Persian Pulled Chicken {Slow Cooker or Instant Pot}

This Persian Pulled Chicken is a simple healthy recipe that can be made in the slow cooker or instant pot. It’s full of flavor and great served over rice, on a pita, in a wrap or over a salad for a quick lunch or dinner that can be prepped ahead of time!

Hi friends!

You all have been asking for more slow cooker recipes and I aim to please! As you now know, things have been a little busy around here lately…so a few weeks ago I reached out to a few blog friends to see if anyone had any delicious crockpot recipes they wanted to share with you guys.

My friend Lauren, a fellow RD mama and blogger over at Bite of Health Nutrition offered to share this super simple recipe for Persian Pulled Chicken. She’s a huge fan of slow cooker recipes because as we mamas know, meals that require minimal effort to cook are lifesavers when you have a toddler you need to keep up with! If you’re not familiar with Lauren’s blog, you’re definitely going to want to go check it out! She has tons of great recipes like these Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Overnight Oats, these Vegetable and Cheese Sheet Pan Eggs, and these Blender Peanut Butter Banana Oat Bars.

Here’s a note from Lauren about the recipe:

The inspiration for my Slow Cooker Persian Pulled Chicken recipe comes from a couple different dishes that my husband and his family make. If you have ever had the pleasure of eating authentic Persian food you know how good it is. And if you haven’t I highly suggest it! Their dishes are full of flavor and packed with nourishing ingredients. This specific dish uses some Persian staple ingredients including onion, turmeric, curry powder, and tomato paste. The original dish is more of a stew but this recipe turns out to be less saucy and goes well served alongside basmati rice or in a pita with plain yogurt and Salad Shirazi (a Persian cucumber and tomato salad). 

After Lauren sent me the recipe, I knew I wanted to check it out for myself. I decided to try it in the instant pot so I could share both sets of directions for you depending on your preference.

So here’s the recipe:

Persian Pulled Chicken

This Persian Pulled Chicken is a simple healthy recipe that can be made in the slow cooker or instant pot. It’s full of flavor and great served over rice, on a pita, in a wrap or over a salad for a quick lunch or dinner that can be prepped ahead of time!

• Author: Lindsay
• Prep Time: 5 min
• Total Time: 5 min
• Yield: serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1.5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl add chicken broth, tomato paste, turmeric, curry powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine and set aside.
2. Place a sauté pan or a stove-top safe slow cooker pan on to the stove on medium-high heat. Add olive oil and onions, sauté for 5 minutes or until onions are translucent.
3. If using a sauté pan add cooked onions to slower cooker then layer on chicken, then pour liquid and spice mixture over the chicken.
4. Set slow cooker to low for 6 hours. 
5. Once cooked shred chicken using a fork or the back of a large spoon.
6. Serve on top of cooked rice, or in a pita with diced tomatoes, cucumber and onions and plain Greek yogurt.

Notes

You can use frozen chicken in the slow cooker, but increase cooking time to 8 hours.

To cook in the Instant Pot, reduce chicken broth to 1 cup, saute onions in oil using saute function on IP for 5 min. Add chicken and broth mixture. Usual manual mode to set for 12 minutes. Use quick release and check to see if it shreds easily with a fork. If not, set for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Easy right? I served mine over naan bread and topped with a mixture of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and peppers. So easy and delicious.

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–