Instant Pot Shredded Red Curry Chicken & Sweet Thai Slaw

This meal was SO delicious! Before you check out the ingredients below and think nope not making this, hear me out. Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste is paleo friendly and found at just about every grocery store. Fish sauce is definitely really smelly, but the amount in this recipe is so little that I could not pick out the taste whatsoever while enjoying this meal. You can either omit the fish sauce all together if you don't want to try or purchase it, or you can get Red Boat fish sauce, which I have found at Whole Foods. If you do purchase a fish sauce, make sure to search "Fish Sauce" on my site and make some other delicious meals, so you can put it to use! Avocado oil is not in most peoples pantry, so if you don't want to purchase that one just use olive oil. The sambal oelek/Asian chili paste was a new one to me, and I was originally going to make my own using that recipe I linked below. However, I realized the amount of that ingredient was so little that I just ended up buying and using Huy Fong Chili Garlic Sauce, which I found at my local grocery store. This was the closet thing to a chili paste that I found that didn't have any added sugar in the ingredient list. 

Now that I have addressed the ingredients that most likely turned you away from making this recipe, I'll talk about the other details worth noting. First, I found some packaged shredded cabbage, which made prep even easier (I used two 10 oz bags). I also found that 3 limes was the perfect amount for this recipe. If you have an Instant Pot, this meal was super easy to prepare and get done. Though, there are slow cooker instructions below in the notes section if you need them. Anyways, when the chicken was done and I threw in the coconut milk, I put the Instant Pot on saute mode and stirred it around every so often until the sauce was reduced some. While the chicken was cooking I had prepared the sauce for the slaw, so all that is left to do at this point is toss the cabbage and green onions with the sauce. Talk about easy! I was a little nervous about how I'd like this slaw, but it honestly turned out really good. It was light, not too spicy at all, and paired perfectly with the curry chicken. If you couldn't tell already by how lengthy this post is, I will most definitely be making this one again. This was a simple and easy meal prep recipe that turned out tasting amazing! Let me know if you try this one out. 

​Instant Pot Shredded Red Curry Chicken & Sweet Thai Slaw
Ingredients:
For the Shredded Red Curry Chicken:

• 3 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
• 3 Tablespoons red curry paste (Thai Kitchen is paleo friendly)
• 2 Tablespoons coconut aminos
• 4 Tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes), divided
• 1 Tablespoon fish sauce (Red Boat fish sauce is paleo friendly)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 13.5-ounce can of coconut milk (full fat for best flavor!)

For the Sweet Thai Slaw:

• 1 medium head of cabbage, either green or red, shredded 
• 3 green onions
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
• 2 Tablespoons avocado oil
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon sambal oelek or Asian chili paste (I ended up using Huy Fong Chili Garlic Sauce)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• Additional lime wedges and sambal oelek, for serving.

Directions:

1. Place the chicken in the Instant Pot.
2. Whisk together the curry paste, coconut aminos, 2 Tablespoons of the lime juice, fish sauce, and salt. Pour the mixture over the chicken and move and flip the chicken around with a pair of tongs to coat it well.
3. Close the Instant Pot. Place the vent to “sealing” position, and set it on manual for 25 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the slaw by putting the shredded cabbage and green onions in a large salad bowl.
5. Whisk together the 2 Tablespoons of lime juice, avocado oil, fish sauce, honey, sambal oelek, and salt. Pour it over the cabbage and toss to combine. Chill until ready to serve.
6. When the chicken is finished cooking, you can either use the natural or quick stream release method. Shred the chicken inside the pot and stir in the coconut milk and remaining 2 Tablespoons of lime juice. Taste, and add additional salt, if needed. At this point you can also stir in a spoonful or two of sambal oelek if you’d like it to be spicier.
7. Serve the chicken over a bed of Sweet Thai Slaw alongside additional sambal oelek and lime wedges.

Notes:

• If you’re doing a round of Whole30, just substitute the honey with Date Paste or omit it completely.
• SLOW COOKER VARIATION: Follow the first two instructions the same way, except use a 4-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. Shred and add the coconut milk and lime juice as directed.

Original recipe found here