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An Instant Pot version of my delicious takeout-style Bourbon chicken, this tender, juicy, sticky-sweet chicken is simply irresistible! Made even faster and easier in the pressure cooker, it’s perfect over a bed of rice or with a side of veggies. A perfect homemade dupe for your favorite takeout or food court dish!
Before You Get Started
- Bourbon: You want to use a good-tasting bourbon, one that you’d enjoy drinking on its own, but this isn’t the time to reach for the top shelf. A low-proof bourbon is more than fine here because you don’t want the flavor of the bourbon to overpower the rest of the dish. If you want a sweeter-tasting sauce, opt for a bourbon with hints of vanilla or brown sugar.
How to Make This Recipe
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Make the Sauce.
Mix together all of the sauce ingredients until you’ve got a thick, mostly-smooth sauce. Set it aside for now and turn your attention to the chicken.
Sear the Chicken.
With your Instant Pot set to Sauté mode, heat 1-2 tablespoons of neutral oil in the Instant Pot insert, then add the seasoned chicken pieces. Sauté the bite-sized pieces of chicken for roughly 5 minutes, until they’re opaque on all sides.
Cheryl’s Tip: Don’t cook the chicken through completely at this point. The Instant Pot will take care of that later. If you cook it too much now, it’ll be overcooked by the end of the recipe.
Add Pressure.
Pour the prepared sauce into the Instant Pot and stir to coat the chicken completely. Lock on the lid, then set the cook time for 2 minutes. The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to reach full pressure; once it does, the 2-minute cook time will start.
Cheryl’s Tip: When you stir the sauce and chicken together, make sure to run your spoon or spatula along the bottom of the insert a few times. If there are any bits of chicken stuck to the bottom, you’ll get a “burn” notice once you start pressure cooking.
Finishing Touches.
When the cook time ends, carefully (carefully!) remove the lid and set it aside. Any steam that comes out of the pressure cooker will be super hot, so be careful not to burn yourself! Remove all the chicken pieces, whisk in a quick cornstarch slurry, then boil the sauce until it’s thickened. Once you’re happy with the consistency, add the chicken back to the sauce then serve and enjoy!
What I Love About This Recipe
- I’m going to say something that might not seem like much of a selling point, but… if you know, you know. This bourbon chicken recipe tastes just like the amazing bourbon chicken from the Chinese restaurant in the mall food court. Maybe I’m showing my elder millennial here, but if you ever hung out at the mall after school or on the weekends, I’m willing to bet you know exactly what I’m talking about.
- It’s a rich, delicious chicken dish that’s equal parts saucy, sticky, spicy, and sweet. Pair it with steamed rice or veggies and you’ve got an incredible meal with barely any prep. And, since it’s done in the Instant Pot, it’ll be ready faster than you can find the takeout menu.
Recipe Variations
- Bourbon-less Bourbon Chicken: If you don’t want to use alcohol in your sauce, that’s completely fine. Omitting it won’t ruin the flavor of the dish or anything like that! You can also replace the bourbon with additional apple juice if you want. It just depends on the flavor and consistency you want your sauce to have.
- Not a Thigh Person: Chicken thighs hold up really well to the heat and pressure of an Instant Pot. If they’re not for you, though, don’t worry. You can replace them with chicken breasts! Chicken breast pieces won’t need to cook as long as chicken thigh pieces, so adjust your cook time appropriately. Depending on the size of your chicken pieces, a 1-minute or 0-minute cook time might be needed.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Instant Pot Bourbon Chicken
Equipment
- medium mixing bowl
- whisk
- Cutting board
- 6-quart Instant Pot or other similar-size pressure cooker
- Large wooden spoon
- small mixing bowl
- small whisk
- Slotted spoon
- Large bowl
Ingredients
For the Bourbon Sauce
- ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar or coconut sugar, or Brown Swerve
- ¼ cup 100% apple juice
- ⅓ cup soy sauce low-sodium if desired
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon bourbon optional
- 3 large cloves garlic crushed
- ½ teaspoon dried ginger
- ¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
For the Chicken
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
- salt to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 1-2 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil avocado oil, canola oil, peanut oil, etc.
For the Cornstarch Slurry
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons cold water
Serving Suggestions (All Optional)
- thinly sliced green onions
- white sesame seeds
- steamed rice
Instructions
For the Bourbon Sauce
- Add ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar, ¼ cup 100% apple juice, ⅓ cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons ketchup, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon bourbon, 3 large cloves garlic, ½ teaspoon dried ginger, and ¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes to medium mixing bowl.
- Whisk ingredients together vigorously until fully incorporated into mostly-smooth mixture. Set aside.
For the Bourbon Chicken
- Place 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (cut into bite-sized pieces) on cutting board. Sprinkle generous amounts of salt and freshly cracked black pepper onto chicken pieces, then flip chicken over and repeat on other side.
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Add 1-2 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil to Instant Pot insert and heat insert until oil is hot and shimmery.
- Add seasoned chicken to Instant Pot. Cook 5 minutes, stirring chicken occasionally, until chicken is lightly seared on all sides.
- Add bourbon sauce mixture to Instant Pot. Stir to fully coat chicken in sauce, making sure to scrape up any browned bits of chicken that may have stuck to bottom of insert.
- Secure lid on Instant Pot and lock lid with valve in Sealing position. Set Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure, then set cook time to 2 minutes. Instant Pot will come to pressure, then 2-minute cook time will begin.
- While Instant Pot pressurizes, add 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water to small mixing bowl. Whisk vigorously to fully incorporate ingredients into thick slurry mixture. Set aside.
- When 2-minute cook time ends, carefully Quick Release internal pressure. Use caution as any escaping steam will be very hot.
- Use slotted spoon to remove all chicken from Instant Pot and place chicken in large bowl. Set chicken aside.
- Add cornstarch slurry to Instant Pot insert. Whisk slurry and sauce together until well combined, then set Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Bring mixture to boil.
- Once boiling, allow mixture to boil 30 to 60 seconds or until sauce has thickened.
- When satisfied with sauce consistency, turn Instant Pot off and return chicken to insert. Stir to fully incorporate chicken into sauce.
To Serve
- Portion chicken into desired servings. Spoon additional sauce over top of chicken, then garnish with thinly sliced green onions and white sesame seeds if desired. Serve warm with steamed rice or sides of choice.
- Bourbon: To make this dish without alcohol, simply omit the bourbon entirely, or replace it with an equal amount of apple juice.
- If you want to double the recipe, first be sure your Instant Pot is large enough to accommodate the additional amount of ingredients! You should not need to change the cook time from 2 minutes – the Instant Pot will simply take longer to pressurize.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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