Instant Pot Skinny Honey Lemon Chicken–a fast and easy chicken breast recipe with a light lemony sauce.
Instant Pot Skinny Honey Lemon Chicken
This is a light and delightful chicken dish. The sauce is really yummy and the chicken is tender. My kids gobbled this up and there was none left by the time Greg got home from work. Sorry Greg! You may want to double the sauce if you’re serving with rice…it’s so good!
Ingredients You’ll Need…
- Boneless, skinless chicken breast–or boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- Chicken broth–or Better than Bouillon and water
- Low sodium soy sauce–or Tamari sauce
- Rice vinegar
- Butter
- Fresh lemon juice
- Lemon zest
- Honey
- Ground ginger–or 1 teaspoon of fresh minced ginger
- Garlic powder–or 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- Cornstarch–or arrowroot powder
- Salt and pepper
- Sesame seeds
- Green onions
Instructions
- Cut chicken into half inch cubes and add into the Instant Pot.
- Add broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, ginger and garlic powder into Instant Pot. Stir.
- Pressure cook: Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes (yes this is enough time!). When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Thicken: In a small bowl stir together cornstarch and water until smooth. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the pot until sauce thickens. Turn off saute setting.
- Serve: Add salt and pepper to taste. Add in desired amount of sesame seeds and green onions. Serve and enjoy!
Tips and Suggestions
- Make sure to cut the chicken across the grain so that the chicken can be as tender as possible. Slice across the grain. Then cut each of those wider strips crosswise into bite size cubes. All muscle has a grain to it. The placement of your knife to this grain will determine the length of the muscle fibers in an individual slice of meat, which in turn will have a profound effect on how tender or tough that meat is.
- Serve with rice, fried rice, quinoa. cauliflower rice, or lo mein noodles
- You can easily double this recipe. Double all the ingredients and keep the cooking time the same.
- The sauce is so good! You may want to double just the sauce ingredients.
- If you want the most moist and tender chicken then use chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- This recipe can be gluten free. Make sure to use a gluten free chicken broth and a gluten free soy sauce or tamari sauce.
- Add in some vegetables! Try adding in a package of stir fry vegetables for extra nutrition and to stretch the meal.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
- Can I make rice at the same time? I haven’t tried this yet myself but if I did I would place a tall trivet into the pot on top of the chicken and sauce. Then I would put 1 cup long grain white rice and 1 ½ cups of water into a pan and place it on top of the trivet. The rice will hopefully get done by the time the chicken gets done. It might need an extra few minutes to steam. If that is the case then move the pan out of the pot and place a lid on top of the pan. Let it sit while you make the cornstarch slurry and finish up the chicken.
More Skinny Instant Pot Recipes…
Instant Pot Skinny Chicken Alfredo
Instant Pot Skinny Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Instant Pot Dolly Parton Diet Soup
Instant Pot Apple Cider Chicken
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc. Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.
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Instant Pot Skinny Honey Lemon Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 18 minutes
- Yield: 3–4 servings 1x
Description
A fast and easy chicken breast recipe with a light lemony sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1/8 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp cold water
- Salt and pepper
- Sesame seeds
- Green onions
Instructions
- Cut chicken into half inch cubes and add into the Instant Pot.
- Add broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, ginger and garlic powder into Instant Pot. Stir.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- In a small bowl stir together cornstarch and water until smooth. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the pot until sauce thickens. Turn off saute setting.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Add in desired amount of sesame seeds and green onions. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Make sure to cut the chicken across the grain so that the chicken can be as tender as possible. Slice across the grain. Then cut each of those wider strips crosswise into bite size cubes. All muscle has a grain to it. The placement of your knife to this grain will determine the length of the muscle fibers in an individual slice of meat, which in turn will have a profound effect on how tender or tough that meat is.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
*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.
I’m definitely making this! My question is if I add bag of frozen stir fry veggies do I add up front with chicken before cooking or thaw & add after. Most my favorites come from this page so thanks so much for all the delicious recipes! Your honey lime salsa verde is my absolute fav!!!
Ahh Thanks Sara! I would add after or else they’ll probably get too mushy. Or you could put them in a pot in pot on top of the trivet with a lid on and a tablespoon or two of water and they’d probably do ok
I doubled the sauce definitely the way to go. I also did pot in pot with rice. added a minute to cooking time and did natural release. It all came out perfectly. There is always 1 person who does not like new recipes but everyone loved this one! I will be doing this one over and over again!
Thank you for another amazing recipe!
There’s always one, right lol!
If you double the sauce, do you double the broth too?
Yes I would
I just made this it was so good and easy I used chicken thighs had to debone and take the skin and fat off. I put this over jasmine rice and broccoli florets on the side with an egg roll. Thanks Karen
★★★★★
mmmm! Sounds like an amazing dinner!
What if I want to make this in the crock pot instead? Seems like it would be an easy conversion because you aren’t saying to saute the chicken. Thanks!
★★★★★
Sure you could easily make this in the crockpot:
1. Cut chicken into half inch cubes and add into the slow cooker.
2. Add broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, ginger and garlic powder into slow cooker. Stir.
3. Cover and cook on low 2-3 hours.
4. In a small bowl stir together cornstarch and water until smooth. Turn crockpot to high. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the slow cooker and cook without lid until sauce thickens.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add in desired amount of sesame seeds and green onions. Serve and enjoy!
Made this the other night for my husband & myself. We usually get two meals out of all the dishes from 365 days. It was delish. However, you were correct I should have doubled the sauce. Next time will absolutely do that. Otherwise didn’t change a thing. I save my lemon zest in the freezer so I have it on hand.
My husband claims everything so far that I’ve made from your recipes has been great. So thank you!
★★★★★
I need to freeze my lemon zest. I never have any when I need it.
Will be cooking this soon, looks delicious. I saw the question/answer re: bone-in thighs.
How long to cook if I use bite-sized thigh pieces?? Thanks, will be back with stars.
Sorry, Karen, my bad. I just re-read your notes above & it clearly states I can use breasts or thighs.
Problem solved.
Forgive me, I’m old. ;-}
Lol! No worries!!
I only have one kind of vinegar in my kitchen and that is white vinegar. I will try that and hopefully it will turn out.
It’ll be good I bet!
Can you substitute something else in place of the rice vinegar.
You can use white wine vinegar
This looks dee-lish!!
How long to cook this if I went with bone-in Chicken Thighs, instead of the little chunks of chicken?
I would cook for 15 minutes for bone-in thighs!
I couldn’t see when you should add the chicken broth in your instructions.
Oops! I just changed the recipe to add that info in. You add it in with the chicken.
Same. I’m assuming the broth goes in when you add the chicken?
yes it does! Sorry about that!