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Honey Garlic Chicken (Instant Pot)

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Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken - moist, tender, fall-off-the-bone instant pot chicken in a savory and sweet honey garlic sauce. This recipe is so easy and delicious!

Honey Garlic Chicken - moist, tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken thighs in savory and sweet honey garlic sauce and made in an Instant Pot, so delicious | rasamalaysia.com

Easy and instant pot Honey Garlic Chicken in a white serving dish.

Instant Pot Chicken

Honey Garlic Chicken – moist, tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken thighs made in an Instant Pot, so delicious! The honey garlic sauce is perfect for this Instant pot chicken recipe.

Moist, tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken thighs in savory and sweet honey garlic sauce and made in an Instant Pot.

Honey Garlic Chicken is a popular chicken dinner recipe. The combination of honey, garlic and soy sauce always guarantees mouthwatering results.

What’s more, making this recipe in an Instant Pot means that the chicken will be pressure cooked to tender, juicy, moist perfection, and the meat will fall off the bones.

Close up view of delicious Honey Garlic Chicken.

What I love about Instant Pot is the Saute mode. It allows me to pan-sear the chicken thighs first so both sides of the chicken are nicely browned, then I can add in the honey garlic sauce and flash cook the chicken for 10 minutes with high pressure.

Honey Garlic Chicken with sweet honey garlic sauce ready to serve.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can make this honey garlic chicken in a slow cooker, or on your stove top. If you use a slow cooker, make sure not to overcook it. Use high heat and cook for 3 hours.

For stove top, just pan-fry the chicken and then add in the sauce. Simmer on low heat and cook until the chicken meat is tender.

Instant pot tender Honey Garlic Chicken cut into half.

Regardless of your utensil, this honey garlic chicken recipe is a winner. Serve with steamed rice or pasta, spoon the sauce over your rice or pasta and dig in. The chicken thighs are so good you will want to make thie recipe again and again.

What Dishes to Serve with this Recipe?

This meal is best served with rice or pasta. For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.

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Honey Garlic Chicken (Instant Pot) Recipe

Honey Garlic Chicken - moist, tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken thighs in savory and sweet honey garlic sauce and made in an Instant Pot, so delicious. 

Course Main Course
Cuisine Instant Pot
Keyword Honey Garlic Chicken
Prep Time
Cook Time
Total Time
Servings 4
Calories 414 kcal
Author

Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • Salt
  • Ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil
  • 1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs (4 chicken thighs)
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • Chopped parsley (optional)

Sauce:

  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon sugar or brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons water or chicken broth preferred
  • 3 dashes cayenne pepper

Instructions

  1. Wash and rinse the chicken thighs with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Set aside. Mix all the ingredients in the Sauce together, stir to mix well. Make sure the honey and sugar are completely dissolved. Set aside.
  2. Turn on the Saute mode on your Instant Pot. As soon as the pot is heated, add 1/2 tablespoon of the cooking oil. Pan sear the chicken thighs (skin side down first) until both sides turn nicely brown. Add the remaining cooking oil and saute the garlic a little bit. Pour in the sauce and cover the lid. Cover the pot and select Manual and set to High pressure for 10 minutes.
  3. When it beeps, turn to Quick Release. When the valve drops, remove the lid carefully, add the chopped parsley and serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

I used a 6-quart Instant Pot. The Sauce in the recipe equals to 8 tablespoons of liquid content, which is 1/2 cup, the min amount of liquid for Instant Pot. If you don't have an Instant Pot, you can make this honey garlic chicken in a slow cooker, or on your stove top. If you use a slow cooker, make sure not to overcook it. Use high heat and cook for 3 hours. For stove top, just pan-fry the chicken and then add in the Sauce. Simmer on low heat and cook until the chicken meat is tender.

Nutrition Facts
Honey Garlic Chicken (Instant Pot) Recipe
Amount Per Serving (4 g)
Calories 414 Calories from Fat 144
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 16g 25%
Saturated Fat 4g 20%
Cholesterol 151mg 50%
Sodium 599mg 25%
Total Carbohydrates 15.6g 5%
Dietary Fiber 0.2g 1%
Sugars 14.1g
Protein 50g 100%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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121 COMMENTS... read them below or add one

    • Hi Susan, my friend taught me how to use Instant Pot with the Manual setting to High and set the time. I had no problem with this recipe and the pictures are exactly how they came out. If you look at the picture inside the IP, it has a lot of sauce as the chicken releases liquid into the sauce after cooking. If you have doubt, you might use the PIP method. Otherwise please add 3 tablespoons water/chicken broth to the Sauce and you will have 1/2 cup liquid.

