Set and forget Instant Pot Chicken and Potatoes is a savory one pot chicken stew just like my Ukrainian grandma used to make!
This stew along with Instant Pot chicken stew and Instant Pot chicken and rice is in our regular dinner rotation.
I made this Instant Pot chicken and potatoes on Sunday night after we got back from a weekend away at kids’ hockey tournament. This thick stew is a version of my Ukrainian grandma’s chicken stew and is a dinner lifesaver, just like one pan chicken and potatoes and roasted chicken thighs and potatoes.
While chicken and potatoes were cooking in an Instant Pot, I painted kids’ bathroom. Now go ahead and tell me Instant Pot recipes are not magical when it comes to one pot meals?!
Reader’s Review
This was super delicious! I made it as a quote weeknight dinner and friends came by unexpectedly. We all loved it. That broth is deeee-licious!! We had some crusty bread with it. Definitely recommended.
Bronwen
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- 5 stars: Instant Pot chicken and potatoes has been rated with amazing results over 160 times.
- Balanced one pot meal: Protein, carbs and vegetables all in one pot.
- Fast: 10 minutes prep and ready in under 45 minutes including the pressure build up time!
- Hearty: Chicken infuses the vegetables with flavor and potatoes add a natural starch, making this thick stew a comforting cold weather dinner.
Ingredients for Instant Pot Chicken and Potatoes
- Chicken: Chicken breasts, chicken thighs, chicken drumsticks, chicken legs or even whole chicken will work. Frozen chicken too, yes!
- Potatoes: Russet potatoes will fall apart more – use if you like more chicken stew like dish. Yellow, red and especially baby potatoes will stay whole better.
- Vegetables: Onion and carrots.
- Pantry seasonings: Dried rosemary or fresh rosemary, bay leaves, salt and pepper.
- Fresh seasonings: Garlic and fresh dill.
What Types of Chicken Can I Use?
Chicken Thighs or Drumsticks
- Cook time: Boneless skinless chicken thighs – 15 minutes, bone-in chicken thighs and chicken drumsticks – 20 minutes.
- Cut back on saturated fat: If you buy chicken thighs with skin on, I like to trim the fat and remove the skin from all or at least half of them.
- Save the bones: To make Instant Pot chicken broth.
Boneless Chicken Breast
- Cook time: Boneless chicken breasts will keep moist under pressure and need 15 minutes to cook through.
- Save money: You can go for more affordable bone in and skin on breast and cook for 20 minutes.
- Do not chop but shred after: There is no need to cut raw chicken breasts into pieces. Shred cooked chicken while gently stirring with a spoon. It’s that tender and saves washing a cutting board.
Frozen Chicken
Instant Pot frozen chicken and potatoes is a reality. Cooking meat from frozen is one of Instant Pot’s best features!
- Cook time: Same 15-20 minutes depending on type of meat cooking time. Instant Pot will take a bit longer to come to pressure thus cooking chicken longer.
- Make sure to separate chicken pieces (!): This is very important step. You can’t throw in a blob of frozen chicken breasts because they will never cook through in 20 minutes.
Whole Chicken
That’s what I used 2nd time. It’s the cheapest cut of chicken. Here is a tutorial how to cut whole chicken.
How to Make Chicken and Potatoes in Instant Pot
- Prep: In Instant Pot, add chicken, potatoes, onion, carrots, rosemary, bay leaves, salt, pepper and water. No need to stir.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes: Close the lid, turn pressure vent to Sealing position and press Pressure Cook on High pressure or Manual: boneless chicken – 15 minutes, bone-in chicken – 20 minutes.
- Release pressure: After Instant Pot has finished cooking, release pressure using Quick Release method by turning valve to Venting position and open the lid.
- Season and separate the chicken: Add garlic and fresh herbs. Stir and separate the chicken meat off the bone with a spoon (or shred boneless chicken breasts).
Tips for Best Results
- You don’t have to saute the onion or sear chicken: It’s not necessary when making chicken and potatoes in Instant Pot because food cooked under pressure comes out more flavorful.
- Add garlic at the end: 5 cloves added before cooking are way less powerful than 1 clove added after dish is ready. It makes all the difference in the world.
- If you want potatoes to stay whole: Place chicken on a trivet and potatoes on top, so they are not sitting in liquid.
