Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Published 9/1/2021 • Updated 9/19/2022
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This Instant Pot Orange Chicken is saucy, flavorful, and so easy to make! In 30 minutes you will have delicious take-out-tasting orange chicken.
Need some meal prep ideas? There’s also nothing better than prepping a big batch of shredded chicken in the Instant Pot for the week!
Simple Instant Pot Orange Chicken
If you’re a take-out lover like me, you are going to absolutely adore this Instant Pot Orange Chicken.
It’s fresh, easy to make, and bursting with flavor. I mean, you can pretty much just slurp this sauce right up and be satisfied!
In this post, we’ll teach you how to make a simple orange chicken Instant Pot recipe that’s served with greens beans (also cooked in the Instant Pot!).
Why You’ll Love it!
30-minutes: dinner is ready in 30 minutes!
Family-friendly: the kids are going to beg for this Instant Pot chicken recipe!
Simple, whole ingredients: the sauce is made from basic ingredients and sweetened with orange juice and honey.
What You Need
Orange chicken is all about the sauce and ours is pretty dang delicious if you ask me. It’s simple, and better-for-you too!
- Orange juice
- Soy sauce (or tamari)
- Honey
- Sriracha
- Cornstarch
In addition to the sauce ingredients, you also need chicken breast, green beans, and coconut oil.
How to Make Instant Pot Orange Chicken
- Make sauce: combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
- Slice chicken: dice chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Brown chicken: brown the chicken pieces in coconut oil.
- Add sauce: deglaze the pot with your sauce and scrape the brown bits from the bottom.
- Pressure cook chicken: pressure cook chicken on high for 4 minutes.
- Add green beans: quick release your Instant Pot and add green beans. Pressure cook on high for 0 minutes.
- Thicken sauce: quick release and remove everything from the Instant Pot but the sauce. Thicken with corn starch.
- Toss: add everythign back in and toss with the sauce.
quick tip on the green beans
We love serving orange chicken with a crisp and light vegetable! Greens beans were an obvious choice to accompany this orange chicken.
The key to cooking the green beans in the Instant Pot is to make sure you don’t cook them too long. After you have cooked the chicken and the sauce, you release pressure from the Instant Pot and place the green beans on top of the chicken.
DO NOT mix the green beans with the sauce and chicken. You are going to steam the green beans. When you cover the Instant Pot you simply set the cook time to 0.
How to Thicken Sauce
Finally, the last step to creating orange chicken heaven is to thicken the sauce after cooking the chicken and green beans.
To do this you must first remove the chicken and beans from the Instant Pot. Then, sprinkle a little bit of corn starch in the Instant Pot at a time while consistently whisking so you don’t end up with chunks.
Substitution Idea–> We use corn starch, but feel free to use tapioca flour or arrowroot powder.
Try it!
Healthy Orange Chicken
Looking for a better than Panda Express Orange Chicken recipe? We’re sharing a delicious recipe for healthy orange chicken.
Orange Chicken 101
Can I use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts?
Yes, you can use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts in this recipe. If you use bone-in chicken thighs, just be sure to remove the bones. After that, just cut the chicken thighs into chunks just like you would with chicken breasts.
What should I serve with orange chicken?
We like to serve our orange chicken with a crunchy green vegetable and white rice! Feel free to serve it with:
What vegetables could I substitute in this recipe?
You can really serve any vegetable with this orange chicken! Use your favorite veggie or any of the vegetable options below.
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Halved brussel sprouts
- Bell Peppers
How long does Instant Pot orange chicken last in the fridge?
This orange chicken will last between 3-5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Can I freeze orange chicken?
Yes, you can freeze orange chicken! Simply let the orange chicken cool completely and then place it in an airtight container (stasher bag or meal prep container) and place it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Ingredients
Orange Chicken Sauce
Chicken
- 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil, or more, if needed
- 12 oz. green beans, trimmed
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
Instructions
- First, prepare orange chicken sauce by mixing together orange juice, soy sauce, honey, and sriracha. Set aside.
- Next, prepare chicken by thinly slicing into bite-sized pieces.
- Turn on your Instant Pot’s saute feature and add 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of coconut oil.
- When the coconut oil is fragrant, add chicken breast and saute for 1.5 minutes on each side to lightly brown.
- Then, turn off the saute feature and pour in sauce to deglaze your pot. Use a wooden spoon to scrape all of the little bits off of the bottom of the pot and to toss the chicken in the sauce.
- Cover your Instant Pot, turn the valve to seal. Set your Instant Pot to manual > high > and set the timer to 4 minutes. It will take 10-15 minutes to build pressure before your Instant Pot starts counting down from 4 minutes.
- While your Instant Pot is heating up, prepare the green beans. Trim the ends off of your green beans and set aside.
- Once the timer goes off, quick release your Instant Pot. Open the lid and then immediately add the green beans on top of the chicken. DO NOT MIX WITH LIQUID. Lightly season green beans with salt and pepper.
- Put the lid back on and turn the valve to seal. Set your Instant Pot to manual > high > and set the timer to '0 minutes.' Again it will take some time for the pressure to build.
- Once the timer goes off, remove the lid and then remove everything from the Instant Pot, but the sauce. Place about 1/4 cup of the sauce into a small bowl and whisk in 2 teaspoons of cornstarch to create a slurry.
- Turn on the Instant Pot’s saute feature and then whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Cook for around 3 minutes or until the sauce bubbles and thickens.
- Finally, add the chicken back into the Instant Pot and toss to coat.
- Serve orange chicken next to the green beans with fresh orange zest and your favorite grain.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Looks Delicious…….!!!
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I followed the recipe exactly and the sauce had no flavor. Making it was a bit clunky too. Hated having to take everything out of the IP at the end to finish the sauce. Wouldn’t recommend or make again.
Delicious and easy! One comment – I didn’t find the chicken to taste super “orangey”, so next time I will add some zest as well and see if that helps. Also, I added some minced garlic to the sauce (prior to cooking) and would agree with what one other reviewer said, which is that you might want to add a bit more cornstarch if you’re looking for a thicker sauce. The sauce did thicken as it cooled, but I am impatient 🙂
This recipe was delicious and easy to make. My only issue was that the sauce was very liquidy with the 2 teaspoons of tapioca flour so I added more. And then I added too much and it got super thick, but that was my mistake, not a problem with the recipe. The flavor was very good. I made it with broccoli and served it with cauliflower rice. I will be making this again, and trying to take it easy on the thickening agent.
This recipe is AMAZING! It’s definitely in our rotation for meal prep. I love that it’s well balanced with protein and veggie. I follow the instructions to a T and it comes out perfect every time.
This is the first thing I’ve ever cooked in my instant pot, so the detailed instructions were very helpful. I was a little nervous about some of the cooking times, for example my pot got up to max pressure in about 3 minutes, rather than 15, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.
If I was to cook it again I’d possibly add orange zest directly into the chicken, or possibly marinade it as it wasn’t overly orange flavoured. It was however still delicious!
So glad you loved this! All Instant Pot’s are different. Ours is almost 4 years old, so I’m sure they’ve gotten better in that time!