Spicy honey Instant Pot chicken thighs takes just 4 minutes to cook and comes out moist and full of flavor! Sweet chicken bites smothered in delicious sauce served on a bed of rice is a healthy pressure cooker dinner our whole family enjoys.
Ever since I got my fancy pressure cooker I have been fiddling with new Instant Pot recipes and have come up with many that are so quick and my family loves! This spicy honey Instant Pot chicken is one of our favorites though!
My littlest love orders “sweet chicken” when we get to Chinese food restaurants so I aimed to create something similar. I wanted a little bit of heat this time though since we love Sriracha!
You can use whatever you have at home too. There is a Crockpot Express version and Ninja Foodi too. All of them work just the same with high pressure and take no time at all in one pot.
This easy recipe turned out great the first time around. We will definitely be making this one again! If you don’t have an Instant Pot yet and are busy like we are I highly recommend getting one!
Ingredient Notes
For the most flavor and moist meat outcome I suggest using Chicken thighs diced. Easiest is to buy boneless skinless and cut into large bite sizes pieces as they will shrink when cooked.
For the sweetness you will want to add some Brown sugar. I haven’t used a sugar free alternative but many others have used Splenda and state that it works quite well.
Honey is a sweet element as well you want to add. We buy organic and local as it is thicker and has a richer flavor.
Minced ginger & garlic brings the Asian flavors soar in this dish. You can dice up fresh cloves or buy already minced out of a jar.
Soy sauce will bring the umami and salty element to this dinner. You could instead use amino acids for a gluten free option if necessary.
Sriracha is what we use for heat. I like that it adds a spicy element and has a great flavor to it too vs. just adding hot. You can leave out if you don’t want any heat.
Onions are optional, diced added at with the meat, and cornstarch can thicken the sauce but could be omitted.
Substitutions
I have made this here with boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs meat if you preferred this. Nothing would change as far as timing either way. You could cook whole like our Instant Pot spicy teriyaki chicken thighs but the timing would be longer.
Use as much or as little Sriracha as you want to adjust the heat level, or leave it out entirely and make a sweet honey chicken, that would be amazing too. If you really like heat like our Instant Pot Korean chicken just add more.
Can you use frozen chicken?
Yes and no. If your meat was already diced you could use frozen chicken in the Instant Pot but you would need to break it apart so it is not in one big clump. If this is possible then go ahead and yes you could use that with the same directions and timing. Just remember that it will emit a bit more liquid so you may need a bit more cornstarch to thicken at the end.
Tips
I like to dice the meat into bite size pieces, if you cut them smaller I would decrease the cook time to 3 minutes to maintain it’s moisture. You still want to give it time to soak up all the yummy sauce juices. That is the great thing about the pressure cooker function. You can use the same meat but create a different sauce and it is infused into the meat when it cooks.
I HIGHLY suggest you get a non stick pot too, linked above because many times the burn notice will get triggered inaccurately which is prevented with this! The Ninja has a ceramic pot which works well as is. You will use the lid that is not attached to make it in a Foodi machine.
Here’s how to make the perfect 2 Cups Instant Pot white rice to serve underneath, or make another grain of your choice.
How Long to Cook Spicy Honey Chicken in Instant Pot
Once you have all ingredients in the pot and close the lid and steam valve you are going to want to set Instant Pot to high pressure, high, for just 4 minutes. When done make sure to do a quick release (or meta will dry out if cooked too long in these small pieces) and carefully lift lid.
If you want a thicker gravy / sauce put some of the hot sauce in a small bowl with the cornstarch and whisk together Add back into the pot and stir. Set to saute, normal and let bubble for a few minutes….this will add a couple minutes but worth it! Allow to sit for a few minutes so the sauce thickens. We do the same with our Instant Pot sesame chicken and it works great.
This has become a popular way of serving this deliciousness. Many serve this over rice but you could serve it with pressure cooker quinoa to add protein, or even over noodles. I would not cook the grains and this spicy chicken together as the texture isn’t as pleasing.
