Everyone loves an easy, weeknight recipe that not only everyone will love, but one that makes for the best leftovers – agree?
One of my favorite things to prep in terms of make ahead meals is boneless skinless chicken breasts. We might not eat too much meat here, but it’s relatively wonderful when you can have it available if you decide to make it a meaty weeknight dinner meal.
That’s where our Instant Pot comes in handy. It makes chicken cook effortlessly – frozen to shredded in 25 minutes? Yes PLEASE.
Last week, we headed up to Flagstaff with our kids for our Christmas experience – every year we forego gifts in lieu of taking them somewhere special for at least a night, if not a few – depending on what they would like to do.
This year, they wanted to do a remake of what we did last year .. and that included a trip to Bearizona Wildlife Park, with pizza for dinner and a stay in a hotel in Flagstaff with an indoor pool so they could swim.
Easier said than done!
Hotels are hard to come by up in Flagstaff – especially if you are a family of 7! We did our research and managed to book a room and so our Thursday morning was quite a bustle – feverishly packing and getting our truck ready to go a few hours North. With 5 kids, you have to expect the unexpected – right?!
We threw a few large chicken breasts in our Instant Pot from frozen, added 1/2 C. water, and set the timer for 26 minutes. Before we knew it, the chicken was done, 5 minutes later it was “pulled” and 5 more minutes later it was this gorgeous beauty of Saucy Tandoori Chicken.
Absolutely amazing.
Served on top of rice, it makes a really delicious, flavorful meal that everyone loved – it also made enough for leftovers for the rest of the weekend and once gone… well, requests for me to make it again.
Want to know something?
I’ll gladly make it again. It’s just that good.
- 2-3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 C. water
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
- 1/2 onion, minced
- 1 can full fat coconut milk
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper - optional
- 2 Tbsp cilantro for garnish
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt, or to taste
- Using frozen breasts - place frozen chicken breasts in your Instant Pot with 1/2 C. water. Place the lid on the Instant Pot, and close the valve - push manual (high) pressure and set the timer for 26 minutes.
- Using thawed chicken breasts - add to your Instant Pot with 1/2 C. water, close the valve, and set the timer for manual (high) at 15 minutes.
- After the pot beeps, release the pressure, drain the water and remove the chicken.
- On a cutting board on your counter, spend a few minutes pulling the chicken.
- Add the oil, garlic and onion to the Instant Pot - use the saute function and cook until the onion and garlic 2-3 minutes; turn the saute function off.
- Add the chicken back to the pot along with the coconut milk, cumin, turmeric, smoked paprika, and black pepper - combine well.
- Add 1 1/2 tsp sea salt - stir to combine, add more as needed.
- Serve immediately over rice.
- We prefer our Tandoori Chicken to be creamy - hence we use the full can of coconut milk. If you should prefer yours less saucy, use 1/2 can coconut milk. Or, in lieu of coconut milk, use full fat greek yogurt (will not make it dairy free).
