Instant Pot Sweet Hawaiian Chicken

Instant Pot Sweet Hawaiian Chicken–an easy 5 ingredient recipe of chicken with a sweet tangy sauce.

This recipe can be made in the Instant Pot or the Crockpot. Both instructions are listed below.

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Instant Pot Sweet Hawaiian Chicken

This is an easy dump and go recipe that you’re going to love! The chicken gets moist and tender and the sauce is sweet (not overly sweet) and tangy. With only a handful of ingredients it is fast to put together.

I love how you can cook chicken from frozen in the Instant Pot and this recipe is no exception! You can throw the chicken in frozen and it gets cooked in almost the same amount of time as fresh chicken.

The sauce is the shining star of this recipe. Thanks to the reduction process it gets ultra flavorful and thickened. So don’t forget to reduce it for a few minutes after the chicken has been cooked! It’s worth the extra 10 minutes of time. Plus it’s a hands off 10 minutes (no stirring necessary).

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts–I did a combination of the two which I think is the best of both worlds. You can use frozen or fresh.
• Pineapple juice–I used the Dole brand. shake it up before adding into the pot because it gets a little separated.
• Kosher salt and pepper
• Barbecue sauce–I used Sweet Baby Ray’s brand.

Steps

1. Add ingredients: Add chicken and pineapple juice into Instant Pot. Sprinkle the chicken with a pinch of salt and pepper. You can use frozen or fresh chicken.
2. Pressure cook: Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 10 minutes for fresh chicken or 12 minutes for frozen chicken. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting.
3. Move the chicken to a cutting board.
4. Reduce the sauce: Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Whisk the barbecue sauce into the pineapple juice. Let the sauce simmer on the saute setting for 10 minutes. It will reduce down and get thicker and more flavorful. This step is more than just getting the sauce thicker. It’s getting the sauce to be more flavorful! You’ll be surprised at how awesome the flavor of the sauce gets with this step.
5. Shred or pull the chicken and stir it into the sauce.
6. Serve and enjoy!

Notes/Tips

• Serve with rice (or fried rice) and a side of vegetables like broccoli.
• Love pineapple? Add a drained can of pineapple chunks to the finished product.
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
• This recipe can be gluten-free. Check your BBQ sauce and make sure it is gluten-free before using.
• This recipe is dairy free.
• To cut down on sugars in this recipe use a low sugar BBQ sauce.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Other recipes you can make with barbecue sauce are Instant Pot Honey Barbecue Chicken and Instant Pot 3-Ingredient Root Beer BBQ Pulled Pork.
• If you have leftover pineapple juice it is delicious to drink but you can also use some of it to make hawaiian sweet bread or rolls.
• Recipe adapted from Cook at Home Mom.

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*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.