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Instant Pot Recipes with Chicken
Instant Pot is best for making chicken. The pressure cook time is usually very short, depending on the part of chicken used.
If you have a killer sauce recipe, dinner is guaranteed to be a success. Just like these tender, juicy, moist and soft Instant Pot chicken thighs swimming in the mouthwatering honey sesame sauce.
Other Instant Pot Chicken Recipes:
- Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken – Everyone’s Favorite!
- Instant Pot Creamy Garlic Mushroom Chicken – Amazing with pasta.
- Instant Pot Honey Mustard Chicken – Juicy and Tender Chicken Dinner.
- Instant Pot Butter Chicken – Just Like Indian Buffets.
Honey Sesame Sauce
One of my most popular Instant Pot recipes is Honey Garlic Chicken. This Honey Sesame Chicken recipe calls for similar and simple ingredients:
- Honey
- Toasted sesame oil
- Soy sauce
- Apple cider vinegar
- Chili garlic sauce
- Chicken broth
The flavor is savory, sweet, with a tint of tartness and heat. This Instant Pot chicken is now my #1 favorite dinner recipe.
Instant Pot Chicken Thighs
For the chicken, I used skinless and boneless chicken thighs and they are perfectly cooked in 8 minutes in the Instant Pot. You can also use bone-in chicken thighs.
The active prep time is only 5 minutes, so dinner is ready for the entire family in practically less than 20 minutes!
Serve the chicken over steamed rice, just like the picture above and you have the most amazing Asian chicken dinner ever!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Use Chicken Breasts for This Recipe?
Yes, you sure can. Just pressure cook chicken breasts for 10 minutes. The instructions and methods are exactly the same. If you use frozen chicken breasts, please increase the pressure cooking time to 12 minutes.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This Instant Pot chicken recipe is only 392 calories per serving.
What to Serve with This Recipe?
This dish is best served with rice or simple pasta. For a healthy meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. boneless and skinless chicken thighs
- salt
- ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoon oil
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon toasted white sesame
- 1 tablespoon chopped scallion
Honey Sesame Sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha or chili garlic sauce (Rooster brand, or most to taste)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
Instructions
- Wash and rinse the chicken thighs with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Set aside. Mix all the ingredients in the Sauce together, stir to mix well. Make sure the honey and corn starch are completely dissolved. Set aside.
- Turn on the Saute mode on your Instant Pot. As soon as the pot is fully heated (to make sure the chicken doesn’t stick to the pot), add the cooking oil. Pan sear the chicken thighs until they turn slightly brown (if they stick to the pot too much, you may use a non-stick skillet for pan-searing or skip this step.)
- Add the the garlic and saute a little bit. Pour in the sauce and top with the white sesame. Cover the pot and select Manual and set to High pressure for 8 minutes.
- When it beeps, turn to Quick Release. When the valve drops, remove the cover carefully, add the chopped scallion and serve immediately. Set the Instant Pot to Saute mode to reduce the sauce, for about 2 minutes or so, until the sauce slightly thickens.
- If the sauce is lighter in color compared to the pictures, you might add some dark soy sauce to make the sauce darker in color. Different soy sauce has different color, some lighter and some darker. If you use a lighter color soy sauce, the sauce will look lighter, but the taste should be about the same.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Thanks for the yummy recipe! Made it last night. I didn’t get the sauce to thicken as much as I’d like but still tasted amazing. Used chicken breasts. Yum?
Awesome!
Wondering how the sauce came out. Mine was very much liquid/ watery. Any suggestions to make the sauce thicker?
The sauce will thicken if you use Saute Mode to reduce it for 2 minutes.
This was really tasty! I did use chicken breast, so think it would best be done on the stovetop (chicken was a bit tough in the IP), but loved the sauce (found the Black Soy Sauce at an Asian Market, and would suggest only this for the best color). Will definitely make this again.
Hi Tara, thanks for trying this recipe.
Made this with boneless skinless chicken breasts in an 8qt Instant Pot. Increased all the sauce liquids by a half and should have doubled the corn starch. I served it with rice. Just amazing.
Hi Abby, thanks for trying this recipe. You can use the saute mode to reduce the sauce. :)
I have read that using Quick Release for recipes that are not mostly water will result in a big mess. Do you have any recommendations on how to do this? Should I cover it with paper towel when I open the valve, to capture the splatter?
What if you don’t have a Pressure Cooker can a person use a crock pot?
Yes, you can. Please check the Notes section in the recipe card.
Hello,
Wanting to try this recipe out and was wondering if I coulda substitute the honey with maple syrup as that’s all I’ve currently got in my pantry. And if so, same amount? Thank you ?
Yes. :)
The flavour was amazing! I used bone-in, skin-on thighs. My chicken stuck to my pot during the sauté. Next time, I’ll brown them in a frying pan first. No issues otherwise. The sauce was a nice deep colour. I let it sauté for a couple of minutes and added the chicken back to the pot. Definitely one to make again.
Thanks Patricia for trying my honey sesame chicken in the Instant Pot.
Do you need to adjust the time if you do bone in, skin on thighs??
You may increase it for a couple of minutes.
If I were to double this recipe would I need to add more cooking time?
No, should be OK.
I love love love this honey sesame chicken recipe. I make it on a weekly basis. My picky eaters at home always ask for more.
Hi Bec, thanks so much for your comment. I love it. Please try more Instant Pot recipes on my site, they are all delicious and easy to make: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipes/instant-pot-recipes/