Fiery Instant Pot Chicken with veggies

Fiery Instant Pot Chicken with veggies –  juicy, spicy lemon-garlic chicken on a bed of steamed asparagus, green beans, peppers, and other healthy, fresh vegetables.  An easy Instant Pot meal ready in under 30 minutes.

Need dinner on the table in under 30 minutes?  No problem!  This delicious chicken and veggies meal is made in an Instant Pot and will be ready in under 30 minutes.  It’s full of bright flavors and has a fiery kick that’s sure to wake up your taste buds. You’re going to love the light freshness and flavor!

We normally don’t have all of these vegetables on hand because they can be pricey.  One of our local farmer’s markets had a sale on asparagus, green beans, and red bell peppers so I had picked some up a few days prior.  Good thing too because this dish turned out so amazing.

This dish really was one of those I’m going to wing it and hope it’s edible recipes.  Thankfully it turned out great and now, here I am sharing it with you.

I was able to have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes, no joke!  Don’t you love meals like this and it’s all cooked in the Instant Pot.  My Instant Pot is my BFF and I couldn’t (nor do I ever want to) live without it.  We actually picked up a second (larger) Instant Pot last Black Friday.  I swear my crockpot thinks I’m having an affair because I have a new bestie in the kitchen.  😉 Haha!

Adding a little acid and some heat would make this Instant Pot chicken and even bigger hit.  I had some Italian dressing in the fridge and a lemon.  These were perfect to add as the acid components.  For the heat, I used some dried red pepper flakes. Boy, did it give it a warm little kick?!  The amount I added gave it a heat of maybe a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5.  Five being melt-your-face-off hot.  These elements really made all the difference and kept this dish light, refreshing, and flavorful.

IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE, YOU MAY ALSO LIKE THESE:

• Browned Garlic Butter Pasta
• Instant Pot Pesto Chicken
• White Chicken Chili (Instant Pot)
• Hawaiian Meatballs (Instant Pot)
• Instant Pot Salted Caramel Cheesecake

HOW TO MAKE THIS EASY FIERY INSTANT POT CHICKEN MEAL:

Sear Chicken-

Start by searing the outside of the chicken.  This give the chicken a little color and adds flavor (I think).  To do this I just set my Instant Pot to saute, added about a tablespoon of coconut oil to the bottom, placed the whole chicken breasts inside, and cooked them for about 1 minute on each side (no lid yet).  Once you have a nice brown color on them, add the water or chicken broth (this helps the pressure cooker come to pressure), sprinkle the garlic and red pepper flakes on top, put the lid on, and turned the pressure cooker on.  

 

Partially Pressure Cook Chicken-

Using the manual setting, cook the chicken only on HIGH pressure for 6 minutes.

 Add Veggies-

Once the lemon-garlic chicken had partially cooked and the Instant Pot sounded its alarm, let stand 5 minutes to allow pressure to come down on it’s own then release remaining pressure manually after 5 minutes.  After the pressure has released, open the lid.  Be careful when removing the lid as there will still be some steam that will release.  Next, add the veggies right on top.  This includes the asparagus, fresh green beans, red bell pepper, and the white parts of one bunch of green onions. You’ll use the green part of the onions at the very end.

Doesn’t it look so pretty and colorful?  

Add Sauce and Cook Once More-

Next, pour the Italian salad dressing in and added the lemon zest and juice.  I topped it all off with a little salt and pepper.  This time around I only set the cooker for 2 minutes (HIGH pressure).

When the timer sounds, do a quick release (release the pressure immediately).  Remove the chicken and set aside to rest for a few minutes.  Letting the chicken rest allows the juices to be reabsorbed.  This helps the chicken stay moist and juicy.

Last Step – Add remaining veggies and chicken

Last, add the tomatoes, green onion tops, and parsley and gave the veggies a quick but careful toss.  I didn’t want the veggies to turn to mush because I stirred them to roughly and thankfully they didn’t.  🙂  After the chicken had rested for 4 or 5 minutes, cut as desired.

This dish was delicious! The lemon-garlic chicken was my favorite!  It had sweetness from the garlic and veggie juices, a hint of lemon, and a nice kick of heat at the end.  Yum!

A GUILT-FREE MEAL!

This meal was so light, clean, and delicious.  No need to feel guilty for enjoying this quick meal!  It was a great healthy meal to have for a late night dinner.  It didn’t sit heavy and it was still packed with so much flavor.

My girls did say it was a little too spicy for them (yet my LouLaw ate all her chicken before she said anything).  When I make this again, I’ll have to lessen the heat for the girls or make them a separate dish but, for Ryan and I, this heat was perfect.  With that note, if you don’t like spicy food you can omit the pepper flakes or lessen them.  If you like a little spicy in your food, you will love it as is.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE INSTANT POT DINNER?

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Originally Published: 03.06.2017                            Updated: 03.05.2024