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Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken is an easy recipe with chicken breasts in a delicious savory sauce. Perfect for busy weeknights! Add broccoli and serve with rice for a complete meal your whole family will love!

instant pot honey garlic chicken breasts with broccoli and rice on a plate with parsley

No need to order out for Chinese food when you can whip up this quick dinner in your pressure cooker! Honey garlic chicken is an easy Instant Pot recipe that you can make with little effort and just a handful of ingredients.

This chicken recipe is an easy weeknight dinner that’s ideal for busy weeknights. It’s budget friendly, too!

My family loves my baked honey garlic chicken recipe — one of our favorite chicken recipes! But this Instant Pot honey garlic chicken recipe is the perfect way to cook chicken when you don’t want to use your oven.

Ingredients

You only need a few simple ingredients for this easy chicken recipe — most of them are for the delicious homemade honey garlic sauce. You can find them in your local grocery store or online:

  • Olive oil or vegetable oil — prevents sticking
  • Chicken breasts — about 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts. Use chicken thighs if you prefer
  • Honey — adds sweetness
  • Garlic — both cloves and granulated for extra flavor
  • Soy sauce — I use low sodium soy sauce
  • Ketchup — adds flavor and color
  • Rice vinegar — cuts the sweetness, but regular vinegar is fine
  • Sea salt — you may not need it if you use regular soy sauce
  • Cornstarch — for the corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce
  • Broccoli — optional, but good for you!

How to Make Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts in the Instant Pot

First, make the homemade honey garlic sauce. Roughly chop up 3 to 4 garlic cloves, and set aside. Add the honey, soy sauce and rice vinegar to a small bowl, and whisk until well combined.

Then, stir in the chopped garlic, and set the sauce ingredients aside while you prepare the chicken.

I like to add the ketchup over the chicken instead of mixing it into the sauce, just to prevent it from getting too thick. This will help you avoid the burn notice.

mix honey garlic sauce in small bowl

Next, pour a little bit of olive oil or vegetable oil into the bottom of the instant pot. Then, place the boneless skinless chicken breasts into the pot.

Note – I always get thin or split chicken breasts because they cook faster and more evenly. If you can only find thicker ones, that’s fine, but they’ll take longer to cook.

Sprinkle the sea salt and garlic powder over the chicken. Then, pour the sauce over the chicken and add the ketchup.

chicken breasts with honey garlic soy and ketchup in the instant pot

Cook Time

For thin chicken breasts, cook for 6 to 8 minutes with a 6 to 8 minute natural pressure release followed by a quick release. For thick chicken breasts, the cooking time is 10 minutes with a 10 minute slow release, then quick release.

I always cook on high pressure when pressure cooking.

If you want to make this delicious recipe with frozen chicken breasts, cook them for 20 minutes if they’re very thick. Cook thinner pieces for 12 to 15 minutes and a 10 minute natural pressure release.

Always check the internal temperature of your chicken with a meat thermometer. For safety, the chicken should be at least 165 degrees fahrenheit.

How to Thicken the Sauce

Remove chicken to a clean platter, and shred or slice. Cover the chicken with foil to keep warm.

The best way to thicken this delicious sauce is to add a cornstarch slurry. A slurry is just a mixture of cornstarch and thin liquid.

In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and soy sauce until smooth. You can use cold water if you want, but soy sauce adds extra flavor. And, we don’t want to water down this delicious sauce!

whisk cornstarch slurry into pressure cooker

Turn on the sauté function. When it starts to bubble, slowly whisk in the slurry. Let the sauce simmer for a minute to thicken. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon or serving spoon. Then, stir in your chopped broccoli, if using.

Hit Cancel to turn the saute function off. Then, stir the chicken back into that delicious, sticky sauce!

You’re going to love this super flavorful, delicious tender chicken! And the sauce?

Seriously, I can’t say enough about the savory sweet honey garlic sauce! Next time, I may even make a little extra sticky honey garlic sauce!

sliced chicken breasts and broccoli in honey garlic sauce in pressure cooker

What to Serve with Honey Garlic Chicken

We love to serve honey garlic chicken with broccoli and Instant Pot Jasmine rice. White rice or Brown rice is perfect for absorbing that yummy sauce!

If you don’t want broccoli, green beans are delicious with this quick meal. For more easy sides, check out my side dishes archives.

Recipe Variations

For more flavor, stir in a little sriracha sauce or red pepper flakes for extra heat. Add a teaspoon of brown sugar for extra sweetness.

