Healthy Instant Pot Peanut Chicken | THM-FP

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Whether you’re looking to shed extra weight or switch up your meals, sometimes a lighter dinner is in order. This Instant Pot peanut chicken is sure to fix your cravings while keeping you feeling light!

 

Is there anything that can’t be made in the Instant Pot? Seriously. From hard-boiled eggs to yogurt, this is one kitchen accessory that pulls its weight in our home. I love being able to whip up a healthy dinner last-minute. My go-to lately has been some kind of protein cooked in a yummy sauce. Whether it’s succulent barbacoa meat or something fresh and light, like this Instant Pot peanut chicken, I find that these kinds of dishes make the best leftovers and go great on top of salads or leftover veggies the next day.

With leftovers this yummy, I love giving them the respect they deserve by putting them in a nice storage container. Leftovers always seem so much more appetizing to me if they’re in a sturdy glass container. And, let’s just be honest here. I plan most of my dinners around what leftovers I want to eat for lunch. Selfish? Maybe. Effective? Depends on who you ask.

Before You Begin: Choose Your Fuel Type

Before you jump into making this, take a minute to consider what you want out of this delicious meal. Because it can be adjusted to fit your eating plan.

Personally, I’m all about a healthy balance in my diet. Carbs and fats are both important aspects of my diet. I usually incorporate both of them into my meals, but sometimes, I just need something light to bring a bit of balance (or to break myself out of a fuel rut).

I chose to make this as a “Fuel Pull” (FP), which means I made it low-carb and low-fat. Whether you’re looking to shed excess weight, wanting a mini “reset” after an overly-indulgent day, or hoping to leave room for something chocolatey, this Instant Pot Peanut Chicken recipe fits the bill.

That said, it can be adjusted to fit an S (“S” is healthy fats, in Trim Healthy Mama speak), E (healthy carbs), or XO (both fats and carbs) meal, depending on what you’re looking for and what ingredients you have on hand.

Instant Pot Peanut Chicken | Fuel Variations

FP – Low Fat & Low Carb: If you want to make this meal a FP like I did, use the ingredients as listed and serve over roasted veggies (roasted with just a light spray of coconut oil), Not Naughty Noodles, or some yummy cauliflower rice.

S – Low Carb, Healthy Fat: Use natural peanut butter instead of the pressed peanut flour. You could even use coconut cream in place of some of the chicken broth for a creamy, velvety sauce. You could also use dark meat instead of chicken breasts. Serve over Not Naughty Noodles, cauliflower rice, in a low-carb tortilla with some lettuce or cabbage, or… my favorite way… over some roasted veggies. Throw some frozen cauliflower into your air fryer with a bit of ghee, salt, and nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese… good luck saving them for your bowl because you’ll be snacking on them in the kitchen!

E – Low Fat, Healthy Carb: Use the ingredients as listed here, but serve over some brown rice or in a sprouted tortilla (like Ezekiel) and with a yummy salad on the side (dressed with just a spray or two of oil).

XO – Healthy Fats + Healthy Carbs: Instead of the pressed peanut flour, use some delicious natural peanut butter. You could also use coconut cream in place of some of the chicken broth. Serve with lots of veggies and brown rice!

Special Ingredients

To make this Instant Pot Peanut Chicken a “Fuel Pull” (low carbs, low fat), I used the following special ingredients:

• Pressed peanut flour – I love the THM brand MUCH more than PB2. (Have you looked at the ingredients in PB2?!) THM’s is 100% roasted peanuts.
• Glucomannan – A healthy alternative to cornstarch. Known as “gluccie” in the THM community, this acts as a wonderful thickener for sauces, smoothies, and soups. I bought a bag of it about a year ago and still have plenty! I love having it on hand as a healthy thickening agent.

If you don’t have these ingredients, I would just use natural peanut butter for the sauce (I’d rather have a clean fat than some weird unnatural, fat-free alternative) and a bit of oat flour or whole-wheat flour to thicken the sauce.

Tips for Making the Best Instant Pot Peanut Chicken

I do have a few suggestions that will help your chicken turn out tender, flavorful, and delicious.

Start with chicken that has already been thawed. I have a hard time throwing frozen chicken into the Instant Pot. While they say you can do it, I often end up with chicken that’s tough and chewy. I have best results when the chicken has been thawed prior to cooking.

Use fresh ginger if possible. While dried ginger is OK in a pinch, fresh ginger makes a world of difference! I love buying ginger and peeling and mincing it all at once. I freeze individual teaspoons of minced ginger to have on hand for recipes like this one. However, I just discovered that our grocery store carries frozen cubes of minced ginger. The brand is Dorot and I believe they can be found in several stores including Vons, Smart & Final, and Target. Makes it so much easier to cook with that yummy fresh ginger taste.

Know your blender. You may need to mince the garlic before tossing it into your blender. I used my Vitamix which blends everything to a perfect, creamy consistency, every time, so I just threw the whole cloves in there. If your blender isn’t as powerful, you might want to mince that garlic before tossing it in. You could also use a microplane grater.

3 Easy Steps to Make Instant Pot Peanut Chicken

Step 1. Dump the peanut sauce ingredients into your blender.

Step 2. Put chicken breasts in your Instant Pot and cover with sauce.

Step 3. Cook on manual mode, high, for 20 minutes. Use natural release.

 

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