Easy Chicken Thighs (Shredded)
Every so often I am stuck deciding what to make for dinner at the last minute with what we have in the house. And by every so often I mean all the time! Though, whatever I make often becomes one of my new favorite dishes. Sometimes working under pressure can create the best results; or at least the most surprising ones!
There’s also those times that I go into the freezer, pull out a protein to defrost, but have zero clue what I want to do with it…
Which brings me to a few weeks ago. I had the team over for dinner and we were non-stop all day getting things together for all of you! Then we looked at the clock and it was 4:45pm. At this point we needed an emergency dish that required little effort, but still tasted great!
Cue the Instant Pot…. and easy shredded chicken thighs!
Thanks to my friends at Thrive Market, I had a few pounds of boneless/skinless chicken thighs that I had pulled out of the freezer to defrost the day prior, so the protein was already decided. The real decision was in how we were going to season/marinade the thighs though.
After looking in the fridge contemplating multiple options, I saw a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette dressing that had yet to be used and decided to give it a shot. Here’s a little secret… it was delicious!
Since When Does Thrive Market Have Meat?
You read that right! Thrive Market announced their new meat program at the beginning of April. And since then I have had almost every cut they offer and have been amazed with every single one!
For those that don’t know, Thrive Market is an online marketplace specializing in healthy living! By being an online marketplace, they are able to offer prices lower than the box stores, making living a healthy lifestyle easy and affordable for everyone. Plus, it all gets shipped straight to your door!
The ability to purchase meat, like I said, is brand new. But they have been around since 2015 selling healthy foods and products at 25-50% below traditional retail prices! Never mind the Thrive Market brand products which are even lower in price while still having the highest quality ingredients!
But the normal 25-50% off wasn’t going to cut it on its own!
We got you an EXTRA 25% off PLUS a free 30 DAY trial when you use our link to try out their services –> (http://thrv.me/civilizedcaveman-25C)
The facts:
- Their beef is 100% grass-fed, free-range, and antibiotic free!
- Their chicken is certified free range and organic from small family farms.
- And their seafood has earned the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program’s stamp of approval!
- Which basically means that they’ve chosen seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that support a healthy ocean!
Long story short, this new addition to their already amazing line of products is a game changer!
The Final Product
We had the chicken thighs (thanks to Thrive Market), and the balsamic vinaigrette (also thanks to Thrive Market) to use as a marinade. So we cooked the thighs in the Instant Pot with the dressing and when they were finished we tried the leftover sauce, and it tasted so good!
Once we realized the “liquid gold” that was at the bottom of the Instant Pot, we knew we had to use it as a sauce with the shredded chicken thighs! So we added some cassava flour (it works amazing as a thickener) and stirred that in well to create a gravy-like consistency. Which once mixed back together was an out of this world combination!
Really, the chicken is great on its own, but we were feeding multiple people so we added roasted sweet potatoes as a side. Another option we thought of was to have rice with it! Though, any starch would go great as the great tasting sauce is all part of the chicken.
Side note: If you are subscribed to our newsletter, than you received this recipe a couple weeks ago as a thank you for subscribing! We like to do that every once in a while! So if you want to occasionally have early access to some of the newest content, subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page!
Now go enjoy some shredded chicken thighs!
Easy Chicken Thighs (Shredded) with a Balsamic Reduction
Ingredients
- 4-6 lb boneless/skinless chicken thighs
- 8 oz. Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing
- 2 Tbsp grass-fed butter or coconut oil
- 3 Tbsp Cassava Flour
Instructions
- Add 2 Tbsp of grass fed butter or coconut oil to the Instant Pot and melt it on saute.
- Saute both sides of the chicken thighs in the Instant Pot, then turn it off when all thighs are finished.
- Add the balsamic vinaigrette to the pot, then add the chicken back in.
- Place the lid on, turn the valve to seal, and turn on High Pressure for 10 minutes.
- Let the Instant Pot manually release the pressure. (This will take about 45 minutes)
- Once it has released, take off the lid, remove the thighs, and turn the pot back to Saute High, keeping the lid off.
- Let the sauce in the pot reduce by half and then turn the Instant Pot off.
- Add 3 Tbsp of Cassava Flour to thicken into a gravy-like sauce.
- Shred the thighs and add them back in to the sauce, mixing it all together.
- Serve with roasted sweet potatoes or your side of choice and enjoy!
Cast Iron Skillet 101, Care and Maintenance (Plus my Perfect Steaks!)
really good recipe for all chicken lovers, tried it for some guests and viola, they asked where did I bought it from ,ha ha, shhh!