Need to know how to cook a frozen whole chicken to tender quickly?? We’ve got it! This is just one of our Instant Pot recipes that people are amazed by. I was too until we made it a few times, shredded to make tacos, and my kids didn’t know the difference between this one and using a fresh bird.

We started this journey by making a frozen whole chicken in a Crockpot. That turned out well but of course took all day so this method was next. It was a total game changer. Now I use it weekly to shred and make tacos for Tuesday or when guests come over.

If this is kinda’ blowing your mind, we wouldn’t share anything that wasn’t a hit for us. Maybe you have made our Instant Pot frozen roast so you are kinda’ thinking this would work too. It will!! As a Ninja Foodi recipe use the lid that is not attached, or make in a Crockpot Express.

A packaged whole frozen chicken labeled "Air Chilled Fresh Whole Young Chicken" sits beside sliced onions and a pressure cooker on the table. The label emphasizes "Antibiotics Ever," while "Instant Pot Frozen Chicken" headlines the image.

How Long to Cook Frozen Whole Chicken in Instant Pot

This will take about 1 hour which is a fraction of the time of roasting frozen whole chicken in oven and it came out so good. The biggest difference between the two is the texture of the skin, which you could change at the end. Pressure cooked will keep it from getting crispy. If you broil for a few minutes with oil when done you can “fix that” though.

What size frozen chicken will fit inside an Instant Pot?

6 pounds is the max that will fit in a 6 quart I found. Of course you can fit a larger one if it were thawed because it is pliable to get inside there snugly. In this case it is firm so smaller it is.

Cage free chickens have less fat on them overall. This means you can get a smaller chicken with the same amount of meat as a much larger non organic chicken, and size matters when it comes to fitting a whole chicken inside your pot.

Do all whole chickens have a giblet bag?

Some do not have a giblet bag inside, so no worries (this one had no bag). Others contain a bag that is paper which wouldn’t do you harm if cooked inside accidentally. If yours has a plastic bag inside and it is cooked you should discard everything as it is not healthy to eat anything that has come into contact with cooked/heated plastic. Look at the bag when you buy it, it will usually say. Choose one without it.

A whole roasted chicken with crispy, golden-brown skin and a sprinkle of herbs sits inside a Ninja Foodi. The chicken is evenly cooked, its skin slightly glistening, showcasing this delicious Ninja Foodi chicken recipe as freshly prepared perfection.

How to Crisp the Skin

I will tell you that you can crisp it a bit like our air fryer whole chicken, but not to that extent. Since yours would already be cooked you’d only need 5 or so minutes. It will gets yours just like the rotisserie version you buy at the store but better. You can add lots of seasonings with some olive oil when it is cooked.

Then pop it into your Cosori, AirWave or Foodi for a few minutes and all of those flavors (or just use salt and pepper) will flavor the skin. Crispy crunchy outside is what you’ll get after just a few minutes.

If you’re just going to shred Instant Pot whole chicken it for tacos though you may not bother with these steps as you may just discard the skin anyway. I only do it if I’m serving it as is, cut up into pieces. If I am making sliders or throwing it on top of rice it doesn’t matter. I rip the skin off beforehand in those cases so why bother.

How to Make the Gravy

Also when your chicken is fall apart done and you remove it DON’T throw away the delicious broth at the bottom. You can use it to make pressure cooker gravy to pour on top of your chicken if you want.

This method allows you to purchase many whole chickens when they’re on sale and freeze them all, making them immediately ready to cook using this method whenever you want. We do this often since we have a deep freeze in the garage. It saves me money and trips to the store so it’s a win win.

I will tell you, I was surprised at how tender and flavorful it was….and like I said, the drippings made for some great gravy to serve on the side. The next time we made this I followed the same recipe but after putting it under the broiler (below photo) I shredded the meat and we made chicken soft tacos.

After cooking a frozen chicken here are a few other frozen meat and easy Instant Pot chicken recipes to try. Use your Ninja Foodi too or other brand of electric pressure cooker: