A few weeks ago, my oven broke. It just stopped heating up, and it happened on a night when I had prepared to make my oven roasted chicken with potatoes. I had a whole chicken, but already split into different cuts: breasts, thighs, drumsticks and wings. I didn’t want to do stovetop and then I thought “hey I bet the instant pot would work, and it’s fast!’ I wanted a crispy skin so I put it on sauté mode first to brown the chicken and then cooked it through with high pressure. It resulted in the juicest “roasted chicken“ ever! Here’s what I did.
INGREDIENTS:
1 whole chicken (split or whole) about 3 lbs.
1 Tablespoon Sea salt
2 teaspoons Black pepper
1/2 teaspoon White pepper
1.5 teaspoons Garlic powder
1 teaspoon Onion powder
1 tablespoon Thyme
1 1/3 cups water
DIRECTIONS: Set your instant pot to sauté mode for 30 minutes. In a ramekin or small bowl combine the seasons for the chicken and mix well. Pat your chicken dry with paper towels and arrange on a large plate. Sprinkle with seasoning mix and pat it into the chicken.
Add the avocado oil to the instant pot and let it get hot. Place chicken pieces (or whole chicken) with the majority of skin side down. Brown and then flip over to brown the other side. Once both sides of the chicken pieces are browned, remove and set aside onto a clean plate. Add your water to the liner pan and deglaze the bits at the bottom while still on sauté mode. Once you’ve done that, turn the instant pot off. Place your instant pot trivet inside the liner with the water, and then arrange chicken pieces onto it, stacking pieces if necessary. Set the top dial on the lid to “sealing“ and close/lock the lid. Cook on high pressure for 12 minutes for the split chicken pieces, or 15 for a whole chicken.
Once the cooking has completed, allow the instant pot to naturally release steam for 10 minutes before turning the dial to totally release the steam. What you will find is not only the moistest chicken but the most amazing broth below! You’ll want to spoon that on top of your chicken and probably whatever veggies you serve it with! I also highly recommend saving any remaining broth (and bones) to use for soup, particularly the most delicious and nutritious bone broth (post coming soon!)! Bon appetit!