This Instant Pot Jerk Chicken is a fabulous idea for a dinner party. It’s super low fuss to make but looks like an elaborate dish when it’s all laid out. All you need to do is put a bunch of ingredients in the blender to make a gorgeous sauce, and then pressure cook the chicken with the sauce in the instant pot and you’re done! I like finishing it by broiling it in the oven for a minute at the end and pouring the sauce on top. It’s definitely much easier to put together than my Jamaican Goat Curry, and looks just as scrumptious on the table!
We got the idea to make it after watching The Big Family Cooking Showdown on Netflix. It was a relief to find a cooking competition where people were actually pleasant to each other. And watching happy folks whipping up a glorious dish in their home kitchen was what it took to finally get me out of my cooking funk and get back to experimenting with recipes!
The sauce is easy to put together, but I’d always recommend tasting it for balance if you’re scaling it up or down. I definitely added a few more spoons of sugar and lemon juice when I tried to double the portion recently. But if you’re making a dinner for two, look no further than this delicious instant pot jerk chicken! I recommend serving it with a pear and celery salad, pickled onions, pita bread and a dollop of sour cream on top. I’ve provided a bonus section in the end where I describe how to make the salad and pickle the onions!
Instant Pot Jerk Chicken
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 6 Chicken thighs
- 2 Green chilis
- 2 Green onion stalks
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 2 tsp Pepper
- 0.5 tsp Paprika
- 0.5 tsp Cayenne pepper
- 1.5 tsp Allspice
- 1 tsp Brown sugar
- 2.5 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Soy sauce
- 1 tsp Lemon juice
Instructions
- Blend all the sauce ingredients together to get a thick sauce.
- Pour the sauce into the instant pot (IP).
- Place the chicken on top of the sauce and cover the IP with the lid.
- Set the IP to manual pressure for 25 minutes and quick release.
- When done, take the chicken out and place in a baking tray. You can keep the chicken as is or shred if you prefer to serve it that way.
- Set the IP to sauté mode and let the remaining sauce thicken for a few mins in the IP.
- Meanwhile, set the oven to broil on high, and place the baking tray in the top rack for 5 mins.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven and pour the thickened sauce on top of the chicken.
- Serve with pita bread, pickled onions, a pear and celery salad and sour cream to taste!
- Bonus tip to pickle onions: To pickle half a cup of onions, make a solution of 0.5 cup water, 0.5 cup vinegar,1.5 tsp honey, 1 tsp black pepper. Immerse sliced onions in the solution and cover for 30 mins. Your pickled onions are ready!
- Bonus tip to make a pear and celery salad: Slice 1 pear and 5 snack-size celery sticks with a mandoline slicer. Add 1 tsp lemon juice and 0.5 tsp pepper and toss well.
