Instant Pot chicken thighs

Tender chicken, creamy and extremely tasty beans…what more could you ask? A perfect cold weather meal with a glass of chardonnay and a simple green salad. Even better, it’s one pot in the electric pressure cooker.

Instant Pot Chicken and Cannellini Beans

Ingredients: (Serves 4-6)

1 tablespoons olive oil
2 oz of chopped pancetta or bacon
1-1/2 to 2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 6 to 8 thighs)
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into half moons
Kosher salt and black pepper
5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
½ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
½ cup white wine
1 (28-ounce) can or 2 (14-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
optional: 1 parmesan rind
½ lemon, juiced (about 1 tablespoon)
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

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Ingredient Substitution Guide

PREPARATION

Season the chicken generously all over with salt and pepper. Turn on the sauté setting of a 6- to 8-quart electric pressure cooker and warm the oil. Add the pancetta and sauté until just starting to brown. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and sear until the skin is browned and releases easily from the pot, 6 to 8 minutes. (If you have more than 4 thighs, you may need to do this in two batches.) Using tongs, remove the chicken.
Add the garlic and onion and sauté, stirring constantly, until just softened, about 2 minutes. Add the red-pepper flakes and stir constantly for about 30 seconds, then add the white wine. Stir well, scraping up all the browned bits. Turn off the sauté setting.
Stir in the beans, parmesan rind if using, and rosemary. Season lightly with salt and generously with pepper. Nestle the chicken thighs on top, skin-side up. Add any accumulated juices to the pot. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes.
Allow the pressure to reduce naturally for 10 minutes, then release the remaining pressure manually. Remove any woody stalks of rosemary and any remaining rind of parmesan. (I found mine had simply melted into the beans.) Squeeze in the lemon juice and fold in the parsley. Serve the beans and chicken in shallow bowls.

You may want to remove the skin on the chicken thighs before serving. It has already provided a boost of flavor to the dish and is not longer particularly attractive.

Asian Inspired Chicken Thighs in the Instant Pot

The meat section of the store was almost empty, I could tell that the butchers were delving into the very bottom of their freezer or cooler. I bet many of you are experiencing the same situation. I was looking for a family sized package of chicken drumsticks, but there were none to be had. I searched in vain. I wanted to make a recipe from the Frugal Hausfrau for BBQ chicken drumsticks in the Instant Pot. The weather has been mild enough to uncover the BBQ, which I was hoping to do. The recipe made a lot of chicken and leftovers for the week’s lunches would be welcome (it’s always a challenge to figure out lunch and here we are, home all day, every day). As well she has a recipe for making a delicious BBQ chicken chili with the juices left in the pot. It was the winner at our 2020 New Year’s Day chili party.

They did have family sized packages of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Menu change coming up.

In search of a recipe on Pinterest and the www, the only ones I came across were for 4-6 thighs, not the 10 that were in the package. Time to improvise. I think the result was repeatable.

Asian Inspired Chicken Thighs in the Instant Pot – browned in the oven

I didn’t want to go through the trouble of browning that many thighs before cooking, something that every recipe I came across recommended. Why not do that step at the end, a quick roast in a 425 degree F oven would do it. As well, that means the thighs could be cooked ahead and just finished at the end. I was roasting some thick fries at the same time, the oven would already be on. Served with a big salad it was an easy meal with plenty of leftovers.

Salad with Sweet Candied Pecans

Ingredients:

Family sized package of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. Trimmed of extra fat and skin.
1/3 cup of honey
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1/2 cup of ketchup
1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Method:

Place the chicken thighs on the rack in your Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker. You can stand them up to minimize overlap but don’t worry too much about it.
Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over the chicken, trying to coat all of the thighs.
Set the pressure cooker to high pressure, cook for 13 minutes once full pressure is reached.
Use quick release (I put a kitchen towel over the valve so the steam doesn’t spray all over the kitchen).
Open the cooker and remove the thighs.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F when you are ready to eat (or heat up your BBQ)
Line the baking sheet with foil for easiest clean up.
Roast the thighs until the skin is brown and crisp, about 15-20 minutes.

Note: Save the juices left in the pressure cooker. Refrigerate them, any fat will come to the surface making it easy to remove. Look for another post about using those juices in an Asian inspired chicken noodle soup.