Instant Pot Sesame Chicken Thighs

Instant Pot sesame chicken thighs or with breasts takes less than 15 minutes to make in your pressure cooker or Ninja Foodi! This quick and easy meal has a sweet and savory sauce with tender chicken over rice. If you loved our Crockpot sesame chicken this is just as good but made much faster.

Instant Pot Sesame Chicken Thighs

Have you ever gone out to dinner and had that sweet sesame chicken with rice and thought “I wish I could make this at home, it’s so good”?? I have, so I got to experimenting the other day. I first tried air fryer sesame chicken and that was delish, then I took it a step further.

You can use chicken breasts or thighs for this one, both are great. As with others I prefer to dice meat into bite size pieces so it cooks faster and the sauce soaks in the most. You can use a Crockpot Express, IP or Ninja Foodi for this one.

Instant Pot Sesame Chicken Frozen

It is best using thawed or fresh meat for sure. If all you have is frozen chicken thighs in Instant Pot that is okay as long as it has already been diced up like this. If so you’ll want to separate the pieces so they aren’t stuck together. Small breasts frozen can be used but the timing would change. For those you would need to cook with 1 cup broth for 12 minutes with a 3 minute natural release.

• Then drain liquid, shred meat and continue on with the directions below.
• You wouldn’t even really need to use the high pressure function beyond that.
• After adding the sauce you could set to saute and just bubble to coat.

Of course there is always plenty of ginger and garlic added into Asian inspired recipes so we have just enough of that thrown in there too. Likelihood is you have everything you need for this sauce at home except for maybe a bottle of hoisin sauce, which is amazing by the way.

Don’t worry…the rest won’t go to waste because after you’ve made this in a pressure cooker you’re going to want to make our Instant Pot spicy teriyaki chicken thighs that uses this sauce in the mix too.

Ninja Foodi Sesame Chicken

Like I said it doesn’t matter what brand you might have at home. As long as you have the saute feature to use with defrosted meat and high pressure you’re in luck. If you want to serve this with rice I would make that separate in another IP or rice cooker.

What is the difference between orange chicken and sesame chicken?

The sauce! In our Instant Pot orange chicken the flavors are different. This recipe is sweeter, really. There is no heat to this dish vs. some orange that has a kick to it like General Tso’s at Panda Express. Of course this one has sesame seeds too. I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs and dice them up so they are bite size pieces.

Is it better to cook chicken thighs whole or cut up?

Why do I dice the chicken up? Smaller pieces of chicken makes each piece more tender in the cooking process. Bite size pieces allows the delicious sauce to soak all the way in so each piece has that delish sesame chicken taste It makes it easier for the kids (and me) to eat when the chicken is already cut up. If left whole the timing would need to be adjusted to about 12 minutes instead.

Instant Pot Garlic Sesame Chicken

Can you make sesame chicken with leftover chicken?

Alternatives to using fresh chicken: If using diced up pre-cooked chicken (i.e. rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken) alter the recipe below this way Add your pre-cooked chicken at the beginning but no need to put into Instant Pot and saute like if it were raw

Mix together your diced chicken pieces with the diced onions, garlic and ginger still, then skip to step 4 where you add the sesame chicken sauce. On step 5 lock the lid and set to pressure high for 2 minutes vs. 3 Including all the time it will take you to prep everything, this should take under 30 minutes to make from start to finish. Much faster than if you made it in a slow cooker. 

Once your chicken is no longer pink on the outside you’re going to whisk together the ingredients for your homemade sesame sauce and pour it right in.

Make sure you then stir it around so all the chicken is coated and the flavors will really soak in. I would cook rice at this time so it’s all pressure cooking together. (I have several machines to do it all)

How do you make sesame chicken sauce thicker?

Now once the 2nd cook time is over, do a quick pressure release. It will be done but it is best if you use a bit of cornstarch to thicken the sauce so it’s ooey gooey delicious. I use 4 tbsp of cornstarch whisked together with 4 tbsp of hot liquid from pot. Add that in on saute and allow that to bubble and the sauce to thicken.

