Pressure Cooker Braised Chicken with Capers and Parsley
Moist, tender Braised Chicken with Capers and Parsley is quick and easy to make in the pressure cooker with a tangy, salty flavor.
I recently received an email from a sweet Pressure Cooking Today reader. Pat sent me a link to a recipe that’s a family favorite that she’s transformed in to a pressure cooker recipe. She said:
I hope you will try this recipe and let me know how your family likes it. I love your site and I love my pressure cooker. I have turned many people onto the joys of pressure cooking and your site. Please keep up the good work. We all appreciate it.
After a sweet email like that, how could I resist giving the recipe a try.
Making Braised Chicken with Capers and Parsley in an Instant Pot
The recipe is from Cafe Luce in Portland, Oregon, and was published in Bon Appetit magazine. Pat’s made the recipe many times and has shared it with many family members and friends.
The original recipe requires a 1 1/2 hour braise, so Pat decided to adapt it to the pressure cooker and was wowed by the difference pressure cooking made.
Use an instant-read thermometer to verify each chicken breast is at least 165°F in the thickest part of the breast after cooking.
It was great – incredibly moist and tender and more flavorful. From now on I will always prepare this chicken recipe in the pressure cooker.
I couldn’t agree more. My family loved this Braised Chicken with Capers and Parsley recipe too! Thanks so much for sharing it Pat!
Braised Chicken with Capers and Parsley
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 large onion, minced
- 4 bone-in, skin-less chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup minced flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
- 1/3 cup salted capers, soaked well in several changes of water
- 1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
- 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Salt
Instructions
Generously salt and pepper chicken. Select Browning and add 1 tablespoon oil to the cooking pot. When oil is hot, brown chicken on both sides. Work in two batches so you don't crowd the pressure cooker. Remove chicken to a platter when browned.
Add remaining tablespoon of oil to pressure cooking pot. When oil is hot, add onion; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add parsley and capers to onions in the pressure cooking pot; cook for 1 minute. Stir in broth and vinegar. Add chicken with any accumulated juices.
Lock lid in place, select High Pressure and 13 minutes cooking time. When beep sounds, turn off pressure cooker and do a quick pressure release to release pressure. When valve drops carefully remove lid.
With tongs, remove chicken to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm.
In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and water. Add to broth in the cooking pot. Select Saute and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Turn pressure cooker off.
Season sauce with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over chicken; garnish with parsley.
Notes
adapted from Bon Appetit
I’m not a fan of the breast so I’ll try with the thighs, only thing I’m thinking of doing is to add a squeeze of lemon when thickening the sauce.
Hi Ella – thighs should be great in this recipe and you can’t go wrong with a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy!
Very yummy and very easy! Thank you for posting this.
Is this made with 4 WHOLE chicken breasts which when cut in half would make 8 pieces?
If it is made with 4 WHOLE breasts can the recipe be halved to 2 Whole chicken breasts.
My husband and I are small eaters and this would make 2 meals for us with 4 individual pieces.
Hi Anita – no, they are half breasts. Where I live whole chicken breasts are almost never sold. Also, the timing is for large bone in chicken breast halves, so if you have small chicken breasts, you’ll need to reduce the time. You could also just cook two breasts and your time would be the same. Enjoy!
Thank you.
I have a question: I live alone and almost always cook just for myself. When cutting down a recipe for the pressure cooker , do I cut time and if so how to figure the time?
Lucy
Hi Lucy – generally when pressure cooking meats the cook time is based on the thickness of the meat not the volume in the pressure cooker. So you would not reduce the cook time in this recipe.
I am over the intimidation and ready to try my new instant pot. For the braised chicken recipe, the chicken breasts I bought are boneless. Do I need to reduce the cooking time?
Thanks for your answer and great recipes.
Hi Mary – yes, you’ll want to reduce the time for boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I would start with 6 minutes and check to see if they have reached 165°. 8 minutes if they’re the large Costco size chicken breasts. Enjoy!
Success! The fear of cooking using my IP just went down 50%.
If I do this with chicken quarters and the chicken quarters only take 5 minutes to cook in my Instant Pot, would I cook for 5 minutes only versus the 13 minutes?
Hi Lisa – yes, I would set it for 5 minutes and then open it and check and see if it’s done to your liking.
Could I substitute marinated artichokes for capers?
Could I substitute marinated artichokes for the capers?
Hi Karen – I think marinated artichokes would be great in this dish. Let me know how it goes.
I live in Colorado – elevation of 5471 feet – what adjustments do I make for timing your recipes?
Hi Sue – A rule of thumb is to increase the cooking time by 5% for every 1,000 feet above the first 2,000 feet. I’m at about 3,500 feet, so you could increase the cook time by about 10%. But I wouldn’t really worry about changing the times, except maybe on long cooking times add a few minutes more.
hi
is the chicken cooked from frozen or thawed? if i do it frozen how long do i cook it for?
From thawed but you could use frozen and just add a minute or two.
Barb, would you recommend this recipe with thighs? If so approximate weight?
Hi Jerry……this recipe originally called for 4 legs and thighs separated ( 2 lbs). I usually use a combination package of legs and bone in breast – it is a very versatile recipe. (check out the Bon Appetit link for the original recipe). Hope you try it.
Keep up the pressure,
Pat
Barb, I used two pounds of boneless, skinless thighs.
I didn’t have parsley so I substituted basil and baby spinach roughly chopped.
As a side dish I made quinoa with chicken stock and put in a cop of frozen peas when it was done. I served the chicken on the quinoa with the sauce covering both. I have to throw modesty to the wind and tell you it was fantastic! Thanks for another great recipe.
Thanks for the update Jerry. Sounds like a delicious meal. I appreciate you taking the time to share your pressure cooking adventures.
Howdy Barbara,
So glad you enjoyed the recipe and you posted such great photos. I thought I would mention that one of the main comments/questions I get from people when I serve this dish is “how much garlic is in this recipe?” When I reply “none”, people are amazed. I don’t know, it’s something about the combination of the onions, parsley, capers & vinegar that is intriguing to the palate.