Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

I have been experimenting alot with my Instant Pot lately.  For those not familiar with this kitchen device, an Instant Pot is a pressure cooker with super human powers, it can do so many things and makes dinner so easy.  I dedicated an entire post to it awhile back titled Meet My New BFF, which shows how much I love it.

I have discovered that when I cook chicken in my Instant Pot my kids will actually eat it. Let me clarfify that, my kids will eat chicken that is not in NUGGET FORM!!! This was amazing to me.  They will actually eat it because it comes out so tender and it is so moist and delicious they can’t even deny the yumminess!!

So now I throw everything in this.  When I get home late from work or after the kids gymnastics class and realize that I forgot to defrost something for dinner- AGHHHHH… wait that’s what I used to do.  Now I can throw frozen meat in the instant pot with whatever else I have laying around and it will be done in 20-30 minutes while I do everything else.  For me the fact that I can throw in frozen meat and it will still cook it is the saving grace.  I still love to cook other things in my slow cooker or oven or grill, and i don’t do Instant Pot every night but it definitely is one of my meals every week now.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 8 ounces chorizo or to make it more kid friendly you can substitute kielbasa, sliced into 1/4 inch disks
• 1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 (4-ounce) cans diced green chilies
• 8 ounces dried black beans
• 12 stems cilantro, leaves roughly chopped
• boneless chicken breasts and thighs ( about 2 lbs)
• 1 quart homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Sour cream, for serving
• Lime wedges, for serving

Directions

1. Heat oil in your Instant Pot on saute setting until shimmering. Add chorizo and cook until starting to crisp around edges, about 2 minutes. Add onions and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes longer. Add cumin and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chilies, dried black beans, cilantro stems, chicken, and broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir to combine.
2. Seal pressure cooker and press Stew function and bring to high pressure. Cook for 40 minutes. Do a quick release and open. Using tongs, transfer chicken pieces to a bowl. Return beans to high heat and continue cooking, stirring, until reduced to a thick, stew-like consistency, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, shred chicken.
3. Stir chicken into beans, season to taste with salt and pepper, stir in half of chopped cilantro, and serve, passing sour cream, lime wedges, and remaining cilantro at the table.

Hint: if stew is not as thick as you would like and you are short on time you can add cornstarch to thicken.  Using some of the stew liquid with 1:1 ratio of cornstarch to liquid in small bowl. Start with 1 tbsp.  Add back to stew and mix in and wait a few minutes to thicken. Repeat til your desired thickness.

Enjoy and Be Well!!

#kidstummytroubles