This post is being rewritten. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts in the comments. To learn more about fesenjan, please see this post by Shahab Shabani and this recipe from Persian Mama.
Instant Pot Fesenjan (Persian Pomegranate Chicken)
This aromatic Instant Pot fesenjan, or Persian pomegranate chicken, is packed with flavor thanks to pomegranate molasses, toasted walnuts, and fragrant spices, and will warm you right up on a winter's night!
Ingredients
- 6 ounces walnut halves (about 1 2/3 cups)
- 1 tablespoon ghee or avocado oil
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in half
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 shallots or 1 small onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 1/4 cups chicken stock
- 1/3 cup pomegranate molasses
- 2 tablespoons honey**
- 1/2 cup pomegranate arils, for serving
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and spread the walnuts out on a sheet pan. Toast for 6-8 minutes, or until the nuts smell toasty and are darker brown, shaking the pan once or twice. Transfer to a plate to cool. Chop in a food processor until finely ground.
- Push the "Sauté" button on a 6-quart Instant Pot***, making sure the heat level is set to "Normal". Season the chicken thigh pieces with the sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper. When the Instant Pot is hot, add the ghee. Once the fat is shimmering, add about half the chicken pieces (or as many fit in a single layer) and brown for 3-4 minutes per side. Do not worry if little pieces of chicken become stuck to the bottom of the pot--these browned bits will help add flavor to the stew. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate and repeat with the remaining pieces.
- Add the shallot and sauté, stirring frequently, until beginning to brown. Add the turmeric, cinnamon, and cardamom and stir for about a minute, until very fragrant. Pour in the chicken stock, pomegranate molasses, honey, and ground walnuts and stir well, scraping the bottom of the pot to dislodge and mix in any browned bits that were stuck.
- Press "Keep Warm/Cancel" and add the browned chicken and any accumulated juices back to the pot.
- Put the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the valve is set to "Sealing". Push the "Poultry" button or use "Manual" to set the Instant Pot to cook at high pressure for 15 minutes.
- When the time is up, press "Keep Warm/Cancel" to turn off the IP. Let the pressure release naturally, or wait at least 10 minutes and then do a manual pressure release by carefully turning the valve to "Venting".
- If you prefer a thicker sauce, push "Sauté". Use a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken pieces to a bowl. Allow the sauce to bubble away for about 5 minutes, until thickened, then press "Keep Warm/Cancel" and stir the chicken back in.
- Serve hot with rice or cauliflower rice, topped with pomegranate arils and fresh cilantro.
Notes
*If you're having trouble finding pomegranate molasses, you can try making your own by boiling pomegranate juice.
**For Whole30, you could try omitting the honey or using applesauce or apple juice instead.
***I have not tested this recipe in an 8-quart Instant Pot, but reader feedback indicates the larger model likely requires more liquid. Consider increasing the chicken stock to 2 cups.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 servings Serving Size: 1 servingAmount Per Serving: Calories: 570Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 26gCholesterol: 186mgSodium: 686mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 3gSugar: 23gProtein: 43g
The nutrition label provided is an estimate for informational purposes only and may not be accurate. I am not a nutritionist or medical professional.
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Made this last night and we loved it. Thank you for this recipe!
I actually halved all the ingredients, including the stock in my 6 qt instant pot. And it turned out fine.
Now I would like to double or even triple the amounts for a family dinner. What would you suggest I do with the chicken stock?
Thank you very much in advance 🙂
I appreciate you trying to share ideas and be creative with recipes, however this IS everyday cultural appropriation at its finest and that’s not ok. Any spin or adaptation you’ve made on something does not make it yours to profit on – especially not without the adequate acknowledgments. your defence using that argument is white privileged complacency that has perpetuated years of minority oppression. Please kingly – as a content producer – Do some homework and maybe you’ll gain some self awareness about the willful ignorance of your words towards the suffering and inequities of Bipoc groups.
You’re absolutely right. I appreciate you taking the time to share your words with me. Others have had a similar response, and I’ve been thinking a lot about it and will be rewriting this post as soon as possible. Thank you.
I’m Persian. Please don’t let people convince you that you’ve done anything wrong. Cultures are not stagnant they share and grow. ‘cultural appropriation’ is just a way for people in first world countries and online to police each other that much more so they can develop social currency through being offended.
thank you for this great sounding recipe. Whatever it is called, I am SOOOO looking forward to making it and enjoying those delicious flavors together. I love trying food of different cultures, so thanks for adding this one!!!
