Instant Pot orange chicken is a delicious Asian-inspired meal you can make at home.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time10 minutesmins
Reach/Release Pressure20 minutesmins
Total Time40 minutesmins
Servings: 4
Ingredients
1tablespooncooking oil
1poundboneless skinless chicken breast or thighs cut into cubes
1cuporange juice
1tablespoonfresh ginger rootminced or 2 teaspoons ground ginger
4clovesgarlicfinely chopped
1tablespoonvinegarrice vinegar, white vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
2tablespoonsoy sauce
2tablespoonbrown sugar
3tablespoontomato ketchupoptional
1tablespoongrated orange zestoptional
1tablespoonscornstarch
2tablespoonswater
Instructions
Chop chicken into bite-size chunks. Juice the oranges if you are using fresh orange juice. Grate the orange zest.
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, 1 cup orange juice
Set the instant pot on the SAUTE function let it heat up. Add 1 tablespoon of oil.
1 tablespoon cooking oil
Add the chicken pieces and cook until they brown.
Turn the Instant Pot off and add a small amount of orange juice to deglaze. Stir and scrape the bottom of the Instant Pot to make sure no bits of browned meat are stuck. This will reduce the likelihood of getting a Burn error.
Add orange juice, followed by minced ginger, chopped garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, tomato ketchup, and orange zest. Do not add the water and cornstarch!
Stir until all ingredients are combined, and chicken is well coated in the sauce.
Close the lid and pressure valve. Select the PRESSURE COOK button on HIGH PRESSURE and cook for 7 minutes.
Once the pressure-cooking cycle is over, do a 10-minute natural release. Chicken breast can get rubbery if you do a manual release, so wait the 10 minutes, before using a quick pressure release to remove any remaining pressure.
Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and stir to make a cornstarch slurry. Make sure there are no lumps.
1 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons water
Turn the Instant Pot on SAUTE. Slowly pour in the cornstarch mixture while stirring. Continue to stir until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken. This should take 2-3 minutes.
Turn the Instant pot off and garnish the dish with sesame seeds and sliced green onions.
Notes
Serve in a bowl with steamed white or brown rice or noodles and green beans, broccoli, or asparagus.
Stir in some cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, or hot sauce if you want your orange chicken to be sweet and spicy.
Deglaze the Instant Pot to reduce the chances of getting a burn error.
Use a natural pressure release, not a quick release, so the chicken doesn't get rubbery.