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Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice–an easy Asian pressure cooker recipe for tender chicken thighs in a soy sauce, honey, and garlic sauce. Plus the rice is cooked at the same time and in the same pot as the chicken. Add in some broccoli and you have a complete dinner!

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Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice--an easy Asian pressure cooker recipe for tender chicken thighs in a soy sauce, honey, and garlic sauce. Plus the rice is cooked at the same time and in the same pot as the chicken. Add in some broccoli and you have a complete dinner!

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice

My slow cooker version of honey garlic chicken  is one of my most popular recipes this summer. I wanted to make an Instant Pot version of it since I know many people like to use a pressure cooker on busy nights when they forgot to get something in the slow cooker in the morning. The bonus to making this recipe in the Instant Pot is that you can make the chicken and sauce and the rice all at the same time in the same pot.

The chicken: I love using the Costco boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe. But you can also use bone-in chicken thighs. Just make sure to remove the skin and trim any extra fat off before throwing them in the pot. I haven’t tried this particular recipe with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. This would not be the best choice because the chicken would get overcooked by the time the rice got done. However, if you wanted to make the chicken without the rice you could do that. Just cook for only 10 minutes for boneless breasts.

Pin this recipe for later!

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice--an easy Asian pressure cooker recipe for tender chicken thighs in a soy sauce, honey, lemon juice and garlic sauce. Plus the rice is cooked at the same time and in the same pot as the chicken. Add in some broccoli and you have a complete dinner!

More Instant Pot recipes you might like…

 

Pin this recipe for later!

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice--an easy Asian pressure cooker recipe for tender chicken thighs in a soy sauce, honey, lemon juice and garlic sauce. Plus the rice is cooked at the same time and in the same pot as the chicken. Add in some broccoli and you have a complete dinner!

What Instant Pot Did You Use?

For this Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice recipe I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I also own the 6 quart Instant Pot IP-LUX60 V3 Programmable Electric Pressure Cooker.* They are both great pressure cookers! The first one I mentioned has a yogurt making function but other than that they are fairly similar. The price difference between the two is about $20. I recommend buying the Duo

I used a Corningware dish like this to cook the rice the same time as I cooked the chicken. You can use any oven safe round dish that will fit inside your Instant Pot.

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Edited January 26, 2018: There were so many comments of people having trouble with the original recipe. I made a few changes and believe that you’ll definitely be able to have success with this recipe. I have included the original recipe below the updated version for your reference. 

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instant pot honey garlic chicken with rice

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice (updated recipe)

  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes plus 10 minute NPR
  • Total Time: -25580097.3833 minute
  • Yield: 4-6 servings
  • Category: Chicken
  • Method: Instant Pot
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Description

This is an updated version of instant pot honey garlic chicken. The original recipe was having too many burn notifications and there wasn’t enough sauce. I fixed the recipe and I really think you’ll like it!

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 2/3 cup tamari or low sodium soy sauce
  • 2/3 cup chicken broth
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or bone-in chicken with skin removed
  • 1 1/2 cups short grain white rice
  • 2 1/4 cups water
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 (16 oz) package frozen broccoli florets 

Instructions

  1. Add honey, soy sauce and broth into bottom of Instant Pot. Whisk really well, until smooth. Add in the garlic. Trim the chicken of excess fat. Nestle the chicken into the pot.
  2. Pour rice into a mesh strainer. Rinse the rice well. Add rinsed rice to an oven safe dish that will fit inside your Instant Pot. I used this corningware dish.* Add 2 1/4 cups water into the dish. Cover the dish with foil. Place the dish on top of your trivet with handles. Carefully lower the dish down into the pot on top of the chicken.
  3. Secure the lid of the Instant Pot and press the manual button. Set the timer for 15 minutes on high pressure. Make sure the valve is set to “sealing.”
  4. When the timer beeps let the pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes (I did a bit longer than this). Gently move the valve to “venting.” Once all the pressure is released remove the lid and very carefully remove the rice bowl with hot pads. The bottom of the rice dish will be messy from the sauce of the chicken. I just transferred my rice to a clean bowl.
  5. Turn the Instant Pot to the saute function and adjust to “more”. In a small bowl stir together 1/4 cup cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water until smooth. Stir the mixture into the pot. It will start getting thick in a couple of minutes. Stir every so often.
  6. Open the bag of frozen broccoli and pour it into a colander. Run some hot water over the broccoli and then shake off excess water. Pour the broccoli into the Instant Pot. Stir the broccoli in and let it warm through. You may want to push the saute button on your Instant Pot to get the broccoli warm a little faster.
  7. Serve the chicken, broccoli and sauce over the rice

Notes

I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.

