Hoisin Chicken

Hoisin chicken with thighs and a sweet sauce is an easy meal your whole family will love! Made in a pressure cooker in just 5 minutes, you too can have this perfect Asian dinner ready to serve over rice tonight.

Ok so I didn’t know quite what to call this Instant Pot chicken recipe. I literally threw together a few ingredients I knew would go together well and voila! Pressure cooker hoisin chicken was created. That’s the name and I’m stickin’ to it. 😉 It was an Instant Pot recipes hit in our house. (affiliate links present)

We’ve made this Asian chicken recipe in our Ninja Foodi too. With that pot you use the lid that is not attached to get it tender. It doesn’t matter what brand you have, Crock Pot Express machines would the same as well. As long as yours has the high pressure function it won’t matter at all.

If you have had this at your local Asian restaurant, it is quite easy to make it at home as well. You just need a bottle of hoisin which you can find at your local grocery store, or online, and the rest you likely have right at home. We will walk you thru step by step below. 😉

Ingredient Notes

Chicken is the main protein for this meal of course. I used boneless, skinless, chicken thighs. You could use chicken breasts as well but dark meat is cheaper and more tender too go I recommend that.

Hoisin sauce is of course the base of the sauce. If you have never had this it comes in a wide jar. You can find it in the Asian section of your local grocery store. It is very thick, a bit sweet with a bit of acidic flavor to it.

I add some light Brown sugar and honey into the sauce in order to bring a rich sweetness to the meat. Soy sauce or amino acids can be used to bring a salty umami flavor to this that you will want to counterbalance the sweet.

Onions diced up gives it flavor and texture. I would go with yellow or white, either one works. If you want them to stay in tact then slice thick vs. diced which will disintegrate more into the dish. And minced garlic is used for all the things I make around here really.

Worcestershire sauce brings a savory element to it as well but deeper than soy. I haven’t found a great alternative to this. I suppose A1 would be closest if you didn’t have any.

And to thin it out I would recommend Chicken broth. It is better than water because it offers more flavor of course. Beef stock would work too, just a different flavor profile overall. If you want to thicken the sauce go with some Cornstarch, arrowroot is a gluten-free option

You could make this with thighs left whole in a few extra minutes. I like to cut into small chunks though instead like our black pepper chicken because it allows the meat to cook more quickly and evenly. Also there isn’t any slicing when done.

with frozen chicken thighs

If you wanted to start with meat that was right out of your freezer you could. You would need to use the cook time in our Instant Pot frozen chicken thighs post but use the sauce combination explained here instead of just water or broth.

What can I substitute for hoisin sauce?

If you need to make your own blend, it won’t be the same but there is a basic alternative. Just whisk together 1 c. thick barbecue sauce, 3 tbsp. molasses, 4 tsp soy sauce, 4 tsp yeast extract and 2 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

This is a great recipe because you can serve it over Instant Pot white rice, Ninja Foodi rice or put it inside small tortillas with some cabbage and white sauce.

How to thicken the sauce

After 3 minutes just do a quick release and turn the pot off. Then you can press the saute button. You can serve it as is but I prefer to thicken up the sauce. You can do this by sauteeing at the end so everything bubbles. Then whisk some of your hot liquid with your cornstarch until smooth and pour it in, stirring.

Just a few minutes after adding this it will thicken up nicely. Serve immediately over rice for best taste! I prefer dark meat when it comes to Instant Pot chicken recipes. This is why I say that.

Tips

I like to use dark meat because it comes out extra tender with them every time. Chicken thighs are SO cheap too. If you’re really on a budget this helps also since they aren’t as “desirable” to most. Purchasing them with the bone-in are even cheaper. Since you’re dicing it up you can buy either type.

The cooking time is literally 3 minutes once it reaches pressure! You don’t need to pre cook the chicken at all. It will cook perfectly tender in that short cook time using high pressure. Don’t add more time as the meat will dry out and that’s no good.

I know there isn’t a lot of liquid per say when you look at the ingredients. DON’T WORRY. When the chicken cooks it will release more chicken broth of sorts and it will be just fine.

Like I said, I would really recommend that you get this non stick pot. You can see mine here. Not only will it prevent the burn message from showing up, but it’s SO much easier to clean. It’s $20 well spent!

Pour this mixture in and in about 2 minutes it will thicken up nicely. Then serve over rice with some green onions on top! Pressure cooking makes it all happen in 30 minutes including prep time and all. We love it!!

What else can you use hoisin sauce for?

We use it in our spicy teriyaki chicken thighs and if you love heat this is a winner. Our Instant Pot sesame chicken is always a huge hit. Or make our pressure cooker cashew chicken with it. Make this easy Instant Pot teriyaki chicken. It is super easy with only a few simple ingredients.

This and others are listed on our Instant Pot kids recipes roundup. Our pressure cooker chicken and rice is very popular. Cheesy chili mac is a favorite amongst us. Asian chicken wings and all other Ninja Foodi chicken recipes are great too.