Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs Recipe
Jan 15, 2018, Updated May 01, 2021
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Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs 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!
My #1 recipe for Honey Garlic Chicken 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; crock pot honey garlic chicken or instant pot honey garlic chicken. I mean, one takes hours of cooking, and the other makes it all in minutes. But the instant pot is possibly my new favorite way to cook. I do really love my crock pot, but this pressure cooker/instant pot thingamajig is a game-changer. Or are you more into boneless skinless chicken thigh recipes?
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.
Gosh… There is not one single thing I don’t love about this type of food.
HOW TO MAKE HONEY GARLIC CHICKEN IN THE INSTANT POT
Prepare the sauce – it will have you licking your fingers clean.
Honey Garlic Sauce
- honey
- garlic
- ketchup
- soy sauce
- oregano
- and parsley
No big deal – just a few ingredients you probably have sitting around. But once you put them all together? GIRRRL!! You’ll see. There’s nah.thing better.
Once you’ve prepared the sauce, you can move onto browning the chicken thighs right inside your instant pot. One pot = one meal, and less dishes to wash.
I chose to use bone-in chicken thighs thus could only fit 4 at a time inside my instant pot, but if you go with boneless thighs, you can definitely get 6 to 8 thighs in there at once.
And once them thighs are done browning-up, an introduction to their cooking liquid will follow:
If chicken breasts are all you’ve got, not to worry! Just use the same method, but cook on poultry setting for 10 minutes.
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 prepared it.
I also have a seafood option with the same wonderful flavors – Honey Garlic Sauce Salmon.
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.
WANT MORE DELICIOUS CHICKEN RECIPES?
- Spicy, Sweet and Sticky Chicken Thighs
- Crock Pot Citrus Soy Chicken Drumsticks
- Crock Pot Honey Lemon Chicken
ENJOY!
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WATCH HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT HONEY GARLIC CHICKEN
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Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup honey
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce, (see notes for alternatives)
- 1/2 cup no salt ketchup
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
- 4 to 6 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs
- salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
- 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
- sliced green onions, for garnish
Instructions
- 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 in sauté mode. Add sesame oil to the pot.Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper; arrange in the instant pot and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
- Add the prepared honey garlic sauce to the pot; cover and lock the lid.
- Cook in poultry mode for 20 minutes.Turn off the pot and allow it to release the pressure, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer chicken to a serving plate and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and green onions. Serve.
Video
Notes
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 made this tonight and my husband loved it! It was super easy & quick. I’ll add it to my Instant Pot rotation for sure!
We made it tonight! We liked it, too!!!! The chicken thighs were so very tender!
This was so much better than the last honey garlic chicken I made, so thank you! When I make it again, I will either brown the chicken on the stovetop or not at all. I like that you can brown in the IP, but it’s slow and if you have a lot of meat, takes way to long, and it is awkward for large pieces of meat. Next time I would add pepper flakes to this recipe.
I love this recipe! It’s been a huge hit in our house. I have a couple of suggestions that others might be interested in:
1) Do not sauté in sesame oil. Instead, use a light flavoured oil (canola or grapeseed) to sauté the chicken, and then when the dish is completely done, add a drizzle of sesame oil before serving to get that great sesame flavour. Why? Sesame oil is a ‘finishing oil’. When it is overheated, it becomes very bitter and that bitterness will be imparted to the dish. I made this dish as written the first time and it was definitely bitter. Changed up the method to how I described and it was much better
2) If you don’t have low sodium soy sauce, cut the amount back to 1/3 cup. No need to supplement with any other liquid, this still provides plenty of cooking sauce. As another person mentioned I also added some dark brown sugar which deepened the flavour a bit.
3) I used boneless thighs and after sautéing, 12 minutes on poultry was more than enough cooking time.
Hi! i want to take your suggestion and not sautee in sesame oil, but i dont have canola oil…would vegetable oil do? or regular olive oil?
I made this this evening it was tasty- I did however add 1 1/2 tbspn of brown sugar after removing the chicken because it tasted a little bland. Adding a thick cornstarch mix is a must at the end as well. I will also be doing boneless thighs next time as it’s a bit less messy and can fit more chicken in my 6qt. For those of you that are beginners like me to the instant pot. I left it on normal(which is the automatic setting) after setting it to poultry.
I served it with rice & simi steamed broccoli
. My son who’s 14 ate everything on his plate.
It is going in our favorites – thanks so much for the recipe.
How long is normal for the instant pot to warm up? Mine took 15 minutes, so tack that on to the 20-minute cook time, and this meal is no longer quick like most IP recipes claim. I guess that’s more of my complaint about IP recipes in general. Those 5-minute recipes? Not so quick if you add on prepping, sautéing and warming up!
It is still fairly quick though since roasting in the oven would take longer. Most recipes don’t include the heat up and pressure release time. It kind of drives me nuts, but I still love the IP and the fact that I can go from rock solid, frozen chicken to fork shreddible chicken in about an hours time. I’ve never been one who can prep a crock pot dinner during breakfast so the IP is still a win for me. 😀
It depends on the size of your JP. I have the largest one so yes, it takes a little longer to come to pressure. The amount of food in the IP will also have a factor. Still much easier overall than the alternative 🙂
Can this be done with frozen chicken thighs (with bones)?
The recipe is for skinless thighs with bone in.
Skin on with or without bone-
I’m new to IP, so please forgive my ignorance! For the step that says to cook for 20 minutes… when does the 20 minutes start? When you close the lid? When the pressure reaches full? When the timer on the panel starts?
If you set the instant pot timer to 20 minutes, it will start after full pressure is applied and beep when the 20 minutes (full pressure) is done. From there you can begin depressurizing!
Thanks!
Made this tonight, turned out pretty good. Definitely need to add cornstarch to the end, but I didn’t have any on hand so I just saved the sauce for later. How long can you keep the sauce like this in the refrigerator? It’s good enough that I would put it on other stuff, or use as a dip for pot stickers or something. Will def be making again.
As long as it’s in the fridge, it will definitely last 2 to 3 days, possibly longer.
Thanks Katerina! Great work on the blog, btw. I really like your recipes.
It’s the great recipe and looks yummy! Will definitely try on this weekend! Thanks for sharing!
Made exactly as directed, and made a cornstarch slurry which thickened beautifully! Served over brown rice. I’m wondering if anyone has added pineapple to the mix at the end? I’m thinking it may be a great addition! Might try it next time, because I will surely be making it again!
I have added pineapple to it and it is amazing.