Our comforting Instant Pot Chicken Stew recipe is loaded with tender chicken and vegetables all smothered in a rich and hearty gravy. Made in just one pot, this quick and easy chicken stew is always a family favorite!
Why You’ll Love This Instant Pot Chicken Stew Recipe
- Total Comfort Food: This cozy chicken stew is an ultra comforting dinner with its rich flavors and hearty ingredients. Everyone will leave the table happy and satisfied!
- Effortless: We are huge fans of ‘dump and go’ style dinners in our house. After just a few minutes of prep, the instant pot will do ALL of the heavy lifting. You can relax while dinner cooks and clean up is as easy as just one-pot!
- Budget Friendly: The most expensive thing you have to pick up at the store are chicken breasts or thighs! With a few pantry staple ingredients and vegetables, this hearty dinner is easy on your wallet.
Loving this easy instant pot recipe as much as we do? You’ll also love our flavorful instant pot beef stew, our comforting instant pot pot roast or these rich and tender instant pot beef tips.
What You’ll Need
One of our favorite things about making this easy instant pot chicken stew recipe? It’s made with easy pantry ingredients, some chicken breasts and a few veggies (fresh or frozen). Scroll down to the recipe card for exact amounts.
- Olive Oil
- Veggies: We’ll be using onion, celery, carrots, red potatoes, frozen sweet peas and fresh garlic. We love fresh vegetables, but a bag of frozen mixed vegetables with onion, celery, and carrots will save you chopping time.
- Chicken Broth: You can use chicken stock, veggie stock, or bone broth.
- Chicken: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs both work perfectly.
- Seasoning: Keeping things simple with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
- Cornstarch: For thickening the stew.
How to Make Chicken Stew in Instant Pot
All you need is 5 minutes of prep required to make this instant pot chicken stew. You don’t even need to brown the chicken! Scroll to the recipe card at bottom of the post for full detailed instructions.
- Sauté: Set your instant pot to sauté and cook the onion and celery for a few minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds, until it smells amazing.
- Deglaze: Add 2 cups of broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the yummy bits on the bottom. Not only does add a lot of flavor, it prevents your instant pot from giving the dreaded ‘burn notice’.
- Add: Turn off the sauté setting and add the rest of the veggies, chicken, and seasonings. Give it all a good stir to combine.
- Cook: Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes and then quick release any remaining pressure.
- Finish: Take off the lid, shred the chicken and add the sweet peas. Whisk together the cornstarch and water and stir it in to the stew. Cook for 2 to 3 more minutes (on sauté) until the gravy is nice and thick. Serve and enjoy!
Cook’s Tips and Tricks
- Deglazing: It is SUPER important that you deglaze the bottom of the instant pot with broth, otherwise you’ll get the burn notice and halt the cooking.
- Potatoes: If you don’t have red potatoes, you can always sub in gold potatoes as they also have a thin skin that doesn’t require peeling. If you use russet potatoes, be sure to peel them first! Bonus: If you use baby potatoes, you don’t even have to chop them.
- Peas Please: We love peas, but if you’re not a fan, we recommend trying frozen corn instead. You can add it at the same time as the peas. Or go for green beans, but add these when you add the carrots.
- Chicken: We like a chunky stew so we opted to pull the meat into larger pieces. You can always shred it into smaller pieces if you’d like.
- Make It Creamy: When testing this recipe, we also tried it with a little added heavy cream. It makes the stew creamier, almost like a chicken and dumplings soup texture. If you would prefer this texture, stir in 1/4 to 1/3 cup heavy cream at the end of cooking.
- Crockpot: Sauté the veggies and add them to your crockpot. Add all remaining ingredients except the cornstarch and peas. Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or low for 7 to 8 hours, until chicken is easily shredded. Shred chicken, add peas and cornstarch slurry and stir to combine. Let cook for 10 minutes, until gravy has thickened and serve!
