Recipe for Christmas Chicken Whole in the Instant Pot

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Christmas is fast approaching so don’t let Christmas dinner be a last minute thought. Forget the Christmas turkey or prime rib. You can actually make a roast chicken for Christmas into an elegant and festive dish. In addition, it can be one of your easiest parts of dinner! Use this recipe for Christmas Chicken in the instant pot for a simple but special dinner and your oven will be free for cooking the pies!

The Instant Pot

What could be better than plopping a chicken into a miniature oven and flipping a switch, only to come back in less than an hour to find a whole Christmas chicken ready for dinner! If you haven’t been a part of the instant pot movement let me introduce you.

The instant pot is a kind of pressure cooker device. It’s job is to bring things to a higher heat than boiled water through using pressure. It then holds the pressure at this heat for the amount of time indicated on the timer. Because of the high heat it maintains, the instant pot can also cook frozen meat in a much less amount of time.

The difference between the oven and instant pot is the fact that your IP (instant pot) will hold the moisture in foods much better than the oven. This results in a moist flavorful dish made in much less time than usual! This recipe for Christmas Chicken cooked whole in the instant pot takes less than an hour.

Herbs and Spices Used in the Rub

The herbs and spices I like to use in the recipe for Christmas Chicken creates a light herb flavor while adding spice from the ginger and paprika. This results in a slight sausage flavor. The star attraction is the fresh sprigs of herbs. I love using herbs that are cold hearty. While basil and marjoram have long been gone, my rosemary, thyme and oregano are still alive and well despite several frosts.

The fact that these herbs make it through the winter is a beautiful picture of the everlasting life come at Christmas time through the baby Jesus. This is, in fact why evergreen trees were first introduced as Christmas trees: to remind us of the life that came in darkness.

While these live herbs are beautiful and bring attention to the important holiday event, be cautious in how many sprigs you add. One too many will easily take over the flavor. This isn’t a bad thing if you love the flavor of, say, fresh rosemary chicken. It’s just a good idea to keep this in mind when you’re adding fresh herbs to the chicken cavity.

The Recipe for Christmas Chicken

• Whole Uncooked Chicken, Thawed (see below for thawing instructions)
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 Cup Water
• Several Fresh Sprigs of Herbs such as Sage, Rosemary, Thyme or Basil

The Herb Rub

• 2 teaspoons Sea Salt
• 1/4 teaspoons Pepper
• 1 teaspoons Sage
• 1 teaspoons Rosemary
• 1 teaspoons Marjoram
• 1 teaspoons Oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 2 teaspoons Garlic

Recipe Directions

• Plug Instant Pot in and set to SAUTE. Add butter to instant pot to melt. Take thawed chicken and remove bag of giblets from cavity and set aside. Wash the outside of chicken and then pat dry to prepare for frying.
• Once instant pot is hot and butter is melted put the chicken breast side down into the instant pot. Fry for 4-5 minutes. Turn chicken onto other side and do the same.
• Turn instant pot off and take chicken out. Place chicken onto a trivet (I like to put a trivet in a large bowl to catch juice that might drip). Pour 1 cup of water into the instant pot.

• Mix together your herbs and spices and rub onto chicken. Place chicken with the trivet back into the instant pot and stuff the cavity with a few sprigs of fresh herbs.
• Put instant pot lid on and set to SEALING. Cook 3-4 pound chicken for 35 minutes or 45 minutes for a chicken that’s closer to 5 pounds.
• Let pressure release naturally for 20 minutes or manually release pressure if short on time. Serve alongside cooked vegetables.

How to Thaw a Frozen Whole Chicken

Whole chickens can take a long time to thaw. Up to a week if it’s a big bird that’s very frozen. Your best bet is to thaw the chicken several days in advance in the refrigerator. If you’re short on time, you’ll need another option. How do we thaw this quickly? The most efficient way is in cold water.

Fill a large bowl halfway with ice water. Place your still wrapped frozen chicken in the water and allow it to sit for a couple hours. Change the water during this time to keep it cold. Note: A chicken thawed in this way should be cooked immediately!

How to Cook a Frozen Chicken in the Instant pot

What? You never thawed your chicken out! I’ve run into this problem many times before. Thankfully, the instant pot can be your miracle worker in this circumstance. Most importantly, your chicken should be thawed enough on the outside so you can take off the wrapper and remove the bag of organs in the cavity. See above for directions for thawing a chicken quickly.

After this, it only needs to be patted dry to you can roast the outsides as directed above. Once the chicken has been rubbed with herbs and spices and stuffed with any herb sprigs, simply cook longer than the usual amount.

• For a 2-4 pound whole frozen chicken, cook in instant pot for approximately 60 minutes.
• For a 4-5 pound whole frozen chicken cook in instant pot for approximately 90 minutes.

It’s important to check the internal temperature of the chicken when you’ve finished cooking. It should get to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. The good news is, if your chicken is not fully cooked, you can always put it back in the instant pot and cook it longer.

How to Store the Christmas Chicken Recipe

The best way to store chicken is in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It can be safely stored there for up to four days. If you can’t eat it in that amount of time, it will keep in the freezer for 2-6 months.

The real question is how to get the chicken to the container. When making a whole chicken, it’s important to cut off all your meat while the chicken is warm. As the meat cools, it will not fall off the bones as easily. If your meat has cooled, you can place it back into the instant pot, place this lid on and set to warm. Then return after 10-20 minutes to remove the chicken and cut off it’s meat.

Don’t forget to make the leftover carcass into bone broth. An added plus to cooking a whole chicken is the endless possibilities: leftovers, broth, gravy. It can provide your family with so much nutritious food.

What to Serve with the Recipe for Christmas Chicken

Here are a few side option that will be both beautiful and delicious alongside your Christmas Chicken. Mashed potatoes and fresh gravy are always wonderful options. In addition, I love this from scratch green bean casserole recipe. Here are a few more of my einkorn bread recipes:

My Favorite Farmhouse Buttermilk Biscuits with Einkorn

How to Make Einkorn Sourdough Garlic Herb Bread

PuSweet Pumpkin Sourdough Einkorn Flour Dinner Rolls Recipe

And for the kids…

Best Crispy Alexia Sweet Potato Fries In An Iron Pan

Merry Christmas!

I Hope this recipe provides your family with a beautiful Christmas Chicken made simply and easy!

From the Hilltop,

Krista