Effortless Instant Pot Sesame Chicken

Transform your dinner routine with this incredibly quick and utterly delicious Instant Pot sesame chicken thighs recipe. Crafted in under 15 minutes using your pressure cooker or Ninja Foodi, this dish delivers a delightful sweet and savory experience that rivals your favorite takeout. If you’ve enjoyed our Crockpot sesame chicken, prepare to be amazed by this faster, equally flavorful version that’s perfect for busy weeknights.

Imagine serving a restaurant-quality meal that’s both protein-packed and bursting with flavor, all from the comfort of your kitchen. This easy sesame chicken recipe, featuring tender chicken pieces coated in a rich, sweet, and sticky sauce, makes that dream a reality tonight! It’s an absolute family favorite and easily one of our top Instant Pot recipes for its simplicity and incredible taste. Forget the drive-thru; homemade never tasted this good!

Do you ever crave that luscious, sweet sesame chicken served over fluffy rice from your favorite Asian restaurant? We certainly do! That craving led us on a culinary adventure to replicate the magic at home. We first experimented with a delectable air fryer sesame chicken, which was fantastic, but we knew we could make it even quicker using a pressure cooker. The result? This phenomenal Instant Pot version that will become a staple in your household.

The beauty of this recipe lies in its versatility. You can use either succulent chicken thighs or lean chicken breasts – both yield amazing results. For optimal flavor absorption and faster cooking, we highly recommend dicing your chicken into bite-sized pieces. This ensures every morsel is infused with the savory-sweet sauce. Whether you own a Crockpot Express, an Instant Pot, or a Ninja Foodi, this recipe is perfectly adaptable to your electric pressure cooker.

For those new to the world of pressure cooking, welcome! You’re about to discover a game-changer for quick and easy one-pot meals. To help you get started, here are a few essential tips:

• Make sure to bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We consistently add new, exciting dishes each week to keep your meal plans fresh and delicious!
• Download and print this handy Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet. It’s an invaluable resource that helps you understand precisely how long various meats, vegetables, and beans take to cook perfectly in your pressure cooker.
• We highly recommend investing in a non-stick inner pot for your Instant Pot. This significantly reduces the chances of food sticking and burning, making both cooking and cleanup a breeze.
• While it’s always good to know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing, a non-stick liner minimizes these common issues, allowing for a smoother cooking process.

For context, the recipes you’ll find here are developed using a 6-quart Instant Pot model, a versatile size suitable for most family meals.

Sesame Chicken with Frozen Chicken

For the best results, using thawed or fresh chicken is always preferable. However, if you only have frozen chicken thighs in your Instant Pot, don’t worry – you can still make this dish! The key is to ensure the chicken is already diced into bite-sized pieces. If so, separate the pieces to prevent them from sticking together during cooking. Small frozen chicken breasts can also be used, but the cooking time will need adjustment. For small, whole frozen breasts, cook them with 1 cup of broth for 12 minutes, followed by a 3-minute natural pressure release.

• After cooking, drain the liquid, shred the chicken, and then proceed with the recipe instructions below for adding the sauce.
• You might not even need to use the high-pressure function again at that point.
• Once the sauce is added, simply set your Instant Pot to sauté and allow it to bubble and coat the chicken, ensuring all the flavors meld beautifully.

As with most delightful Asian-inspired recipes, a generous amount of fresh ginger and garlic are essential, and this dish is no exception. You’ll likely have most of the sauce ingredients on hand, with perhaps hoisin sauce being the only item you might need to pick up. Trust us, it’s worth it – hoisin sauce adds an incredible depth of flavor!

And don’t worry about leftover hoisin sauce! After you’ve mastered this pressure cooker sesame chicken, you’ll be eager to try our Instant Pot spicy teriyaki chicken thighs, which also features this fantastic sauce, ensuring nothing goes to waste.

Ninja Foodi Sesame Chicken

This recipe is incredibly versatile and works seamlessly with any brand of electric pressure cooker you might have at home, including the popular Ninja Foodi. The key features you’ll need are a sauté function for browning the meat and a high-pressure setting for quick cooking. If you’re using your Ninja Foodi specifically, remember to use the pressure cooking lid (the one that is not attached) for this recipe. For an extra touch of deliciousness, you can even use the air crisp lid for a few minutes at the end to achieve golden-brown, crispy chicken pieces.

Is it better to cook chicken thighs whole or cut up?

Why do we dice the chicken into smaller pieces? There are several compelling reasons. Firstly, smaller chicken pieces cook more quickly and evenly in the pressure cooker, resulting in incredibly tender meat. Secondly, dicing the chicken allows the rich, savory-sweet sauce to fully penetrate each piece, ensuring that every bite delivers that irresistible sesame chicken flavor. Finally, serving pre-cut, bite-sized chicken makes the meal much easier and more enjoyable for everyone, especially kids! If you choose to cook whole chicken thighs, you would need to adjust the pressure cooking time to approximately 12 minutes to ensure they are cooked through.

Can you make sesame chicken with leftover chicken?

Adapting the recipe for pre-cooked chicken: Absolutely! This recipe is incredibly adaptable if you’re using pre-cooked chicken, such as rotisserie chicken or any leftover cooked chicken. The process is even faster! Instead of sautéing raw chicken, you’ll simply add your diced pre-cooked chicken pieces along with the diced onions, garlic, and ginger into the pot. There’s no need for the initial sautéing step typically used for raw meat. After combining these ingredients, you can skip directly to step 4, where you add the delicious sesame chicken sauce. For step 5, simply lock the lid and set the pressure cooker to high for just 2 minutes (instead of 3 minutes for raw chicken). This quick cook time allows the flavors to meld beautifully without overcooking the chicken. Including all your prep time, this modification means you can have a flavorful sesame chicken meal ready in under 30 minutes from start to finish – significantly faster than traditional slow cooker methods.

