Pressure-Cooker Orange Chipotle Chicken

August, and the pandemic summer continues its strange, suspended quality — the days long and hot and empty of the things that summer usually holds (barbecues, park gatherings, the block party on our street that has happened every August for twenty years and will not happen this year) and full of the things the pandemic provides instead (masks, distance, the daily news numbers that I have stopped watching because the numbers have become a language I do not want to be fluent in).

At the hospital, the summer lull that usually accompanies August has not arrived — the virus does not take vacation, and the cafeteria is still running at pandemic capacity, my team still masked and gloved and exhausted in the way that people are exhausted when the crisis has lasted long enough to become a lifestyle. I gave my team a day — one day, a Saturday, when the weekend crew covered — and we had a outdoor lunch in the hospital courtyard, six feet apart, masks off to eat, and I brought pernil and arroz con gandules and we sat in the August sun and ate together for the first time in five months and the eating was holy. The eating was church. Maria cried over the pernil and said, Ms. D, I forgot what real food tasted like. I said, You did not forget. Your mouth remembered. Your mouth always remembers.

Sofía registered for fall classes — still remote, still online, still the shadow version of the education she deserves. She will be twenty-one in November. She is patient in a way that I have never been and that Eduardo is always, the patience of someone who knows that the thing she wants — nursing school, the hospital, the career — is coming, is inevitable, just delayed, and the delay is not a denial, the delay is a pause, and pauses end.

I made mofongo this week. Fried plantains, mashed in a pilón with garlic and olive oil and chicharrón, the mortar and pestle doing the work that connects my hands to Bayamón, the rhythm of the mashing a drumbeat from the island. I have not made mofongo in months — the pandemic has pulled me toward comfort recipes, toward the simple and sustaining, toward rice and beans and soup — but this week I needed mofongo, needed the labor of it, the physicality, the sound of the pilón, the smell of the garlic hitting the oil. Eduardo ate two portions. He said, This is the best thing I've eaten since March. I said, Everything I make is the best thing you've eaten since March. He said, That's also true.

The pernil I brought to that courtyard lunch took two days of marinating and hours in the oven — a labor of love I was glad to give, but not always able to. On the weeks when exhaustion wins, this pressure-cooker orange chipotle chicken is the dish I reach for: smoky and bright and layered with the kind of bold, unapologetic flavor that reminds you, the way Maria’s tears over the pernil reminded me, that food is not just fuel. It comes together fast enough for a weeknight and feeds a table generously, which is exactly what my people deserve right now.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (about 2 oranges)
2 tablespoons orange zest
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from the can)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
Fresh cilantro and orange slices, for serving

Instructions

Make the marinade. In a bowl, whisk together the orange juice, orange zest, minced chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, garlic, olive oil, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, salt, and pepper until combined.
Coat the chicken. Add the chicken thighs to the marinade and turn to coat well. For best flavor, let sit 10 minutes at room temperature or up to 4 hours refrigerated.
Sauté the onion. Set the pressure cooker to the sauté function. Add a drizzle of oil and cook the sliced onion for 3–4 minutes, until softened and lightly golden.
Pressure cook. Add the chicken and all of the marinade to the pot along with the chicken broth. Lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.
Release and rest. Allow a natural pressure release for 5 minutes, then carefully quick-release any remaining pressure. Open the lid and check that the chicken reads 165°F internally.
Reduce the sauce. Remove the chicken to a cutting board. Switch the pot back to sauté and let the sauce simmer for 5–7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened.
Shred and serve. Shred or slice the chicken and return it to the pot, tossing to coat in the reduced sauce. Serve over rice with fresh cilantro and orange slices alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pressure-Cooker Orange Chipotle Chicken — The Meal That Reminded My Team What Real Food Tastes Like