This Instant Pot Jamaican Jerk Chicken recipe features succulent bone-in chicken with boldly spiced Caribbean flavors, beautifully finished on the grill.
Note: I’ve updated this recipe to pressure cook for 10 minutes. I used to recommend 12 minutes, but the chicken can get overcooked especially if you’re grilling afterward.
I love to serve Instant Pot Jamaican Jerk Chicken with fried ripe plantains, black beans and rice, and a peach or mango salsa. So good! To make the fried plantains, peel them, cut them on a bias, and fry them in a non-stick frying pan with a little bit of oil until both sides are a rich golden brown.
Be sure to use plantains and not bananas, and they should be ripe. A ripe plantain looks kind of over-ripe in the photo above.
Tips and Substitutions
This recipe uses Jamaican jerk seasoning that is not too spicy.
If you want to make it spicier, you can add Scotch bonnet hot sauce or finely chopped Scotch bonnet peppers to your chicken marinade.
Be sure to use a light touch, because they’re spicy peppers! Alternately you could use a milder chili pepper.
The recipe calls for Pickapeppa Sauce which is a Jamaican condiment containing tamarind. I am able to find it in my regular grocery store where the barbecue sauces are sold. You can also find it on amazon.
When you’re reducing the sauce, watch for splatter. I use a splatter screen.
If you don’t have access to a grill you can finish it off in the oven on the broil setting, turning once until both sides are caramelized.
If you want to just grill chicken with a pre-made sauce, try the authentic Jamaican Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning. I have not used this marinade in the Instant Pot; I’ve only grilled with it. If using in the Instant Pot, you might need to thin it out with water.
If you’re new to the Instant Pot
and aren’t familiar with how to use it, please read the Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Quick Start Guide or the Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Quick Start Guide first and then come back here to learn how to make this Instant Pot Jamaican Jerk Chicken.
Instant Pot Jamaican Jerk Chicken Recipe Ingredients
Instant Pot Jamaican Jerk Chicken Recipe Step-by-Step Instructions
- Add ketchup, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, Pickapeppa sauce, Jamaican jerk seasoning, salt to the inner pot of the Instant Pot.
- Stir until mixed well.
- Add chicken pieces and stir to coat.
- Close Instant Pot Lid, and make sure steam release handle is in the ‘Sealing’ position.
- Press ‘Manual’ (or ‘Pressure Cook’) and ‘+’ or ‘-‘ until display reads ‘10’ (10 minutes).
- Instant Pot display will change to ‘On’.
- Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
- The display will count down from 10 to 0; it will switch to ‘Keep Warm’ mode and display ‘L0:00’.
- Do a Quick Release: move the steam release handle to ‘Venting’. I like to place a folded towel over the steam release handle and move it to the venting position. Remove the towel after turning the knob. *
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- It’s now safe to open the Instant Pot. (Press ‘Cancel’ to turn off Instant Pot.)
* You can choose to do a natural pressure release (NPR) if you’re not going to grill the chicken.
- Remove chicken pieces from the inner pot and set aside.
- Press ‘Saute’ and reduce the marinade/sauce until thickened, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- If necessary, use a splatter screen to prevent splatters.
- Grill chicken for just enough time to get sear marks, and to give it a grilled look and flavor, about 2 minutes per side.
- You can either baste each side while you grill, or coat the chicken in the sauce before placing on the grill.
Instant Pot Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp Pickapeppa sauce
- 1 Tbsp Jamaican jerk seasoning
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 chicken drumsticks
Instructions
- Stir together ketchup, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, Pickapeppa sauce, Jamaican jerk seasoning, and salt in the Instant Pot.
- Add chicken pieces and stir to coat.
- Close Instant Pot Lid, and make sure steam release handle is in the ‘Sealing’ position.
- Cook on ‘Manual’ (or 'Pressure Cook') for 10 minutes.
- Do a quick release of pressure and carefully open the Instant Pot.
- Remove chicken pieces and set aside.
- Press ‘Saute’ and reduce the sauce until thickened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Use a splatter screen if necessary, to prevent splatters.
- Grill chicken for just enough time to get sear marks, and to give it a grilled look and flavor, about 2 minutes per side. You can either baste each side while you grill, or coat the chicken in the sauce before placing on the grill.
- Serve with Peach Salsa or fried plantains, and beans and rice. Serve remaining sauce on the side.
Notes
- Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. minced garlic, skinless chicken, etc.
- Adapted from Cuisine at Home magazine Weeknight Meals
- If not finishing on the grill, increase pressure cooking time to 12 minutes.
- Natural Pressure Release also works fine for this recipe
- See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips.
Nutrition
I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.
If you loved this recipe, please give it a 5 Star rating in the comment section below and please share it on social media using the social media share buttons at the top and bottom of this post. Thank you so much!
You might also like to try these Instant Pot Recipes:
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| Instant Pot Thai Grilled Chicken | Instant Pot Korean Chicken | Instant Pot Teriyaki Wings |
Shanthini Jayanthan
I will make it one of these days. Are the legs skinless or with skin ? Like to make with skinless.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hey Shantini, great to hear from you 🙂 I use skinless chicken. Hope you like it.
Caren
We love this recipe. My husband requests several times a month or whenever we have company. I just broil in my oven instead of on grill. Can make a head too.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Caren, that’s so great to hear that your family loves the recipe so much <3 Thanks for your comment.
