3 Minute Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken

This easy Instant Pot teriyaki chicken takes just 3 minutes to cook and is so tender with thighs or breasts! It’s a really healthy pressure cooker chicken recipe that’s inexpensive and flavorful with bottled sauce served with rice. Add a bit of pineapple for extra flavor and your kids will love it too.

Teriyaki Chicken InstaPot

Make some rice and you are set with a great and healthy meal that everyone in my family enjoys. You could add some onion into the pot too if you desire but we stuck with chunk pineapple and sauce to make ours. That way you get this sweet and tangy sauce with your meat swimming inside. The fruit gives you a bit of texture to it too.

You can make this in a Crockpot Express or a Ninja Foodi recipe as well. They all have the pressure cook function so it doesn’t matter the brand. Brown is the same as the saute button which you will use to brown your meat at first if you wish, but isn’t necessary. You’ll love this one my friends.

How to Make Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken

Maybe it is because I was born in Hawaii but I love anything teriyaki! I could put this sauce on just about any piece of meat and it just tastes amazing. Just like any other recipe you can add or omit what you love or don’t prefer to have added.

With this one you could add a bit or a lot of heat into the mix if you so chose to do so. I would suggest using either Sriracha or some red pepper flakes to do this. Be light handed at first so you don’t go to a level you cannot handle.

You save yourself a step by cutting the chicken into chunks before adding it to the Instant Pot / pressure cooker too. This does a few things such as make it easier to serve up later, and get the sauce to soak in better since there is less surface area.

We all need a few recipes “in our pocket” that only use a few ingredients and take less than 15 minutes. You know for those evenings when you only have an hour in between soccer practice and homework….we’re there a lot. 😉 This is one of those! I used to make it on my stovetop but this is better.

Made under high pressure you really lock the flavors into each piece of your meat more than if it were sauteed in it. You just throw it all in, lock the lid, and in a few minutes you’re set to enjoy.

Instant Pot teriyaki chicken with bottled sauce

1. Jar of Teriyaki sauce / marinade – this Veri Veri Teriyaki is our favorite, not too thick and great taste
   1. do not use thick sugary sauces in IP, it will burn
      1. this is what burn on Instant Pot means and how to prevent it
      2. I use this same sauce for oven baked teriyaki chicken thighs too
2. Boneless skinless chicken breasts – diced into bite size pieces. You really could use thighs if you prefer, I have, it’s totally up to you.

Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

If you have this pot you have two choices. You can use the pressure cook mode like you need for this one, or air crisp it from the get go. I will show you a picture of that method at the bottom with a link to those instructions too. Biggest difference is the texture. Instead of just tender you get crispy on the outside edges too that way.

1. Chunk pineapple – just use the small can for this, or a snack pack works too
2. Jasmine rice – this is how to make the perfect Instant Pot white rice
   1. or on top of pressure cooker brown rice
   2. if you wanted a lower carb bed you could make cauliflower rice too
3. Cornstarch slurry (optional if you want to thicken sauce at the end)
4. Diced green onions are optional

Of course you could make your own teriyaki sauce using brown sugar and a few other ingredients but if you really need a quick throw together Instant Pot chicken recipes this is perfect. It only takes about 3 minutes to cook once you throw everything in there.

Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken with Frozen Chicken

Ok so you are in a rush and forgot to defrost your meat. No problem I am here to help. You do want your pieces to be separated. If they are in a large chunk, run under some cool water and pull them apart. Sit into your pot with your sauce and pineapple if you like and seal the lid. Cook 4-5 medium boneless breasts for 12 minutes with a 10 minute natural release. Open, shred meat and enjoy this way!

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce Recipe

If you do have a bit more time to make homemade teriyaki sauce the cook time will not vary. You will just need the following ingredients. 

1. Chicken broth
2. Soy sauce, regular or low sodium soy sauce is okay
3. Minced garlic and ginger
4. Brown sugar
5. Hoisin sauce
6. Cornstarch if you want to thicken it
7. Sesame seeds for top are optional

Just follow the directions in our spicy teriyaki Instant Pot chicken recipe for the amount of each ingredient you’d need. You can skip the spicy and keep it mild too if you prefer.

Can you make pressure cooker teriyaki chicken with chicken thighs?

Absolutely you can. All that is important is that you use boneless skinless because you want to cut it into large bite size chunks so the sauce really soaks up almost like if it had been marinated. Whether you use white or dark meat is really up to you and the timing won’t change.

Here are a few other of the best Instant Pot recipes you will love

• Instant Pot shredded chicken uses pineapple as well
• Spicy honey Instant Pot chicken is sweet with a bit of heat if you want to add some
• This Instant Pot teriyaki ribs recipe uses this teriyaki sauce too and comes out so tender and juicy you’ll never cook ribs any other way again

For some similar flavors, cooked differently, you can make a batch of air fryer teriyaki chicken and air fryer chicken katsu too if you want to try that next.

You can see just how much teriyaki sauce the chicken soaked up just by the color of it! The pressure cooker does all the work for you which is great. Your whole meal will be done in about 10 minutes total and can be done in a Ninja Foodi too.

Great lunch option for me who works at home. If I need a quick meal I know all 5 of us will enjoy this is my go to recipe

Does teriyaki sauce go on before or after cooking?

In this case it is cooked together but you can add more when done and served too. I haven’t tried it together but imagine if you had a trivet on top of the rice with your chicken and sauce in an approved pot it would be fine in 12 minutes on high. Here are the basic steps to make our pressure cooked chicken with a sweet and savory sauce.

• If making homemade teriyaki whisk ingredients in a bowl.
• Dice and add the chicken pieces into your pot.
• Pour in bottled or the sauce you made on top.
• Stir contents.

If you wanted more of a stir fried dish you could easily slice a bell pepper and add that in too with 1 onion sliced thick. Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 3 minutes. If adding more than 3 med. diced chicken breasts you may need to increase time to 4-5 minutes

• Wait a minute once it ends and then do a quick release
• Open the lid and if you’d like sauce a bit thicker whisk 1 tbsp cornstarch with hot liquid and add into pot on saute

Here is a slow cooker teriyaki chicken recipe if you’d like to try that too.