Of course you can use less if you want it thinner than what you see here, but really if you ask me this is just perfection…….A gluten free alternative would be arrowroot which will have the same effect.

What is sesame chicken made of?

Thighs usually, but we chose to use chicken breasts this time, for the pictures featured. Either or are fine really. Many times they are deep fried, this is a low fat version without breading. Sauces vary slightly adding heat, or making sweet and mild. Cornstarch is used to thicken it up at the end.

Instant Pot Sesame Chicken Ingredients

This is what we used and you should have available to you to get going on this easy Instant Pot chicken recipe you will love:

• Diced chicken
• Green onions
• Minced garlic
• Ginger
• Soy sauce
• Hoisin sauce
• Brown sugar
• Honey
• Worcestershire sauce
• Sesame seeds
• Cornstarch to thicken sauce
  • red pepper flakes optional

Cook Instant Pot white rice separately and serve on top. Brown rice is a healthier alternative too.

How do you cook boneless skinless chicken thighs in an Instant Pot?

I would follow these same steps over and over again with the same timing and just different sauces. The first other one I would think of would be our Easy Instant Pot butter chicken since dark meat is more tender and works well for this one.

Our pressure cooker apricot chicken is similar to orange chicken using jam as the sweetener but a lot less ingredients than this homemade sauce. If you are in more of a hurry I would opt for this one. Or make our Instant Pot teriyaki chicken with just the meat and a bottle of sauce.

Our spicy honey Instant Pot chicken is probably our most popular followed by Instant Pot Korean chicken. I am telling you, since I got this magical appliance we have been able to eat together more AND I cook more from scratch.

Chicken tinga is a new recipe on our list. Using this quick pot we call it means we eat healthier and it is amazing how my kids taste buds have changed for the better. They are now very experimental eaters which is great.

Is sweet and sour chicken the same as sesame chicken?

Ours is definitely different because our Instant Pot sweet and sour chicken uses frozen popcorn chicken that’s breaded. This one has less carbs since it doesn’t have any breading at all. The sauce also has a different taste. One has some heat and this one is sweeter, but both great Chinese food at home dishes.

How do you thicken sesame chicken sauce?

Cornstarch + some of the hot liquid mixed together (or some rice vinegar works too) creates a roux. Dump this in on saute mode at the end and stir.  It will thicken as it sits thereafter too so just remember that. You don’t want to add too much cornstarch or other roux or it will get to be a weird texture.

Sesame Chicken Recipe Easy

Can you make this in your Ninja Foodi too? YES of course!! Follow the same instructions below. You can make it crispy chicken when done in this though with a few minutes using the air crisp lid to a golden brown. Then serve it over fluffy rice and BAM, best meal evahhhh!

1. Add your diced onions, sesame oil, diced raw chicken breasts, 1.5 tbsp minced garlic and 1.5 tbsp minced ginger into your pot. Set to saute.
2. Mix all ingredients together so chicken pcs. are coated, cook until pink on outside of chicken pcs. is gone. Turn Instant Pot off.
3. Whisk together remaining ingredients except cornstarch, and only use 1 tbsp of your sesame seeds. Pour into your pot. Stir so all chicken pieces are nicely coated.
4. Close lid and steam valve and set to pressure high for 3 minutes.
   Do a quick release, lift lid and set to saute again if you want the sauce to be thicker.
5. In a small bowl whisk together your cornstarch and cold water well so there are no lumps, add this into your IP once it begins to bubble on the saute setting.
6. Stir for 1-2 minutes until sauce begins to thicken, then turn pot off and unplug so it doesn’t continue to cook.

If your family loved this one, try our Instant Pot hoisin chicken. I’ve served this over Ninja Foodi rice or mashed cauliflower for a lower carb meal and it’s as good as brown or white rice. Ready for an easy family friendly meal? That’s really all we do here since I have 3 girls and I will tell you that they think this one is “the bomb”!

Have you made something that your family thought was over the top lately?? Serve on top of rice sprinkled with your remaining tbsp of sesame seeds and add some diced green onions if desired.