Instant Pot sweet and sour chicken with popcorn chicken and pineapple, is the easiest meal ever! Panda Express copycat recipe you love served on a bed of rice. With a homemade sauce you should make it right at home this week.
I am all about easy, and delicious when it comes to dinner. That is where this Instant Pot sweet and sour chicken comes into play! With NO breading or batter required it is quick with lots of veggies. One of our favorite chicken Instant Pot recipes on The Typical Mom. (affiliate links present)
with Homemade Sauce
I love copycat recipes! When it’s way too hot or cold outside to go out to dinner, or we’re trying to save money these come in handy. You can make this with fresh meat or with frozen breaded like we did here. Toss with our copycat sweet and sour sauce and bam dinner is done.
Ninja Foodi Option
If you want to use fresh meat then follow our Ninja Foodi pineapple chicken recipe instead and add diced green peppers to that. Both are delicious so I’d suggest you try it both ways and see which you prefer. In this pot you want to use the lid that is not attached to pressure cook.
Our Instant Pot sesame chicken is a close second to this one. I bet they will become new family favorite one pot meals you’ll love too. You can make both in your Ninja Foodi too. Let us know what you think. 😉
with Frozen Popcorn Chicken
Sometimes you really need quick and easy, throw in what’s in the bag kinda’ meal. You know what I mean I am sure. That is when using a bag of frozen popcorn chicken can help a lot. Cooked in a sauce you get tender meat with the breading you love.
Using bagged already breaded and precooked meat makes things a lot easier. If you wanted to use fresh or already diced (like above) and frozen that is a possibility as well. I would use the same recipe and timing listed below. Realize that frozen meat in an IP will release more moisture so sauce will become a bit thinner is all.
The fastest way by far is the one listed below. You can find a bag of these at almost every grocery store in the seafood section. They are bite sized already breaded with the meat inside. You can bake, microwave, air fry or throw them into a pressure cooker like we did here to warm.
Ingredient Notes
- Bag of frozen popcorn chicken or make homemade popcorn chicken homemade
- Pineapple chunks, could substitute a bit of pineapple juice for broth for a sweeter taste, maybe 1/2 of a cup at most
- Bell peppers cubed into large bite size pieces
- Some include pineapple, green peppers and onion
- Sesame oil is the best for authentic flavors
- Apple cider vinegar is that tang you expect to taste
- Chicken broth or any liquid you prefer
- Cornstarch to thicken sauce a bit
What is sweet and sour chicken made of?
- Sugar, white granules to make sweet
- Ketchup is the base that makes it orange
- White vinegar gives it that tangy flavor
- Soy sauce or aminos for gluten free option
You’ll want a whisk too to mix the sauce really well before you add that into your pot. I like my veggies cut into large chunks. That way they keep some texture and aren’t mushy at all once the cooking is over. The smaller you cut them the softer they will be. Just a tip. We serve this on top of our Ninja foodi rice.
Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 lb popcorn chicken, frozen, or bite size fresh meat
- 1 onion, cut into 1" pieces
- 1 bell pepper, cut into med. chunks
- 1 c pineapple, cut into chunks or tidbits, fresh or canned
- sauce mixture
- 1/4 c ketchup
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 c chicken broth
Instructions
- Chop all vegetables and whisk together your sauce mixture EXCEPT the cornstarch in a bowl. Set your pressure cooker to saute for 10 minutes.
- Add your sesame oil and once it's warmed add your vegetables. Cook until they're beginning to soften, 3-4 minutes. Then pour in your sauce mixture and stir. Allow to heat for 3 min.
- Put cornstarch in a small bowl with some of your hot sauce from the pot and whisk together until smooth. Dump this into the pot to allow the sauce to thicken until time is up on saute function, about 2 min. Turn saute function off.
- Pour in your frozen popcorn chicken and stir. Add pineapple chunks and stir.
- Put pressure cooker lid on and close steam valve. Set to pressure cook high for 4 minutes (5 minutes if using fresh bite size chicken pieces). Do a quick release.
- Stir and serve over rice topped with green onions.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
with Jar Sauce
You could and you would leave out the ingredients for the sauce. Only risk of this is if it is too thick it may trigger the burn notice. We have done this to make our Instant Pot orange chicken which is not breaded. Both are covered in a glaze like sauce, typically served over rice though orange chicken is usually lighter colored.
Tips
This has such a short cooking time, you don’t want to exceed 4 minutes on high pressure. All you need is to heat up the sweet and sour sauce, add the chicken breast pieces. If any longer they will dry out. I would say from start to finish including prep time, sauteeing, and pressure cook time it’s under 30 minutes which is great.
So easy right? You can really boost the amount of veggies to add in to this. There is a suggestion below as to what was added here but that is up to you. Remember they should all have similar cook times though. Firmer is a bit better that is why onions and bell peppers work so well as you can see here.
And there you have it!! Can you make this chicken in a Ninja Foodi too? Yes, just use the lid that isn’t attached for this one. This recipe will work in any brand you have including a Crockpot Express pot. Follow directions below to enjoy it tonight.
- This Instant Pot stir fry is loaded with vegetables too.
- Simple Asian chicken recipe has a sweet and savory sauce too.
- Our Instant Pot pulled pork sauce is quite amazing
- Pressure cooker cashew chicken is simple and delish too
We also love recipes with pineapple like this one. A few other Instant Pot chicken recipes have it too. Want to use fresh chicken breasts or thighs instead to make something similar? Nutritional facts including saturated fat and calories are listed below in this printable recipe card.
Is sweet and sour chicken the same as orange chicken?
The taste is slightly different but yes they have similar flavors. You can use our Crockpot orange chicken recipe for the latter. Here are a few questions you might have right now you want answered before you get going on this:
We will show you how here! With ketchup, apple cider vinegar, and a variety of seasonings this one tastes fantastic and is homemade. You can make air fryer popcorn chicken and then use this sauce.
All in moderation with all things. Using frozen breaded bites like we did here isn’t as healthy as fresh diced chicken breasts. You can substitute that if you’d rather.
I love the sweet and sour taste in your delicious chicken recipe! Perfect family lunch, thanks!
My kids love Sweet and Sour Chicken. I never thought to make it in the Instant Pot!
could you air fry it at the end to get it crispy?
What kind of popcorn chicken do you use? Most of the one’s I’ve tried have tasted like cardboard.
Tyson has a good one using white meat