Quick and Easy Pressure Cooker Chicken Recipes

Pressure Cooker Chicken Adobo Recipe

Deliciously balanced with savory and sweet, chicken adobo is a great addition to anyone's collection of go-to comfort foods. This dish typically requires a lengthy period of simmering to build up the deep, rich signature flavor, but the pressure cooker helps you achieve the same level of flavorful satisfaction in a fraction of the time. Note, if you don't have fish sauce on hand, you can leave it out—but if you're going by the grocery store anyway, it's definitely worth investing in a bottle. Serve the adobo over rice for a vibrant and hearty entree. 

Pressure Cooker Brunswick Stew Recipe

 For our largely hands-off take on the classic comfort food, we create an intensely flavorful base by first pressure cooking a whole chicken on top of a combination of boxed tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and a handful of flavor power player ingredients. While using a whole bird definitely contributes to a slightly lengthier cook time (as compared to using already cut chicken), this cooking technique is a huge part of what makes the rich and delicious backbone of this stew, without adding additional chicken stock or water. With the tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire, and mustard, we hit the flavor notes of making this potluck staple with BBQ sauce (which is a commonly called for component of Brunswick Stew), but the result is infinitely tastier and more dynamic than what you’d get by dumping in a store-bought bottle. In addition to the lima beans and corn called for here, sliced okra would also make a great veggie addition. While hearty in terms of texture, this dish is balanced by an abundance of bright flavors we can’t get enough of. 

Pressure Cooker Chicken and Black Pepper Dumplings Recipe

Just a touch of fresh lemon and tarragon add a subtle touch of sophistication to an otherwise classic and wholly comforting pot of chicken and dumplings. Done in just 30 minutes, this dish is perfect for any night of the week. While we went with a super simple drop biscuit for the dumplings, feel free to try using canned biscuit dough or your own favorite dumpling recipe here. 

Easy Pressure Cooker Chicken Pho Recipe

For pho, it's legitimately all about the intensely delicious broth. And thanks to the flavor-concentrating power of the pressure cooker, we were able to make a robust and dynamic chicken broth—using shallots, fresh ginger and cilantro, and a few spices—in a matter of minutes. Thus, this restaurant favorite can now be a comforting, go-to weeknight dinner. 

Pressure Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe

This speedy take on chicken tikka masala is one of those big flavor, low effort meals you'll want to put on repeat week after week. In fact, this recipe exemplifies just about every reason we love the pressure cooker—it's efficient, it's easy to use, and it produces huge flavor in a matter of minutes. If you do a little bit of prepping ahead (say, cooking your rice and chopping aromatics the night before or in the morning), this rich and saucy supper can be on your dinner table in 10 minutes. 

Pressure Cooker Chicken Spaghetti Recipe

This comforting and delicious Chicken Spaghetti is satisfying meal the entire family can get behind, and can be made with just a quick (and inexpensive) stop by the grocery store on your way home. Thanks to the pressure cooker, this recipe yields the flavor of a rich, long-simmered sauce in only 25 minutes. While browning the chicken and onions does help build flavor, it's OK to skip this step. Just add about 5 minutes to your cook time and discard the skin before adding your chicken to the pressure cooker. This dish is also easily adapted for your Instant Pot, click HERE for detailed instructions. 

Pressure Cooker Chicken Pho Recipe

Andrea Nguyen, author of The Pho Cookbook (Ten Speed Press; $20) and several other groundbreaking books about Asian food, loves her 6-qt. Fagor Duo pressure cooker ($67; amazon.com) to make pho, the national soup of Vietnam. "It's not too expensive, and it's easy to use--no jiggling valves or dials." That said, you can also make this recipe in a stockpot (see "Stockpot Pho," below); just allow more time. If you're serving more than four people, recruit some helpers to put together the bowls, assembly-line style, so the soup doesn't get cold.

Mexican Chicken Stew Recipe

Ground guajillo chile powder is found in Mexican markets and adds a complexity to the stew that regular chili powder cannot. Though it's more mild compared to other chile powders, guajillo chile powder is tangy, smoky, and rich. 

Asian Chicken Thighs Recipe

Serve these saucy chicken thighs over cooked noodles with a side of steamed broccoli for a well-rounded meal. Finishing the chicken thighs in the broiler to ensure a crispy outside and juicy on the inside. 

It's hard to believe a soup with this much flavor simmers for only 20 minutes. And making the crisp tortilla strips for the topping is a great way to use up any extra corn tortillas you have on hand.

Recipe: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Fricassee Recipe

Don't limit your pressure cooker to stewing tough cuts of beef, pork, or lamb: You can prepare elegant entrées, too, like this chicken with a rich sauce and vegetables. For the best textured vegetables in this dish, allow the carrots, onions, and mushrooms to come to pressure, and then immediately take them off heat and release pressure.