- Liquids: You can add 1 cup water. You can also use chicken broth or Instant Pot chicken broth instead but I like to save money. Chicken cooked with water turns it into a broth.
Variations
- Fresh dill substitute: Any fresh herbs like Italian parsley (I don’t love curly parsley), green onion or even basil adds amazing layer of flavor. Don’t use dried dill weed, completely different taste.
- Substitute rosemary with: Dried oregano, thyme or Italian seasoning substitute.
- No fresh herbs? Still make this Instant Pot chicken recipe. It will be good without them as well.
- Creamy: Some readers have added heavy cream at the end after cooking.
- Fresh greens: Kale or spinach not only add nutritional value but a pop of color.
- Splash of white wine: Reader tested and as the saying goes; I like to cook with wine, sometimes it ends up in the food. 🙂
- Additional vegetables: Add frozen peas or cauliflower rice at the end of cooking time. Frozen green beans would be lovely too.
- Finishers: In addition to dill and garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice to enhance flavors or hot sauce if you like a little heat.
- Sweet potatoes: Pressure cook 8-10 minutes and be sure to use boneless chicken as your protein option.
Serving Recommendations
Instant Pot chicken and potatoes really is a one pot meal, but if you are like me and have very hungry boys at your table (all those sports!) here are some additional side dish options:
- Fresh salads: Spinach salad or lettuce salad are two easy salads that would pair perfectly.
- Keep this dish authentic Ukrainian and serve with cucumber and tomato salad or vinegar coleslaw.
- Roasted vegetables: Roasted cauliflower or roasted asparagus recipe are delicious.
- Sautéed sides: Sauteed zucchini for something light or brussels with bacon for some added decadence!
- Bread: A loaf of crusty bread or high protein bread like Greek yogurt bread or Greek yogurt biscuits.
How to Store
Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. I do not recommend to freeze potatoes as they change colour and texture. It is my personal preference and I know some people do not mind. So, if you freeze other potato dishes, then you can freeze this one as well.
Reheat: To reheat, add desired amount in a pot, cover and simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes or until warmed through. A little more fresh dill would bring more freshness.
FAQs
Yes, I go into detail above how to use frozen chicken but to recap, be sure your chicken pieces are not touching and cooking time will be the same, but your Instant Pot will take longer to come to pressure.
Yes. You can make chicken stew in slow cooker. It should take about 3-4 hours on high heat and 6-8 hours on low setting.
Use boiling water (or warm broth/wine) to bring your pot to pressure faster.
More Chicken and Potatoes Recipes
More Instant Pot Recipes to Try
- Instant Pot chicken breast
- Instant Pot whole chicken
- Instant Pot Italian chicken
- Instant Pot chicken pasta
- Instant Pot pot roast
Instant Pot Chicken and Potatoes
Video
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken thighs, breasts, drumsticks or cut up whole chicken
- 3 pounds potatoes, cubed (see notes)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 large carrots, sliced
- 1 fresh rosemary sprig, or 1 tablespoon dried
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup water, or chicken broth
- 1 medium garlic clove, grated
- 1 small bunch dill, Italian parsley or green onion, finely chopped
Instructions
- In Instant Pot, add chicken, potatoes, onion, carrots, rosemary, bay leaves, salt, pepper and water. Do not stir.
- Close the lid, turn pressure vent to Sealing and press Pressure Cook on High or Manual for 15 minutes for boneless chicken and 20 minutes for bone-in chicken pieces.
- After Instant Pot has finished cooking, release pressure using Quick Release method by turning valve to Venting and open the lid.
- Add garlic and fresh herbs. Stir gently. I like to separate meat off the bone at same time. It helps to divide meat more evenly.
- Serve hot with a green salad and crusty bread.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes or until warmed through.
- Freeze: I do not recommend to freeze potatoes as they change colour and texture. It is my personal preference and I know some people do not mind.
- What are best potatoes to use? Russet potatoes will fall apart more – use if you like more chicken stew like dish. Yellow, red and especially baby potatoes will stay whole better.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just one cup of water?
I used chicken broth, but 1 cup for all of that? How is it supposed to be a soup?
It’s not a soup, it’s a stew. Yes, 1 cup. Chicken will release juices during cooking. You will see.
I grew up eating this or something close to it. My mom made it up as she went. It’s amazing how close hers was to this recipe.
