Pressure Cooker Beer Can Chicken

This pressure cooker beer can chicken is amazing! An easy and flavorful way to cook a whole chicken in a Ninja Foodi, Instant Pot or make Crockpot Express beer can chicken the easiest way! Fall off the bone in no time!

Pressure Cooker Whole Chicken

Ok so I grew up with this good ol’ fashioned beer can chicken recipe that was always cooked on the barbecue. It did always come out great but had a much longer cooking time. Then came the pressure cooker! I couldn’t stop using it so I thought what the heck, let’s give this a whirl too.

One of the biggest factors as to whether this will work in yours is it’s size. Both the bird and your pot have to fit right so the lid will close with a bit of space in between. This works best in the Crockpot Express because it is taller but for an 8 quart IP you can do it too.

Instant Pot Beer Can Chicken

Seriously, you just open beer, pour some inside, set chicken on top, season and set to manual high pressure. It’s not a dream any longer my friends. It’s a favorite Instant Pot whole chicken recipe of ours. You’ve got to try this even if you aren’t a beer lover. 😉

Is it safe to use beer in a pressure cooker?

Yes, I have done it with this recipe as well as making corned beef and cabbage in the Instant Pot. I will tell you at first I left it open overnight so it wasn’t bubbly. Then I did my research and everywhere said it was fine. From then on out, the past year, I just pour it in and it is just fine.

How does beer can chicken work?

The can acts as a trivet of sorts. You put the can of beer into the open cavity and cook! The liquid in the can gets hot in the cooking process and starts to evaporate inside the cavity cooking it from the inside out. This is how we initially made chicken in the Instant Pot, before now!!

Can you make beer can chicken with a frozen chicken?

I figured out how to cook Pressure cooker frozen whole chicken last month because I am forever forgetting to defrost meat for dinner. I wanted to figure this out to save dinner on those days. It wouldn’t work in this case because the hole would be hard and not pliable enough to slide it on top unfortunately.

NOW we’re here to show you how to make the best beer can chicken in your pressure cooker!

Fall off the bone literally right??!! It’s a wonder I was even able to get it out of the pot in kinda’ one piece in order to throw it under the broiler for a bit and crisp up the skin like you see here below (totally optional step but yummy).

How to Make Beer Can Chicken in Instant Pot

1. When it’s winter time and it’s snowing outside, I’m not about to cook outside
2. When it’s summertime I don’t want to turn on the oven to cook a whole chicken. Then, my pressure cooker saves the day.
3. Instant Pot beer can chicken takes approx. 30 minutes to go from a whole raw chicken to fall off the bone vs. several hours on the grill.
4. You can control how crispy the outside skin gets under your broiler after it’s cooked vs. sometimes getting overdone and dry in your bbq.
5. Beer can chicken in your pressure cooker comes out perfectly moist every time versus potentially drying out on the grill.

Of course the last step of broiling the chicken is optional, but we like it just a bit.

Tip: Remember that natural release means you don’t touch the pressure valve once time is up. Wait until timer on front says 10, then release the pressure by flipping the valve quickly. Be careful, it’s hot.

You NEED an 8 qt. pressure cooker – This will NOT work in a 6 qt. size (it will be too tall and not close). We used our 8 qt. Crock Pot Express

Ingredients

1. Whole chicken – 4-4.5 lbs. is ideal (much more than 5 lbs. will take a longer time and may not fit)
   1. I prefer organic because there’s more meat and less fat overall. A 4.5 lb. chicken will feed the 5 of us with very little fat to discard
2. 12 oz. can of beer (larger will not work, it will be too tall)
   1. I choose whichever brand is on sale since I only use beer for this recipe and my favorite beer bread. 
3. Seasonings you would normally use when you bake a whole chicken
   1. We used olive oil, minced garlic, seasoned salt and garlic salt

How do you get crispy chicken skin after pressure cooking?

Put it into a 9″ square oven safe dish – For browning once it is cooked (if you want crispy skin) throw it under your broiler in your oven for 3-4 minutes. OR use your air fryer at 400 for a few.

How long does it take for a pressure cooker to reach pressure?

Depends on the pressure cook recipe. In general I would say it takes 10 – 25 minutes to start the total time countdown. Longer with larger cuts of meat or a fuller pot.

Ninja Foodi Beer Can Chicken

I haven’t tried this yet because I have the smallest model. If you have the 8 qt. and yours will close with the bird facing up then go for it like this. If not throw it into your Ninja Foodi or other brand to make air fryer whole chicken. You can see how amazing that turns out. You’d omit the beer….but you could just drink that. 😉

You make this the same way, in an 8 qt. It doesn’t matter what brand you have it will work just as great. Here are Ninja Foodi chicken recipes. This one didn’t work in my model 6 qt. because their pot wasn’t tall enough, maybe the 8 would be. 🙁 Instructions work for all types of electric pressure cooker models.

Other easy chicken recipes and side items that pair well with this:

• Instant Pot chicken thighs bone in
• Spicy honey Instant Pot chicken

Try our smoked beer can chicken too if you like! As a side item this is the best beer bread recipe, our chile rice is great, and potato rolls are yummy. Pair them up and have a great simple meal this week!