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Instant Pot Jerk Chicken

bowl of shredded chicken

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5 from 4 reviews

Instant Pot Jerk Chicken made with a super-flavorful marinade of garlic, ginger, allspice, soy sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, thyme & more. Use bone-in or boneless thighs. This jerk chicken can be spicy or mild, your choice!

Marinating the chicken overnight (or at least for a few hours) isn't absolutely necessary, but it will make the chicken more flavorful. 

Total Instant Pot Cooking Time for Boneless Thighs: 10 minutes to reach pressure + 8 minutes to cook + natural release

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 4 scallions, roughly chopped
  • 1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 tablespoon dried thyme or 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or Chinese Five Spice
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika or liquid smoke
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • Juice from 1 lime
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs OR bone-in thighs
  • Optional: 1 Scotch bonnet, habanero or jalapeno chili pepper, stem removed

Instructions

In a blender or food processor, combine the marinade ingredients and blend into a chunky paste: Scallions, shallot, ginger, garlic, thyme, allspice, cinnamon or 5 spice, smoked paprika or liquid smoke, brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, lime juice. Adding a chili pepper is optional.  

Instructions for Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs

  1. Pour the marinade over the chicken, coating both sides. Marinating overnight (or for a few hours) is optional. If you're in a hurry, just combine the chicken and marinade directly in the pressure cooker pot. I often skip marinating and the meal turns out great!
  2. Program the Instant Pot to cook for 8 minutes at high pressure. Let the pressure release naturally when the cooking time is complete.
  3. Shred the chicken with 2 forks and serve in the sauce. 

Instructions for Bone-in, Skin-on Thighs

  1. Pour the marinade over the chicken, coating both sides. Use your hands to rub the marinade under the chicken skin. Marinating overnight (or for a few hours) is optional.
  2. You can brown the chicken in the pressure cooker using the saute function, but I recommend doing it in a separate skillet on the stove-top. It’s harder to control the Instant Pot saute heat and the marinade is likely to stick and burn to the bottom of the pot while the skin browns. Also, the grease released from the skin while it browns will make the chicken greasier when it cooks under pressure. 
  3. To brown the chicken, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the  chicken thighs, skin side down. Cook until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Take the first batch out, and brown the remaining chicken thighs.  If the marinade starts burning to the bottom of the pot or skillet, drizzle a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar into the skillet and use a spatula to scrap up the browned bits. 
  4. After browning the chicken, add all of the thighs to the pressure cooker. Pour in any remaining marinade. 
  5. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Let pressure release naturally when the cooking time is complete.
  6. You can serve the thighs with or without the sauce remaining in the pot

Notes

This recipe was made in a 6-quart instant pot