Cook this Instant Pot Orange Chicken Recipe in 15 minutes! It is an easy, delicious meal that your whole family will love.
The Orange Chicken Dish at the Asian Restaurants is so yummy. What if you can make it at home in 15 minutes? You read that right!
You can cook this easy, delicious Instant Pot Orange Chicken in 15 minutes.
It will taste so good, you will want to double the recipe to save for leftovers the next day.
Instant Pot Italian Beef Dinner
Instant Pot Shredded Buffalo Chicken
I have been so excited to have my Instant Pot, I have been cooking away! I have been cooking things like Instant Pot Italian Beef Dinner and Instant Pot Shredded Buffalo ChickenIt has been so fun coming up with recipes and figuring out what works and doesn’t. Let me tell you! This recipe works! My husband couldn’t believe how delicious it is.
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After I started cooking my brown rice in my Panasonic SR-MS103 5-Cup (Uncooked) Rice Cooker, White
If you have never had Orange Chicken, it is sweet and salty with bites of orange flavor…. And it is GOOD!!!!!!
I served it over a bed of brown rice with a side of steamed broccoli. BAM! Magic in the kitchen. It was all gone in minutes. That is why I suggest you double the recipe if you make this. You will want leftovers the next day!
Try it for yourself. You will love it. You will laugh at how easy it is to make. But you can tell your family you cooked all day in the kitchen making this. If you don’t tell, I won’t! xoxo
If you like this recipe, check out: Instant Pot Italian Beef Dinner, Instant Pot Shredded Buffalo Chicken, and Instant Pot Hawaiian Pulled Pork.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts Do not use thin breasts. They will dry out.
- 3/4 cup favorite dark sweet barbecue sauce ( I used Sweet Baby Ray's)
- 2 tbs soy sauce
- 3/4 cup orange marmalade
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- chopped green onions for garnish
Instructions
- Chop chicken breasts into hearty bite size chunks.
- In Instant Pot, add in chopped chicken, barbecue sauce, and soy sauce.
- Cook on manual high for 4 min.
- When done, fast release steam.
- Take 1/4 cup of the barbecue chicken sauce out of instant pot and mix with cornstarch in a small bowl. (This prevents lumps. Cornstarch will thicken sauce.)
- Add cornstarch broth mixture back into Instant Pot.
- Add orange marmalade. Mix well.
- Change setting on Instant Pot to sauté setting and sauté for 6 min or until sauce thickens.
- Allow it to rest 5 minutes before serving. This will thicken sauce also.
- Garnish with green onions. Serve over rice, noodles or by itself.
I’m totally trying this in my Instant pot! I’ll let you know how it turns out 🙂 Hubby will love it because Chinese food is his favorite.
I can’t believe it only took 15 minutes! This looks so amazing! Orange chicken is one of our favorites and getting it done in 15 minutes makes it doable for a week night meal!
Quick and mouth-watering dish, Katie! I love it!
I’ve never used an instant pot before but I love the idea of this being done in 15 minutes! Thanks for sharing!!
Yum yum yum. This was so easy! I even cooked the rice in the cooker and did up dishes while the cooker took care of it for me. Easy schmeezy. My son has had 2 huge helpings and has thanked me every about 15 times for this meal.
could you start off with frozen chicken? if so, how long would you cook it?
I honestly don’t know. I have seen other bloggers use frozen chicken in some of their recipes and they say it works. I would defrost it if it were me….. but it might work. I am just not sure on the time adjustments because I have never cooked a frozen thing in the instant pot.
Yes you can cook frozen just make sure the chicken isn’t attached to each other
I tried this recipe tonite & used Walmart frozen diced chicken breast.Perfect size…just increase cooking time from four minutes to seven. A really good dish & so easy.
I’m surprised this didn’t scorch on the bottom – it seems rather thick! With that said… I have all the ingredients AND my son’s been begging for orange chicken :). Giving it a go!
Did it work without adding water? I was thinking it would scorch, too.
I have made it several times and it did not scorch. It is cooked too fast to scorch. If you add water it will be too watery….
I’m an Instant Pot newbie, I’ve made it with the single serve and LOVE IT! – when doubling, how would you adjust cook time?
I have never doubled it, so I am not sure, but I think you could keep the same time. You just may need to saute it a bit longer.
First time with my Instant Pot. Can I cook the rice in it then make this recipe and leave the rice in it?? If that makes sense?
Not for this recipe. You would have to cook the rice separate. There are recipes where you can cook the whole meal with the rice, but it would not work in this recipe. Sorry.
I’m a newbie and I struggled with this. I wasn’t sure whether to use manual or poultry. Then, was I supposed to leave lid Off for sautee? What do you do? Thanks!
Hi Daiana,
Yes, start off with manual pressure on high. Then after 4 minutes, fast release the steam. The remaining directions would be under saute setting. You would just saute until sauce thickens.