Woohoo!! Just bought my instant pot and can’t wait to try this. I’ve been wanting to try my pomegranate molasses since I bought it a few weeks ago. Thanks for sharing an IP version, I’ll let ya know how it turns out. Tonight’s menu is a culturally appropriated Shepherd’s Pie a la Hello Fresh. (“A la” of course being culturally appropriated from the French).
We really enjoyed this easy IP version of a Persian favorite! I made it as directed, and the liquid amount was just right for my IP Duo Mini. Used advieh in place of cinnamon and cardamom, and garnished with pomegranate arils and parsley. Definite repeat!
Please do not call this fesenjan! This your own version and the contradictory flavors will inoculate people against a delicious dish. Cilantro would be a horrible combination with the other spices. It has never been used in fesenjan- it isn’t used in Persian food. Please stop culturally appropriating the food I grew up with. Additionally the rice in that picture is not persian Persian rice would never be served with English peas, plus it would taste horrible with the sweet and sour flavors of fesenjan. It looks like rice from an indian restaurant.
Hi Chase! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and opinions. All the recipes on my site are my own version of things–otherwise there would be no reason for me to share them. Cilantro tastes delicious here to me, but of course you don’t have to include it if you don’t like it. If you haven’t tried it, I doubt you can be certain it’s a “horrible combination” with the other ingredients. You’re right that this is not Persian rice, and I did not say that it was. It is made with what I had on hand and was enjoyed by me and my family. And yes, it does look like rice from an Indian restaurant! To me that’s not a bad thing.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about cultural appropriation. I am working on revising this post to include more information about fesenjan’s origins and links to more traditional versions of the dish. If you have other suggestions for me, I am happy to hear them, either here in the comments or via email (becky@acalculatedwhisk.com). I am American and Jewish and if I only shared recipes from those cultures, I would be quite limited. I believe it’s possible to share recipes from other cultures in a respectful and appropriate way. It seems that I have not done that here to your satisfaction, and I apologize. My goal here was to share a paleo-friendly, Instant Pot version of fesenjan with my own spin. Your comment has definitely given me some food for thought that I will use to update this post and inform future content. Thank you again for commenting!
I think that you should re-title it to reflect that it is your “spin” on the classic recipe. I’m glad I caught this review. Otherwise, I would have spent a lot of money on ingredients, and time on cooking, just to feel discouraged that I must just be “bad at cooking”. Thank you, Chase!
Chase has never made this recipe and thus has no idea how it tastes. Of course you don’t have to make it, but I’d give more credence to reviews from people who have actually cooked the recipe. Anytime you visit a blogger’s site, all the recipes are their spin on things. I hear you about the title, though, and will consider revising it.
I’m Persian and me and my family absolutely loved this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
I have made fesenjan many times come on but now I’m going to stick with this recipe!
Thank you so much! I’m so happy you and your family enjoyed this recipe!
Let’s not get over sensitive about the name of her recipe. You dont have to make it, nor do you have to add the ingredients she suggested. It’s a recipe and never claimed for it to be authentic. Don’t try to call this ” cultural appropriation”, but turn around and eat at panda express and taco bell.
Omg thank you so much for this recipe!! I am Iranian and my mother always cooked persian food for me, but I never took the time to learn it myself because it’s so time consuming. An instant pot is really a game changer. This was ready so fast! Like a few other people in the comments, I needed to add more chicken stock because my instant pot displayed that it was ‘burned’. I just sautéed the stew a little longer after pressure cooking to thicken the sauce a little, and it turned out great! Thank you 🙂
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Yasmine!
I seldom comment on recipes, but as a few other commentators noted, this needs more liquid!!! I have a 6 qt IP and I got the burnt notice 2 minutes into cooking. Start off with 1.5-2 cups of chicken broth regardless of the size of your IP. (I even added the juices from the chicken!).
Hoping the fact that it burned won’t affect the taste too much!
Thank you for your feedback! I am working on retesting this recipe. If you have a chance, let me know how it ended up tasting–I hope you were still able to enjoy it!
Thanks for responding Becky. Fortunately it still turned out edible and tasty 🙂
I think it just requires an additional cup or so of broth. I’ve never gotten a burn notice on my IP, so I was pretty surprised.
