I love pushing the limits of the Instant Pot and I love Instant Pot chicken recipes. This Instant Pot Chicken with Paprika and Butternut Squash recipe starts with a well looked-after Instant Pot.
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How can the pressure cooker reach pressure with so little added liquid?
Chicken releases a lot of liquid so, as long as your Instant Pot is in tip
Go on, give it a try.
What does deglazing mean?
Don't forget to deglaze well if you sauté and don't forget that a loved Instant Pot loves you back!
Deglazing basically means removing any caramelised or burnt-on food by adding a bit of liquid and scraping with a wooden spoon.
Why pressure cook chicken thigh fillets
Pressure cooked boneless chicken thigh fillets take very little time to be super tender and delicious.
In general, Instant Pot chicken recipes with chicken thigh fillets require very little cooking time and do great on Keep Warm.
Other recipes with Chicken Thigh Fillets
- Baharat chicken
- Chicken and Chorizo Stew
- Chicken Stew with Dumplings
- Pressure Cooker Chicken and Chorizo Orzo / Risoni Pasta
- Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Pancetta Rigatoni Pasta
You might also like my collection of Pressure Cooked Stew recipes.
Want to make this dish with Chicken Breasts instead?
Pressure cook for 3 minutes instead if diced, 5 minutes if whole, and 8 minutes if whole and very big.
Hate peeling and dicing Butternut Squash?
Me too! If you have a whole butternut squash, you could use this clever trick before starting, it will making peeling a doddle.
Easy-to-find ingredients
This recipe for Instant Pot Chicken with Butternut Squash uses ingredients easily found in UK supermarkets with UK measurements.
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📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken with Paprika and Butternut Squash
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or oil of your choice
- 500 g chicken thigh fillets each cut into about 3 pieces (or you can leave them whole if you prefer)
- 1 onion sliced
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 500 g butternut squash peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoon paprika sweet (if you would like a spicy kick you could use 1 tablespoon sweet paprika + 1 tablespoon smoked paprika)
- 1.5 tablespoon dried parsley
To serve (optional)
- Tabasco
Instructions
- Sauté the chicken in the oil until sealed, use a medium heat for this.1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 500 g chicken thigh fillets
- Add the onions, garlic and Worcestershire sauce and stir, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to deglaze as you do this (you can add a bit of liquid to help with this)1 onion, 3 garlic cloves, 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Add the butternut squash, paprika and parsley. Stir to make sure everything is well coated. Deglaze if necessary.500 g butternut squash, 2 tablespoon paprika, 1.5 tablespoon dried parsley
- Press down on the sealing ring following its circumference several times to make sure it's properly inserted in the rack that holds it. Lock the lid in. Steam release Sealed.
- Pressure cook, high pressure, for 5 minutes and do a natural release* at the end of cooking, which means doing nothing until the float valve pops back down.
- Serve and enjoy with a sprinkle of Tabasco for an extra kick.Tabasco
Marc says
Delicious, thanks. Would this work the same with frozen thighs?
Adlai Neubauer says
I had to change this recipe up a bit to avoid having to go to the grocery store to buy missing ingredients. I didn't have a sweet paprika, so I used half smoked paprika and 1/2 cumin. I also didn't have any onions on hand, so I left them out. I used chicken drumsticks vs. thigh filets and increased cooking time in the Instant Pot to 10 minutes. I pre-cooked the butternut squash. The resulting recipe turned out delicious!
Diane says
Simply outstanding. We love it and will put it in the rotation!
Maria Bravo says
Aw, thank you so much Diane, you've made my day! Maria