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Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken are sweet, savory, tender, and juicy chicken thighs prepared with the most amazing honey garlic sauce and cooked in an Instant Pot. Dinner, from start to finish, will be ready in 30 minutes!
If you love making Instant Pot chicken dishes, check out my Instant Pot Chicken Mole for a flavorful twist with a hint of chocolate and spices. Craving something comforting? This Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings recipe is perfect for a cozy dinner.
My #1 recipe for honey garlic chicken has been revisited and updated with a new twist because an Instant Pot is all the rage these days.
I know it’s so hard to choose between crock pot honey garlic chicken and instant pot honey garlic chicken. One takes hours to cook, and the other is ready in minutes. Honestly, though, the Instant Pot might be my new favorite way to cook. I do love my Crock Pot, but this pressure cooker thingamajig is a game-changer. Or maybe you’re more into good ol’ boneless skinless chicken thigh recipes on the stovetop? I love that, too.
Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
This easy recipe for honey garlic chicken thighs is packed with so much flavor and requires very little effort. With just a handful of ingredients, this dish continues to be one of my go-to’s because it’s low maintenance and it’s fall-off-the-bone amazing.
Clearly, I’m not talking about just any old chicken here. I’m referring to that special kind of garlic chicken that finds the perfect balance between sweet and savory, tender and juicy, similar to how the best bourbon chicken recipe masters that blend. Also, it can be made in about 20 minutes and that just makes my heart sing for joy! What’s more is that I always make extra so that I have at least some leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. Adding it over a green goddess salad is pure bliss!
Gosh… There is not one single thing I don’t love about this type of food. The flavors in this dish are so simple, yet when combined, they are SO GOOD and out-of-this-world fantastic. It’s one of those recipes that you make once, and then you make twice, and then suddenly you can’t wait to make it again.
Recipe Ingredients
No big deal – the following are just a handful of ingredients you probably have sitting around. But once you put them all together? GIRL! The magic happens. This blend of sweet, savory, and aromatic ingredients creates a sauce that will take your taste buds on a joyride. Trust me, there’s nah.thing better. Let’s dive into what you’ll need to make these honey garlic chicken thighs.
For the honey garlic sauce
- Honey – Adds sweetness and helps create a caramelized glaze. Maple syrup or agave nectar are good alternatives.
- Garlic—I love this sauce with tons of fresh garlic, but you can also use garlic powder. You’ll need about a teaspoon.
- Soy sauce – Contributes an umami flavor and balances the sweetness of the sauce. Tamari or coconut aminos will also work.
- Ketchup – Adds some tanginess and body to the sauce.
- Dried oregano – For a hint of herbal flavor. Italian seasoning or dried thyme are okay to use.
- Parsley – Fresh parsley provides freshness and a pop of color, but fresh cilantro or basil is a great substitute.
For the chicken
- Sesame seed oil – Adds a nutty flavor and aroma, perfect for sautéing. Olive oil or canola oil can also be used.
- Bone-in, skinless chicken thighs – Boneless chicken thighs or chicken breasts can be used, but you’ll have to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
- Salt and black pepper – Basic seasonings to enhance overall flavor.
- Toasted sesame seeds – These add a bit of crunch and pretty visual appeal. I have also used chopped cashews and it was delicious.
- Sliced green onions – I use these for a garnish and to add a mild onion flavor and freshness. Chives are a good alternative.
How To Make Honey Garlic Chicken in the Instant Pot
Whether you want to make this in the crock pot, as we have done up until now, or in the Instant Pot, trust me when I say that no matter what route you take, in the end you’ll just be super glad that you made it. Once you’ve prepared the sauce, you can move on to browning the chicken thighs right inside your Instant Pot – one pot means one meal and fewer dishes to wash. I used bone-in chicken thighs and could fit only 4 at a time, but if you choose boneless thighs, you can fit 6 to 8 at once.
- Prepare the sauce: In a small mixing bowl, combine honey, minced garlic, soy sauce, ketchup, oregano, and parsley. Mix until well combined and set aside.
- Heat the Instant Pot: Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode and add sesame oil to the pot.
