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Instant Pot Thai Lemongrass Chicken.
I haven’t talked much about this, and I don’t know how I haven’t, but you guys, I’ve basically stolen Asher’s dog, Merle, and taken him in as my own. If you follow along on Instagram, then you may have wondered about his frequent appearances, as he makes it into my stories often. Asher, who is nine, somehow convinced my parents to get her a dog towards the end of last summer. She’s the last child, so I think you can see why this wasn’t hard for her to do…
My mom and Asher found Merle, who is a mini Australian Shepard in September. For a while, I didn’t spend much time with Merle since he is Asher’s dog. But then that whole trip to South Korea happened and I came back to the states about two weeks before my parents. This meant that I took Merle in, and in those two weeks I discovered that Merle is probably the best dog ever. No seriously, the best. He did literally everything with me those entire two weeks. We hiked every morning, he’d sit at my feet while I worked, and hang with me in the kitchen while I cooked. I took him with me everywhere I went, because again, he’s just the best dog. AND he listens to me, which I find greatly satisfying.
Since then, Merle spends a lot of time at my house. If you are a new…ish reader, my house neighbors my parents house, so I just pick Merle up every morning, we hike and then he spends the day with me until Asher gets out of school. At which time Asher demands that he come back home to hang with her. This week however, Merle is with me full time again, and I can’t lie, I love having him here. He’s cute, cuddly, kind, and again, he listens to me, which I love. And as I type this, Merle is sitting not an inch away. I finally get that whole saying that, dog is man’s best friend. That’s Merle!
Anyway, that little story has not a thing to do with today’s recipe, but I thought we needed a fun intro, because it’s Wednesday and I think all Wednesdays could use a bright little story.
Plus, I clearly just had Merle on my mind…
OK. OKAY.
Moving on.
Let’s talk all things Thai chicken and instant pot.
As I have said, when I first got my Instant Pot, I wasn’t really that crazy about it. I think I tossed the first two, three, maybe even four recipes I made out. But once I got past the learning curve, I slowly began to really love the instant pot, like I do my slow cooker. There are certain foods that I find the instant pot cooks better than others, and if you ask me, the instant pot cooks chicken perfect every single time. And that’s where this Thai chicken comes into play.
I’m a huge fan of Thai anything, but especially Thai food with a little lemongrass. It’s comforting yet fresh at the same time and full of so much flavor.
As with most instant pot recipes, you pretty much just add everything to the pot, set it, and dinner is done in about twenty or so minutes. No dirtying up too many dishes or even the stove, a major bonus in my book (if you didn’t already know, I hate doing dishes and cleaning the stove!). The chicken is tender, a little on the spicy side, hinted with coconut, and finished off with plenty of lime. It would be delicious packed into a wrap or maybe even served in a salad, but I personally like to serve my chicken up over a bed of steamed rice and top it simply with carrots and greens.
It’s nothing too fancy, but yet it’s incredibly delicious. The major plus, is that it takes no time at all to make. Perfect for busy nights, or nights when you really just don’t feel like cooking.
Oh, and if you have any leftovers, they’d be great packed up for lunches!
Instant Pot Thai Lemongrass Chicken
Servings: 6 servings
Calories Per Serving: 516 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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Ingredients
- 1 can (13.5 ounce) full fat coconut milk
- 1 small yellow onion, quartered
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 inch piece fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoons lemongrass paste
- 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 red fresno pepper or jalapeño, seeds removed and chopped
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly torn
- juice of 1 lime
- peanuts, shredded carrots, and green onions, for serving
- steamed rice for, serving
Instructions
- 1. In a blender, combine the coconut milk, onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, curry paste, fish sauce, and a pinch of both salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. 2. In the bowl of your instant pot, combine the chicken, coconut sauce, bell pepper, fresno pepper, and cinnamon stick. Cover and cook on high pressure/manual for 8 minutes. 3. Once done cooking, use the natural or quick release function. Set the Instant pot to sauté and bring to a boil, boil 5 minutes or until the liquid reduces slightly. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick. Shred the chicken using two forks. Stir in the cilantro, basil, and lime juice. Season with salt.3. Serve the chicken over rice and top with peanuts, carrots, and green onions. Enjoy!
Slow Cooker
- 1. In a blender, combine the coconut milk, onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, curry paste, fish sauce, and a pinch of both salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. 2. In the bowl of your slow cooker, combine the chicken, coconut sauce, bell pepper, fresno pepper, and cinnamon stick. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours. Once done cooking, remove and discard the cinnamon stick. Shred the chicken using two forks. Stir in the cilantro, basil, and lime juice. Season with salt. Finish as directed above.
Dinner in minutes. Can’t beat that.
Definitely not dinner in minutes, takes more like an hour in total. Like other reviews mentioned it comes out watery not thick like in pictures.
Hi Jackie,
Sorry to hear the recipe was not enjoyed, thanks for making it. xTieghan
what if i use the pan or wok will it work?
Hey there,
Sure, you can also cook this recipe on the stove top:) I hope you love the dish, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
I’ve been making this on a monthly basis, and it’s so good over rice or soba noodles! I definitely read the recipe wrong however and have been blending up the pepper IN the sauce! Honestly, I’m not going to correct this mistake… it makes the sauce a thick, peppery, coconut sauce that we love.
Thanks for this!
Hey Colin,
Wonderful! I am so glad this recipe was a hit, thanks a lot for making it! Have a lovely week:) xTieghan
Good taste but the instapot makes the sauce to runny and looks nothing like the picture even after sautéing for 10 minutes. I will make again but I will cook the chicken in the instapot and warm the sauce on the stove
Hey Mike,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try! xTieghan
If I have lemon grass, but not lemon grass paste could I sub in the real thing? Or should I run the lemon grass through a food processor to make it paste-like? Thanks!
Hey Emily,
I think that will be fine to use because you are going to put it in the food processor anyways. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
So easy and so so so good! Devoured all of this. Topped with jalapeno, green onion, peanuts, and avocado.
Yes! So happy you loved this one, Sara! xTieghan
Hey! I inaugurated my instant pot with this recipe – it was sooooooo good! Thank you so much. I have a request if you could share instant pot instructions in more recipes would be great! Thank you so much
Thank you so much Ashana! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! xTieghan