It’s been a brutally cold month of January so far. We’ve had snow on the ground for three weeks now. Some of it melted, but much of it remains. There have been several waves of arctic blasts that drove temps well below zero.
Snow on the ground for so many days is very unusual for Kansas. It’s been a rude “Welcome back” after 29 years in Texas and 8 years in California. The cold weather got me looking for hearty soup/stew recipes and I combined a couple I found to make this winner-winner chicken stew dinner.
I love making soups, stews and chili in the cooler weather. They make great leftovers for a hot lunch the following week.
I took one chicken stew recipe that went in the slow cooker and another for the instant pot and tweaked them a bit to make them my own.
The ingredients are items I almost always have on hand. Of course it’s gluten free, and you can make it low carb by leaving out the potatoes and the peas. If you like, you could replace them with cauliflower and green beans to ramp the veggie factor back up.
Almost anytime I’m making soups and stews, I pull out the Instant Pot. It makes sautéing veggies and meat so easy. I also love the way it speeds up the cooking time because I’m often starting dinner later than I should. Then, like the wonderful kitchen blessing it is, it keeps everything warm once it’s ready.
I started by chopping up the onion, celery and carrots. Then I sauteed those veggies while I cut the boneless chicken breasts into bite-size pieces. After adding the chicken and minced garlic to sauté with the veggies, I peeled and diced the potatoes.
I turned off the sauté function, added the diced potatoes, chicken broth and spices, then set it to pressure cook for 10 minutes. Once time expired, I let it release naturally for 15 minutes before adding the last few ingredients.
This is where I turned the sauté function back on, added the cream with cornstarch mixed into it, the shredded parmesan and the frozen peas. I stirred while everything thickened, melted and heated up. Then I turned the sauté function off and put it on warming because the Fix-It Farmer was out working in his shop.
This coming week we’re looking at a nice warming trend, even getting into the 50s for a couple of days. It’ll feel like a heat wave!
Even when the weather warms up, I still like to have soup meals into spring until it gets hot. Then the soup will disappear — hopefully like the snow this week — until the hint of a fall chill is in the air.
Here are the ingredients you will need for Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken Stew:
- Boneless chicken (breasts or thighs)
- Onion
- Celery
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Garlic
- Chicken broth
- Half & half for a lighter stew or heavy cream for a richer stew
- Cornstarch
- Parmesan
- Frozen peas
- Spices: bay leaf, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper
Below you’ll find the whole recipe.
Looking for more souper ideas? Here are several of my faves:
- Instant Pot Cheeseburger Soup
- Best Easy Chili
- The first recipe in this Quick and Easy Meals in Minutes is my Stuffed Pepper Soup
Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken Stew
This rich hearty stew combines chicken, veggies, garlic and parmesan in a creamy broth.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup onion chopped
- 3 large carrots diced
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1 ½ pounds boneless chicken breast or thighs chopped into bite-size pieces
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 cups potatoes diced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 cup half & half OR heavy cream
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
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Press sauté function on Instant Pot and add olive oil.
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When oil is hot, add chopped onion, carrots and celery. Sauté until onions are translucent (about 5 minutes).
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Add chicken and sauté for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and stir for about 1 minute. Then turn off sauté function.
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Add broth, diced potatoes, bay leaves, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Give it a good stir, secure the lid and pressure cook for 10 minutes. When 10 minutes are up, allow to release naturally for 10-15 minutes. Release remaining pressure and remove lid.
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Turn the Instant Pot back to sauté. Stir the cornstarch into the cream before adding to the pot, along with the parmesan cheese and the green peas. Stir constantly until stew is thickened and the cheese is melted. It should take just a few minutes. Turn off sauté and enjoy or put it on the warming function and serve it when you're ready.
Recipe Notes
This stew is naturally gluten free. You can lower the carb count by removing the potatoes. You could also replace the potatoes with cauliflower and the peas with green beans to make it keto. It would need to cook a little longer at the end to make sure the green beans are ready.