Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker Chicken Marsala

I received an Instant Pot™ for Christmas and I've been making dinner in it almost every night for the past week or so.  I might be a little bit obsessed.  Just a little.  ;-)

Last night, I decided it'd be a good idea to convert my Chicken Marsala recipe for the IP.  It came out awesome, though it's not quite the "dump and stir" recipe you might expect for the IP.  In order to maximize flavor and texture, you need to do a fair amount of prep.

Instant Pot Chicken Marsala

Note: This is probably the only occasion where I'm going to say it's okay to buy Cooking Wine from the grocery aisle instead of a good drinking wine.  It makes a perfectly good Marsala sauce.  If you have a nice Marsala, feel free to use it, though you might have to use extra salt and the sauce might come out sweeter.

8-10 oz Baby Bella (Cremini) Mushrooms
1-2 pounds Boneless Chicken
1 large onion
3/4 cup of Marsala Cooking Wine
1 cup water or chicken broth
1 large clove of garlic, minced or pressed
olive oil or butter (about 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup Cornstarch
salt and pepper

1. Thickly slice or quarter the mushrooms.  Chop the onion into a large dice (about 1/2 inch).
2. Switch your multi-cooker to the saute setting and coat the bottom generously with oil or butter.
3. Place 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch into a bowl or measuring cup and add 1/4 cup of water.  Stir thoroughly until no lumps are visible.  Set aside.
4. Place the remaining cornstarch in a shallow bowl or plate.  Season with salt and pepper.  Coat the chicken with cornstarch.
5. Working in batches, so as to not crowd the pan, saute each side of the chicken to develop a firm yellowish crust (it will not completely brown).  You don't want to cook the chicken through.  Just develop the crust.
6. Remove chicken to a plate and add the vegetables to the pot.  Add additional olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Saute vegetables until they start to soften and lose some of their liquid.
7. Add the wine, scraping-up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.  Simmer for 2-3 minutes to allow some of the alcohol to dissipate (else it will get trapped inside the pot and be kind of boozy).  Add the chicken stock and season with pepper.
8. Nestle the chicken into the liquid and close the lid.
9. Set the valve to closed and set your pot for high pressure and 6 minutes.  Allow the pot to complete the cooking cycle and release the pressure naturally.
10. Open the pot and remove the chicken to a plate again, gently as it may start to fall apart.  press Cancel and Saute.  Bring mixture to a bubble.
11. Stir-in the cornstarch and water mixture, which should thicken the sauce.  If it's too thick or gloppy, add a little water until it's the thickness you like.  Taste and adjust seasoning.
12. Serve chicken and mushroom sauce over rice, pasta, grains like farro, mashed potatoes, polenta, or as-is with a good portion of nice crusty bread to soak-up the sauce.

Tips

• You may find you have a lot of extra gravy and mushrooms after you've served all of the chicken.  This can be frozen or refrigerated and then used as a delicious pasta sauce.
• If you wish to make this recipe faster, try tossing the mushrooms and onions with olive oil and a pinch of salt and microwaving them covered on high for a few minutes instead of sauteing them.  This should serve the same purpose of softening them and removing some of the water and can be done while you're browning the meat.

Instant Pot™ is a trademark that I use and mention without permission from the trademark owner.  Most of my Instant Pot™ recipes can be made in any similar multi-cooker or a stove-top pressure cooker, provided it can handle the settings described in the recipe (typically, high pressure for a designated amount of time plus saute/browning).