Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Posted: 03/04/21
Updated: 12/15/21
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This Instant Pot orange chicken is bursting with bright citrus flavor! Fresh orange juice and savory soy sauce serve as the base for this better-than-takeout recipe. Simply throw everything in the Instant Pot, and 10 minutes later you’ll have a delicious meal the whole family will love!
What Makes This Recipe So Good
- The Instant Pot as your only cooking tool means cleanup is a breeze! From start to finish, everything for this orange chicken cooks in the Instant Pot. This recipe really couldn’t get any easier.
- The combination of orange and lemon juice add a fresh citrus kick to this dish. This Instant Pot orange chicken is light and satisfying.
- Sweet and savory ingredients create an award-winning combo. Savory soy sauce is brilliantly balanced by a touch of brown sugar and orange juice.
Key Ingredients
Orange Juice – Take a nice, big juicy orange, slice it in half, then squeeze as much of the juice out as you can. Avoid using store-bought orange juice, it will taste too sweet and not at all fresh.
Orange Zest – Consider it your secret ingredient! Orange zest will truly take this dish up a notch. Simply take the orange you juiced, run it across a grater, and then measure out a tablespoon of fresh zest.
Ginger – Fresh ginger adds a nice spice to this dish, but it’s totally optional. If you don’t have ginger or can’t find any at the store, leave it out.
Cornstarch – Cornstarch is very important for thickening the orange chicken sauce. Fully dissolve the cornstarch in water before adding it to your sauce. If you’d like to make this recipe paleo, use arrowroot starch instead.
Chef’s Tips
- Don’t fully cook your chicken breast chunks in Step 1. Sauté in olive oil to lightly cook the outside edges, and then Step 2 will take care of the rest!
- Add in the cornstarch, and then wait for your sauce to thicken and immediately turn off the heat. Be careful not to overcook the sauce, otherwise it will be too thick.
- You can easily double this recipe if you’d like! I used a 6-quart Instant Pot, but some sizes of Instant Pot are large enough to hold up to three times the ingredients below. This recipe is perfect for company because the Instant Pot just makes it so easy!
More Delicious Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Shrimp
- Instant Pot Turkey Breast
- 20 Keto Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Dal
- Instant Pot Country Style Ribs
- 50 Low Carb Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Sushi Rice
- Instant Pot Eggs
Instant Pot Orange Chicken
This Instant Pot orange chicken is bursting with bright citrus flavor! Fresh orange juice and savory soy sauce serve as the base for this better-than-takeout recipe. Simply throw everything in the Instant Pot and 10 minutes later you'll have a delicious meal the whole family will love!
servings
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breast
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup orange juice from one large orange
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup soy sauce see Notes
- ½ cup brown sugar see Notes
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger optional
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch see Notes
- 3 tablespoons water
- ¼ cup green onions sliced
- cooked white rice for serving, optional
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Instructions
- Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Turn Instant Pot onto sauté setting. When Instant Pot reads "HOT", add in olive oil, chicken, and salt. Cook for 2 minutes.
- In a bowl, mix together the orange juice, orange zest, garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, and ginger. Add to Instant Pot with chicken. Secure Instant Pot lid. Set to manual pressure cook for 5 minutes. Manually release steam before removing lid.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water until cornstarch has completely dissolved. Set Instant Pot back to sauté and add in the cornstarch slurry.
- Stir everything for a couple minutes until sauce has thickened. Turn off Instant Pot and garnish chicken with sliced green onions. Enjoy on its own or serve on a bed of rice.
Notes
- Make it Paleo: Use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce, coconut sugar instead of brown sugar, and arrowroot starch instead of corn starch.
- Make it Refined-Sugar-Free: Use maple syrup or honey instead of brown sugar.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 452kcal, Carbohydrates: 40g, Protein: 50g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 145mg, Sodium: 1229mg, Potassium: 1022mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 30g, Vitamin A: 200IU, Vitamin C: 29mg, Calcium: 56mg, Iron: 2mg, Net Carbs: 39g
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.
This recipe is fantastic just as written. No changes necessary. This is definitely going to be a regular around here. Thank you for sharing it.
So happy you enjoyed it, Sal! Thanks for leaving a review!
Served this dish last night. It was very good. Will make again. I did add green pepper and mandarin oranges for a e tra pop.
The brown sugar is missing from the instructions. Step 2??? Cant wait to try but not sure where sugar goes..
Sorry about that, the brown sugar is in step 2. We’ve updated the recipe to reflect the correct changes!