Pressure Cooker Chicken and Black Bean Chili

Jack's mystery seeds came up. They're marigolds. I don't know where he got them — maybe the neighbor, maybe school, maybe he just found a packet somewhere the way five-year-olds find things, through some combination of gravity and stubbornness. But there they are, two small green shoots pushing through the dirt in the corner of the backyard, and Jack crouched over them this morning before I'd even made coffee, just watching. Not touching. Just watching, the way Dad watches his garden, the way Dad used to watch the fields. There's a thing that happens in farm families — the land gets in the blood and stays there, and it shows up in the next generation whether you want it to or not.

I made pot roast Sunday. It's a weekend meal because pot roast needs time and weekdays don't have any. Three-pound chuck roast, seared on all sides, then into the Dutch oven with onions, carrots, potatoes, a cup of beef broth, and four hours at 300 degrees. The house smells like someone's grandmother lives here, which technically someone's grandmother doesn't, but the recipes do, and recipes carry the ghost of every kitchen they've been made in.

Kevin's folks came down from Newton for Sunday dinner. Dale and Phyllis Holloway are good people — quiet, functional, the kind of Iowa parents who raised two boys who turned out fine and never made a fuss about it. Dale and Kevin talked insurance at the table, which should be illegal on Sundays. Phyllis helped me with the dishes and told me the pot roast was better than hers. She was lying — Phyllis makes a better pot roast — but it was a kind lie, the Iowa kind, where you compliment someone's food because food is personal and personal things deserve kindness.

Emma asked if we could get a dog this week. Kevin said no. Emma asked if we could get a cat. Kevin said no. Emma asked if we could get a fish. Kevin said maybe, which in Kevin's vocabulary means no but he needs time to build his case. We will not be getting a fish. We'll be having this conversation again next week, and the week after, until Emma either gives up or graduates and gets her own pet. My money's on the pet.

I used the last of last year's frozen sweet corn in a casserole midweek. The tail end of the Green Giant supply. Next fall I'll buy more. It fills the jars and fills the bellies and that has to be enough because it's what I've got.

That week had the particular weight of ordinary things — Phyllis’s kind lie, Emma’s pet campaign, the last jar of frozen corn — and sometimes ordinary weeks call for the most honest kind of cooking. I wanted something that asked nothing of me by dinnertime, something that had been doing its slow, quiet work all day while I did mine. This Pressure Cooker Chicken and Black Bean Chili is exactly that kind of recipe, the kind that fills a house with a smell that makes everyone a little softer before they even sit down.

Prep Time: 8 hrs 15 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 8 hrs 28 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup dried pinto beans
1 1/4 cup dried black beans
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped yellow or white onion
2 garlic cloves (finely minced)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
Toppings: sour cream, grated cheese, diced avocados, tortilla chips, fresh lime wedges

Instructions

Soak the beans. Combine the dried beans in a bowl and cover with cool water by 2- to 3-inches. Soak overnight (8-12 hours). Drain and rinse. Read the note above the recipe for a quick-soak option if you haven’t soaked the beans overnight.
Combine ingredients. In a 6-quart or larger pressure cooker, combine the beans, crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Nestle the chicken in the liquid.
Cook under pressure. Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. For electric pressure cookers, cook on high pressure for 22 minutes (for the InstantPot hit manual — 20 minutes). For stovetop pressure cookers, cook on high pressure for about 19-20 minutes (start timing once high pressure is reached).
Release pressure. Let the pressure cooker naturally release pressure for 10-15 minutes before releasing the rest under quick pressure. If it starts foaming/bubbling as you let out pressure, wait a few more minutes or just release in short bursts (for stovetop models, run cold water around the sides of the pressure cooker for a non-bubbling quick release).
Check the beans. If for some reason the beans are not tender enough to your liking when you open the pressure cooker, take out the chicken and simply bring the pressure cooker back to high pressure (this will happen fast since the ingredients are piping hot) for a few more minutes. Release pressure the same way as described above.
Shred and serve. Shred the chicken breasts into pieces and stir back into the chili. Add additional salt and pepper to taste (very important!). Serve with toppings: sour cream, grated cheese, diced avocados, tortilla chips, fresh lime wedges.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pressure Cooker Chicken and Black Bean Chili — The Kind of Dinner That Does Its Own Quiet Work