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Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee

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Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot! Comfort food defined with a silky broth, tender chicken, and hearty vegetables. 

Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot! #chicken #stew #instantpot

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!

Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot! #chicken #stew #instantpot

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.

Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot! #chicken #stew #instantpot

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.

Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot! #chicken #stew #instantpot

Here are a few more comfort food recipes that make me feel good from the inside out:

5 from 7 votes
Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot! #chicken #stew #instantpot
Print
Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
40 mins
 

Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot! 

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: French
Servings: 6 servings
Author: Samantha
Ingredients
  • 200 grams (4 slices) bacon, cut into thin 1/4" pieces
  • 8 pieces skin on / bone in chicken thighs (around 2-2.5 lbs)
  • 1 medium yellow (cooking) onion, finely chopped
  • 2 stalkes celery, trimmed and finely chopped
  • 2 medium carrots, trimmed and chopped
  • 250 grams (1/2 lbs) button or cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup dry white wine
  • 4 cups (1 litre) chicken broth
  • 454 grams (1 lbs) baby potatoes, halved if large
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme (1 tsp dried)
  • 1 dried bay leaf
  • 4 sprigs fresh parsely (1 tsp dried)
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
  • 1 tsp black pepper, divided
  • 1/4 cup heavy (whipping) cream
  • 2 large egg yolkes
Instructions

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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. 

  4. 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. 

  5. 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). 

  6. Close the lid to the IP, ensure the valve is set to "sealed", and cook at high pressure for 10 minutes. 

  7. Manually release the valve to venting (carefully). Carefully open the lid and turn the IP back to Sauté. 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. 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). 

  8. Turn IP off and season if needed. 

Recipe Notes

* IP = Instant Pot and this recipe was developed in a 6 quart IP. 

This recipes was inspired and adapted from My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl and by Martha Stewart’s version.

Enjoy! xo

Instant Pot Chicken Fricassee is a classic French Chicken Stew made easy and quick thanks to the Instant Pot! #chicken #stew #instantpot

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Comments

    • Hi Lauren! Thanks for catching that. It's 2 tablespoons and I added it to the ingredient list above. Most of the thickening comes from the egg yolks :) Cheers!
      Reply

  6. Delicious recipe! However, it turned out to have too much liquid for our Instant Pot to seal while cooking this. Maybe I should cut back on the broth a bit next time. I definitely will make it again!
    Reply

    • Thanks for this note Nancy! I added that it was a 6 quart IP that was used and not to go over the IP max fill line. I'm so glad you enjoyed this Chicken Fricassee!
      Reply

  7. Hi Samatha, I the recipe instructions, you state "Add egg mixture to IP and cook 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). " Do I pressure cook for an addional 2-3 minutes or just turn on saute mode? Thank You, Alan Schefers
    Reply

    • Hi Alan! It's still Sauté mode (two sentences prior). I added a an extra comment to avoid any future confusion! Thanks for checking in and I hope you enjoy this Chicken Fricassee :)
      Reply

  8. My mother ran a restaurant during the 1970s and fried chicken was the specialty. She would take home leftovers and "fricassee" them for dinner. It wasn't a soup, more of a sauce, even a coating. By the time I was smart enough to ask her for her recipe, her memory was failing and she said, "I never made that!" *sigh* I have been working on recreating one of my favorite meals from my youth. Using this recipe, I've come the closest yet, although of course, I changed the amount of liquid drastically, since yours was a soup. And also, of course, hers was already fried chicken to start out with. I do remember, though, that she also made whole cut up chicken from scratch this way and it was just as good. I do seem to remember that it came out of the pressure cooker ready to eat, so I know this isn't the same because the egg wouldn't work, I don't think. My milk has curdled when I tried to put it in before pressure, but I somehow think she always did. Anyway, thanks for the help! I'm getting there.
    Reply

  9. My husband loved it! I made it on the thicker side, instead of more soupy. Since I'm a vegetarian, there were enough leftovers to put it in a double pie crust for a beautiful chicken pot pie a couple nights later. Thanks!
    Reply

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