Instant Pot Peanut Butter Chicken Recipe

This Instant Pot peanut butter chicken recipe is amazing! If you love pressure cooker chicken with bold flavors this is it. Your kids will love it too. 

Instant Pot Peanut Butter Chicken

Who. Doesn’t. Love. Peanut butter??!!! Ok, unless you have an allergy you probably have a jar right now in your cupboard. I know we ALWAYS do! You can do so much more than baking peanut butter cookies or sandwiches with it though.

You can make it in any brand of machine you have too. As long as it has the high pressure function you are good to go. I have used Crockpot Express, Mealthy and as a Ninja Foodi recipe as well with the lid that is not attached.

Something the kids will rave over is always a plus too right? If you’re ready for Instant Pot peanut butter chicken recipe this week we will show you how to make it in a jiffy. You could make this in any other brand of pressure cooker too. Here’s a peek at the ingredients you will need to pull out, they are:

Peanut Butter Chicken Ingredients

1. Pressure cooker, if you have an Instant Pot I HIGHLY recommend getting a non stick pot
2. Chicken breasts – boneless, skinless, cut into bite size pieces, could opt for chicken thighs if you preferred
3. Olive oil is best
4. Some chicken broth
5. Coconut milk we like, or regular
6. Soy sauce gives it a pop
7. Minced ginger
8. Brown sugar
9. Chili garlic sauce
10. Peanut butter – our preference is creamy
11. Cornstarch if you want to thicken the sauce at the end
12. Salt and pepper to taste
13. Squeeze of lime juice

This is one of our favorite pressure cooker chicken recipes served with rice when it’s chilly outside. I have a few sizes and brands so I can make this in one and my side dish in another depending on what I am craving that night, a grain is typical though.

How to Make Pressure Cooker Peanut Butter Chicken

1. The first step like many others is to turn your pot to saute and add some olive oil.
2. Once it is hot, add your diced chicken and brown the outsides (barely). You just want to cook 5 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink on the outsides.
3. Then it’s time to start adding your other ingredients with the cooked chicken to make peanut butter chicken.
4. Leave the cornstarch to the side. You can decide whether or not you want to add it at the end. It isn’t necessary, only if you want the sauce to be thicker before serving.

Tips

Do NOT stir in the dollops of peanut butter. This may cause the burn notice to appear. Just plunk them on the top before closing the lid and they’ll cook right in perfectly.

Total cook time including time to pressurize is about 20 minutes or so. The cook time is just 8 minutes on high pressure with a 5 minute natural release. We are always trying to come up with new chicken recipes so dinnertime doesn’t get too boring.

How do you do the natural release on Ninja Foodi?

This term works the same way on all machines, no matter what brand. It means you do not touch the steam valve. For this peanut chicken it’s a 5 minute natural release which means once the machine beeps, allow it to count up to 5 before flipping it and allowing the remaining steam to emerge.

How do you make Chinese peanut sauce?

Yes, this is a bit like Chinese peanut butter sauce with a twist. It’s also sometimes called satay sauce, bumbu kacang, or sambal kacang. Ours is a bit different though if you compare ingredients.

Ingredients

1. 2 c creamy peanut butter 
2. Two tbsp soy sauce or fish sauce
3. 4 tsp minced garlic.
4. 1/2 cup hot water – not used
5. 1/4 c chopped cilantro
6. 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar – which we didn’t use
7. 2 tsp sugar – wasn’t used
8. 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes – for heat, could be added to the recipe below

For the entire recipe we created, find ingredients in recipe card below.

Is peanut sauce good for you?

Let’s start out by saying this isn’t listed as a low calorie, carb, or keto friendly meal. We are all about comfort foods here, and that’s okay in moderation. While most peanut sauces contain nutrient packed ingredients, they are also a bit higher in calories and fat.

What can you use peanut butter for other than sandwiches?

Other than sandwiches, we hope you gave you a unique yummy idea. Here are a few more peanut butter recipes too: Our peanut butter and jelly donuts are semi homemade with refrigerated dough and always a huge breakfast hit.

• These cookie brownies use cake mix and come out creamy and delicious for a dessert.
• You can also include some inside a batch of peanut butter blender muffins for a tasty treat in the morning.

I have not made this in my slow cooker as of yet but when I do I will add timing instructions to this. If you wanted to make this on the stovetop I think the directions would be the same, just leave covered on low/medium heat instead of pressure time.

Looking for another winner of a dinner to try in your nifty multi cooker? I would try our easy Instant Pot butter chicken next.

Ninja Foodi Peanut Butter Chicken

There are certainly more nutritious and lower calorie alternatives to peanut sauce, but if you stick to a small serving it won’t hurt your diet plans. You can make this in a Crockpot Express or an easy Ninja Foodi recipe too. If you have leftovers just let it cool and store in an airtight container in your fridge for up to 3 days until reheating.

What I do with peanut sauce?

• As a dip: Peanut sauce is the perfect dip serve with
• with sliced fresh vegetables
• crispy tofu
• thinly sliced cooked meats
• spring rolls are served with it from time to time in restaurants

You can also venture out with serving it alongside seafood skewers or dumplings. Peanut sauce marinade: To make this just blend peanut sauce with soy sauce, ginger, onions, and a dash of hot sauce. Put into a freezer bag with meat and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cooking.

• I have included nutrition facts below. These along with detailed directions you can find here, and you can even print them out too if you’d like.