What to Serve With Instant Pot Chicken Stew
A big bowl of chicken stew makes a pretty amazing dinner, especially when paired with a big piece of crusty bread, like this homemade garlic bread, on the side. It’s also divine with a slice of warm beer bread! Garnished with a little fresh herbs, like parsley or thyme, and we’re in dinner heaven!
If you are looking for some pairing ideas, a nice side salad always makes a great accompaniment to soup. We recommend our fresh strawberry and spinach salad or our wilted lettuce salad.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
We love love love leftover soup! There’s something that happens with the melding of flavors that makes it even more tasty the next day. Here’s how to store and reheat:
- Fridge: Store the leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
- Reheat: We usually reheat single bowls in the microwave or larger amounts on the stovetop. Either way, just add a little broth when reheating to thin out the stew.
- Freezer: You can freeze leftovers in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Lay it flat while freezing so it’s super easy to store. For best results, thaw stew overnight in fridge before reheating.
Yield: 6 servings
Instant Pot Chicken Stew
This comforting Instant Pot Chicken Stew is loaded with tender chicken and vegetables all smothered in a rich and thick gravy. Made in just one-pot with only 5 minutes of prep, this quick and easy chicken stew is always a family favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 ¼ cups chicken broth, divided
- 4 carrots, chopped
- 1 lb red potatoes, cubed (about 4 potatoes)
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or thighs
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ cup frozen sweet peas, or corn
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Set the instant pot to sauté and add the olive oil. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring often, for 4 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds more.
- Add 2 cups chicken broth to the pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any bits of the onion and celery that are stuck to the bottom of the pot. (This is an important step to deglaze the bottom of the pot so you don’t get the burn notice.)
- Turn off the sauté setting, add the carrots, potatoes, chicken breasts, Italian seasoning and black pepper. Stir to combine.
- Lock the lid on the instant pot, set the valve to seal. Set the cook time for 10 minutes on high pressure. (Keeping in mind that it will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure.)
- Let the instant pot pressure naturally release for 10 minutes. While the pressure is releasing, make the cornstarch slurry. In a small bowl, whisk to combine cornstarch with 1/4 cup broth.
- Quick release any remaining pressure. Using 2 forks pull/shred the chicken into large pieces. Turn the instant pot to sauté and pour in the cornstarch slurry and stir to combine. Continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes, until the gravy has thickened.
- Add the sweet peas, and cook for 1 minute more. Turn off the instant pot and serve warm, topped with a little fresh parsley and a big piece of crusty French bread on the side.
Notes
Store: Store the leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
Reheat: We usually reheat single bowls in the microwave or larger amounts on the stovetop. Either way, just add a little broth when reheating to thin out the stew.
Freeze: You can freeze leftovers in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Lay it flat while freezing so it’s super easy to store. For best results, thaw stew overnight in fridge before reheating.
Potatoes: If you don’t have red potatoes, you can always sub in gold potatoes as they also have a thin skin that doesn’t require peeling. If you use russet potatoes, be sure to peel them first! Bonus: If you use baby potatoes, you don’t even have to chop them.
Make It Creamy: When testing this recipe, we also tried it with a little added heavy cream. It makes the stew creamier, almost like a chicken and dumplings soup texture. If you would prefer this texture, stir in 1/4 to 1/3 cup heavy cream at the end of cooking.
Crockpot: Sauté the veggies and add them to your crockpot. Add all remaining ingredients except the cornstarch and peas. Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or low for 7 to 8 hours, until chicken is easily shredded. Shred chicken, add peas and cornstarch slurry and stir to combine. Let cook for 10 minutes, until gravy has thickened and serve!
Nutrition
Serving: 1 serving, Calories: 311kcal, Carbohydrates: 26g, Protein: 36g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 99mg, Sodium: 547mg, Potassium: 1130mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 6961IU, Vitamin C: 17mg, Calcium: 57mg, Iron: 2mg