Otherwise, flavor is on point! Thanks again!
Thank you! I followed the recipe with a few adjustments based on my pressure cooker and short ingredients, and others’ comments.
– I added 1 extra cup of broth for my larger Instant pot).
+ Didn’t quite have enough walnuts so had to sub in some pecans
– I cooked the broth, walnuts etc for 5 minutes high pressure and then did quick release and added the chicken for the full 15 mins.
– It turned out GREAT! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Also I think next time I’ll just double the whole recipe so I end up with a thicker consistency in end result. the larger pressure cooker just needs a certain minimum amount of liquid at all times, but it’s OK to have more chicken etc.
Great idea! That does sound like the best plan for a larger cooker. Thank you so much for sharing your detailed modifications! I know they’ll be helpful for other readers :).
Yay! I’m so happy you liked it!
We loved this! The recipe was easy to follow and the fesenjan was wonderful. Thank you.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Can I make this on the stove if I don’t have an instant pot?
You can definitely make fesenjan on the stovetop but I don’t have instructions for that. If you google fesenjan recipes, most of the ones you’ll find are stovetop!
I m sorry where did you get this recipes !!!! I m iranian ( I have not heard any one add honey, cardamom. I can not believe you did messded up our traditional fesenjan !!!! I cook for4o years and I did learn from my mother who cooked 75 years !!!! She is now 100 years old !!!! when read your recipes , she told me that I do not where did she get this recipes . If you want I can give you our traditional
best regards
I’d love to hear your recipe, but there’s no need to be rude! When I researched fesenjan I found many different versions with a wide variety of ingredients. My goal was to put my own spin on it and also adapt it for the Instant Pot. It may not be as traditional as other versions, but it’s very tasty and many readers have enjoyed it.
I am Iranian too and applaud you for putting your creativity and spin into this dish. Which I’m certain will become a household name in America one day just like Mexican Mole! In fact that’s how I describe the Fesenjoon to my American guests. My mom used to be like your passionate commenter and would never deviate from a recipe but would also praise me for doing so, calling me brave!
Thank you so much! I’m sure it will become as famous as mole—it’s so good! I like the idea of considering ourselves brave cooks. Thanks so much for commenting!
LOL I also make similar comment , “Iranian Mole” LOL
Could this be adapted for the sauté /slow cooker functions of an instant pot?
I haven’t tried it but I bet it would work well! I would try 6-7 hours on low. Here’s a recipe for reference—I find that low on the IP slow cooks a little slower than a crockpot, which is why my guess would be 6-7 hours instead of 3.5-5 like this recipe says: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.finecooking.com/recipe/persian-chicken-with-pomegranate-and-walnuts/amp
Questions: Step 2 asks for ghee, but the ingredient list shows Avocado oil. Please explain difference.
Step 4 says to drain any liquid released from the sauteed chicken. Why not use it?
Thanks!
You can use ghee or avocado oil. They’re both good choices because they have high smoke points.
I discard the liquid so the sauce won’t be too watery–I like it nice and thick. You can just add the liquid if you’d rather not waste it!
No one uses avocado oil.
That is certainly untrue–avocado oil sales are up since it has gained popularity as a healthy alternative to vegetable oil. It’s good for cooking at higher heat than many other oils. That being said, I think ghee is the most delicious cooking fat here!
Hi! I’m so excited about this recipe can’t wait to try it. One thing I’m wondering- can I make this the night before to serve the following day? Will it still taste the same? Thanks!
I think it will still taste great reheated! Hope you enjoy.
I’ve found that a 16oz bottle of Pom pomegranate juice reduces to exactly 1/3 cup of molasses.
F. Y. I.
Great to know! Thank you!
Amazing dish and great recipe! Thanks a lot! Thanks for the tip to taste the sauce and adjust the sweetness/sourness. Turned out to be great! Better than what I tasted in Persian restaurants even!
I’m so glad you liked it!!
Have you tried this with chicken breast? Would it require a longer cook time?
I haven’t but I think the cook time would be similar. I prefer thighs for recipes like this, though, because they’re not as dry as breasts.
