nstant Pot-White Bean Chicken Chili
Pressure cooking is not something that is new to me. I used to use one frequently when I was in
the Army. It was always a fantastic way
to get tender meat and get dinner finished in a pinch.
The pressure cooker I was used to was the on the stove model
that most people would run in fear from.
I grew up watching my dad with these models and learned all the safety
that is required for these things. Since
I was very aware of the what NOT to do and how to respect this intense cooking
process I was not fearful of the device. In recent years, I had not heard much
along the lines of pressure cooking and had a hard time finding a decent and affordable
cooker.
Then enter the new wave of electric pressure cookers.
The price tag is a HEFTY one and is the biggest reason why I
was apprehensive to get one. I could not
see how spending over a hundred dollars for a kitchen appliance was
justifiable. Once I found one on
clearance at a local store for around sixty bucks I was willing to take the
plunge.
I immediately went to a lot of my old school pressure cooker
go-to recipes—which are also on the stove, in the over or slow cooker go-to
recipes. Some of my firsts: Pot Roast,
homemade chicken soup and beef stew.
Whenever you are using a new device, pressure cooker or even
a slow cooker, you can get a little overwhelmed. My recommendation is to ALWAYS start off with
a recipe that you make frequently, that is inexpensive, and that you have your
own flavor profiles for. Use YOUR recipe
first and adjust the cooking time based on the devices manual. This is the only way I have found that I can
get comfortable with how a new contraption works.
Now that I have spent some time with this device I can say
that it is magical! I am very pleased with this investment and I would spend
full price if I ever had to replace it.
Some time this year I will share some of my personal recipes for the
Instant Pot. But right now I am in phase
2 of Instant Pot ownership…..trying other recipes!
This week I took on Instant Pot White Bean Chicken Chili
from Once a Month Meals.
I went this route first because I was contemplating doing
freezer meals for the Instant Pot. Well,
I do not think this is an ideal freezer meal option because the only thing that
really can be frozen ahead of time is the chicken. It does not seem practical to add these ingredients
and freeze when they are in the pantry and shelf stable. Just seems like a waste of freezer
space.
Other than that minor criticism I really liked this
recipe!
A few things missing from the recipe is the size of the
diced chicken. I did the standard one
inch dice. And it worked beautifully in
this recipe.
I also did not have homemade stock on hand so I used my
personal favorite, “Better than Bouillon.”
I followed the measurements on the jar for the 1 cup of stock or 8
ounces.
Another thing I do is I use the kitchen scale and I do not
use cups to measure out ingredients. That
translated well to this recipe.
I LOVE that the spices mentioned here are pantry
staples. I did not have to run out to
purchase a special exotic spice. That is
always a plus for me when trying a new recipe.
The 10 minutes pressure cook time worked well and I did a
rapid release of pressure and it cooked perfectly.
This is a recipe that will go into my usual rotation! It is
fast, easy and if I am not mistaken it is 0 points on the Weight Watchers
Freestyle program!
Give it a shot and I know you will not be disappointed.
**I am NOT paid by Instant Pot or any other mentioned products or websites that I mention in this blog.
Comments