      Reply

    • I see pictures and what goes into it , but I don’t see where it says how much of each ingredient I will need. As a 40 year professional cook I do need the how much of each ingredient.

      Reply

      • Tap the wide red bar that says GET RECIPE. I was loose with the amounts of honey, soy sauce, garlic and fats I used and it turned out great, remember that the Instant Pot needs a minimum of 1/2 cup of liquid in the bottom – easily accomplish with this tecipe.

        Reply

  3. Can you make this recipe with a regular electric pressure cooker that is not an instant Pot? i Got that before the instant pot was available

    Reply

  4. This Honey Garlic Chicken looks so delicious! I don’t have an Insta Pot, but I will make it in the oven! Thanks for sharing the recipe, Rasa!

    Reply

  6. Hi
    Can you double this recipe.
    I’m always afraid it won’t turn out but 4 thighs are not enough for my family

    Reply

  10. Made this last night DELICIOUS – but I switched the parsley to cilantro because it seemed like a better fit for this. It was, imo.

    I also added some Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese hot pepper) which gave it a little zing. This one’s a keeper!

    Reply

  11. Can I use a whole chicken for this recipe in the unwrap it? Have a whole chicken & would like to cook it in the unwrap it.

    Reply

  12. Hi there………..I wanted to triple this recipe and the biggest container I had to do so was an electric skillet. chicken browned beautifully but now wondering at what temp I should cook it and for how long. I cannot find the recipe booklet that came along with the skillet. :o( Will keep looking in case you can’t get back in time. Thanks so much! Sounds wonderful!

    Reply

  13. Made this the other night, maybe 4 days ago…making it again now! This is SO GOOD, if you are reading this comment make it NOW!!!! So good!!!!! Even my husband (leery of chicken thighs) was asking, is there any more of that chicken? HA! It’s so good and, easy, hello!!?!?! Make it!!!

    Reply

  18. Made this last night and served it with steamed greens. I thickened the sauce a little with some corn flour. Nice and easy and the thighs were cooked perfectly! Thank you.

    Reply

  21. I made this in my Instant Pot and the sauce is very good. However, I used skinless thighs and did add oil to the pot to saute. They stuck like crazy even when I left them for a bit before turning. Once it cooked, it came loose and was good. but didn’t look like your pics!

    Reply

    • Hi Jennifer, I am sorry to hear that. I think your pot wasn’t hot enough when you pan-fry and yes the skinless tend to stick a little bit. I had the skin chicken thighs and the fat from the skin helped so it didn’t stick. In the future, if you want, you can pan-fry your chicken on a skillet first (stove top) and transfer over. But anyway, as long as it tastes good, your food doesn’t have to look like my pictures! :)

      Reply

  22. These look delicious but my picky eater won’t eat thighs. Ho long would the cook time be with boneless chicken breasts?

    Reply

  23. The sauce was awesome, it was my first instant pot meal and I made the carrots recommended from Kalyn’s website. Next time I won’t bother with chicken with bone and skin, just use skinless, the skin was a little rubbery. Awesome flavor! Will make it again.

    Reply

  24. This was my first IP meal and it was delicious. Even my 9 year old said it was AH-MAZING. High compliments indeed! I added some cornstarch at the end to thicken the sauce and served with mashed potatoes. So good!

    Reply

  25. I made this tonight and the flavor was amazing! My only issue, and it always seems to happen with all my instant pot meals, is that my sauce didn’t really thicken? How do I get it thicker?

    Reply

    • After the chicken is cooked remove it from the IP, then turn the IP on to the saute setting and let the sauce simmer/boil for a few minutes. Much of the liquid will evaporate and you’ll be left with a delicious, more concentrated sauce or glaze.

      Reply

  29. If I use a mixture of chicken thights and legs and use more like 10 pieces total, how long do I need to cook in the instant pot for?

    Reply

  30. I’m new to Instant Pot cooking and am looking forward to making this recipe. I would like to add broccoli to the dish; when would be the best time to do this?