- Brown the chicken: Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Arrange the seasoned chicken thighs in the Instant Pot and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Browning the chicken adds depth of flavor and helps to lock in juices.
- Add the sauce: Pour the prepared honey garlic sauce over the chicken thighs.
- Cook in poultry mode: Cover and lock the lid of the Instant Pot, then cook in poultry mode for 20 minutes.
- Release the pressure: Turn off the Instant Pot and allow it to release the pressure naturally for about 5 minutes. This step is important for safely opening the pot and ensuring the chicken remains tender.
- Serve and garnish: Transfer the cooked chicken to a serving plate and spoon the sauce over the top. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions and enjoy.
Recipe Tips
- Chicken options. If you only have chicken breasts, don’t worry! Just use the same method, but cook on the poultry setting for 10 minutes.
- Soy sauce substitute. If you are allergic to soy sauce or can’t have soy for other reasons, feel free to use coconut aminos which is soy-free, gluten-free, and vegan.
- Thicken it. Want a thicker sauce? After cooking, remove the chicken and set the Instant Pot to sauté mode. Simmer the sauce until it reduces to your desired consistency.
- Make it spicy. For an extra kick, add a pinch of red pepper flakes to the sauce.
- Make it with fish. I also have a seafood option with the same wonderful flavors Grab this recipe for honey garlic sauce salmon.
Serving Suggestions
To soak up all the delicious honey garlic sauce, I often serve honey garlic chicken over rice or with beef ramen (minus the beef). I like to add a side of my air fryer roasted broccoli and mashed potato pancakes for a complete meal. For dessert, a slice of German marble cake is the perfect finish!
Storing and Reheating
To store leftover chicken, let it cool completely before placing it in an airtight container. Keep it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. For longer storage, you can freeze the chicken for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.
More Delicious Chicken Recipes
- Spicy Sweet Sticky Chicken Thighs
- Crock Pot Chicken Drumsticks
- Instant Pot Chicken Tinga
- Black Pepper Chicken
- Crock Pot Honey Lemon Chicken
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Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup honey
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup ketchup, I use no-salt ketchup
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano, or any other dried herbs that you prefer
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil, vegetable oil or olive oil can be used
- 4 to 6 bone-in skinless chicken thighs
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
- sliced green onions, for garnish
Instructions
- Make the sauce. In a small mixing bowl combine honey, minced garlic, soy sauce, ketchup, oregano and parsley; mix until well combined and set aside.
- Prep and cook the chicken. Heat the Instant Pot in sauté mode. Add sesame oil to the pot to heat up. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and cook them for about 2 to 3 minutes per side or until browned.
- Add the sauce. Add the prepared honey garlic sauce to the pot; cover and lock the lid.
- Cook. Set the IP on poultry mode (or pressure cook mode) and cook the chicken for 20 minutes. Turn off the pot and allow it to release the pressure, about 5 minutes.
- Serve. Transfer the chicken to a serving plate and spoon the remaining sauce from the pot over the top. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions, then serve.
Video
Notes
- Soy sauce alternatives. If you are allergic to soy sauce or can’t have soy for other reasons, feel free to use coconut aminos, which is soy-free, gluten-free, and vegan.
- Chicken. You can make this with boneless chicken thighs or chicken breasts, but you will have to adjust the cooking time because boneless meat cooks faster than bone-in.
- Burn notice. If you get a “burn notice” on your Instant Pot, it usually means there’s not enough liquid in the pot or that something is stuck to the bottom. To avoid this, you can deglaze the pot after browning the chicken by adding a bit of broth or water and scraping up any browned bits before adding the honey garlic sauce.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
I forgot to put in a rating. Here is my rating.
Story time: When I was a kid, my friend’s mom would make this *delicious* chicken dish. I never learned its name, but it was the most amazing thing. And for something like 30 years, I’ve been searching for that taste again, searching for whatever recipe that was.
And I’ve found it. This tastes *exactly* like what I remember from my youth. This recipe doesn’t just taste awesome, it gave me *closure*.
That’s great! I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
This recipe is excellent – I see that many people have also found such, and have been making it for a few years! Family loved it (kids especially.)
