Easy Instant Pot Korean Chicken Thighs

Instant Pot Korean chicken thighs is what we called this! Served over rice it is sweet with a bit of spicy flavors in the sauce you’ll love. Use boneless skinless breasts or thighs as a Ninja Foodi recipe or in any pressure cooker.

Ninja Foodi Korean Chicken

You can use any brand of electric pressure cooker to make this. A Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi have the same saute and high pressure functions so that doesn’t matter. If you’re looking for a really deliciously easy InstaPot chicken recipe, this is it! With bold flavors, moist meat, and no breading required.

Our version is REALLY different because it is healthy with NO frying required. That’s right, I skipped the breading but not any of the bold flavors! You will love it just as much but without any oil required and a lot less calories. To make things even more simple to eat I prefer to use boneless, skinless thighs and cut them into bite size pieces. No there wouldn’t be an issue using chicken breasts either, I just think thighs are much more tender.

Ingredients

• Boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • You could use boneless breasts
  • Cut into bite size pieces
• Soy sauce or aminos for gluten free
• Minced garlic and ginger
• Chicken broth or stock works
• Brown sugar to make it sweet
• Sriracha for a bit of spicy
• Hoisin sauce sweetens and thickens it
• Cornstarch is used to thicken the sauce

What you serve it with is up to you, but rice is our go to. I mean we eat this stuff with like everything. From Korean oxtail soup to just a bowl with soy sauce it is a regular side we love.

Sesame seeds and/or diced green onions were used but optional. Chives could be used as an alternative topping as well. use what you have on hand I always say. If you want the sauce to be spicy like our Instant Pot teriyaki chicken thighs you could add more heat for sure.

Korean Chicken with Frozen Chicken

If all you have are frozen pieces you will want to separate them from one another. Add into the pot with a bit of broth and this is how to cook frozen chicken in the Instant Pot first. Then drain liquid, dice meat, and follow directions in recipe card below. Decrease cook time to 2 minutes in this case since it is precooked.

Is Korean fried chicken healthy?

Traditional frying technique renders out the fat in the skin and makes it into a crackly crust…so this one wouldn’t be. If you skip that step like we did here, it’s quite high in protein. If you’re watching your sodium intake you may want to use low sodium broth and soy sauce though.

The steps for this Instant Pot chicken recipe are simple because there is NO precooking required. I’ve used the same technique for many other dinners because cutting the meat into small pieces cuts down on cook time.

How to Make Instant Pot Korean Chicken Thighs

1. Just dice into pieces about 1″ by 1″ or so like our Instant Pot Hawaiian chicken dish.
2. Then add the sauce and stir the contents together so it’s all nicely coated.
3. Close the lid for 5 minutes high pressure cook = the perfect time to cook the chicken all the way thru. This will still keep it nice and tender though.
4. Release the pressure quickly once it is done (quick release), then decide whether you want to thicken the Korean sauce once it’s done.

Chicken Bibimbap in Pressure Cooker

This is another name for this dish. You could make this on the stovetop too if your mother wanted to try it and didn’t have this pot. Just bubble until meat is fork tender and sauce is as thick as you want it to be and enjoy away. 😉

I will say this last step isn’t necessary but for consistency purposes I think it makes it better. You’ll need the saute function for this part. You know that thick sauce you get when you go to places like Panda Express or PF Chang’s? A bit of cornstarch will do the trick.

Once you have whisked together some cold water or hot liquid from your pot, wait until your contents are bubbling. You’ll need to put it on the saute mode to do this.

• When you have a smooth cornstarch slurry, pour it in and stir slowly for about a minute.
• That is all the time it needs.
• Turn the pot off and let it sit for a good 5 minutes to thicken even more.

Sprinkle with diced green onions and/or sesame seeds and serve your chicken pieces over rice or with veggies.

Can I fry leftover chicken?

I suppose you could drizzle on some sesame oil, and use the air crisp mode on your Ninja Foodi or air fryer. I’d just throw it into a pan and reheat it though. I did try this once. Once I removed the chicken after trying to crisp it a second time and thought it made it too dry. I think it really needs to be fried ahead of time to really work well.

Can you freeze already cooked chicken?

If you do have leftovers you might wonder what to do with it. I would just refrigerate it and eat it within the next 2 days to maintain the flavors and texture. BUT yes, technically you can freeze it even after it’s already been cooked. Save it in an airtight freezer bag for up to 3 months. Just keep in mind the integrity of the meat will be altered.

Other easy pressure cooker chicken recipes you’ll love

• Now it’s probably our favorite way to cook Instant Pot chicken thighs bone in, just ask my kids!
• We love our Instant Pot Korean beef so much I had to find a way to tweak it with chicken and here it is!
• After you print recipe below and enjoy it thoroughly, you’ll want something similar the next night. Try our Instant Pot sesame chicken then.