I made this tonight and was cautious if it would really taste all that great. I halved the recipe since there are only 2 of us. We loved it! Next time I will use the full ingredients for the sauce. I did add a bit more marmalade and soy sauce because I thought it smelled to much bbq.
Thank you for sharing.
Accidentally added the orange marmalade with the soy sauce, bbq sauce, and chicken. Oops! I’m sure it’ll turn out okay though, and I should add that it’s smelling delicious in here as the IP comes to pressure!
I have rice frozen in a baggie in the freezer. I’ll take that out and heat some of it up while the IP is on saute after the 4 minutes!
I just made the same mistake and was hoping you had a follow up with the results. I will have to wait and see LOL
What kind of BBQ sauce do YOU use in this dish?
You will need a thicker sweet barbecue sauce. It really doesn’t matter on the brand, but I used Sweet Baby Ray’s for this. I wouldn’t use a real expensive barbecue sauce because the marmalade will take over…. but it is important to use a sweet, thick barbecue sauce, not a vinegar sauce.
That’s a good clarification. I didn’t catch that in the recipe and just used regular Sweet Baby Rays sauce. I couldn’t figure out why my sauce wasn’t thickening. That was why. I added more corn starch and that seemed to do the trick. This was good, but I’m sure the flavor is enhanced by the dark BBQ sauce. Will do that next time
We loved this recipe! Thanks for sharing! I did double t and did not adjust the cook time but did have to sauté longer to get the sauce to thicken.
Do you add raw or cooked chicken for the 4 mins?
Brian, You use raw, uncooked chicken. Thanks!
Could you use sugar free Orange marmalade?
The sugar actually helps thicken the sauce. I am not sure if the sugar free would work the same…. but it is worth trying.
Anyone ever try this with beef?
Newbie here. Do you need to add any water to the bottom?
No. Follow the recipe with the exact ingredients listed. Thanks.
Did you use a pound or more of chicken?
My chicken breasts are usually big. The package is at least a pound and up to a pound and half.
I meant to ask if someone had a gluten free version
I have not tried this recipe, but I found this gluten-free version. Hope this helps:http://www.mantripping.com/food-and-drink/gluten-free-instant-pot-orange-chicken-recipe.html
I would think if you used gluten free bbq sauce like Sweet Baby Rays and Braggs Amino Acid instead of soy sauce, it should be gluten free 🙂
La Chou and San-J soy sauce are gluten free.
I made this tonight and it was soooo good! The sauce is absolutely delicious! I’ve only had my Instant Pot for a week and this was quick and easy. Thanks for sharing. ?
If I double the recipe do I double the yime?
No. You shouldn’t have to double the time. I am not sure about the saute time at the end. Because you are doubling, it will have more liquid so it may take a bit longer of time for the sauce to thicken at the end… but I am not sure. Just make sure to double the cornstarch mixture at the end also.
THIS is so good! However, both times I’ve made it, I have gotten burn alarms. Am I doing something wrong, or should I change something with the recipe?
I really don’t know what you are doing that makes it burn… I can only guess that maybe your model is different from mine. I would suggest adding the liquids in first, then the chicken. Maybe add in a couple tablespoons of water or broth… I wouldn’t add much more because it would change the flavor.
Would you be willing to clarify the amount of chicken you recommend for this recipe? I think you noted 1-1.5lb, but just wanted to check.
As well, can I ask how many people you feed with this recipe as is? We are a family of 5…
The chicken breasts should be between 1-1.5 lbs. It serves four with that amount. With a family of 5, I might would add in one more breast and make it a full 2 lbs. If you do that, use a full cup of barbecue sauce and marmalade. I would also add an additional tsp of soy sauce. Everything else should be the same.
This was excellent. I added fresh orange peel to the cooking pot and orange slices when I served it and everyone loved it. Thanks for sharing.
Can you add vegetables like bell pepper and carrots?
If you do, it will be very soupy. I would suggest cooking the vegetables on the side. Or saute them in the beginning, set them aside while you cook, then add them back in once sauce is cooked.
This is going to sound silly, but do you take the chicken out after doing the quick steam release? Or do you leave it in until the end? In other words, at what point do you take the chicken out of the instant pot? Thanks!!
You leave the chicken in and take out some sauce to mix with cornstarch. You add that sauce back in and thicken the sauce. If the sauce is way too runny, you could remove the chicken, and take out some of the sauce to mix with cornstarch. Then add back the sauce to thicken up without the chicken until you get the right consistency. Then add back the chicken. The really big chicken breasts may have more fluid that may make the sauce a little more runnier.
Any idea on how many servings/ serving size for this recipe? It sounds delicious and I want to make sure it fits in my calorie budget. Thanks!
I updated the nutrition information. This is an estimate…it could change based on size of chicken breasts and type of barbecue sauce. I hope this helps.