    Reply

  33. This was EXCELLENT!! We had my sister over for dinner the other night. She does not have a pressure cooker, so I had everything ready and measured out for when she got here. So she and I basically put the meal together and it was so D.E.L.I.S.H.!!! She was amazed about the pressure cooker and the tasty recipe. I also used my rice cooker for a side of rice. And took the advise of another comment here, and made baked small red potatoes tossed in olive oil and salt/pepper. I was at an Asian grocery store and purchased fresh made egg rolls and mung bean coconut cake. The 3 of us agree that this recipe is definitely a keeper. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

  34. Made this today, but used boneless chicken breasts, doubled the sauce (except for the garlic and cayenne) and added baby carrots. I also thickened the sauce with a tablespoon of corn starch and water. Served over white rice. It was delish. Will definitely make this again soon. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  35. I have an Insta Pot 6 qt IP Lux, and the safety tips specifically say to never use less than 18 oz. of liquid when pressure cooking. How is everyone making this with 4 oz. of liquid?

    Reply

    • If you look it up on Google, there are different claims about the minimum liquid. One article said that Instant Pot said 1 cup, then their technical person revised down to 1/2 cup as we are not cooking soups all the time and for this chicken, you don’t want it to be too watery. Then someone said that Instant revised it to 1 cup again for all models. I have made this many times and with no problem. It pressurize well and the chicken is great. You can double the sauce and then reduce it down with saute.

      Reply

  36. This recipe is outstanding. I’ve already made it a few times. Here’s a potentially stupid question, but I’m new to pressure cooking, so please forgive me. If I want to double the recipe to serve more people, how do I accommodate more chicken in the IP? 1.5 lbs of thighs basically covers the bottom of the pan. Should I just stack the additional chicken on top? Put them on a rack? Double the sauce? Additional cooking time? Thanks!

    Reply

  40. Made this for supper tonight with chicken breast ( doubled sauce as suggested ). It was amazing and definitely will be making many more times :) than you so much for the fast easy and delicious recipe :)

    Reply

  42. Hi, thank for the recipe. Could you please clrify if the measurements are in US or imperial? For example US table spoon or imperial table spoon
    (I’m from Australia)

    Thank you

    Reply

  46. We tried this tonight. Our first time using our IP. Very tasty and easy. I have the 6 QT 7 in 1, instant Pot and I found the 10 minute cook time a little too long. I will try 8 minutes instead of 10. We found the chicken a little overdone.

    Reply

  48. Hello! I am new to IP. I got the 8QT IP for Christmas. I just made this last night and I have to say that it was a WINNER! The only thing that got confusing was on the recipe card some of the buttons you name are different on my IP. So that made it a little confusing.
    I was also wondering if I could cook the chicken on the stove first with the garlic, then transfer it all to the IP? It was a little hard to turn the chicken in the IP (at least for me, I’m short so the height of the counter and the IP made it hard.)
    Also can I use frozen chicken? If so how much longer should I cook for?
    Last thing! I followed the recipe and I didn’t notice until later that your recipe was for a 6Qt IP. When I make this next should I double the sauce ingredients?

    Reply

    • Hi Nikki, thanks for trying my recipe. Yes, I have a 6 quart and I am not sure what are the difference between mine and your 8 quart. Yes, you can pan-sear the chicken first on stove top and the garlic before transferring to the IP for pressure cooking. You can double the sauce. You an also use frozen chicken and add the cooking time maybe by 4 minutes. :)

      Reply

  49. Super nervous about using my 8Qt Instant Pot for the first time. Saw this recipe on FB and had all the ingredients on hand so decided to go for it. I doubled the sauce (nervous about using the right amount of liquid in the 8 QT) and only made 4 small thighs. I did have to saute the sauce for quite a while to get it to a good consistency to serve over the chicken. It was a major hit with my husband who wanted to know why I didnt make “more” and with my picky 8yo who never tries anything new but asked if I was going to eat all my chicken after she finished eating hers. Thank you for an easy and great tasting recipe – it helped this instant pot rookie take the plunge and get a win under my belt!

    Reply

  50. This looks amazing! I am having 12 people over so may need to do this in two batches. If I make both in the IP and then put in the oven covered to keep warm, what temp do you suggest and for how long? I am making several dishes so really need some make-ahead ones. Thanks!!

    Reply

  52. I made this with 5 skinless chicken breasts and doubled the sauce. Cooked on high for 10 minutes. The flavor was great, snd the breasts were very 00teber. I’m chopped up 2 of the breasts to use in pancit. I am now thickening the sauce to pour over the other 3 breasts. 2 dinners with one recipe. Thank you.

    Reply

  53. Thanks for the recipe! I’m relatively new to the IP world; can you tell me if I use high pressure and the “More” setting? As opposed to the “Less” or “Normal” settings?

    Reply

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