Thank you so much for sharing!
Wanted to see if anyone had advice about cook times/temps/techniques for drumsticks or wings? Or even pork or beef ribs?
*Also wanted to share that I got the burn message – letting the pot cool down and scraping the browned chicken bits before starting again did the trick for me.
And I also did the full 20 minutes for skinless boneless thighs, and they were fall apart tender and great!
Excellent recipe I’ll be making this often. Sauce was perfect, not too salty
I followed the recipe and didn’t change a thing. Thank you!
Thank you so much! I’m very glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
This is one of my go to recipes for quick week night dinners. Lately I started dressing it up with greens and quick cooking veggies from my farm share. I wait until the chicken is done and vented, remove the chicken and throw in spinach (or other greens), snap peas, etc to sautee in the sauce for a couple minutes. I serve it with rice and have a whole meal from one pot.
Can boneless/skinless thighs be used for this recipe?
Yes, but boneless thighs cook faster so you’ll have to adjust the cooking time. I suggest to pressure cook at 8 minutes and then do a natural pressure release.
Just made this recipe, we found it to be perfect! Not too salty either
Thank you for the recipe, I’ll be making this often.
I used sugar free ketchup that I had on hand and then added a little bit of water to the sauce before cooking it using the Pressure Cook setting on my IP. The chicken was so tender and I made a cornstarch slurry to thicken up the sauce. It reminded my husband and I of chicken adobo (since it was less sweet with the low sugar ketchup). It was really good served over rice with steamed broccoli. Thank you!
I’m very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
I have made this recipe many times for my fiancé and our friends and it comes out AMAZING. The only thing I worry about is if I’m making it too much 🙂
That’s great to hear! I’m very happy everyone loved it! Thank YOU! 🙂
Looks and sounds delicious,, but we don’t use honey, could a person substitute pure maple syrup?
Yes, you can use maple syrup.
It was ok I didn’t like the oregano in it but the chicken was tender I used skinless chicken breast and Added teaspooon of ginger and 1/4 cup brown sugar
Tender chicken but really appallingly overly salty. Would not do again.
The recipe states to “salt and pepper, to taste” – nowhere does it say how much salt to add; it suggests to add as much as you want… it also suggests to use low sodium soy sauce. 🤷♀️
How can it be ‘appallingly overly salty’?!? Recipe specifically states low sodium soy sauce and no salt ketchup. Definitely user error, Fred
100% agree. I did use reduced sodium soy sauce, but the salt overwhelmed the honey and garlic flavors I was hoping for, but unfortunately you could still taste the Ketchup (should have been a red flag that ketchup was in the recipe).
Other recipes of this nature use WAY less soy sauce, I will be trying “Easy Honey Garlic Chicken” next which calls for 1 T. of soy sauce (that’s how much I disliked this dish, I’m going far left on the soy sauce).
Note: I LOVE salt, use way to much on everything, and this dish was barely edible.
I hate to be harsh but food is expensive and it is awful to waste it.
The directions state to use “salt, to taste” – no measurements are given. So, maybe it’s not the recipe… you may have added too much salt to the chicken.
We have also tried this recipe many times and it comes out great each time. My family loves it. Since it has Soy Sauce already in it I used very little Salt to start with and that seems to work.
That’s great! I am very glad everyone enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
I made this dish tonight and I used regular soy and regular ketsup as I didn’t take the time to get the low sodium/salt alternatives. It was a bit salty but I didn’t add any extra to the dish to offset the expected saltiness. It was a good dish. I would recommend using one or the other low salt items to cut down the salt content unless you are cutting out salt for health reasons. I would do this again. Thank you.
Did you use ”salt-free” Soy Sauce”?
if anyone else had this turn out too salty (i used regular soy sauce and ketchup), adding a 1/2cup of water and 3tbsp of sugar helped balance it out! i also added in a decent amount of cornstarch too, since the extra water made the sauce pretty thin.
You’re a moron. It said s&p to taste you idiot. This recipe is foolproof. Learn how to read and follow instructions. How is it possible for you to even own an instant pot? Go back to microwave dinners. FRED!!