Or top the chicken with sesame seeds and green onions for added crunch.

You can substitute chicken thighs for the chicken breasts. Instead of jasmine rice, use cauliflower rice.

You can also use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.

No Instant Pot? Make crock pot honey garlic chicken. Just add everything to your slow cooker and cook!

honey garlic chicken with broccoli and jasmine rice on a plate

How to Store and Reheat

Store any leftover chicken and rice in a covered airtight container in your refrigerator. It should keep for 3 to 4 days. You can also freeze leftovers in a freezer bag or freezer safe container for later — great for meal prep!

Reheat leftovers in the microwave or on the stove top. If you have a lot of chicken and extra sauce left over, you can even reheat them in your Instant Pot on the Sauté setting.

5 from 7 votes

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken (and Broccoli)

By: Dee
Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken (and Broccoli) is an easy recipe with skinless chicken breasts in a delicious homemade savory sauce. Add broccoli and serve with rice for a complete meal your whole family will love!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
release time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 26 minutes
Servings: 7 people

Ingredients  

Sauce

  • ½ cup honey
  • ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar or regular
  • 4 garlic cloves peeled ,chopped

chicken

  • 4 to 5° thin boneless skinless chicken breasts about 2 pounds
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ cup ketchup
  • 3 cups broccoli florets chopped, optional

Cornstarch Slurry

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Instructions 

  • In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Stir in the chopped garlic, and set aside
  • Pour the olive oil into your pressure cooker, and place the chicken into the pot
  • Season with sea salt and garlic powder. Pour the honey garlic sauce over the chicken, and add the ketchup, but don't stir
  • Place the lid on your Instant Pot, make sure the valve is at sealing position, and hit PRESSURE COOK for 8 minutes. Pot will take a few minutes to reach pressure, then will begin counting down
  • When pot beeps, allow an 8 minute slow release, then move the valve to release remaining pressure. When pin drops, carefully remove lid
  • Remove chicken to a platter, slice and cover to keep warm.
  • Hit SAUTE on the pressure cooker. Mix cornstarch and soy sauce in a small bowl until well combined. When sauce bubbles, slowly whisk slurry into sauce, and allow to simmer for a minute or until it starts to thicken
  • Stir chopped broccoli into sauce. When it starts to soften, turn SAUTE feature off, and add chicken back to pot. Serve immediately

Notes

Recipe can be made in either 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot or other brand of pressure cooker without changing ingredient amounts.
For larger thicker chicken breasts, cook for 10 minutes with 10 minute slow release. Cook very thin chicken breasts for 6 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to check that internal temperature is 165 degrees fahrenheit. 
Cook frozen chicken for 15 to 20 minutes, depending upon thickness.

Nutrition

Calories: 119kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 850mg, Potassium: 204mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 23g, Vitamin A: 287IU, Vitamin C: 36mg, Calcium: 28mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Main
Cuisine: American, Asian, Chinese
Like this? Leave a comment below!

Pressure cooker honey garlic chicken is one of our favorite Instant Pot chicken recipes! I hope you enjoy this delicious dinner as much as my family does.

We think it’s even better than Chinese takeout!

Please leave a comment and or star rating if you enjoy this easy meal as much as we do.

For more Instant Pot recipes and easy recipes for busy nights, be sure to sign up for the newsletter and follow me on social media!

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Recipe Rating




11 Comments

  1. Kevin says:

    Super easy and delicious! Kids loved this for dinner last night. Will be making this often.5 stars

  2. Richard says:

    I whipped this up for lunch today, and it was an absolute hit! The sauce was thick and full of flavor. I will definitely be making this again!!5 stars

    1. Dee says:

      Thank you so much, Richard! Honey garlic chicken is a favorite here!

  3. Erika says:

    I just made this Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken!! It was delicious!5 stars

  4. Kerry M says:

    First off- the pics of this are absolutely amazing! It looked so delicious I just had to make it! And yes, the final product was as good as the pics made it look. I will absolutely be making this again!!5 stars

    1. Dee says:

      Thank you so much, Kerry. Glad you liked the chicken!

  5. Toni says:

    This is so tasty and delicious! A new favorite meal for my family!5 stars

    1. Dee says:

      Thanks, Toni! So glad you liked the recipe!

  6. Claire says:

    Ohhh! This is SO good! I wish I had another bowl of it right now!5 stars

  7. Catalina says:

    Instant Pot Is amazing and I love trying new recipes for it!5 stars

  8. Amanda says:

    What a perfect meal especially for through the week!