Chicken Chile Verde Pressure Cooker Recipe

A fast and easy weeknight meal loaded with peppers, onions, and chunks of tender chicken.

By
J. Kenji López-Alt
Kenji Lopez Alt
Culinary Consultant
Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.
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Updated September 15, 2022

Why It Works

  • Adding all the ingredients to the pressure cooker with no added liquid makes for an intensely flavored stew that cooks in its own juices.
  • Fish sauce adds umami depth to the dish once it's cooked.

It's a tough call, but I'm almost inclined to say that, with its tangy tomatillos and mix of fresh green peppers, I like chile verde even more than I like a bowl of Texas red. This version is packed with moist, tender chunks of braised chicken thighs in a balanced sauce that is rich with umami depth and green chile flavor, but still plenty bright and fresh. And the best part: You can make it in under half an hour. All it takes is a pressure cooker and some dumping skills.

Bowl of pressure cooker green chili chicken (chile verde) with tortillas, cilantro, and limes
Quick and tender chicken chile verde, thanks to the pressure cooker. .

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

To say I'm on a bit of a pressure cooker kick would be an understatement. I'm like a guy who just got a new power saw and can't think of enough things to cut with it. In fact, I just added a new power saw to my online shopping cart in the hopes that it'll help wean me off the pressure cooker for at least a few days.

Why the excitement? It mostly has to do with a series of recipes I've been working on that are inspired by my wife's 30-minute, five-ingredient chicken and potato stew. It's a brilliant recipe. All you do is add chicken, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and a few aromatics to a pressure cooker—without any liquid—then cook it over high pressure for about 20 minutes.

As the chicken and vegetables heat, they release a ton of liquid and end up braising in their own juices. The result is ultra-tender chicken with an intensely flavorful sauce and vegetables to go with it. In terms of flavor-to-effort ratio, I can't think of a better technique, and the best thing about it is it works with a wide variety of ingredients and vegetables. Recently, I used tomatoes, dried chiles, and cumin to make the world's fastest, easiest chicken enchiladas.

Green chiles, tomatillos, garlic, and spices for chicken green chili (chile verde).

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

Now, we're making chili. 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.)

Using tongs to remove chicken thigh from pressure cooker filled with chicken green chili (chile verde).

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

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.

Adding shredded chicken to pot of pureed green chili (chile verde) sauce.

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

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.

Bite of chicken chile verde on a spoon over a serving bowl of the stew.

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

That's right, you stray garnish police! We're making the world a better place, one haphazardly strewn cilantro sprig at a time.

April 2015

Recipe Details

Green Chili Chicken Pressure Cooker Recipe

Prep 15 mins
Cook 25 mins
Active 10 mins
Total 40 mins
Serves 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 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

Directions

  1. 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.

    Pressure cooker insert with raw peppers, tomatillos, and onions for chicken green chili (chile verde).

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

  2. 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.

    Pureeing chicken green chili (chile verde) sauce in a pot using a hand blender.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

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

    A bowl of chicken green chili (chile verde), garnished with cilantro, with tortillas and limes in the background.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

Special Equipment

Electric or stovetop pressure cooker, immersion blender or countertop blender

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
345Calories
19gFat
15gCarbs
33gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories345
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 19g24%
Saturated Fat 5g27%
Cholesterol 163mg54%
Sodium 780mg34%
Total Carbohydrate 15g6%
Dietary Fiber 4g14%
Total Sugars 7g
Protein 33g
Vitamin C 97mg484%
Calcium 60mg5%
Iron 3mg16%
Potassium 798mg17%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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