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Instant Pot

Senegalese Braised Chicken with Onions and Lime (Fast & Slow)

4 Servings

FAST: 1¼ hours
Slow: 6 to 7 hours 35 minutes active

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This dish, inspired by a recipe in “Yolele!” by Pierre Thiam, gets big, bold flavor from just eight easy-to-find ingredients. Lightly caramelized onions deliver savory-sweet notes, lime zest adds fruitiness and lime juice gives the braising liquid bracing tartness. We use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs but remove the skins before cooking so they don’t render fat and make the sauce greasy and slick. Serve the braise with steamed rice.

4

Servings

Tip

Don't omit the habanero chili, as it adds subtle spiciness and unique fruity notes to the dish. But don't leave in the seeds, which contain the bulk of the heat; make sure to remove them before mincing (if you have rubber gloves, wear them to protect your hands from the heat-containing capsaicin). Don't forget to remove the skin from the chicken.

FAST: 1¼ hours
Slow: 6 to 7 hours

35 minutes active

Ingredients

  • 2

    tablespoons grated lime zest, plus ¼ cup lime juice

  • 1

    habanero chili, stemmed, seeded and minced

Directions

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Reviews
Mary B.
November 25, 2022
Keeper!
We made it with skinless boneless thighs and it was amazing! We found it pretty spicy, but delicious. Served it over brown rice.
Kathleen S.

I don't have an instant pot but like the recipe. How do I adapt these types of recipes to a Dutch oven?

Janelle C.

Hi Kathleen,

The Dutch oven version of this recipe is linked under the ingredients list (https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/senegalese-braised-chicken-with-onions-and-lime-yassa-ginaar).

Best,
The Milk Street Team

Loretta F.

I just made the version for Dutch oven and while it was great tasting, the skin (which the other two recipes for Instapot "fast and slow" have you remove before cooking the browned chicken) melted into the juices, resulting in a sauce more greasy than I would have preferred. If using a Dutch oven again for this, I would leave the skin on to brown the chicken - to flavor and brown the fond - but will remove the skin from most of the thighs before proceeding to braise them. BTW, this was not spicy, just perfect acidity from the lime and sweetness from the onions. Thanks, Milk Street.

Loretta F.

I just made the version for Dutch oven and while it was great tasting, the skin (which the other two recipes for Instapot "fast and slow" have you remove before cooking the browned chicken) melted into the juices, resulting in a sauce more greasy than I would have preferred. If using a Dutch oven again for this, I would leave the skin on to brown the chicken - to flavor and brown the fond - but will remove the skin from most of the thighs before proceeding to braise them. BTW, this was not spicy, just perfect acidity from the lime and sweetness from the onions. Thanks, Milk Street.

Kathleen S.

BTW, I prefer the hands off technique of slow braising in the oven to a stovetop simmer.

Maureen M.

How can these instant pot dishes be adapted for the slow cooker?

Nick T.

Hi Maureen M.,
We’re so glad you're exploring our recipes. When we developed the recipes for our Instant Pot book, Fast and Slow, we offered pressure cooker and slow cooker instructions for every recipe that worked well cooked either way. Recipes that have only one set of instructions did not produce good results when prepared with the alternative method. And unfortunately, it’s not possible for us to reverse engineer Instant Pot recipes for stovetop cooking. But the good news is that many of them were inspired by recipes we’d already prepared for conventional cooking methods. If you check our website, you might find what you are looking for.
Best,
The Milk Street Team

Jennifer K.

I lived in West Africa about 20 years ago. This is a really good facsimile of the real thing - except I doubled the citrus. They use either lemons or limes. I had one of each so that's what I used! It does need quite a bit of salt. So, don't be shy. Thanks for having such a wide range of cuisine represented, Milk Street Team!

Suzanne R.

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christine d.

I was worried about the habanero, but this didn't end up being spicy at all. This chicken was delicious - the citrus really gave it a great punch!

MARY ANN B.

I made this chicken tonight in the Pressure Pot. Wow, it was remarkably good. The thighs were fork tender and done in the promised 10 minutes with essentially 7 ingredients. My husband walked in and said that the house smells good; he was right, it had the pleasant scent of being safe and homey. He had thirds.

Luba B.

Thank you Milk Street!
The whole family enjoyed it! Super easy and super tasty!
Can’t wait to try all the recipes that you have.
Keep it coming!

Jennifer B.

We enjoyed this recipe, not spicy but incredibly salty without adding any salt beyond what the recipe calls for. Next time I will cut the salt by half.