I used the trivet that came with my Instant Pot. It is similar to this one. *

I purposely remove the lemon juice from this recipe. I felt it was too strong and didn’t pair well with the broccoli. If you want to see the original recipe scroll down.

The chicken: I love using the Costco boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe. But you can also use bone-in chicken thighs. Just make sure to remove the skin and trim any extra fat off before throwing them in the pot. I haven’t tried this particular recipe with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. This would not be the best choice because the chicken would get overcooked by the time the rice got done. However, if you wanted to make the chicken without the rice you could do that. Just cook for only 10 minutes for boneless breasts.

This is the original recipe. I would recommend making the updated recipe above. I’ve kept this recipe in here for your reference.

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instant pot honey garlic chicken with rice

Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice (original recipe)

★★★★

3.1 from 9 reviews
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes (plus time to come to pressure and time to release pressure)
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings
  • Method: Instant Pot
Print Recipe

Description

An easy Asian pressure cooker recipe for tender chicken thighs in a soy sauce, honey, lemon juice and garlic sauce. Plus the rice is cooked at the same time and in the same pot as the chicken. Add in some broccoli and you have a complete dinner!

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 4 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs or bone-in chicken thighs with skin removed
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 cups white rice
  • 2 1/4 cups water
  • 1 (16 oz) package frozen broccoli florets

Instructions

  1. Add honey, soy sauce, garlic and lemon juice into the Instant Pot.*Whisk until smooth and combined.
  2. Trim the chicken of excess fat. I like to use kitchen shears to do this step. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place the flour in a pie tin or shallow dish. Lightly dredge each of the chicken thighs in the flour covering all surfaces of the chicken. Place each piece of chicken into the Instant Pot. Press to submerge into the sauce.
  3. Place the trivet that comes with the Instant Pot with the handles up and the feet down on top of the chicken. Fill a oven safe dish that fits inside your instant pot with the rice. I used a corningware dish* like this. Mine was 1 1/2 quarts. Place it on top of the trivet inside the Instant Pot. Carefully pour the water on top of the rice.
  4. Secure the lid of the Instant Pot and press the manual button. Set the timer for 15 minutes on high pressure. Make sure the valve is set to “sealing.”
  5. When the timer beeps let the pressure release naturally for at least 10 minutes (I did a bit longer than this). Gently move the valve to “venting.” If foam starts coming out then wait for 20 seconds and try again. Once all the pressure is released remove the lid and very carefully remove the rice with hot pads. The bottom of the rice dish will be messy from the sauce of the chicken. I just transferred my rice to a clean bowl. Remove the trivet.
  6. Open the bag of frozen broccoli and pour it into a colander. Run some hot water over the broccoli and then shake off excess water. Pour the broccoli into the Instant Pot. Stir the broccoli in and let it warm through. You may want to push the saute button on your Instant Pot to get the broccoli warm a little faster.
  7. Serve the chicken, broccoli and sauce over the rice.

Notes

Many people have made this recipe successfully, including me. However there have been a handful of people that get the “burned” notification on their Instant Pot. This is probably due to the fact that there is not a lot of liquid in the recipe and the honey is very thick. Make sure to really whisk the mixture good. You may want to double the sauce ingredients or add in a half cup of water to prevent this from happening.

I have not tried this recipe with chicken breasts. I imagine it would work but am not totally sure on the cooking time since chicken breasts cook quicker than chicken thighs.

*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Comments

  1. I’d love to make this recipe tonight but I only have basmati rice on hand. Would the water to rice ratio change? It’s 2 to 1 (Water to rice) usually for cooking. Should I keep the same ratio? Thanks!

    Reply

  2. Hi Karen! If I were to try and halve this and use only one pound of chicken, would everything else (and time) stay the same?

