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This Instant Pot honey garlic chicken recipe is fast, delicious, and it’s made with a handful of everyday ingredients.
Pretty sure this pressure cooker honey garlic chicken recipe will please the picky eaters out there. It’s sweet and warm, and I have trouble seeing anyone actually dislike this unless they don’t like sweet recipes in general.
Or garlic, I guess. Watch – now someone is going to tell me they don’t like this recipe… it’s bound to happen. 😛
You may also like my honey lemon chicken or this honey garlic soy sauce chicken.
I debated whether I should make this honey and garlic chicken recipe in the Instant Pot or not. I really like my Instant Pot, but I find a lot of recipes could just as easily be made on the stove. Some people like using their Instant Pot for pretty much everything, though, so that’s why I’m not questioning myself too much.
I originally thought I would only post recipes that really benefit from being cooked in an Instant Pot (like it massively speeds up the process e.g. instead of slow cooking for 10 hours you can make it in an hour), but it looks like I’m going with a variety of recipes here and we’ll see how it goes.
There’s pros and cons of Instant Pot vs. stove top, and I’m sure people could argue it until they’re blue in the face. I’ve included a few tips in the recipe card on how to do this on the stove if you don’t own an Instant Pot or you don’t want to use it.
I do know that the Instant Pot yields delicious, tender chicken.
How to make honey garlic sauce
There’s many ways to do this, but my version includes:
- Honey
- Soy sauce
- Garlic
- Lemon juice
- Olive oil
I added a cornstarch slurry at the end to thicken it up a bit. I love the sauté function on the Instant Pot – it’s great for reducing sauces.
Other Instant Pot chicken recipes you may like:
- Instant Pot Chicken Tortellini Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
- Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
- Easy Instant Pot Chicken Cacciatore
- Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
- Instant Pot Shredded Chicken (Chicken Breasts and Thighs)
- Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken
I hope you’ll give this easy Instant Pot honey chicken recipe a try!
Let me know if you’ve tried it or have any questions in the comments below.
Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts cut into 1" pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Fresh chives or scallions chopped, for garnish (optional)
- Fresh parsley to taste for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Prep your chicken. Add the honey, soy sauce, water, lemon juice, and garlic to a small bowl and whisk together.
- If making rice for this recipe, it's good to get it started about now. I would use 2 cups uncooked rice for 4 people, or perhaps a bit less if they prefer smaller portions.
- Press the "sauté" button on your Instant Pot. Add the olive oil and chicken and cook for 3 minutes, stirring often.
- Pour the honey garlic mixture into your Instant Pot and give it a good stir. Close the lid, set it to "sealing" and cook the chicken on high pressure for 5 minutes. It'll take a few minutes to get up to pressure.
- Once the countdown has finished, do a quick release of the pressure.
- Set your Instant Pot to "sauté" again to thicken the sauce. Mix the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of cold water together in a small bowl, then add it to your Instant Pot. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce is thickened. Season with salt & pepper as needed. Serve over rice.
Notes
- You could also cook this on the stovetop - I would do it in a large skillet. Sauté like the recipe states, then cover the pan with a lid until the chicken is cooked. Finish off by stirring in the cornstarch mixture at the end.
- I use this 6-quart Instant Pot.
- Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Salt & Lavender makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Hi there! This recipe is so tasty, I just made it for the second time. I’m curious though, the liquid when the recipe is done doesn’t seem to thicken up. Is it supposed to be a more watery liquid finish?
Thanks!
Hi! I’m so glad you like it! Yes, the sauce in this particular recipe isn’t particularly thick. You could always add a bit more cornstarch if you prefer a thicker texture.
Great recipe, family loves it!
So happy to hear it!!
I made this today (in my Instant Pot) only to discover that I had no cornstarch, flour or thickening agent of any kind. Then I remembered that I had some powdered peanut butter and decided to go Thai on this recipe. Had to tinker a little, but it came out GREAT! I’m anxious to try this recipe as intended, but I’m pretty pleased with my newly found easy Thai sauce, lol! If you try it, remember it will thicken up more than usual after it cools:-)
Haha OMG that is genius. I’m glad you managed to salvage it. Too funny! 🙂
Brilliant!! How much of the powdered peanut butter did you use?
Eating this as i type! Yummy!!!
Awesome!! Thanks for letting me know, Dina!!
Could you do this in a slow cooker? If so, how long?
It sounds really tasty! 😊
Thanks much
Hi Lisa! I don’t think there’s enough liquid in the recipe as written for it to work in a standard sized slow cooker. I recommend trying it on by stove if you don’t want to make it in an Instant Pot. I’d probably do it for 3-4 hours on high in a slow cooker, but again, you may have to play with the recipe a bit to get it to work.
This looks so delicious! Another must make for my Instant Pot!
Thanks so much, Lindsay!
Everything about this makes me want to make it!
Thank you!! 🙂
I don’t have an instant pot, but I would love to make this in my slow cooker!
Love the combination of garlic and honey!
Thank you!!
Love the honey garlic situation!
Thanks, Jennifer!!