anyone cut the chicken after IP cooking and tried breading and frying or air fried it? I’m going to try that with a few pieces tonight using a copycat recipe for CFA breading.
Jason
The chicken picked up a subtle but discernible dill and garlic flavor. I actually under seasoned. I was so afraid of the salt in the juice, but that didn’t takeover. I sautéed the pickles involved to serve alongside the chicken. It’s very tasty! The pickles were soft, but the chicken actually insulated them from mush status. Browning them up after actually crisp them back up a little.
The pickles actually tasted more like chicken, than the chicken tasted like pickles.
This will be made again.
Valentina
Listened to you on Elaine Benoit's podcast today. I really enjoyed it, so I had to pop over to check out your site -- and more specifically, THIS recipe. I was so intrigued when you talked about it. I love this idea and bet it's fantastic. Putting it on my must-try list! 🙂
Sandy Brady
I made this tonight and it was so good. I have an eight quart, so the only thing I will do differently next time is to let the rest of the pressure out at 25min. NPR took 35 min. and the legs were falling off. It was still moist, so I’ll take it as a positive and say that with the legs off I had less to carve.
Vickie Lilly
Gary....I remember you from Clarcona Elem. days. I worked in the Media Center and you were on our TV crew if I remember correctly. I was there from opening day (Nick Gledich, principal) until I left to go to the district office (two principals later) .Not sure what years you were there but in my later days of Clarcona I taught the Computer Lab. Our son, David, was also there at for all of his elementary years. Going to try this recipe real soon. I have 4 IP's - 2 -8qts. and 2-6qts. Use them regularly along with my Air Fryer Oven and Sous Vide cooker. Have you known anyone that might have used sweet pickles instead? We were also neighbors of Rachel & Matt DiSalvatore, Linda Weekley (also of Clarcona) is a friend and she and Jennifer Sanders visited in our home in East Tennessee last year).
Gary White
Hey Miss Vickie! Good to hear from you again. I hope you like the chicken. We love it!
Melmoe
I liked the hint of fill pickle flavor. Chicken was very tender and moist. I only seasoned with pepper and salt, so not so much flavor there. Will try again with some more interesting rubs/seasoning
Cara Unrue
It was SO GOOD!! Hard to describe the flavor, somewhat pickley, but a good garlic and dill flavor from the pickle brine. So moist too. A+
Jan
Sounds very easy, and I'm putting it together now, but I could not find a 5lb bird. My chicken is only 3.85 lbs. How long do I cook it? Help!
Gary White
30 minutes should do it.
Toni Pronti
I could only get a 6lb chicken at the store... Do you think 40 minutes will work?
Gary White
Yes, that should be plenty of time.
Mickey
My chicken is too big for ip
How do I do it in the oven? Whole chicken
Gary White
When I cook this in the oven, I first marinate the chicken overnight in pickle juice. Then, dry it really well. I like to top it with lots of coarse, fresh-cracked, black pepper and bake for 1 1/2 - 2 hours at 425 F. Be sure to put lots of veggies in the tray to cook in the juices. I like onions, carrots, and fennel. Toss them in a little olive oil and season with s&p. A few thyme sprigs wouldn't hurt either.
Eilin Bowerman
How long should I roast in oven????? What temp ??? I REALLY want to make this for my grandbabies who LOVE pickles but I do not have a Insta pot. Please
Gary White
When I cook this in the oven, I first marinate the chicken overnight in pickle juice. Then, dry it really well. I like to top it with lots of coarse, fresh-cracked, black pepper and bake for 1 1/2 - 2 hours at 425 F. Be sure to put lots of veggies in the tray to cook in the juices. I like onions, carrots, and fennel. Toss them in a little olive oil and season with s&p. A few thyme sprigs wouldn't hurt either.
Ashley
Just tried this. Despite being liberally coated in salt and pepper, and following the directions exactly, the chicken has no flavor. It nice and juicy but I’ve never had instant pot chicken that wasn’t. The smell of chicken broth and pickles is almost nauseating but there’s no hint of pickles in the taste. I don’t recommend this, it’s not bad just very bland.
Vafarmer
Just tried this recipe in my offset smoker @250 for 4hrs until internal temperature was @ 175. It came out amazingly good. Definitely going to do this for my next cookout.
Thanks for the recipe..