Janet Manswell
I sautéed chopped onions, garlic and 1/2 of a scotch bonnet pepper first then I added the rest of the ingredients. It was delicious!!!!!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Awesome, Janet! Those scotch bonnets go a long way – must have added a nice spicy touch!
Enakshi
Hi, what would be the time if I used boneless thighs instead of bone-in thighs?
Love all your recipes and have tried quite a few of them – always delicious!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Enakshi, great question. If you’re going to be grilling the chicken afterward, cook for about 6 minutes. You can do 7 to 8 minutes if you’re not going to grill.
Joanne
Hi! I’m new to the IP and am planning to make this in the coming days. I’m planning on using chicken legs but my brother in law only eats white meat. How can I manage to use both dark and white meat and adjust the cooking time accordingly? Suggestions please because I’m really anxious to try this recipe out!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Joanne, the way you could make it work is to keep the white meat as a large piece. Do you normally cook chicken breast in the Instant Pot – I don’t really like to because it tends to be tricky to keep moist and can become chewy and tough.
edie alford
Very good and easy to make with items found in most spice drawers. I did have the suggested Walkerswood Jamaican Jerk seasoning on hand. As mentioned I t is good on its own for quick seasoning. I used it through out this recipe and with basting before grilling . Loved this quick dish.
Debbie Loftus
Very delicious and super easy! I put everything together and set it in the frig several hours before cooking to let it marinade. Used 2 leg quarters for 12 minutes with NPR since I wasn’t grilling for final step. We both LOVED the flavors!
In your notes you mention prep time doesn’t include skinning chicken, minced garlic etc. This recipe didn’t have garlic listed. Do you include garlic? I went ahead and tossed in a clove of minced.
What I really love about your recipes is the included photo of ingredients! The visual of seeing everything needed is helpful and overall your recipes are easy to follow and well done!!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Debbie – sorry! It’s a cut and paste editing error. There is no garlic in the recipe. What did you think with the garlic?
Christina
Hello, this looks delicious. I often cook for a crowd of people, and like to make things as simple as possible the day of cooking the meal. Can these be made in the instant pot A day before serving, and then grilled the day of? Have you ever tried that? I would love to know your thoughts.
Thanks!
Christina
Paint the Kitchen Red
Yes, you sure can prep it ahead of time. I do that often with food I plan on grilling for company. Pressure cook, remove meat, cool sauce and skim off fat. You can even store the sauce and chicken together and the flavors are stronger the next day.
Susan C
Two questions. I will try this recipe tonight, I am using thighs but doubling the quantity. Have you had any issues with doubling the recipe?
I will broil after, will using thighs make a difference in timing? Should I still try cooking for 10 min?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Susan, thighs may require about 1 minute less time. Regarding doubling, it can be hit-or-miss with doubling some recipes with bone-in chicken. You can have issues with sealing if the chicken is too packed in. I think I’ve added a couple of more pieces and been fine. And adding more liquid can dilute the recipe. You could give it a try and just keep an eye on it. Good luck.
rob
Excellent, I could not find the pickapepper sauce, I used Scotch bonnet sauce instead. I would absolutely recommend this recipe. Can’t wait to make it again. thank you
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you, Rob! I’m glad you liked the recipe. The pickapeppa sauce reminds me of A-1 steak sauce or even Worcestershire sauce. A tangy, sweet combination. In case you wanted to try and add a few drops next time.
Shannon
What if I don’t have a grill? Should I leave it in the IP longer?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Shannon, if you can broil it in the oven for a couple of minutes, that’ll give you a similar result. If you can’t broil it either, then cook the chicken for one more minute.
Greg
Enjoyed this. I tried Worcestershire as a substitute for pikapepper sauce, and it came out OK. Perhaps the final product tended towards BBQ rather than jerk chicken, but the flavor was still good (could also have to do with the 1 T of dark soy sauce I had to use because I ran out of the light stuff.
I should add, however, that the 12 minutes for the chicken in the IP seemed a bit excessive. Mine came out well after 10 minutes. I’ve been finding most IP recipes have way too long of a cook time, and the meat is actually getting rubbery because of it.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Greg, thanks for your comment. Hope you get to try it out again 🙂 I think you’re right, I have been meaning to update the recipe to say that you can use less time especially if you’re grilling afterwards. You’ve reminded me to make that change, thanks!
Monica
If I could give this 6 stars I would! This is so flavorful. This dinner in the instapot is a snap, so quick and easy. Great weekday dinner. I roasted some broccoli and cooked up some quinoa, dinner in 30 minutes. I used my 8 quart instapot and did not change the recipe as it turned out great. Well, I did leave out the brown sugar, since we are trying to cut down on sugar in our home, but it still tasted wonderful.Thanks Ms. Neena.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Monica – you’re so sweet! Thanks for sharing and I’m always happy to hear that your family liked a recipe!
Cecile
what is a good substitute for pikapeppa sauce?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Cecile! Pickapeppa sauce has a very unique flavor because of all the ingredients in it: cane vinegar, sugar, tomatoes, onions, raisins, sea salt, ginger, peppers, garlic, cloves, black pepper, thyme, mangoes, and orange peel. It tastes kind of like a spicy worcestershire, which might be a good substitute. You could add some extra spice with a chopped chili pepper or some cayenne powder.
Lea
Delicious! used boneless chicken breasts and cooked them for 6 minutes and grilled for a couple of minutes. Thanks for the detailed instructions, perfect for newbs!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Lea, I tend to use thighs and legs so I’m glad you were able to modify the recipe for your needs. Thanks for the feedback and good luck with your new IP!