    Reply

  3. I made this last night and it came out most excellent. I used Very Very Teriyaki instead of soy sauce. Used frozen peas instead of broccoli (getting some next time!). The rice was a box of Far East Long Grain Garlic & Chicken flavor, it mentioned 1.5 cup of water, I did 2 cups for good measure. Mixed everything from the “updated” recipe, rolled around my mosty-frozen bnls/sknls thighs in the mix in the bottom, put the trivet on top of that. Placed my 1.5 qt Pampered Chef round covered baker with the rice on the trivet and pressed manual for 20 minutes. Natural release for another 13 minutes. Opened up and took out the rice, poured in frozen peas, closed it up and pressed 3 minutes more. No left overs leftover!!! Everyone really enjoyed it and it really was so very simple. Thanks!!

    Reply

  4. Karen, OMG!
    I just made the updated version and it is fabulous!!!!
    The rice was a little stickier than I’d like but maybe I’ll add a touch more water to the dish.?
    You did it again! Thank you so much. My P.C. intimidation is gone!😀

    Reply

  5. Hi Karen!
    Just found this and it looks goooood😀
    Any changes for using long grain rice?
    Love love your blog!!!!

    Reply

  7. I made this ad directed and my chicken totally just fell apart. When it was done it was just like shredded chicken… any suggestions?

    Reply

  9. I made this tonight and it was delicious. So much flavor. I did the rice separate because I dont have separate bowl for rice and didn’t do broccoli because my wife made brussel sprouts. But this recipe will be in heavy rotation in my kitchen.

    Reply

  10. I tried the updated recipe tonight with good results. It was the first time I cooked pot in pot, and it was fun! I left it for 20 minutes before releasing, and that was a bit too long. The chicken kind of shredded with stirring and the rice was a bit mushy. My fault though, not the recipe’s!

    Reply

  11. We loved the recipe! I removed the cooked chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Then I mixed it back into the thickened sauce. Lots of flavor in every bite that way. We had boneless breasts, so cooked the grain on the side and just 10 minutes in the IP for perfect chicken.

    Reply

  12. I made the original recipe last night, following the suggestions to double the sauce. I also added the 1/2 cup water. I loved the way the sauce also ended up in the rice and flavored that. This is the second time I have made this, and asparagus was on sale. Substituted steamed asparagus for the broccoli. It was delicious! Thanks for the recipes!

    Reply

    • Yes you could. I believe it would work well. However the water to rice ratio is a little different. It would be a 1 to 1 ratio. So make sure to change that.

      Reply

  14. I tried my new Instant Pot (for the first time!) with this recipe tonight using 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts and it turned out perfect! I used larger breasts so I cut them into halves, (or larger chunks) then followed the recipe as written, with a few minor changes. I cooked for 10 mins, with the rice, and quick released (accidentally, but went with it) until the button came up. Took out the rice and just let it sit with the foil on. Followed the recipe from there. The chicken was not dry at all and as I was stirring in the frozen broccoli, the chicken would break apart and almost started shredding. The only thing for me was that it was a bit salty for my taste, and I wanted it a bit sweeter, so next time I might just add more honey. I will definitely make this again!

    Reply

  15. So the original recipe & video had lemon juice, but the updated recipe you recommend does not call for lemon juice, so what is correct? I made this tonight, hubby liked it, I think I’ll add cashews next time.

    Reply

    • Yes, I purposely removed the lemon juice. I felt it was too strong and tasted better without it. Glad he liked it and the cashews sound great!

      Reply

  18. The instructional video shows that lemon juice is added however that is not on the ingredient list. Was that an oversight, or have you updated the recipe and removed the lemon juice?

    Reply

    • Hi Amber, great question. I actually removed the lemon juice from the recipe. It didn’t go well with the broccoli and I felt like the broccoli was more important to make it an entire meal. You could try it with the lemon juice but I prefer it without!

      Reply

  19. Just made this recipe in my Instant Pot. It is actually the first recipe I have made in it. I didn’t do the rice in the Instant Pot because I like to use cauliflower rice and I wasn’t sure it would work the same. Besides that, I follow the recipe to a T and had no issues.