I made this recipe last night, and it was delicious. However, I don’t have an Instant Pot, just a regular stove top pressure cooker. 15 minutes, plus 10 to cool down made the chicken dry and stringy. Next time, I’ll do 5 minutes under pressure, and 5 to cool down (which is what I normally do for browned, bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces). This seems more in line with the timings for a traditional pressure cooker. I’ve often been tempted to get an Instant Pot, and I have Melissa Clark’s book. The cooking times for the IP in general seem excessive. I can cook 1″ thick pork chops in a minute and a half, but one IP book I have says 12 — which gives the chops the consistency of canned tuna. Just wondering if you have tested this in a regular stove top PC.
That’s interesting! I don’t have a stovetop PC and have actually never used one. I thought Instant Pots were supposed to cook faster, though! I’m glad you still enjoyed the recipe.
It really was delicious. I’ll report back when I make it again.
Hello! I made this again, but I consulted my favorite PC cookbook, The Pressure Cooker Gourmet by Victoria Wise. It was written before computerized PCs were invented, but it is a terrific book. I used the recipe for Quick Chicken with Garlic, Tarragon and Red Wine as a model. I stirred up all the chicken at once in the ghee over high heat, until the pink disappeared, and set aside on a plate. I cooked the shallots over medium heat for about a minute, then added the spices and cooked for 30 seconds. I added the liquids and deglazed the pan briefly, then I added the walnuts and chicken back into the pan. I brought it to pressure over high heat (about 2 minutes), lowered the heat to medium and cooked for 2 minutes, the turned off the heat and let sit for 2 minutes, then released the pressure. I removed the chicken and reduced the sauce over high heat for about 4 minutes, turned off the heat and returned the chicken to the pot. It was perfect! Totally a do-able weeknight meal.
Great to know! Thank you so much for sharing!
question: in the pictures it shows the nuts in a food processor but no mention of chopping them in the recipe? I’m actually making t now (pot just beeped) Mune doesn’t have a poultry setting so just used the manual settings by. Is poultry same as meat/stew? Know they hange the versions so variations exist 🙂
Just updated it–thank you for pointing that out! Hope you figured out how long to cook it (15 mins at high pressure) and that it turned out well.
You have no idea how excited I am to try this! Fesenjan is such a time consuming dish and I would make it more often if it works in the instant pot!! Its my favorite food of all time. Will try soon. Would love to know if anyone has worked out the liquid measurement for the 8qt yet. That is what I own.
Hope you love it! I don’t have the 8-quart but 2 cups of chicken stock should be a good starting point for experimentation. Come back and let us know if you try it!
So I tried the recipe and with some adjustments it was fabulous!! I did have to add an extra cup of broth when I got a burn notice early on. Once I did it was fine. I also added extra pomegranate molasses for more flavor and a shake or two of garlic powder. One thing I might try next time is to cook the walnuts under pressure for 5 minutes on their own before adding the chicken back. I think my walnuts were not quite soft enough but once I added 5 at the end it was perfect but the chicken by that time was really asking apart (not necessarily a bad thing). All in all much easier way to cook fesenjan that I will be using from now on!!
*falling apart lol
So happy you liked it! Thanks for sharing what you did!
Tastes amazing but I did have some trouble with my 8 quart Instant Pot. The ERROR came when trying to pressurize “BURN”. I had to add an entire quart of chicken stock instead of the 2/3 cup the recipe called for. Then the sauce was too thin so had to sauté to thicken which added a lot of time to the process. Have you had others report this with the 8 quart size instant pot (which also does not have Poultry option?
I’m glad it tasted great but sorry you had that trouble! I don’t have the 8-quart model and have never gotten the “Burn” notification on my 6-quart ever (with this or any other recipe) but I did have one other commenter say they got that notification, too. I will retest the recipe with a little more liquid as soon as I can! How did you know you needed to add a full quart?
I had the same error messages with my very first use of the 8 quart pot. I had to call IP Customer Care to get help with resetting it. It was a disaster as I had many hungry people waiting for dinner. I have not used it since. : (
I will try this recipe soon though!
I’m so sorry it didn’t work out! A couple other people have had that problem with the 8-quart so it must need more liquid than the smaller model. I only have a 6-quart so I’m not able to test it in the 8 but have never gotten an error message on mine with any recipe ever! Surprising that the two sizes are so different. I’ll add a note about putting in more liquid!
I cannot wait to try this. I love Persian food and my instant pot!
Hope you love it as much as we do!
Made it yesterday. And it was great. I had to make my own Pom molasses.
