Instant Pot Salsa Verde Chicken Recipe - Crunchy Creamy Sweet (2024)

FAQs

Why does my Instant Pot chicken taste rubbery? ›

If your boneless chicken breast winds up with a weird, rubbery texture, it probably means that you need to cook it longer. In general, the Instant Pot does better with longer cook times for meat.

If you used thinner pieces of chicken or did not adjust the cook time to the correct weight, it can result in dry and chewy chicken. You can salvage your chicken by serving it with a sauce to add moisture and flavor. How long does chicken need to be in the Instant Pot?

“Woody breast” describes a quality issue stemming from a muscle abnormality in a small percentage of chicken meat in the U.S. This condition causes chicken breast meat to be hard to the touch and often pale in color with poor quality texture.

Unlike chicken breasts, chicken thighs and drumsticks actually become more tender the longer they cook. That's because of their makeup. Dark meat has an abundant amount of connective tissue, which dissolves into gelatin as the meat cooks, rendering it juicy and tender.

Overcooking or cooking at too high a temperature can result in tough, dry chicken. Undercooking can leave chicken undercooked and chewy.

In addition, chicken breast has less fat and can become dry (chewy or rubbery) if cooked for too long. Without moisture, the protein fibers in the chicken become elastic.

Rubbery chicken is usually an indicator of overcooked chicken. The longer the chicken cooks, the more moisture it loses, and without moisture, the protein fibers become elastic, AKA rubbery.

Overcooking might play a role in your chicken's tire-like texture. Leaving chicken in a pan, oven, or grill for just a little too long can suck the moisture right out and leave you with a dry, rubbery bird. Without moisture, the protein fibers in the chicken become elastic.

There are many things that go into the taste of chicken, like whether the chicken can walk around, how old it was when slaughtered, whether it got to eat worms or only chicken feed, the breed of chicken, and so on. But if you've seen a difference in the past two years I'd look at air-chilled vs frozen chicken.

Am I undercooking or overcooking it? You are not over or under cooking your chicken. The company who sells the chicken that go to market often inject a solution which adds weight to the chicken and when too much solution is injected it causes stringy and rubbery chicken after it is cooked.