    Reply

  20. I made this by the original recipe the same night you updated. It turned out fantastic! Both my boys came back for seconds. The only problem I had was like one other reviewer I saw that said the timer started counting down before it came to pressure. I was already down to 8 mins when it pressurized. I have an 8 qt pot so I’m wondering if that’s why. Anyway, when it finished, I turned it off and on and added 6 more mins while it was still pressurized. It didn’t count down, just said “on” but after those 6 mins I turned it to “keep warm” and natural releases for 10 mins before gently releasing the rest of the pressure. I hope that helps with others that may have had the same problem, I’m looking forward to trying the updated version. It was so nice to be able to do the rice and chicken at the same time!
    p.s. Your daughter did awesome on the video! ☺️

    Reply

  21. After 3 separate consecutive shut downs and deglazes with half cups of water off my 8 qt Instant Pot, I have finally gotten past the burn notice. I now have had time to read. (Note to Karen, the blogger-you may want to reverse the sort of the comment section so the most recent experiences come first.)

    My intuition and the current learning curve have led me to conclude to add 3 minutes to timer and keep warm for 20 minutes. I’ll soon know how this works. BTW, I have about 2 lbs of chicken breast, and steamed fresh broccoli and carrots separately on the stove top.

    Reply

  22. What am I missing? I tried this recipe with chicken breasts, and I got the burn warning. Research told me it is because I did not have enough liquid to developed the pressure and steam that I need.

    Reply

    • What am I missing? I tried this recipe with chicken breasts, and I got the burn warning. Research told me it is because I did not have enough liquid to developed the pressure and steam that I need.

      Or maybe it’s the flour too, per Anita Burke’s comment above.

      Reply

  23. The best thing about this recipe was learning how to cook rice in the Instant Pot. The worst thing was trouble shooting. The chicken stuck to the pot immediately and it was a pain pulling out the rice and chicken to scrape the bits off the bottom of the pot. My paranoia of it happening again made me add 1-1/2 cups more water. It ended up like soup. I then let the meal sit for 20 minutes after pressure to be sure the rice cooked. It was PERFECT!! So what we ended up with, was a chicken soupy meal. Flavors were there, but it wasn’t what I’d expected. I’m wondering if you didn’t dredge the meat in flour first, perhaps it wouldn’t make the sauce so thick and cause the sticking at the bottom of the pot? Anyway…there needs to be a bit more tweeking to this to have it perfected. Next time I’ll add the thickener for the sauce at the end, or perhaps just 1/2 cup more of water? I do want to try it again though, and I loved the rice! Thanks!

    ★

    Reply

  24. Made this last night (with the exception of the rice, as I only had minute rice, so I had to do it on the stove).

    I doubled the sauce and whisked it really well (as instructed). Turned out amazing! My picky guests gobbled it down and even took the leftovers with them! Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes! 😉

    Reply

  25. I made this tonight and it tasted great! However the rice did not cook so we ended up using the rice cooker. I used the exact same Corning ware pot inside that you used and I have the same size Insta pot, I am trying to figure out what went wrong. :/ Any ideas? I will definitively try this again!

    ★★★★

    Reply

  26. I used a Power Pressure Cooker XL 6 qt and I highly recommended doubling the sauce recipe. I used 1.5 lbs of chicken breast and if I had any more chicken I would have had to triple the sauce recipe. I also cooked my rice in a rice cooker because there were a lot of mixed reviews of cooking the meat and rice together.

    ★★★★

    Reply

  27. This definitely needs double the sauce & don’t cook the rice in Instant Pot!! Waste of time. Threw it out and had to restart Cook whole recipe in oven & rice cooker.

    ★★

    Reply

  29. I’d like to avoid honey so I can serve this to my 8 month old. Would maple syrup be ok? Or maybe brown sugar? What would you suggest?

    Reply

    • Hopefully, you don’t mind an unsolicited suggestion. I would sub orange marmalade for the honey, then OJ for the lemon juice. Since this dish has an Asian character, these subs would maintain that better than brown sugar or maple syrup. If you heat up the orange marmalade a little in the microwave, it will stir into other ingredients more easily.

      ★★★★★

      Reply

  30. Just thought I would let you know, I followed your recipe to a tee, except I used chicken breasts because that is what I had, and it all came out beautifully. Loved it! Rice was perfect and so was the chicken.

    Reply

  33. Like many of the others, the rice didn’t cook. Unfortunately, I make my rice in the Instapot, so next time, I’ll have to make that first.

    Reply

  35. After just a few minutes my IP showed “burn” on the LCD and the bottom of the pot was totally burned. I’m using an IP-duo60 v3. Total waste of a dinner.

