This easy Instant Pot Sticky Chicken Thighs recipe makes tender, deliciously juicy, fall-off-the-bone chicken thighs. Prepared in the Instant Pot with a sweet and savory sticky sauce, it’s a delicious chicken thighs recipe that tastes amazing!
Instant Pot Sticky Chicken Thighs
Instant pot sticky chicken thighs yields tender pieces of meat and crispy, juicy skin. The extra sauce is drizzled over each piece of chicken for a complete sweet and savory taste. These sticky, crispy chicken thighs are an easy dinner option that your family will love. Sweet and salty with a kick of hot sauce, it’s a perfect easy weeknight dinner served over vegetable stir fry or rice. Or both!
Chicken Thighs baked to perfection in a wonderful sauce that gives them a delicious sticky coating that is finger-licking amazing? GIMME!
Sticky Chicken is so delicious it will melt in your mouth! Every time I whip up my Spicy, Sweet, and Sticky Chicken Thighs, my family goes crazy and there are no leftovers. Therefore, I had to come up with a version for the Instant Pot because I like fast and easy meals. After school soccer practices and dance recitals demand it!
This simplified version of a traditional sticky chicken comes together in very little time, and best of all, there’s only one pot to clean up.
How To Make Sticky Chicken in The Instant Pot
- We start by seasoning the chicken thighs with sweet paprika and fresh ground pepper. Since we are using soy sauce and worcestershire sauce in this recipe, I advise to omit the salt.
- Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode and add olive oil; heat it up and arrange 3 chicken thighs, skin side down, in the Instant Pot. Cook for 2 minutes on all sides. All 6 chicken thighs will not fit at once – use 3 to 4 at a time.
- Prepare the sticky sauce: In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, vinegar, brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, minced garlic, and ground ginger.
- Add all browned chicken pieces to the Instant Pot; pour the prepared sauce over the chicken pieces and stir them around so they are coated on all sides.
- Lock the lid and pressure cook on HIGH (OR Poultry Mode) for 20 minutes. Turn off the pot and allow to release the pressure, about 5 minutes.
- To thicken the sauce, scoop out about 1/4 cup of the liquid and whisk a tablespoon of cornstarch in it.
- Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode and stir the cornstarch mixture into the pot; cook for 2 minutes or until thickened.
- Transfer the chicken thighs to a serving plate and serve the sauce separately or pour it over the chicken.
- Sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds and chopped cilantro over the chicken and serve.
If you are a fan of easy instant pot recipes, then you HAVE TO try this Instant Pot Sticky Chicken Thighs recipe.
Can I cook Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot?
Absolutely! If you want to use chicken breasts instead of thighs, follow the same method, but cook on the poultry setting (or on manual HIGH) for 10 minutes.
For those that want to stay away from skin-on thighs, do what I do; remove it after it’s cooked. I know, I love the golden and crispy skin, too, but my jeans are telling me otherwise.
One medium chicken thigh without the skin is 90 calories. One medium chicken thigh with skin is 140 calories. This is all before adding the sauce and cooking.
Side Dishes for Chicken Thighs
Here are a few of our favorite ways to serve this meal:
- Over my absolute fave Garlic Butter Cauliflower Rice 😍
- Or how about serving them with Stir Fry Zucchini Noodles – YUMMO!
- And this Spicy Thai Rice
How To Store Leftovers
- Store leftovers in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
More Great Chicken Recipes
- Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
- Juicy Stove Top Chicken Thighs
- Garlic Sauce Chicken Thighs
- Honey Sriracha Chicken
- Grilled Chicken Thighs with Brown Sugar Glaze
ENJOY!
Instant Pot Sticky Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- ⅓ cup low sodium soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon hot chili sauce, (like Sriracha), use less or more to taste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
- chopped cilantro, optional, use for garnish
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the Instant Pot.
- Season chicken thighs with paprika and ground black pepper.
- Add 3 chicken thighs at a time, skin side down, to the Instant Pot; brown all thighs for 2 minutes on each side, or until browned.
- In the meantime, prepare the sauce by whisking together 1 tablespoon olive oil, vinegar, brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, minced garlic, and ground ginger.
- Arrange all chicken thighs on the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Pour the prepared sticky sauce over the chicken thighs. Stir the chicken around so they are coated on all sides.
- Lock the lid and pressure cook on HIGH (OR Poultry Mode) for 20 minutes.
- Turn off the pot and allow to release the pressure, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer chicken thighs to a serving plate.
- To thicken the sauce (optional), scoop out 1/4 cup of the liquid and whisk a tablespoon of cornstarch in it.
- Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode and stir the cornstarch mixture into the sauce inside the instant pot; cook for 2 minutes or until thickened.
- Serve the sauce separately or pour it over the chicken.
- Sprinkle chicken with sesame seeds and chopped cilantro; serve.
Notes
- Chicken: This recipe uses bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. However, if you want to use chicken breasts instead of thighs, follow the same method, but cook on the poultry setting (or on manual HIGH) for 10 minutes.
- For a lighter meal, remove the skin: One medium chicken thigh without the skin is 90 calories. One medium chicken thigh with skin is 140 calories. This is all before adding the sauce.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container and keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days.
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.
Delicious!!!!! So tender and flavorful. I did season my chicken with more than paprika and pepper. Other than that I followed the directions and it will be something I keep on rotation.
We enjoyed this very much. I used boneless thighs and they were perfect. Tender and not dry at all.
That’s great! I’m very happy everyone enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
Easy and flavorful! Has a difficult time thickening the sauce even with corn starch-any advice?
I was hopeful this would be a hit, but unfortunately it was too dry. Maybe next time I will try 10 minutes for legs and thighs. I usually cook frozen thighs for 12 minutes so 20 minutes seem too long to me.
I have 8 thighs to cook. Can I do this? If so, how much time?
Yes, you can. As long as they are all bone-in chicken thighs, as the recipe states, it all stays the same. Boneless thighs don’t take as long to cook through.
This recipe was a big hit! I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar—couldn’t tell the difference. It was great!
That’s great! I’m very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
My husband just added this to the “rotation “ aka amazing
I did deglaze the pot before adding the ingredients and putting on the lid.
Definitely will make again, Thanks!
That’s great! I’m very happy everyone loved it! Thank you for chiming in! 🙂
Can you do this with boneless skinless chicken?
Do you mean chicken breasts? OR chicken thighs, but boneless and skinless? IF it’s chicken breasts, follow the same method, but cook on HIGH for 10 minutes, not 20. If it’s thighs, I’d cook those for 12 minutes on High.