This is one of my favorite – and, really, easiest – ways to make a whole chicken.
The multi pot lets me brown the bird, sauté the veggies, finish the bird to tender, tasty perfection, and then make the gravy; all in one handy tool.
It is pretty fast, too; but do not be fooled, most pressure cooker recipes I’ve seen seem to skip the 15 minutes or so it takes the cooker to come up to pressure in their cooking times.
First, the chicken…
We love this organic, free range bird from Trader Joe’s, but most any decent quality whole chicken – or even duck -will work.
Now, for the prep. The original recipe I came across called for drizzling the bird inside and out with vinegar and letting it rest for ten minutes; but I now use the juice from a jar of peperoncini. After that, all is pretty straightforward.
INGREDIENTS
•1 chicken (4 lb)
•1/2 cup peperoncini juice
•1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1 tsp paprika
•1 tbsp olive oil
•2 cups diced sweet onion (1 medium)
•1 cup diced celery
•1 cup diced carrot
•3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
•1 tbsp minced fresh garlic
•1/2 tsp dried rosemary
•2 tbsp flour
•1/2 cup white wine
•3/4 cup chicken stock
•2 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce*
•1 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce – or your fave hot sauce, to taste
•2 tbsp unsalted butter
•1 tbsp Sherry Vinegar
•Black pepper, to taste
•Arby’s Sauce (optional)
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry (none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Remove and discard the giblets from the chicken, then drizzle the inside and outside of the chicken with the peperoncini juice (or vinegar) and set aside to rest for ten minutes.
Pat the chicken dry, then season with the salt, black and Aleppo peppers, and the paprika.
Heat oil in your pressure cooker over medium high heat (or set your automatic cooker to “BROWN”) and heat until the oil just begins to smoke.
Add the chicken to the oil, breast side down, and cook for four minutes.
Using a good pair of tongs, gently turn the chicken over and brown the back side for an additional four minutes. Remove the chicken to a platter.
Discard all but one tablespoon of the oil and/or fat from the pot, then add the onion, celery, and carrot and cook until the veggies are tender, mebbe eight minutes or so.
Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for another 30 seconds or so – just until they become fragrant – then stir in the flour and 
continue to cook and stir for another 30 seconds.
Note: for a gluten free bird, coconut or almond flours will both work a treat.
Add the white wine, scraping up any browned bits off the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon, and continue to cook for another minute or so, until the sauce has reduced slightly.
Stir in the stock and Sherry Peppers Sauce, then set the chicken, this time breast side up, in the pot with the sauce.
Lock the lid in place, bring to high pressure, and cook for 25 minutes.
Turn the pot off, quick release the pressure, then carefully unlock and remove the lid, keeping the steam (there’s gonna be a heckuva lot of it) away from you.
Carefully transfer the chicken to a cutting board, tent loosely with foil, and let rest for 15 minutes.
While the chicken is resting, skim any excess fat from the surface of the sauce, then bring to a gentle boil (sauté setting) and whisk in the butter, sherry vinegar, and, if you are using it, a couple of dashes of Arby’s sauce.
Simmer until the sauce is nicely thickened.
Taste the gravy, add salt and/or pepper, if you think it needs it, and serve with the chicken and whatever sides you like.
I went with stuffing, and… yum.