Instant Pot Southern Sunday Chicken—chicken and mushrooms in a creamy homemade savory gravy. It tastes great served over mashed potatoes. A perfect Sunday supper.
Note: the SLOW COOKER instructions are listed in the recipe card below

Instant Pot Southern Sunday Chicken
Fried chicken is a southern specialty and nothing tastes better for Sunday supper than chicken and cornbread. But let’s get real–making fried chicken from scratch is a bit of a process and it’s quite hands on. If you’re like me and like to rest on Sunday and take the day off of cooking then this recipe is a great substitute. (I found the idea for this southern Sunday chicken here.)
This chicken and gravy is creamy without the cream of soups involved. The homemade gravy with broth and cream and seasonings tastes so amazing you’ll want to drink it. I made instant mashed potatoes to serve with the chicken and gravy because I was short on time. You can also make homemade mashed potatoes or serve the sauce and chicken over egg noodles. Serve alongside a side of steamed veggies for an easy but totally delicious meal.

More Instant Pot Poultry Recipes…
Instant Pot All in One Southern Dinner
Instant Pot No Time To Cook Chicken
Instant Pot Turkey and Dumplings
Instant Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken
Instant Pot Cheesy Chicken and Rice

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Instant Pot Southern Sunday Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Chicken and mushrooms in a creamy homemade savory gravy. It tastes great served over mashed potatoes. A perfect Sunday supper.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts (frozen is okay)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/4 tsp celery seed
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp dried minced onion
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup potato flakes
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Add broth into Instant Pot. Add in the chicken.
- Sprinkle the chicken with salt, paprika, thyme, celery seed, pepper, garlic powder and onion.
- Add in the mushrooms and butter.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 15 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Slice or cut up chicken, if desired.
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. Stir cornstarch in with the heavy cream until smooth. Stir the mixture into Instant Pot. Stir the potato flakes into the pot as well. The sauce will thicken up quickly.
- Serve chicken and gravy over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Add broth into slow cooker. Add in the chicken.
- Sprinkle the chicken with salt, paprika, thyme, celery seed, pepper, garlic powder and onion.
- Add in the mushrooms and butter.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. Remove the lid.
- Slice or cut up chicken, if desired.
- Turn slow cooker to high. Stir cornstarch in with the heavy cream until smooth. Stir the mixture into the slow cooker. Stir the potato flakes into the slow cooker pot as well. The sauce will thicken up in about 10 minutes.
- Serve chicken and gravy over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I upped the seasonings (except for the salt). Didn’t have 8 oz. of mushrooms, so added some sliced carrots to make up the difference. Also added some frozen peas after it was cooked. It was good on both garlic mashed potatoes and on noodles the next day. Used a combination of boneless thighs and boneless breasts. The breasts were better cut into pieces after they were cooked. Left the thighs as is.
★★★★★
Sounds like a good version!
So very good!! This my new go-to! The chicken breasts were done to perfection; tender and juicy. The seasoning gives the gravy an exceptional depth of flavor.
★★★★★
Yay! Thanks Juliana!
My family is notoriously picky about chicken texture when cooked. I was wondering if thin breast would be okay with the same cook time or even if I were to slice the breast ahead of time so the meat is thinner pieces to avoid that “boiled” chicken texture.
Sure, you could try that. I’m not sure pressure cooked chicken is for them. Most all the time it’s essentially boiled in the liquid.
Wanted to come back and report we loved this! I didn’t see the chicken amount the first time I looked so I only thawed a little over a pound but it worked out great since I added extra mushrooms to compensate. Sooo sooo good and both my kids ate it. My picky kid loved it and she hates everything!
★★★★★
More mushrooms is always a good plan 😃
This dish was so easy and just delicious! My hubby liked it too. One pot with 5 thighs made two meals for the two of us. I served it with egg noodles. Can’t wait to make it again. Thanks Karen so much.
★★★★★
Egg noodles are a fantastic idea!
I tried this recipe almost as written (only added sautéed fresh minced garlic & onions in addition to their dry counterparts, and minced the mushrooms as ppl in my house prefer to taste mushrooms but not see them 😁). I used 3 fresh boneless/skinless breasts in my 6qt Instapot on pressure cook, and served with mashed potatoes and crusty Parisian bread.
It LOOKED good, but was pretty bland. I added more of the dry seasonings to get where I thought the flavor should be.
In all, I wound up doubling all the dry seasonings except for the pepper, thyme, and celery seed (I tripled these).
Unfortunately by the time I finished taste testing and mixing in the additional quantities of the seasonings, the chicken had broken up and shredded. It sucked up and incorporated with the gravy. It kind of looked like chicken pot pie filling.
It was really good and the chicken was very tender, but I was hoping to have gravy to pour on the potatoes vs plopping shredded chicken & gravy on the potatoes.
I will make this again (w/my adjustments) as it is tasty, hearty, and the chicken is tender. Everyone liked it but agreed they would also have preferred gravy distinct of the chicken.
Now that I have the seasonings down, I’ll just remove the chicken during the thickening process and add it back in after.
★★★
So yummy! I used half and half instead of heavy whipping cream and 4Tbs corn startch ( since indidnt have potato flakes on hand)and omitted the salt ( we always add that once the food is on our plates). It was so yummy my 3 year old ate the chicken ( a huge deal cuse she normally only like chicken in nugget form)and my 8 year old ate everything on his plate. Served over potatoes with a side of fresh green beans
★★★★★
Glad you liked it!!! 😊
Can you cook noodles at the same time as the chicken?
Looks like a great recipe!
Thanks
★★★★★
You could try cooking them pot in pot on top of a tall trivet with water and noodles. I’ve had mixed luck with this method depending on the type of noodle. 15 minutes will be too long for them to sit in the pot directly.
Hello Karen, I did add egg noodles when the initial cook time was finished. Opened the lid and eyeballed the handful noodle serving amount, put lid back on and let sit for 7 minutes. Love an Instant Pot meal that uses one pan/pot. Excellent, quick meal.
I didn’t use the potato flakes and I’m curious why it’s listed and what they add to this dish? Cornstarch/cream slurry was plenty to thicken.
★★★★★
They are just another thickener but not necessary if yours is thick enough!
Looks delicious. I find chicken breasts to be stringy. Now I mainly use the tenders. Any suggestion of how long to cook the frozen or fresh tenders? Thanks
I’d only cook tenders for 4-5 minutes. Should be great!
This looks great! Could I make potatoes at the same time I do the chicken? What if wrap them in foil, to compensate for the longer PC time? Or would I just use my other NF?
I was thinking to myself how to make the potatoes at the same time but couldn’t really figure it out. Maybe if you have a small steamer basket maybe you could fill it with diced potatoes and set it on top of a tall trivet.
Oh, this looks really good. I don’t ever used instant mashed potatoes. I’m guessing they’re included as a thickening agent? Can this be made without them and by using more corn starch and water, or are they integral to the recipe?
You can just use more cornstarch. They are for thickening.