My instant pot Sunday dinner is a perfect mix of succulent chicken and air fried potatoes and carrots. Significantly healthier than a traditional roast and just as tasty.
I used the instant pot crisp to firstly cook the chicken using the zero minute chicken method (I can't take credit for this, but have slightly adapted the method) and then to brown my chicken and to cook my potatoes and carrots, but you could use any air fryer or just use the traditional oven method.
Using the zero minute chicken method means you get a large quantity of good quality stock. I used this to make my gravy and to make instant pot chicken risotto with the leftovers on Monday. The risotto was even better than when made just using a stock cube which was a great bonus.
Instant pot Sunday dinner
Ingredients
- 1 Medium Onion (finely chopped) Ant colour.
- 2 Medium Carrots (diced)
- 3 Whole Bay leaves
- 1 Medium Chicken (whole) Mine was 1.4 kg (3Lb).
- Season to taste
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- 3 Litres Cold water Fill to the ¾ line on the inner pot.
- 908 g Potatoes (cut into approx 1cm slices)
- 2 tbsp Sunflower oil Olive oil or mast vegetable oils will work well.
- 6 Medium Carrots
Instructions
- Add the trivet to the instant pot
- Add the onion, carrot and bay leaf to the instant pot (this will form the base for your stock).
- If the chicken is trussed remove any string or elastic. Add the chicken to the pot (the recipe should work for up to a 2.2 kg (5lb) chicken in an 8qt instant pot or 1.8kg (4lb) chicken in a 6 qt.
- Season to taste and sprinkle with garlic powder.
- Now add cold water up to around the ¾ mark on the pot. The chicken should be nearly covered with water.
- Put the lid on the pot and set on high pressure for 0 minutes (some pots will only allow a setting of 1 minute which will also work).
- When the time is up, leave for at least 25 minutes for the pressure to release (it should take around 22 minutes for the pin to drop).
- Whilst waiting for the chicken to finish cooking, prepare your potatoes and carrots. Peel the potatoes (optional) and parboil with the carrots for around 1 minute. Drain the water and coat the potatoes and carrots with your oil of choice.
- Remove the lid and then remove the chicken. You will be left with a large amount of stock which can be used to make gravy and for anything else calling for chicken stock. Remove the stock from the pot and save for later.
- Put the chicken back in the pot and put the air fryer lid on (if you don't have one don't worry, you can either crisp under the grill - broil, or in any other air fryer or even not bother if you don't like crispy skin). Set to broil for 15 minutes.
- When the time is up remove the chicken and leave to rest.
- Add the potatoes and carrots to the air fryer insert and add to the pot (or cook in any other air fryer). Set on roast for 30 minutes turning around halfway through.
- Whilst the potatoes and carrots cook, prepare your gravy and any other vegetables you may be cooking. I also made Yorkshire puddings which went in with 20 minutes left on the air fryer timer.
- When the time is up, remove the potatoes and carrots and serve with the chicken etc.
Video
Nutrition
Please note that it is vital to use cold water for the chicken as it needs the extra time required to come to pressure in order to successfully poach.
If you are worried that the chicken is not cooked, use a meat thermometer and look for a temperature over 72C (161f).
You can leave the pot under pressure on keep warm for much longer than the 25 minutes I've recommended as a minimum. It won't overcook and I have left mine for up to 2 hours.
If you have stock left over from making this previously, using this instead of water will intensify the flavour still further and the chicken will be even better.
I served with steamed cabbage and sugar snap peas together with Yorkshire pudding and gravy. I made the Yorkshire puddings in the oven, but they can also be made in the air fryer although the timings would be difficult.
I hope my recipe shows that instant pot Sunday dinner is possible and even if you don't have an oven you can still have a delicious Sunday roast.
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