Instant Pot Orange Chicken
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Learn how to make the best Instant Pot Orange Chicken. Made in the pressure cooker, this healthy dinner is easy and delicious! Better than Panda Express!
If you’re looking for an easy, healthy dinner that tastes amazing- look no further than this Instant Pot Orange Chicken Recipe.
This easy chicken dinner is made with a few pantry and fridge staples and done in under an hour using only one pot!
Orange Chicken is one of our favorite dishes to make. We’ve shared a Healthy Orange Chicken and Vegan Orange Chicken recipe- both of which are delicious, but this Instant Pot version is the easiest orange chicken recipe we’ve ever made!
Your whole family will love it! Here’s why we love it..
Tips for Instant Pot Orange Chicken
- For super tender chicken: Before you cook your chicken, clean chicken of any excess fat. Pound with a meat mallet to about 1 inch thickness and then cut into cubes
- Make sure to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the instant pot to avoid getting a burn notice. When you pour in your orange sauce use a wooden spoon to gently brush along the bottom and make sure it doesn’t catch on anything
- Only lightly brown your chicken – The chicken will continue to cook under pressure, so you don’t need to fully cook the chicken when you are first browning it!
- Use your instant pot to cook your rice before you cook your chicken. To make instant pot white rice I do equal parts white rice & broth (1 cup:1 cup). Spray the bottom of the pot with olive oil. Add rice, stir in broth. Cover and set to sealing, high pressure for 3 minutes.
Need more ideas for dinner? Check out these 40+ Healthy Dinner Recipes.
Ingredients
How to Make Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Making this recipe is easy! Here’s how we make it:
- Set the instant pot on the Sauté function. Cook the chicken in olive oil for about 10 minutes. While cooking, mix orange juice & zest, ginger, garlic, rice wine vinegar, coconut aminos, brown sugar, and ketchup.
- Add the orange juice mixture to the pot. Stir until all ingredients are combined and chicken is well coated in the orange sauce.
- Close the lid and set the valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 7 minutes. Once cooked, naturally release the pressure for 10 minutes.
- Press the Sauté Button. Whisk in cornstarch and water slurry. Allow the orange sauce to bubble and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute olive oil with any cooking oil. Avocado oil or even melted butter will work. We don’t recommend cooking with vegetable oil
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute chicken breasts with boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders. Do not use frozen chicken.
Orange Juice– You can sub regular bottled orange juice with freshly squeezed juice but we don’t recommend it. We don’t recommend low calorie or low sugar juice in this recipe. It can make the orange sauce taste bitter. Do not try to cut back on the orange juice used. The orange juice helps the sauce thicken and is necessary
Ginger: You can substitute fresh ginger with 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. The flavor will not be as potent. If you do love ginger, try our Ginger Chicken Recipe.
Minced Garlic: If you don’t have fresh garlic you can use 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder.
Rice Wine Vinegar: We can’t offer a substitute for rice wine vinegar.
Coconut Aminos – You can sub coconut aminos with soy sauce or bragg’s liquid aminos. If using Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, use HALF the amount – bragg’s is much saltier.
Brown Sugar: We haven’t tried making this recipe without brown sugar. You can check out our Healthy Orange Chicken recipe which is refined sugar free
Ketchup: Ketchup is optional but it adds an extra layer of sweetness and flavor.
Cornstarch: Do not substitute cornstarch. It’s essential for thickening the recipe. If you don’t want to use cornstarch, try making our Healthy Orange Chicken that has no cornstarch.
Make it spicy: Add in 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes to the orange sauce.
Veggies: Serve this healthy dinner with any vegetables you like. Our favorites are green beans or broccoli. You could also serve it with fried rice or our cauliflower fried rice.
Vegan/Vegetarian: this recipe isn’t well suited for being made vegan/vegetarian. Try our Vegan Orange Chicken
Doubling the recipe: You can double this recipe. Do not change the cooking time.
Stovetop Orange Chicken:
If you don’t have an instant pot – don’t worry! You can easily make this recipe on the stove.
- Brown the chicken pieces over a medium-high heat until completely cooked.
- Stir in all the orange sauce ingredients and cook for a minute.
- After a minute pour in the cornstarch and water slurry and cook until the orange sauce thickens.
