Pressure Cooker Whole Chicken

LitaLou's Note:

I've fallen in love with my pressure cooker and was anxious to try this. It's now my new favorite way to prepare a whole chicken. This recipe is a combination of ideas I found online, and you certainly could use any seasonings you want. The chicken turns out somewhere between roasted & stewed, and is delicous, tasty & moist. I served it with brown rice tossed with some dried basil & moistened with some of the juice from the chicken. You can have a real feast in 45 mins. tops!

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 2 lbs whole chickens
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 ½ cups water or 1 ½ cups chicken broth

Directions:

1. Rinse chicken & pat dry. Season with salt & pepper. Heat oil in uncovered pressure cooker; brown chicken on all sides in hot oil. Remove chicken; place rack in pressure cooker and place browned chicken in rack. Add water/broth around chicken. Place lid on cooker, seal, and bring up to pressure. Cook for 25 minutes. Release pressure by quick release method. Remove chicken to platter, pour accumulated juice into bowl & serve with chicken.

Reviews

[CarrolJ]

Wow! I have often cooked chicken in a pressure cooker before...but never browned it first and the difference in appearance and flavor is incredible. Of course the meat is as moist as you could possibly get it since it was cooked in the pressurized steam. You get a beautiful whole chicken...which would make a lovely presentation. You also get good flavors throughout the meat because of the seasonings being seared into the meat prior to processing. This method would make a very nice dinner. You could easily make some gravy from the rich drippings and serve with some mashed potatoes and a vegatable for a complete hearty meal. I plan to let the meat cool and refrigerate for chicken salad sandwiches. Made for PAC Fall 2009.

[mbhupatrai]

The is a great master recipe! It allows cooks some creativity if desired but is FANTABULOUS just as is.

I made this using a whole chicken (approx 4 lbs). Browned It on all sides after seasoning generously with salt and pepper. While it was browning I popped the broth into the microwave then steeped a sprig of rosemary in the broth.

Also readied approximately 10 cloves of garlic, peeled.

After browning, I poured in the broth, inserted half the garlic into the chickens cavity and also the steeped rosemary sprig.

Then put chicken on the rack and sprinkled remaining garlic and additional rosemary sprig onto of chicken. Turned out great!!

Made some roasted garlic and caramelised onion smashed potatoes with cream and a dash of nutmeg.

Ticked the remaining sauce from the chicken and poured over the potatoes!

Lovely and thanks for the recipe!

Last week's carnitas and today's chicken are justification enough for procuring this pressure cooker.

I used a 6qt Cuisinart Electric unit, by the way.

[CassiaDawn]

Delicious! I used an old, retired laying hen for this recipe, and the timing was perfect. I barely needed a knife to cut the chicken apart, and it was so moist and tender. I used vegetable broth in the slow cooker, and the only real change I made to the recipe was to sprinkle the chicken with a little seasoning salt, too. I thickened the drippings with some flour - made an excellent gravy for garlic mashed potatoes!