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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. 

Peanut Butter Chicken Recipe

Looking for a killer peanut butter chicken recipe, or maybe wondering what it is? Either way we’re glad you’re here to try it! We made it as an Instant Pot recipe but surely you could make it on the stovetop too. (originally published 1/20, affiliate links present)

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.

Peanut Butter Chicken

FIRST – You should sign up for my free newsletter so you get new posts emailed to you twice a week and never miss out on anything! Now let’s start with a few basic tips:

For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.

star wars instant pot

Instant Pot Peanut Butter Chicken

We are always trying to come up with new chicken recipes so dinnertime doesn’t get too boring.

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.
instant pot peanut chicken

Here’s a peek at the ingredients you will need to pull out, they are:

  1. Pressure cooker
    1. if you have an Instant Pot I HIGHLY recommend getting a non stick pot
  2. Chicken breasts – boneless, skinless, cut into bite size pieces
    1. could opt for chicken thighs if you preferred
  3. Olive oil
  4. Some chicken broth
  5. Coconut milk
  6. Soy sauce
  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.

Instant Pot Chicken

The first step like many others is to turn your pot to saute and add some olive oil. 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.

  • Then it’s time to start adding your other ingredients with the cooked chicken to make peanut butter chicken.
  • 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.

Tip to remember: 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.

peanut butter chicken
  • The cook time is just 8 minutes on high pressure with a 5 minute natural release.

How do you do the natural release on Ninja Foodi?

This term works the same way on all machines, no matter what brand.

This 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.

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.

How do you make Chinese peanut sauce?

  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.

instant pot chicken recipe

What can you use peanut butter for?

Other than sandwiches, we hope you gave you a unique yummy idea. Here are a few more peanut butter recipes too:

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.

Ok so the question is: 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.

easy instant pot butter chicken

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

  • 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.

Want to see a few of my favorite things that I am totally obsessed with?? Take a peek and see how many you might already have…twinsies!

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instant pot peanut butter chicken
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4.50 from 2 votes

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.
Course Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword chicken, instant pot, peanut butter, pressure cooker
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes
Servings 6
Calories 431kcal
Author The Typical Mom

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Set pot to saute and add olive oil. Add chicken pieces in when hot and brown on sides until there is no pink on outsides.
  • Add chicken broth and use wooden spatula to scrape stuck on pieces of food off bottom to deglaze pot.
  • Turn pot off now. In a bowl whisk together all other ingredients EXCEPT for the peanut butter and cornstarch. Pour this into the pot.
  • Use a spoon to drop dollops of peanut butter into the pot but DO NOT stir.
  • Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 8 minutes followed by a 5 minute natural release. Then release rest of pressure.
  • Lift lid and if you want sauce thicker whisk together cornstarch with a few tbsp of cold water until smooth. Set pot to saute and when sauce bubbles add cornstarch slurry. Stir and allow to thicken, then turn pot off and serve.

Video

Nutrition Facts
Peanut Butter Chicken Recipe
Amount Per Serving (2 oz)
Calories 431 Calories from Fat 270
% Daily Value*
Fat 30g46%
Saturated Fat 15g94%
Cholesterol 72mg24%
Sodium 953mg41%
Potassium 744mg21%
Carbohydrates 13g4%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 7g8%
Protein 32g64%
Vitamin A 34IU1%
Vitamin C 7mg8%
Calcium 35mg4%
Iron 3mg17%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Recipe Rating




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Michael Richardson

Tuesday 13th of October 2020

ARRGGG went to store to get all ingredients and went by this list that is above recipe...... How do you make Chinese peanut sauce? 2 c creamy peanut butter 2 tbsp soy sauce or fish sauce 4 tsp minced garlic. 1/2 cup hot water – not used 1/4 c chopped cilantro 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar – which we didn’t use 2 tsp sugar – wasn’t used 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes – for heat, Nowhere in that list is coconut mil so I didnt buy any. came home to start cooking and realized the recipe is below it and says 13.5oz coconut milk. Guess it will have to wait for another day. Making it without and going to see what happens.

The Typical Mom

Tuesday 13th of October 2020

There is a recipe list at the top for this recipe, and in the recipe card itself. The other you saw is for an alternative sauce some like to make with the chicken.

Claire

Tuesday 4th of August 2020

Wow this is so good. New family favorite. I topped mine with cilantro and green onion. Delish!

Michelle Urban

Thursday 30th of January 2020

Only my second time using my instant pot and this was super easy to follow and everyone liked it. I did find it was watery and needed more the a tsp of cornstarch

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