Kenji's Chicken Chile Verde Pressure Cooker Recipe

https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-fast-and-easy-chicken-chile-verde-recipe

Chile verde, to be exact. Just like my more traditional pork-based chile verde, the main flavorings here are poblano, Serrano, and Anaheim peppers (if you can get Hatch chiles, use 'em), along with tomatillos, garlic, onion, and cumin.

The process, on the other hand, is way, way simpler. Here's the first step: Dump everything into your pressure cooker.

Here's the second step: Turn the pressure cooker on. Don't worry, the hard part is over.

When you open up that pressure cooker, you should see a bubbling pot of richly flavored broth with a nice slick of chicken fat floating on the top and very, very soft vegetables. All that's left to do is remove that chicken and set it aside until it's easy to shred. (If you want to make this even easier, go ahead and use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. You'll lose a bit of flavor, but the dish becomes nearly effortless.)

Once the chicken is out, purée the broth and vegetables with an immersion blender or a countertop blender until smooth, adding a handful of cilantro leaves and a big dash of fish sauce in the process. The former adds freshness to what has become a very richly flavored sauce in the pressure cooker while the latter adds more umami depth. Don't worry, your sauce will not taste like fish. I promise you.

Just like with those enchiladas and the Colombian chicken stew, I wondered if flavor could be improved with a few minor extra steps like sautéing the aromatics before adding the pressure, but surprisingly, the difference is extremely minimal. The high heat of a pressure cooker does a pretty great job of creating complex flavors while the vapor-tight seal means that everything that comes out of those vegetables and chicken stays in the pot, exactly where you want it.

I serve up the chile verde with some warm corn tortillas, limes, and whole cilantro sprigs artfully and meticulously arranged on my table to look like they accidentally just fell there. I do this because it makes the photos look better and when I have better looking photos, I get more folks to share and read my stories. This in turn leads to more people cooking great recipes at home, which in turn makes the world a better place.

Ingredients

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3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks

1 pound poblano peppers, roughly chopped, seeds and stems discarded (about 3 peppers)

12 ounces tomatillos, husks discarded, quartered (about 4 tomatillos)

10 ounces white onion, roughly chopped (about 1 medium)

6 ounces Anaheim or Cubanelle peppers, roughly chopped, seeds and stems discarded (about 2 peppers)

2 Serrano or jalapeño peppers, roughly chopped, stems discarded

6 medium cloves garlic, peeled

1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds, toasted and ground

Kosher salt

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves and fine stems, plus more for garnish

1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce, such as Red Boat

Fresh corn tortillas and lime wedges, for serving

Combine chicken, poblano peppers, tomatillos, onion, Anaheim peppers, Serrano peppers, garlic, cumin, and a big pinch of salt in a pressure cooker. Heat over high heat until gently sizzling, then seal pressure cooker, bring to high pressure, and cook for 15 minutes. Release pressure.

Using tongs, transfer chicken pieces to a bowl and set aside. Add cilantro and fish sauce to remaining contents of pressure cooker. Blend with an immersion blender or in a countertop blender and season to taste with salt. Return chicken to sauce, discarding skin and bones and shredding if desired.

Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with chopped cilantro, and serve immediately with tortillas and lime wedges.