Spicy Honey Instant Pot Chicken Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 medium chicken breasts, boneless skinless, cut into bite size chunks
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp ginger, fresh, minced
- 1.5 tbsp garlic, fresh, minced
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Sriracha, or more if you want it really spicy
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/2 small onion, sliced or diced
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds, optional to top
- 2 small green onions, optional to top
- 2 tbsp cornstarch, to thicken
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts into large bite size chunks and cut onion into chunks.
- Put chicken and onions into the Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
- Mix all other ingredients together (except the cornstarch) well with a fork and pour on top of chicken.
- Close the lid and steam valve and set Instant Pot to manual, pressure, high, 4 minutes.
- Do a quick release and carefully lift lid.
- Put some of the hot sauce in a small bowl with the cornstarch and whisk together, then add back into the pot and stir.
- Set Instant Pot to saute, normal and let bubble for a few minutes.
- Allow to sit for a few minutes so the sauce thickens.
- Serve spicy honey chicken over rice.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
That depends on what I am making. If you want shredded chicken by all means leave them whole and shred once fork tender. If you are cooking chicken in sauce in Instant Pot it is best to cube boneless skinless breasts or thighs into bite size pieces so it can coat and soak up the sauce more.
Looking for more easy InstaPot recipes? We have a few more you have to try too like our Instant Pot Hawaiian chicken recipe that is so good that is also sweet and with diced meat cooked right in the sauce. Our pressure cooker apricot chicken is a family fave and much sweeter than either of these.
How to Serve
This spicy chicken is great served with Instant Pot broccoli to. It only takes 1 minute on high pressure! Keep in mind the sauce thickens in the last step when adding cornstarch. BUT will continue to thicken as it sits so just add a bit. Options to consider:
What is the weight of the chicken you’re using? Or the general size? I have two chicken breasts but they are HUGE. Not sure if I should pick up more at the store.
I would say they are medium sized generally. I suggest cubing the chicken into fork size pieces when you cook it so the breast size initially shouldn’t matter much.
Is your carb count including the rice? This sounds amazing but I count carbs.
I am new to the Instant Pot (have the Crockpot Express Cooker, largest size). Can you double this recipe (want to cook it for 8-9 people)?
Should work without a problem, yes.
The ingredients doesn’t include an onion (other than green onions for garnish), but the instructions ask for a chopped onion. How much onion did you add to the chicken?
Yes it states 1/2 onion in ingredients, you can slice or dice whichever you prefer. Small or larger pieces
Does the onion go in the instant pot? Or is it added after the dish has completed cooking? Is this a white onion or green onion?
Hi Typical Mom,
I just made turkey noodle soup tonight, my first dish in my new IP. I want to try your recipe however I only have ground ginger and I’m not the best with spicy dishes. Do you think I’d be OK with the ground ginger instead of minced? Thank you
How long do you think I would need to cook it if I used chicken tenders?
We really liked this dish. Finally got a recipe that I didn’t get the “Burn” message on my Instant Pot. 🙂
We aren’t fans of Siracha sauce so I used Sweet Chili Sauce and ground ginger. It was delicious!!
Trying this tonight and have only had BURN messages on my instant pot thus far your comment has given me hope!
Did you use frozen or thawed chicken? I’m making this as my first instant pot go. I’m so excited!!!!!
I did not use frozen chicken. ?
How would you modify if you used frozen chicken breasts?
If you have whole frozen breasts instead of bite size pieces like I did frozen breasts at about 2 lbs. total take about 12 minutes to cook well, so depends if they’re whole or not.
Easy recipe- thumbs up! My family loved this. I’m usually not a fan of chicken dishes and I enjoyed it! I used fresh ginger. I imagine it wouldn’t taste as good with ground (powder) ginger. This was great because I reserved some without the hot sauce for my child and for the adults I mixed the hot sauce in our portion. Tasty both ways! I served it with white rice and Asian slaw. The next day I mixed all three leftovers into a bowl and that was delicious too.
OH good!!
Made it this evening for dinner. The only switch I made was powdered ginger because I didn’t have fresh. Otherwise, followed to the letter. Just meh. My husband, who will generally eat anything, didn’t like it. Not a keeper. Needs more flavor.
Add 1 tbsp of fish sauce and 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice to the liquid ingredients before pressuring.
That would be a good add in also.