Italian Marinaded Chicken in the Multipot + #MealthyMoms GIVEAWAY!

I'm still pretty new to the "Multipot Life" and I'm still learning how to utilize it in every way to make my days a little easier and dinners much quicker. My very first full meal that I did in my new Mealthy Multipot is a childhood favorite of mine that my mom use to spend all day cooking in the oven and the stove top. So I set out to try and convert it to a quick multipot meal my family would love just as much as I did as a kid. 

This giveaway has been sponsored by Mealthy.

I always loved my mom's Italian Chicken dinners, but it seemed to take forever to cook in the oven. She would dump the chicken breasts and Italian dressing in a casserole dish and bake it in the oven. It didn't take much time to prepare, but it took forever to cook and it was torture because you could smell the deliciousness the entire time. Then she would spend just as much time making garlic butter and parsley potatoes on the stove. In addition to it taking forever to cook, the dishes were piled high. 

My son doesn't even get home from school until well after 4pm, and I always try to have dinner on the table by 5pm because of homework, showers, after dinner clean up, laying out clothes and packing snack bags for the next day, I want to still have a few moments to relax before bed and a late dinner doesn't allow that. Especially since I'm always down for the count by 9pm. I want my family to have good, hearty meals through the week, but I don't want them to take forever or run down my energy.

So, back to this Marinated Italian Chicken dish I attempted...

It came out exactly like my moms, and in less time! Like, A LOT less, actually.
I am terrible at food photos, because I don't take them enough to really practice with lighting and fancy plating, but I tried to get lots of photos for you. 

I marinated 4 chicken breasts in a zip top bag with a full bottle of our favorite Italian dressing. I wanted to marinate it overnight (and I highly suggest this as it really soaks in the flavor), but I just didn't get to it the night before and did this step early in the morning after coming home from taking the youngest kiddo to school.

Literally all I did was pull the chicken out of the fridge when I was ready to start dinner, throw them in my Mealthy Multipot (with the leftover dressing, but that was a personal preference. You can also dump the dressing and use one packet Italian dressing seasoning with 1 stick of butter in the Multipot with your chicken), and set on pressure cook for 8 minutes, and let it do it's thing. Once the chicken is done cooking, while it's out of the pot and resting on my cutting board, I drain the sauce, rinse out the pot, and throw in my potatoes and butter, then let those cook for 7 minutes. A meal that would take my mom over an hour to cook, took me less than a half hour (this includes letting the Multipot warm up and de-pressurize). I also did both main and side in the same pot, so less dishes. 

Trial and error tips:

If you are dumping the dressing into the pot that you used to marinade the chicken with, know that when pressure is released, that excess liquid has to go somewhere. I previously knew this from articles I had read, so I knew enough to use a glove type pot holder to de-pressurize my Multipot and to keep my face away from it when I did because that liquid is going to come up and out. Be careful!

Save some of the dressing to spoon over sliced chicken for even more flavor!

This is great on rolls, bread, buns...whatever, as sandwiches, too!

Add some bowtie pasta and cut up carrots, broccoli, and peas for a great pasta salad!

Ingredients:

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 bottle of your favorite Italian Dressing

Alternate:

1 packet Italian Dressing seasoning mix

1 stick butter

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken in the dressing for at least 8 hours. Even better if it's overnight, just to get that chicken good and flavorful.

2. Place fully marinated chicken in bottom of multipot with either the leftover marinade -OR- the alternate ingredients. 

3. Place lid on multipot and set valve to seal for pressure cooking. Select Pressure Cook on High and set timer to 8 minutes. It will take a few minutes for the multipot to warm up and get to cooking, but the Mealthy Multipot has a handy gauge on the screen that shows you when it goes from warming up to cooking. 

4. Once your chicken is done cooking and your multipot indicates this, CAREFULLY, with a full oven mit and your face out of the way, turn the valve to release pressure. I stand back pretty far during this step, because that excess liquid has to go somewhere, and you don't want it on you. 

5. When the pressure is fully released, indicated by the pin dropping back into down, carefully turn and remove the lid. Take chicken out of pot and place to set on cutting board or serving tray for 5-7 minutes. 

If you are interested in the potatoes, I just dumped sliced potatoes in the cleaned out pot, poured in 1 cup of melted store bought garlic butter, and selected pressure cook on high for 7 minutes while my chicken rested. I made a ton of potatoes so 7 minutes was perfect. However, if you are making a small amount, 5 minutes is plenty. Otherwise you will have extremely soft potatoes that will be better off mashed (which is also just as good!). You can also switch your multipot to saute to brown the potatoes up a bit if you prefer.

1 winner will receive:
$35 Gift Card for mealthy.com
An exclusive #MealthyMoms Bamboo 4 Piece Utensil Set 
A #MealthyMoms Sept Highlight Recipe Card Set 

#MealthyMoms Cooking Kit