That’s because ingredients are minimal and simple. Glad it reminded you of mom’s cooking.
I made this recipe last night and it was amazing! This is the 3rd recipe I have tried from your page and each was a great success! First I made your baked chicken w/ smoked paprika. I had never used smoked paprika but we really liked it, I also didn’t know about baking at 450! It really does make a difference! The second recipe I made was your shrimp tacos, and OH MY GOSH that slaw totally made that taco! Cooking these recipes has been so encouraging because I had been stuck in a cooking rut, and my husband was not very happy with what I was making. All three meals I cooked of your recipes I received compliments and comments like that was great, make that again! It is always nice to hear what you cook is appreciated and liked. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thank you so much for sharing them!
Awe, you are so welcome, Christina! So happy to hear you are enjoying my recipes! Please don’t be shy to leave me a comment with a star review once you make any recipe. Have a great week!
Came out lovely. Thank you!
I made this recipe twice now and it came out amazing both times! Your Ukrainian recipe is actually pretty similar to a Croatian recipe I make all the time called žgvacet, based on my mother’s stovetop žgvacet recipe, only in 1/3 the time. (Same rosemary/bay leaf seasoning, but the difference is that žgvacet uses a tomato sauce instead of water. You can use jarred tomato sauce, as much as you want — a whole jar or even two is great to make plenty of sauce. The potatoes thicken the sauce! Do try it some time — I promise you’ll love it!) But my wife won’t eat it often because of the acidity of the tomato, so I was so excited to discover your recipe and to find that it tastes almost the same, just different from the sauce perspective!
Both times I made this recipe, I made it from a frozen vacuum pack of chicken thighs that I’d defrosted in-bag in a bowl of water just long enough (maybe 15 minutes, while I was getting the other ingredients ready) to get the thighs to separate. The first time, I already had baked potatoes left over, so I made it without the potatoes and added the potatoes at the end along with the garlic. We left the instant pot on warm for about an hour afterward and everything was heated through.
Last night, my wife suggested she wanted more vegetables in this recipe, and no skin on the chicken. So we used more carrots and added mushrooms. Again with the partially frozen chicken thighs, and we did it with raw potatoes this time. The skin actually comes off very easily when the chicken is still mostly frozen. She didn’t really trust that the chicken wouldn’t be underdone at the same amount of time as cooking the recipe from fresh (after an underdone experience with the frozen whole chicken recipe), so we did 25 minutes instead of 20, and 10 minutes natural release instead of quick release. It was plenty done with the potatoes almost falling apart, which I personally like, but I think 20 minutes just as stated in the recipe would have been fine.
Thanks for sharing Dan!
My family loved this dinner recipe!!
That’s fantastic Sasha!
Wonderful! So easy and SO GOOD…I have shared it with many others after they have tasted it. Thank you for spending so much time sharing so many tips and ideas!
You are very welcome Marsha!
This was SO GOOD! My dad gave me some fresh rosemary & bay leaves from his garden and I was looking for a recipe to use them in, came across this one and so glad I did! I used frozen chicken breasts, russet potatoes, and stirred in green onion. I also threw in a bullion cube during cooking for flavor, I’m sure it wasn’t needed, but I think it made it extra delicious. Wonderful recipe. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome Jocelyn!
Tasty and EASY and minimal “active cooking” time: fast prep, no saute, no need for chicken broth (they’re right, water works just fine), can use frozen chicken, saves on the garlic (because it’s used at the end), a single pressure-cooking step (no need to open/close/open close). Such a clever and delicious recipe. I augmented with my own spices that I had on hand, e.g. chili powder, Jamacan jerk chicken powder. Also added some celery and added at least 3x the carrots and garlic amount. Note that Russet potatoes will be quite soft and will break apart, which is exactly how I prefer them, makes a yummy thicker sauce. I suppose you could open and add the potatoes mid-way if you wanted firmer potatoes.
Thanks for the positive feedback Lisa!
Delicious, easy, and fast! My tips: 1. Use boiling water (or stock or heated wine) to speed up cooking time. 2. Don’t even bother cutting up the chicken – a whole chicken cooks perfectly in 20 minutes, and the meat easily comes away from the bone. 3. Stir frozen peas into the hot liquid once it’s done cooking.