Once your raw chicken has been sautéed to a light pink on the outside, or if you’re using pre-cooked chicken, it’s time to create the magical sesame sauce. Whisk together all the sauce ingredients until smooth, then pour it directly into your Instant Pot. Ensure you stir everything thoroughly so that every piece of chicken is beautifully coated, allowing the rich flavors to truly soak in. This is also an excellent time to start cooking your rice separately, ensuring it’s ready to serve alongside your perfectly cooked sesame chicken.

How do you make sesame chicken sauce thicker?

After the main pressure cooking time is complete, perform a quick pressure release. While the chicken will be perfectly cooked and tender, for that truly authentic, ooey-gooey delicious sesame chicken experience, thickening the sauce is a must. This is where cornstarch comes into play. We recommend whisking 4 tablespoons of cornstarch with 4 tablespoons of cold water to create a smooth slurry (ensure there are no lumps!). Add this mixture to the pot while it’s on the sauté setting. As the sauce begins to bubble, stir continuously for 1-2 minutes until it reaches your desired thick, glossy consistency. You can, of course, use less cornstarch if you prefer a thinner sauce, but in our opinion, this amount achieves pure perfection.

For those needing a gluten-free option, arrowroot powder works wonderfully as a substitute for cornstarch and will provide the same excellent thickening effect.

What is sesame chicken made of?

Traditionally, sesame chicken often features chicken thighs, which are known for their tenderness and rich flavor. However, as seen in our featured images, we also frequently use chicken breasts – both options are perfectly delicious! While many restaurant versions involve deep-fried, breaded chicken, our Instant Pot recipe is a healthier, low-fat alternative that skips the breading entirely. The sauces for sesame chicken can vary slightly; some may include a hint of heat, while others, like ours, lean towards a sweeter and milder profile. Cornstarch is a common ingredient used at the end of the cooking process to achieve that signature thick and luscious sauce consistency.

With your newfound Instant Pot prowess, you’re now ready to tackle more incredible easy Instant Pot chicken recipes. Remember to cook Instant Pot white rice separately to serve as the perfect bed for this flavorful sesame chicken. For a healthier, fiber-rich alternative, brown rice also pairs wonderfully.

Other Instant Pot Recipes you’ll Love

Once you master the technique for this sesame chicken, you’ll discover that many other Instant Pot chicken dishes follow a similar process, simply with different sauces. Our Easy Instant Pot butter chicken is an excellent next step, as its use of dark meat chicken also results in incredible tenderness, mirroring the success of this recipe.

For something slightly different, our pressure cooker apricot chicken offers a unique twist, similar to orange chicken but utilizing jam for sweetness and requiring far fewer ingredients than a homemade sauce. If you’re truly short on time, this one is a fantastic choice. Alternatively, try our Instant Pot teriyaki chicken, which is incredibly simple with just chicken and your favorite bottled teriyaki sauce.

You’ll also love our spicy honey Instant Pot chicken, arguably our most popular, followed closely by Instant Pot Korean chicken. Getting this magical appliance has truly transformed our family meals, allowing us to eat together more often and cook more from scratch. Dishes like chicken tinga are now regulars on our menu. It’s truly amazing how much healthier we eat, and how my daughters’ palates have expanded, making them adventurous eaters!

Is sweet and sour chicken the same as sesame chicken?

While both are beloved Asian-inspired dishes, our sesame chicken and Instant Pot sweet and sour chicken are distinctly different. Our sweet and sour chicken recipe typically uses breaded, frozen popcorn chicken, resulting in a different texture and a higher carbohydrate count. This sesame chicken, however, is a lighter, low-carb option as it contains no breading. The sauces also offer different flavor profiles: sesame chicken is wonderfully sweet and mild, whereas sweet and sour chicken often has a tangy kick. Both are fantastic for bringing restaurant-quality Chinese food into your home, but they provide unique culinary experiences.

If your family adored this sesame chicken, then our Instant Pot hoisin chicken is another must-try! We love serving these dishes over Ninja Foodi rice, but for a lower-carb option, mashed cauliflower works just as beautifully and is equally delicious. This recipe is all about providing easy, family-friendly meals that truly impress. As a mom of three girls, I can attest that this one is consistently a “bomb” in their books!

Have you created a dish lately that your family absolutely raved about? We encourage you to try this Instant Pot Sesame Chicken and discover why it’s a household favorite. Serve it hot over rice, sprinkle with extra sesame seeds, and add some freshly diced green onions for a vibrant finish.

What is the difference between orange chicken and sesame chicken?

The primary distinction between orange chicken and sesame chicken lies in their sauces! Our Instant Pot orange chicken recipe features a bright, citrusy sauce with distinct orange zest and juice, often accompanied by a subtle spicy kick, similar to General Tso’s or the orange chicken you might find at Panda Express. In contrast, this sesame chicken recipe is characterized by a noticeably sweeter, milder sauce, without any heat. And, of course, the presence of toasted sesame seeds is a signature element of sesame chicken. For both dishes, we opt for boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, diced into bite-sized pieces to ensure even cooking and maximum flavor infusion.