Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken is an easy chicken recipe that is filled with delicious flavors, tender pieces of chicken, and a yummy homemade honey garlic sauce, and is great for a quick dinner recipe.
This recipe is perfect for when you are in the mood for Chinese food, but don’t actually want to go out. It is made with simple ingredients that you will generally already have on hand or find easily in the store.
So, when you need a quick meal to make up for you and your family, make this pressure cooker chicken recipe in less than 30 minutes. Aka perfect for your busy weeknights ahead!
Recipe Ingredients:
- Chicken: use boneless, skinless chicken breasts or skinless chicken thighs if you prefer
- Seasonings: you will need salt and black pepper
- Honey: either use raw honey, local honey, or whatever you already have in your pantry already
- Sauces: you will also need ketchup and soy sauce to make the homemade honey garlic sauce
- Sugar: brown sugar or coconut sugar works well for this recipe
- Oil: we like to use vegetable oil, olive oil or canola oil
- Garlic: either fresh minced garlic or garlic from a jar
- Onion: use a fresh yellow onion diced
- Water
- Thickening agent: cornstarch is the best for thickening the savory sauce
- Toppings: sesame seeds and green onions are great optional garnishes
How to make Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken:
- Place chicken in the bottom of the Instant Pot and season with salt and pepper.
- In a small mixing bowl mix up the sauce ingredients, whisk together honey, ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, vegetable oil, garlic, and onion.
- Pour sauce over chicken in the Instant Pot.
- Place lid on the Instant Pot, close and set to sealing.
- Press the MANUAL button (or PRESSURE COOK) and set timer for 15 minutes on high pressure.
- Do a QUICK RELEASE of the pressure instead of a natural release and when the pin drops, remove the lid.
- Remove chicken from the Instant Pot and cut into bite-sized pieces; set aside.
- Whisk together water and cornstarch in a small bowl to make a cornstarch slurry and whisk the mixture of cornstarch with the sauce in the Instant Pot. Press the Saute function button for a cook time of 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- When the sauce has thickened, fold in cooked chicken and turn off the Instant Pot.
- Serve over rice and garnish with sesame seeds and green onion.
Expert tips for making this Instant Pot honey garlic chicken recipe:
Why is my honey garlic sauce not thickening?
The sure way to have a runner sauce it to skip out on using cornstarch. Using the teaspoons of cornstarch is the way this recipe’s yummy sauce thickens up.
If you do not have any cornstarch on hand, all-purpose flour can be a good substitute to use. You can also let it simmer over medium high heat or the saute function to thicken it up a bit.
How to serve this easy Instant Pot recipe:
Serve this over white rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice, brown rice, or even cauliflower rice.
Some of our readers have added mixed vegetables with their rice for more added veggies. This is also delicious and served with steamed broccoli – great for keeping this a gluten-free recipe.
Is this recipe spicy?
As the recipe is written for this tender chicken recipe, no, it is not generally spicy. However, you can add some red pepper flakes or a little garlic chili sauce to the garlic honey sauce to make it a bit spicier.
Storage Instructions:
Fridge: Place the leftover Instant Pot chicken breasts in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days as well as the rice you might have served with this in a separate container. But it is best 3-4 days after making the Instant Pot version of this easy recipe.
Easy honey garlic chicken recipes:
- Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken
- Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken
- Instant Pot Sticky Chicken
- Sweet Honey Soy Chicken
- Baked Honey Chicken Tenders Recipe
Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper, to taste
- ½ cup honey
- ⅓ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ onion, diced
- ¼ cup water
- 1 ½ Tablespoons corn starch
- sesame seeds, optional garnish
- green onion, optional garnish
Instructions
- Place chicken in the bottom of the Instant Pot and season with salt and pepper.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together honey, ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, vegetable oil, garlic and onion.
- Pour sauce over chicken in the Instant Pot.
- Place lid on the Instant Pot, close and set to sealing.
- Press the MANUAL button (or PRESSURE COOK) and set timer for 15 minutes.
- Do a QUICK RELEASE of the pressure and when the pin drops, remove the lid.
- Remove chicken from the Instant Pot and cut into bite-sized pieces; set aside.
- Whisk together water and corn starch in a small bowl and whisk into the sauce in the Instant Pot. Press the Saute button and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- When the sauce has thickened, fold in cooked chicken and turn off the Instant Pot.
- Serve over rice and garnish with sesame seeds and green onion.
Notes
Nutrition
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Questions & Reviews