Note on the recipe. I think the mount of broth need to be increased to may be 1.5-2 cups.
I got “Burn” notice because the gravy was too tick when i tried to pressure it. Had to make it liquid enough for it to pressure cook.
I might have missed it, but what kind of rice did you have with it? Looks like a pea and raisin rice?
It’s based on this parsi pulao: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/saffron_rice_pilaf/. I left out the almonds, added peas, and tweaked a couple of other tiny things. It was delicious!
Never heard of pomegranate molasses before, but this dish sounds amazing. I love Middle Eastern cuisine.
I don’t have an InstaPot, any suggestions for how to adapt this for a Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker?
For any other pressure cooker, you could probably just cook it over high pressure for about the same amount of time (15 minutes). In a slow cooker, I’d try 6-8 hours on low. You’d need to sear the chicken on the stovetop first. Hope that helps!
This looks completely glorious. PLUS congrats on getting hitched!
What a beautiful Instant Pot dish ! I love it !!
Thanks, ChihYu!
So nice to know you have so much cool stuff happening!
This is one of my favorite dishes, I made it “regularly” and even have it on the blog, but intend to make the pressure cooker version soon – maybe this week
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thank you so much, Sally! Happy New Year to you, too! Let me know how this IP version compares to your regular one if you get a chance to give it a try. 🙂
Just blogged about it… if you’d like to take a look… 😉 with a link-love to your site… of course!
https://bewitchingkitchen.com/2018/02/11/fesenjan-re-visited/
Holy cow!!! This looks crazy good! All of that saucy goodness with the pomegranate arils on top. Swoon!
Thank you so much, Emily!
Oh my goodness…the pomegranate and cilantro are perfection! SO pretty too!
Thank you! I want pom arils and cilantro on pretty much everything from now until spring!
Wow! This looks and sound delicious!
Thanks, Tina! It’s definitely a favorite over here!
Hold the phone….. this is NIGHTSHADE FREEEEEE!!! iT LOOKS AMAZING, love all the warm spices. Omg! I can make this…. whoot whoot!!
Yay!!! So happy you’ll be able to enjoy this! 🙂
All these flavors sound amazing and it looks so moist and delicious!
Thanks, Jessica! It really is a wonderful combination of flavors!
OMG! So beautiful. And all of the spices sound so good. This is my kind of meal.
Thank you so much, Katja! Hope you give it a try!
Wow, you had a crazy good (although crazy busy) year, congrats! And this chicken is beyond gorgeous, and I’m sure it tastes even better than it looks!
Thank you so much, Kari! This definitely does taste better than it looks, haha. It took a lot of garnishes to make it pretty, but the taste is amazing either way!
Oh wow, this is beautiful. I love when cooks think of things I’d never have thought of ! I love the walnuts, pom molasses and spices; plus, it’s SO pretty!!! 🙂
Thank you so much, Megan! I always get so excited when I find a new flavor combo and/or cuisine I haven’t tried, and this one did not disappoint!
Dang lady you were busy last year! Congrats on your success and this recipe looks so fun and tasty!
Thank you so much, Kelly! <3
What a serious amazing year you’ve had, Becky! Can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store for you. Also… this recipe looks amazing!
Thanks so much, Jean! Happy New Year!
Such fun flavors! Looking forward to trying this! My girls will love the fun color! Happy new year Becky!
Happy New Year to you all, too! Hope you and the girls love this as much as we did!
Cheers to 2018! Sounds like 2017 was an amazing year for you and Ben! Here’s to making 2018 a great year as well.
My gawsh this recipe looks so amazing! I still haven’t bought an Instant Pot, and I’m thinking I need to get on it ASAP!
Thank you so much, Julia! Happy New Year to you! Hope 2018 brings tons of health and happiness, plus an Instant Pot! 😉
I dont like pomegranate but i love chicken though, I would love to try it
thank you for sharing
Hmmm, if you don’t like pomegranate, this might not be the best recipe for you! However, if you leave off the pom aril topping, you may not find that the sauce tastes that much like pomegranate since there are so many other flavors mixed in. If you need more chicken recipes, I have a bunch in my recipe index: http://acalculatedwhisk.com/recipe-index/
This sounds delicious. At what point do you add the walnuts?
Thank you so much! I just updated the recipe–you add them along with the pomegranate molasses, honey, and chicken stock. Hope you enjoy! 🙂