Pulled Chicken with Tomatoes, Vinegar, and Brown Sugar

Our IP Version of SONNY’S BBQ’S Pulled Chicken with Tomatoes, Vinegar, and Brown Sugar.

Texas and Kansas City barbecue mavens are going to have to sit down. We love the sweet and tangy pulled chicken from this Florida chain.

To make it in the pot, we must use LOW pressure to keep the liquid as minimal as possible; otherwise, the chicken becomes soupy with sauce before it’s ready to be served. Don’t go too far when shredding the chicken: Leave it in somewhat bigger chunks, the way the restaurant does. We actually find cooling the meat and hand-tearing it (with clean hands, of course) yields the best texture.

Sonny’s BBQ also offers a side with each sandwich: potato salad, corn, green beans, or coleslaw, among others. You should consider doing the same, although none are included as part of this main recipe — which produces really flavorful but fairly straightforward pulled chicken. At home, we deviate from the original and add pickle relish as well as pickled jalapeño rings to the sandwiches.

Cuisine

American

Course

Appetizer, Dinner, Main Course, Side Dish

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

30-60 min

Cooking Technique

Pressure Cook, Sauté

Keywords

30-60 min, 4-6 servings, 5- to 6-ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts, american, appetizer, apple cider vinegar, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, chicken broth, contributed, cook 50 min, dinner, dried thyme, easy, garlic powder, ground allspice, ground black pepper, ground dried cayenne, hamburger buns, honey, instant pot pulled chicken, ketchup, light brown sugar, main course, medium scallions, mild paprika, onion powder, prep 10 min, pressure cook, sauté, side dish, small roma or plum tomatoes, table salt

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

50 min

Servings

4-6 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 small roma or plum tomatoes
6 medium scallions
2 tbsp mild paprika
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground dried cayenne
Five 5- to 6-ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp light brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
4 to 6 hamburger buns

Instructions

Stir the broth, vinegar, tomatoes, and scallions in the insert set in a 5- or 6-quart Instant Pot. Set a pressure-and-food-safe rack or trivet in the insert, moving the tomatoes out of the way.
Mix the paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, salt, allspice, black pepper, and cayenne in a small bowl until uniform. Use clean hands to rub this spice mixture all over the chicken breasts. Set them on the rack in as close to one even layer as you can. If they must overlap, make sure thin ends go over thin ends. (And wash your hands carefully with lots of soap because they now have cayenne on them!)
Whisk the ketchup, brown sugar, and honey in a small bowl (maybe even the same bowl the spices were in) until the brown sugar dissolves. Pour and scrape this mixture over the chicken breasts, keeping it on the meat without letting it fall into the liquid below. Lock the lid onto the cooker.
Set the Instant Pot for PRESSURE COOK or MANUAL on LOW pressure. Make sure the valve is closed. Set the time for 25 minutes with the KEEP WARM setting off.
When the pot has finished cooking, turn it off and let the pressure return to normal naturally, about 15 minutes. Unlatch the lid and open the cooker. Transfer the chicken breasts to a nearby cutting board. Remove the rack or trivet from the pot. (Kitchen tongs work best for all of this.)
Press SAUTÉ and set to MEDIUM, NORMAL, OR CUSTOM 300°F for 10 minutes.
Stir the sauce as it comes to a simmer. Cook, stirring quite often, until the sauce has reduced to about a third of its volume from when you opened the pot, about 4 minutes. Turn off the SAUTÉ function.
Use two forks to shred the chicken breasts. Stir this shredded chicken into the sauce in the pot until well combined. Serve warm in hamburger buns.

Notes

Other Pots
• For a 3-quart Instant Pot, you must halve almost all of the ingredient amounts except you must use ½ cup broth.
• For an 8-quart Instant Pot, you must increase almost all of the ingredient amounts by 50 percent except you must use 1 cup broth.
• For a 10-quart Instant Pot, you must double almost all of the ingredient amounts except you must use 1½ cups broth. (You must then also use a very large pressure and-food-safe rack or trivet.)

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