    Reply

  36. I tried this tonight. My chicken burned on the bottom and my rice didn’t cook. Not sure why – I used the same casserole bowl you used. Bummer!

    Reply

  37. i doubled the Chicken and sauce part of the recipe and got the dreaded “BURN” notice twice. Ended up transferring to a pan in the oven. It was still yummy, but any idea why it burnt in the IP?

    Reply

    • I am not sure! I will have to look into this recipe. It seems to turn out great for some and bad for others. What size instant pot did you use?

      Reply

          • I had a similar experience. After I got the first burn notice from the instant pot, I added about 1/2 cup of water and deglazed the bottom of the pot and restarted. Got the burn notice 3-4 more times, but it took longer each time to get it. Each time it was because the chicken burned to the bottom. I was using an IP duo60. By the 4th or 5th time, the chicken and the rice were done, so we could serve it, but definitely won’t use the IP for this recipe again. After all was said and done, took about 90 minutes to complete.

    • Just made this recipe and had the same issue as others. Immediately said burn. Added water and it said burn again. For those of you who took it out finished it in the over, how much longer/what temp did you do?

      Reply

  39. Well I’m definitely loving the idea of both being done at the same time. Do you think it will matter if my instant pot doesn’t have a high pressure setting?

    Reply

  41. I followed the instructions exactly and all I got was burn’t stuck to the bottom chicken, no steam, and way under cooked rice. Totally ruined dinner.

    Reply

  42. I’ve made this twice and I put sweet potatoes instead of rice. However, it was not ready at 15 min, I had to cook it for another 15. Is that because I added the sweet potatoes? The taste is delicious!

    Reply

  43. I made this , very good recipe. I substituted frozen peas, worked great.
    I did have to cook a bit longer, 4 minutes, my rice was not done but extra time helped

    Reply

    • I used frozen boneless skinless chicken breast and it turned out perfect!
      I followed the recipe(even flowered the frozen chicken) except, I didn’t know how many punds of chicken I had(I used 5 lg pieces) so I just did my normal cook time of 8 min on high pressure, then let it naturally release. I also cooked the rice separate because a 2nd container wouldn’t fit on top of the frozen chicken. Then when it was done cooking, I cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and added the broccoli. Next time I will probably only do 4 lg pieces if chicken because there was so much.
      We loved this recipe and will make it a staple go-to recipe for my instant pot. Thank you!

      Reply

  45. Rice came out Perfect for me – added fresh ginger and a little toasted sesame oil – delish thank you! Wonder how much to adjest time if you don’t cook rice with it? Anyone try that?

    Reply

      • The food cooked OK. It tastes delicious but I’m still puzzled why it didn’t come to pressure yet it counted down. Lol If I were to make it in the IP as the recipe is written but without cooking the rice with it how much time should I cook it for?? It was delicious!

        Reply

    • I had this problem also. I think it is because my inner pot was too big, so the IP didn’t seal well. I transferred the rice to a different bowl and cooked another 12 minutes, and both the rice and chicken came out well.

      Reply

    • This happens to me every time I cooks something that has both rice and chicken. This is the third time I have made a recipe (this one is in my Instant Pot right now, same result) that cooks the rice and chicken in the same pot, and again, it won’t seal. I can’t figure out why.

      Reply

  47. I want to make this tonight but don’t want to make rice. How much water do I add to the chicken mixture? I also want to use raw broccoli, when do I add it to be cooked? Thanks

    Reply

  49. Don’t know what I did wrong, but my rice was still entirely raw after 15 and 15. Ended up making rice in the rice cooker. Otherwise great recipe.

    ★★★

    Reply

  53. This tasted ok, but my rice was definitely not done after cooking on high for 15 then NPR for another 15. I transferred the rice to my rice cooker to finish it off. I also felt like it wasn’t sweet enough so I added some brown sugar when I added the broccoli.

    ★★★

    Reply

    • Several of my chicane pieces also burned and the rice wasn’t done at all with the given times. I thought it was still good, but had to make minute rice. We’re we supposed to use minute rice or long grain rice? It wasn’t specified so I used regular long grain white rice.

      Reply

  54. Making this today! Sounds yummy!!
    These are ingredients I have on hand. I love simple recipes like this one.
    I’m using chicken breasts and will let you know how it turns out. I’m going to try adjusting the time to 12 minutes, since they cook quicker.

    Reply

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