Peanut Butter Chicken

Notes

5 Min Prep, ~40 min cook time

This recipe is very lenient. Rather than chicken thighs, you can use chicken breasts or even beef. As for the exact ingredient ratios, you can't really go wrong, just add more of what you like. I feel like multiple ingredients could be anywhere from halved to tripled randomly and it would still be tasty. Just try to avoid adding too many salty ingredients. It stores in the fridge or freezer well and can be microwaved easily.

Ingredients

  • 4 Chicken Thighs (I think best with bone+skin but up to you)
  • One or more Spicy Red Sauce. Examples:
    • Preferred: Lee Kum Kee Spicy Chili Garlic Sauce
    • Sriracha
    • Chili Oil (Spicy! But adding spice before cooking really brings out flavor)
  • Crunchy Peanut Butter
    • Maybe half a cup +
    • Can do creamy PB, too, but the crunchy adds good texture
    • I'd recommend a natural peanut butter that's not too sweet. The oil-separating kind is great for this.
  • 2-4 Cups of water
    • Depends how thick you want the sauce to be
  • Chopped / Pressed / Minced fresh garlic (½ to 1 head)
  • Optional: Soy sauce if you want it saltier
  • Optional: A squeeze of lemon
  • Optional: Fish sauce (Very good!)
  • Optional: Green onion garnish
  • Optional: Veggies can be added / integrated after the cooking step (green beans, bell peppers)

Cooking

  1. Prep the sauce
    1. Turn instant pot (IP) to sauté
    2. To IP, add water, peanut butter, and spicy red stuff, garlic
    3. As it heats up mix it all together
    4. If you want more sauce, add extra water
    5. Taste the sauce and add more of whatever you want
  2. Cook
    1. Add your chicken
    2. Note: I don't recommend adding veggies yet, because they'll get way too soft 
    3. Close the lid, set to 20 min manual pressure, 30 if chicken is frozen
  3. Cook veggies separately
    1. You can put the veggies in a bowl of water and microwave for 3-4 min if frozen.
  4. Serve
    1. Add optional ingredients
      1. veggies
      2. garnish
      3. fish sauce (salty)
    2. Serve over rice

My friend Spencer introduced me to this satisfying recipe.