This Pressure Cooker Chicken Stew recipe is ready in under 45 minutes and will keep any family warm on a chilly night. Pull your Instant Pot out and get started! If you have a second Instant Pot, serve the chicken stew over Instant Pot White Rice.
When the temperature drops, nothing beats the feeling of eating a hot bowl of this super comforting chicken stew. Tender chicken, carrots, celery, potatoes, and a little kale, because kale is the best!
If you are a big fan of soups and stews as I am, then you’re going to absolutely love my free 31-day of healthy dinner email series. Check out the sign-up form at the bottom of this post.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Onion – yellow onion is great for cooking, but white onion would work perfectly too.
- Garlic – use one to three garlic cloves depending on their size.
- Carrots – three large or six small carrots. You can also use green beans instead or on top.
- Celery – three to four celery stalks. It adds tons of flavor to this chicken stew, I suggest not skipping it.
- Potatoes – any kind of potato will work, but I recommend any of the ones on the starchy side so you get a creamier stew. I like using yellow potatoes, the same ones I would use for mashed potatoes.
- Kale – adding a little kale will make this stew extra healthy and it also gives a nice texture once it is cooked. Fresh baby spinach can be used as well or even frozen peas.
- Chicken – I strongly suggest you use boneless skinless chicken thighs. You could use chicken breast but it will become pretty dry in the amount of time we have to use for the veggies to soften in the stew.
- Chicken broth – you can use any kind of broth, but chicken broth works best in this case.
- Chili paste – for this recipe I used the Peruvian aji amarillo paste, but any chili paste or even chopped-up chili would work.
- Sour cream – it helps the slurry become thicker and creamier. To keep it dairy free you could also use some nut milk.
- Flour – all-purpose flour works great for making the slurry, but cornstarch works well too if you want to make it gluten-free.
- Lemon – I like squeezing some fresh lemon juice on top of the chicken stew when serving it, it brings out all the delicious flavors. It is optional and you don’t have to use it.
- Thyme – a few fresh sprigs of thyme help deepen the flavor of the rest of the ingredients when cooking, it’s nice and aromatic. Fresh rosemary, fresh oregano or dried bay leaves are good alternatives too.
- Salt and pepper – use sea salt and black pepper to taste.
Tips For Cooking This Instant Pot Chicken Stew Recipe
I highly recommend browning the chicken in batches. Do NOT add all the chicken at once. It will release a lot of steam, the steam will get trapped and then the chicken will cook in its own juices instead of searing nicely and become brown and delicious. So take your time, the flavor you will get from a nice sear is absolutely worth the extra work.
Don’t forget to deglaze the pan to avoid the burn warning. After sauteing the onion with the chili paste, use a wooden spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan. You can add a splash of broth to help remove all the stuck bits.
To make this Instant Pot chicken stew thick and creamy, you need to add slurry to it. To achieve the best consistency, add a few tablespoons of broth into a small bowl, sour cream (or nut milk) and all-purpose flour, then whisk well until no more lumps can be seen.
How To Convert This Recipe For The Stovetop
Simply follow the same instructions but add an extra 1/2 cup of broth to account for water evaporation.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Other than that everything stays the same.
What Goes Well With Chicken Stew
You can serve this stew on its own, eat it with a piece of bread, or you can serve it over quinoa or rice, which is what I like to do.
How To Store Leftovers
Chicken stew leftovers can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Or they can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Make sure to store stew and sides in different containers.
To reheat from the freezer, I recommend putting it in the fridge the night before to thaw. If you’re in a rush, you can heat up the frozen stew in a small pot on the stove but you’ll need to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water or broth to avoid scorching.
Other Instant Pot Stews You May Like
A super easy Instant Pot Beef Stew recipe with the most amazing Peruvian flavors! Super tender pull-apart beef in a delicious green sauce served over rice. A dream come true!
This Instant Pot Chili is perfect for either feeding a crowd, meal prepping, or freezing. In under an hour you have a big pot of nourishing, delicious chili con carne that makes everybody happy!
This Instant Pot lamb Stew is a beautiful blend of sweet, savory and citrus flavors. Pair it with a light salad and some crusty bread and you have an easy and impressive meal for any night of the week.
Other Instant Pot Chicken Recipes You May Like
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Instant Pot Chicken Stew
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion
- 1-3 cloves garlic
- 1 Tbsp chili paste or fresh chili - my favorite is Ají Amarillo
- 3 carrots
- 4 stalks celery
- 1 lbs yellow potatoes
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- sea salt
- pepper
- 2 cups kale, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 lemon
Instructions
- Peel and finely chop onion and garlic. Peel and chop carrots. Chop celery. Peel and cut potatoes into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
- Press the sauté button and set it to high. In the meantime, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces.
- Once the Instant Pot's display says hot, add a drizzle of olive oil and brown the chicken in batches. At least 3 batches. Do not add all chicken at once! Season the chicken with sea salt and pepper to taste while it's browning.
- Once the chicken is browned, set it aside and add onion, garlic, and chili paste to the Instant Pot and sauté until lightly brown. Use a wooden spoon to scrape off the stuck-on chicken bits.
- Add a splash of chicken stock to deglaze the bottom, then add chopped vegetables, browned chicken, chicken stock, and thyme to the pot and ensure the potatoes are all submerged in the broth.
- Put on the lid, set the valve to the sealing position, and set the Instant Pot to 5 minutes on high pressure.
- Let pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, then release the remaining pressure manually.
- Take 3-4 Tablespoons of broth out of the pot and add to a small bowl. Add sour cream and flour to the broth and whisk until super smooth and no more lumps can be seen.
- Add the slurry to the stew, together with the kale. Hit the sauté button to get everything back to a boil and stir for about 2 minutes or until the stew reaches your desired creaminess.
- Serve on its own, with a piece of bread, or over rice. Drizzle with lemon juice if desired.
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Miranda says
I have trouble cooking chicken breast on a skillet – I inevitably will find a way to mess it up 60% of the time. This recipe was a HUGE success! I followed the instructions and even learned a few things about settings on the instapot,
– when you set the time to 7 mins at high pressure, it doesn’t mean 7 mins is the total time. The instant pot will inform you when the 7-minute timer starts.
– natural release = leave it alone.
– manual release = move the nozzle and let it go until the steam runs out.
This may seem obvious to some, but I had to do some serious digging to confirm.
Regarding this recipe: 10/10 recommendation to sear the chicken first, other recipes recommend cooking the chicken with the veggies and it can come out basically like porridge due to overcooking of the veggies.
I made some minor mods,
– added celery, and rosemary
– didn’t skin the potatoes
– topped it off with sour cream and dill (in addition to the lemon)
Huge shoutout to the creator of this recipe! Seriously, all these ingredients usually would unfortunately go to waste when I try to make something to eat and it ends in catastrophe – 10/10 for this recipe!!!
Annette Kreamer says
I want your Recipe please that look so Good.
Rogena Holguin says
I don’t have an instant pot is there a different way to make this?
Mike Szwed says
This recipe is awesome. To my surprise I found Aji Amarillo in my local supermarket. I bought four bottles of it just in case they stop stocking it. Served this stew over rice. It will be in my regular rotation from now on.
Ngaire says
Awesome the family loved it 😊
Lenora says
Delicious, especially when you squeeze lemon juice over it, as recommended.
Patrice says
Excellent!!!