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Ginger Soy Chicken
Ginger and soy sauce are two of the most important ingredients in Asian cooking. Ginger imparts an earthy note and aromas to meat for example: chicken.
When you braise chicken with ginger and soy sauce, you are sure to have the most amazing flavor chicken dinner.
Ginger soy chicken is an Asian recipe that I always make at home. You can make it on the stove top using a skillet, wok, Chinese clay pot, slow cooker or an Instant pot.
The flavor is absolutely delicious; with soft and tender chicken and a mouthwatering savory sauce.
Other Recipes You Might Like
- Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken
- Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
- Slow Cooker Honey Teriyaki Chicken
Cooking Tips
For this recipe, I used my Instant Pot as it takes only 8 minutes to make the chicken.
It’s quick, easy, and the chicken is tender, juicy and practically fall off the bones. I use chicken drumsticks and wings but you can use pretty much any part of the chicken: breasts, thighs, drumsticks, wings, or whole chicken.
Ginger imparts the amazing aroma and nuance to the dish while soy sauce and sweet soy sauce completes the flavor.
If you are not familiar with sweet soy sauce, check it out here and buy a bottle. Trust me, you will want to use it on everything.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 409 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Ginger Soy Chicken (Instant Pot)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs (750g) chicken wings and drumsticks (you can use chicken breast or chicken thighs)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 inch (2.5cm) ginger, peeled and sliced into pieces
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoon sweet soy sauce or Indonesian kecap manis (I used ABC Kecap Manis)
- 3 dashes ground white pepper
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 stalk scallion (cut into 2-inch lengths)
Instructions
- Chop the drumsticks into two to three pieces.
- Turn on the Saute mode on your Instant Pot. As soon as the pot is fully heated (to make sure the chicken doesn’t stick to the pot), add the cooking oil. Pan sear the chicken until they turn slightly brown (if they stick to the pot too much, you may use a non-stick skillet for pan-searing or skip this step.)
- Add the ginger and saute a little bit. Add the soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, ground white pepper, sesame oil and the water. Cover the pot and select Manual and set to High pressure for 8 minutes.
- When it beeps, turn to Quick Release. When the valve drops, remove the cover carefully, stir in the scallion and serve immediately. If the sauce is too watery, you may turn on Saute mode and reduce the sauce for about 1 minute.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Can you use oyster sauce or hoisin sauce as a sub for sweet soy sauce? I am ABC and I have never heard of this sauce. Sounds like dark soy sauce but thicker?
You can use oyster sauce.
What about people who don’t own and instant pot??? How do you modify this recipe?
Please disregard the comment!! Didn’t read the notes!!!
Hello Bee!
Thanks for the great recipe. I really enjoy the taste of ginger, too bad it’s not in more recipes. I didn’t have sweet soy sauce, so I sweetened mine with some honey. Excellent!
Yes, ginger is great!
This was so easy and so delicious! Thank you for the recipe notes as I didn’t have sweet soy sauce and appreciate the tip. I also used the slow cooker without searing because I was lazy. There are not a lot of Asian and low sugar Asian recipes In the slow cooker or instant pot so I appreciate your recipe!
Thanks Judy!
If you are using skinless/boneless thighs how long do you cook it? Still the same or?
Yes.
Hi Bee, thank you so much, for such an easy and soo delicious recipe, I cooked it today, it came out perfecto!!!!!!!!! ❤️
If I substitute sweet sauce with sugar, how much sugar should I add?
Just to taste, maybe 1/4 teaspoon.
Thanks, tries your recipe but added vinegar…delicious.
That’s awesome. I love the idea. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Deny here, why quick release when it’s a meat dish?
I always do QR, regardless of ingredients. It never fails. What’s the issue here?
Bravo! The quantity of the basic sauces are in the right proportion and it is guaranteed to satisfy any cravings. I tried this recipe on my Philips pressure cooker and the result was very satisfying!
For a more Asian taste, I would recommend a tad more ginger (maybe 1.5-2 inches instead of 1 inch) and a dash of Shaoxing cooking wine.
Thank you for sharing a wonderful recipe!
Sure you can add as much ginger as you want. Yes, you can add Shaoxing wine but most of my audience are Americans and they don’t have Shaoxing wine. I try to make my recipes as accessible as possible!
I cook a lot, but this is the best dish I can remember making. Well done! I had an idea to make soy sauce chicken in the pressure cooker without really knowing what it was. I’m so happy I found your recipe. Thank you!
Hi Marianne, please try more recipes on my site, they are all good: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Sorry, I meant how many cups of water for double the servings
1.5 times.
Hi, do I increase the portion if I use an 8 quart?
Delicious. Made in the Instant Pot, so very quick but still full of flavour and the chicken was tender. We had it with thin egg noodles. Thanks for the recipe. :)
Thanks for trying Tanya. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipes/instant-pot-recipes