You can also try our Healthy Orange Chicken Recipe if you’re looking for a stovetop orange chicken
What To Serve With This Recipe
You can serve this orange chicken in so many different ways!
Over rice/ grains: Our favorite way to serve this recipe is with white or brown rice. Quinoa or cooked farro is also a good option. It’s delicious with our Instant Pot Fried Rice too!
Paleo/Low Carb: If you’re paleo or looking to eat lower carb, skip the rice entirely or do cauliflower rice. This cauliflower fried rice is delicious!
Veggies: Broccoli, green beans, or steamed cauliflower are great for veggie side dishes.
Salad: You can also serve this alongside a salad. This Spinach Strawberry Salad is delicious!
Storage/Serving
Storing: I keep this instant pot orange chicken in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Reheating: You can reheat this healthy orange chicken in a pan on the stove top or in the microwave.
Freezing: This instant pot orange chicken freezes well!
Other healthy instant pot recipes:
Looking for other easy dinner instant pot recipes? Check out these 40+ Healthy Chicken Recipes. Click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook.
Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 cup orange juice
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar or honey
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger minced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic about 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Pro Tip: To get the most tender chicken, before cooking: clean chicken of any excess fat. Pound with a meat mallet to about 1 inch thickness and then cut into cubes
- Set the instant pot on the Sauté function. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pot. Add the chicken pieces and cook until the chicken browns, about 10 minutes.
- While the chicken cooks, mix together orange juice, ketchup, coconut aminos, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, orange zest and rice vinegar. Do not add corn starch or water.
- Add the sauce mixture to the pot. Stir until all of the ingredients are combined and chicken is well coated in the sauce. Make sure to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the instant pot to avoid getting a burn notice.
- Close the lid and set the valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 7 minutes.
- Once the pressure-cooking cycle is over, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes.
- Release any remaining pressure by opening the valve. Open the lid and press the Cancel button.
- Press the SAUTE button.
- In a bowl whisk together cornstarch and water until completely dissolved to make a cornstarch slurry.
- Once the sauce starts to bubble, slowly pour in the cornstarch slurry while whisking the sauce.
- Allow the sauce to bubble and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
- Once the sauce has thickened, press the cancel button.
- Serve over rice, cauliflower rice, steamed veggies or however you like!
Stove Top Instructions
- Pro Tip: To get the most tender chicken, before cooking: clean chicken of any excess fat. Pound with a meat mallet to about 1 inch thickness and then cut into cubes
- In a large sauté pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the chicken pieces and cook until the chicken changes color to light brown (about 10 minutes)
- While the chicken cooks, mix together orange juice, ketchup, coconut aminos, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, orange zest and rice vinegar. Do not add corn starch or water.
- Add the sauce mixture to the pot. Stir until all of the ingredients are combined and chicken is well coated in the sauce.
- Cook the chicken/sauce over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes
- In a bowl whisk together cornstarch and water until completely dissolved to make a cornstarch slurry.
- Turn the heat up on the pan. Once the sauce starts to bubble, slowly pour in the cornstarch slurry while whisking the sauce.
- Allow the sauce to bubble and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Important Note: This is not an authentic orange chicken recipe. My goal is always to share recipes that are a bit healthier and made with affordable, accessible ingredients so everyone can enjoy them regardless of their food allergies or dietary restrictions. Here’s a link to an authentic Orange Chicken Recipe.
Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out great. The family thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Amarie!
Very tasty and easy to make!! My husband and 8 year old daughter loved it!! I’m lookI gotcha forward to making more recipes from here!!
This was amazing!! We’ve loved your other orange chicken and were excited to try this one. I served it with white rice and some frozen broccoli which was so easy and I definitely will double or triple it next time for leftovers!
I doubled this recipe last night and it heated up so well for leftovers! I also served it with air fryer asparagus last night and snap peas for lunch. So GOOD!!
We absolutely loved this recipe! The orange flavor was amazing! I like to read through all the tips on your posts, so I saw not to substitute cornstarch … but I was too far into the recipe before I realized I didn’t have any. I subbed with arrowroot powder (2tbsp with 2tbsp water) and it still turned out perfectly. I cooked my green beans in toasted sesame oil and added soy sauce & honey at the end. Then mixed it with the chicken and rice. So good!