Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot! Make fall-off the bone tender Instant Pot Chicken Thighs in this comforting meal with a silky broth and hearty vegetables.
Chicken Fricassee had been one of my favourite comfort food meals since I made it from My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl. It has tender, fall-off the bone meat, hearty vegetables, and a silky broth. Why not speed things up and make this classic French stew in the Instant Pot?
I’ve made it a number of times, with slight variations from Ruth’s recipe, but none resulted with the tender meat that the Instant Pot created.
If there’s one thing the Instant Pot does extremely well, it’s meat and this Instant Pot Chicken is mouthwatering!
Since it’s me making this recipe, there are a ton of vegetables added in. A few for some additional umami boost, like mushrooms, and some for some additional aromatics, like carrots.
There’s enough going on veggie-wise that you could probably skip serving anything else, but I like to serve Chicken Fricassee with a light green salad.
And since this is a classic French dish, it’s filled with all the good stuff. A glug of wine, herbs, and cream. The combination makes stopping at one bowl unlikely.
How long to cook chicken thighs in an Instant Pot?
For the purposes of this recipe, Instant Pot Chicken Thighs with the skin on and bone-in will take 10 minutes at high pressure.
If you’re setting and forgetting it so that the Instant Pot pressure is naturally released then I’d shorten the cooking time to 8 minutes.
As always, chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees F and can be checked with a meat thermometer.
The cold, snowy weather we’ve been having lately in Vancouver has been calling me to make more comforting dishes like this Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee.
As far as complete meals go, this is one is for the books.
Here are a few more comfort food recipes that make me feel good from the inside out:
- Scottish Mince and Tatties – ground beef in a gravy-like sauce with vegetables and mashed potatoes.
- One Pot Cheesy Pasta with Broccoli – cheese, pasta and broccoli is the golden trifecta of easy comfort foods that doesn’t skim on the veggies.
- Beef Stroganoff – creamy pasta goodness!
Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot!
- 200 grams bacon cut into thin 1/4" pieces this is approx. 4 slices
- 8 pieces skin on / bone in chicken thighs around 2.5 lbs / 1.1 kg
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped yellow or white onion
- 2 stalkes celery, trimmed and finely chopped
- 2 medium carrots, trimmed and chopped
- 250 grams button or cremini mushrooms, sliced 1/2 lbs.
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup dry white wine
- 4 cups chicken broth 1 ltr
- 454 grams baby potatoes, halved if large 1 lbs
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme 1 tsp dried
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 4 sprigs fresh parsley 1 tsp dried
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
- 1 tsp black pepper, divided
- 1/4 cup heavy cream such as 33% liquid whipping cream in North America
- 2 large egg yolks
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Set Instant Pot* to Sauté and after a couple of minutes add bacon. Let cook until bacon is just starting to crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Remove bacon from Instant Pot.
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Season chicken all over with 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper. Add to IP* and cook until browned on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. (This should be done in 2 batches to prevent the chicken from crowding**). Remove and set aside.
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Add onion, celery, carrots, and mushrooms to IP. Season with remaining 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/2 of pepper. Cook, stirring after a few minutes until mushrooms are starting to brown. Around, 5-7 minutes.
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Sprinkle flour over vegetables and mix to coat. Very slowly (1 tbsp for the first couple of additions) add wine while stirring the entire time. Turn IP off.
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Add broth, potatoes, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, lemon juice to the IP. Return bacon and chicken to the IP (being sure not to go over the max PC line).
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Close the lid to the IP, ensure the valve is set to “sealed”, and cook at high pressure for 10 minutes.
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Manually release the valve to venting (carefully). Carefully open the lid and turn the IP back to Sauté.
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Whisk cream and egg yolks together in a small bowl or measuring cup and slowly add a tiny bit of broth from the IP while whisking the entire time to temper the eggs.
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Add egg mixture to IP and cook (still on Sauté) for 2-3 more minutes until broth has thickened slightly (not gravy-like, it's still a broth, but it will lightly coat the back of a spoon).
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Turn IP off and season if needed.
* IP = Instant Pot and this recipe was developed in a 6 quart IP.
** if the chicken is over-crowded in the IP it will steam vs searing the skin on the outside. The end effect is that the chicken skin should be crispy. To obtain this brown the chicken in batches half and then the remaining half. If your IP is larger you may be able to fit all of them in one go.
This recipes was inspired and adapted from My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl and by Martha Stewart’s version.
Enjoy! xo
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