Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken—tender bites of chicken, sweet pineapple chunks and colorful bell peppers served with a sweet and sour sauce. All made in one pot, your Instant Pot.
Related: Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken
Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken
If you’re a fan of chicken surrounded in a sweet and punchy sauce with pineapples and bell peppers you’re going to love this easy recipe for Instant Pot sweet and sour chicken. My recipe is not breaded and fried so it’s a bit lighter than most sweet and sour chicken recipes.
A few notes about the ingredients…
Chicken: I love using boneless skinless chicken thighs with this recipe. The chicken stays moist and tender and has so much flavor. You can also use chicken breasts for this recipe, although they won’t stay as tender.
Peppers: I had a yellow and orange pepper leftover in my fridge but you can also use a green or red bell pepper. Use whatever you prefer!
Low Sodium Soy Sauce: Remember you can always add salt but you can’t subtract it. Starting with a low sodium soy sauce gives you flavor but doesn’t overpower with saltiness.
What should I serve with Instant Pot sweet and sour chicken?
This chicken, sauce and veggies are perfect served over rice. There’s a lot of sauce so it’s nice to have something that will soak it up! I like jasmine rice for this recipe, but any rice will do. You can even make cauliflower rice for additional veggies in your diet.
Can I freeze the leftovers?
Bell peppers can be frozen when they are blanched so that the crunch remains. If you freeze the leftovers of this sweet and sour chicken and reheat it the texture of the peppers might be off.
Try these other Asian-Inspired Instant Pot Recipes…
Instant Pot Chicken and Veggie Korma
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Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Prep Time: 20 mintues
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Tender bites of chicken, sweet pineapple chunks and colorful bell peppers served with a sweet and sour sauce. All made in one pot, your Instant Pot.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (or 2 pounds breasts)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks
- 2 bell peppers (I used 1 orange and 1 yellow), cored and cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 small yellow onion, cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp water
Instructions
- Prepare your chicken. Blot it dry with a paper towel. Then trim off excess fat. I like to use kitchen shears. Then cut the chicken into bite size chunks.
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. When the display says HOT add in the oil and swirl it around. Add in the chicken, salt and pepper and saute for 2 minutes. Then turn off the Instant Pot.
- In a bowl stir together the vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic and juice from the can of pineapple. Add the mixture to the Instant Pot. Add peppers and onion into the pot. Add in as much pineapple from the can as you prefer (I added in the whole can but it was a little too much, I thought).
- Cover your Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When the time is up let the pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Turn the Instant Pot to saute. Stir in the brown sugar. In a small bowl stir together 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 2 Tbsp of water, until smooth. Then pour the mixture into the Instant Pot. The cornstarch mixture will thicken up contents of pot quickly.
- Serve the chicken, veggies and sauce over rice or cauliflower rice.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. Use the same recipe for the 8 quart and halve the recipe for the 3 quart pot (same cooking time).
- 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.
Easy delicious awesome
👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks again for sharing
Thank you!
this is delicious
full of flavor and great served over rice
★★★★★
Thank you so much for the 5 star review!
I have made this many times and many variations. Originally I made it as written. We loved it, but since we have added more veggies like celery and carrots. A Chinese restaurant where I grew up did that and it reminds me of them (now closed). I have also made this in my wok, but coated and fried the chicken in corn starch and flour, but made the sauce as written here. Works amazingly well that way!
★★★★★
Yum! The wok version sounds awesome Mike!
I loved this, and more importantly my husband (a very picky eater) loved it. I followed your suggestion and used less of the pineapple. There was PLENTY of sauce. Instead of the red pepper (didn’t have one), I used two carrots finely chopped and 2 ribs of celery chopped. Thanks! I’m going to look at your other instapot recipes.
★★★★★
I’m so glad to hear it! Good changes too! Sounds like a winner.
Some of my favorite 365 recipes are Asian themed, and the sweet & sour chicken is no exception. This was so delicious! I made it as written with the exception of adding the bell peppers in after the pressure release to help keep ’em crunchier. I made this entire recipe in my 3 qt. IP Mini (always noted in my reviews). Thanks once again, Karen!
★★★★★
I agree I love the asian themed recipes! I am glad you liked this one John!
So disappointed. Not enough sauce, veggies rock hard, way to much prep time. Oh yeah, did I mention this was for my birthday?
★
Sorry to hear it! I am wondering if it didn’t come to pressure. The veggies should be done completely!
Can I use frozen chicken thighs to make this? Is so how ?
I guess you could throw the thighs in frozen and skip the sauteeing step. I would pressure cook for 12 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release. I would also not add in the peppers and pineapple initially as they will be overcooked.
This has turned into a family favorite! My husband would have it weekly if he could! Thank you for all the recipes and information you provide!
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear it Stephanie!
I was really disappointed after seeing all of the good reviews and following the directions to a T that this recipe was a ketchup flavored pile of mush when finished. Nothing like the real thing, and a huge waste of good ingredients.
★
I have a friend who works life to cook this in her crock pot. Is there a way to convert the recipe?
here’s my slow cooker sweet and sour chicken recipe: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/slow-cooker-sweet-and-sour-chicken/
My husband and son loved this recipe! I will be making it again!
★★★★★
Yay!!! Good to hear it!
Fabulous recipe! I don’t know why I’m always surprised when I make one of your recipes and it turns out to be so delicious. Thank you for all your recipes and willingness to explain in detail when asked. You’re an Instant Pot treasure to me.
★★★★★
Ahhh, you’re a treasure!
Doubled it and made for 11 people tonight and it was a huge hit! Thanks for helping me throw dinner together in a pinch!
★★★★★
👏👏👏 Good work! And 11 people is a Lot to feed!!
The brown sugar isn’t in the directions. You would add it in the IP, right?
Nevermind, I just saw it! 🤦
Made this for supper tonight for the first time. Wow! This was amazing! Perfect balance of flavours! Thank you for sharing. 😋👍
Made it last night and it was amazing, got another 5 stars from hubby… so many of Karen recipes received a 5 stars. Only one comment; I will make this again but next time I will cook the peppers in a foil pocket on top of everything in the IP and will remove and put them back in after thickening the sauce because they turned out to be way too mushy.
★★★★★
Okay! Good idea on the foil packet.
By special request, I made it again. Here is the photo: https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/f975dad2-1050-45c6-693f-67f5b78ebb1a
★★★★★
🙌😊
Was the pineapple juice used when adding the pineapple? Didn’t see any other liquid mentioned.
Your answer is in the directions – please read them.
Can you do the pot in pot method to cook the rice?
Is 3 minutes enough time?
Thanks!
I would give it a go with jasmine rice. I think it will work!
It’s in step 3: In a bowl stir together the vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic and juice from the can of pineapple.
All the ingredients are on the table. Making this for dinner today. Thanks!
★★★★★
You’re welcome!
This was a big hit tonight!! Even my oldest that isn’t much of a meat eater was picking it out to eat! We will be putting this on the rotation.
★★★★★
So glad to hear you all liked it!