Instant Pot To Die For Chicken–tender chicken with a garlic brown sugar sauce takes little effort but yields amazing results!
Instant Pot To Die For Chicken
This garlic brown sugar chicken with caramelized onions is so good! You’ll be licking your plate clean. Plus it’s just so easy to make. You can even use frozen chicken for this recipe (no thawing).
While the chicken is cooking you can make some mashed potatoes, boil some noodles or cook some rice to serve alongside the chicken and sauce. If you want you can pot-in-pot cook white rice while the chicken is cooking. Just place a tall trivet over the top of the chicken and then place a pot-in-pot dish on top of the trivet that has 1 part rice to 1.5 parts water. The rice will cook perfectly in the amount of time that the chicken takes to cook.
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Butter–or olive oil
- Yellow onion–or sweet vidalia onions
- Baking soda–This helps with the maillard reaction (the browning process of onions that gives it that sweet, golden flavor)
- Water
- Better than Bouillon Chicken Base–or beef base
- Chicken thighs–bone in or boneless. If you use bone-in remove the skin first. Frozen chicken works fine (use same cooking time).
- Worcestershire sauce
- Garlic cloves–fresh is best for this recipe
- Brown sugar
- Dried thyme leaves
- Dijon mustard
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Cornstarch–or arrowroot or flour
Steps
- Start to caramelize the onions: Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the butter and swirl it around to melt. Then add in the onions and the baking soda. Stir the onions every so often for about 4 minutes. Onions will start to turn yellow and release some moisture.
- Deglaze: Pour in the water and bouillon and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off saute setting. Nestle the chicken into the pot.
- Make sauce: In a small bowl stir together the Worcestershire sauce, garlic, brown sugar, thyme, dijon, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the chicken.
- Pressure cook: Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 12 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting.
- Thicken the sauce: Move the chicken to a plate. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Stir the cornstarch together with 3 Tbsp of water until smooth. Stir the slurry into the pot to thicken the sauce. Salt and pepper the sauce to taste.
- Serve: Move the chicken back into the pot and coat with the sauce. Serve the chicken and sauce with mashed potatoes, egg noodles or rice. You can serve the chicken as whole pieces or shred the chicken and stir it together with the sauce.
Notes/Tips
- Serve chicken and sauce with mashed potatoes, rice or egg noodles. Serve with a side salad or some steamed broccoli.
- Can I use chicken breasts? Personally, I haven’t tried this recipe with chicken breasts yet but they would work okay. They won’t be as moist and tender but they’ll still work. Cook the same amount of time as thighs. You can also use bone-in chicken breasts which would work nicely.
- 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 if you use gluten-free chicken base and Worcestershire sauce. This recipe can be dairy free if you use oil instead of butter.
- 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 dijon mustard are Instant Pot Flank Steak and Instant Pot Malibu Chicken Casserole.
5 More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes
Instant Pot Perfect Chicken
Creamy chicken, mushrooms, onions and sauce with lots of flavor from seasonings and lemon juice. With a little effort you can have an amazing tasting dinner!
Instant Pot Shoyu Chicken
Soy sauce and brown sugar marinated chicken thigh pieces cooked quickly in your Instant Pot. A flavorful chicken that tastes great over rice.
Instant Pot Smothered Chicken and Rice
Creamy rice with chicken smothered in cheddar and bacon crumbles. An easy recipe that takes only a few minutes to prep and cook!
Instant Pot Hunters Chicken
Tender chicken thighs in a homemade tomato-based barbecue sauce topped with cheese and bacon.
Instant Pot Neiman Marcus Chicken
Chicken with a sour cream, bacon and cheddar sauce served over rice.
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.
Instant Pot To Die For Chicken
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Tender chicken with a garlic brown sugar sauce takes little effort but yields amazing results!
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, halved and cut into 1/2 inch slices
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 Tbsp Better than Bouillon Chicken Base
- 4–6 chicken thighs (bone in or boneless)
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the butter and swirl it around to melt. Then add in the onions and the baking soda. Stir the onions every so often for about 4 minutes. Onions will start to turn yellow and release some moisture.
- Pour in the water and bouillon and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off saute setting. Nestle the chicken into the pot.
- In a small bowl stir together the Worcestershire sauce, garlic, brown sugar, thyme, dijon, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the chicken.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 12 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting.
- Move the chicken to a plate. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Stir the cornstarch together with 3 Tbsp of water until smooth. Stir the slurry into the pot to thicken the sauce. Salt and pepper the sauce to taste.
- Move the chicken back into the pot and coat with the sauce. Serve the chicken and sauce with mashed potatoes, egg noodles or rice.
- 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 used bone-in frozen thighs. They were perfectly cooked and there was plenty of gravy. It was good served with bulgur on the side.
★★★★★
Thanks for the 5 stars Sharon!
Love this recipe but hardly any gravy and we like lots to pour over rice. How do I make more gravy without watering down the flavour?
★★★★
you could double all the ingredients except the chicken and then you’d have double the sauce
Very delicious. Just a touch of sweetness. Picky husband really liked it. Chicken pkg had 7 thighs which was still ok.
★★★★★
Thanks Liz for the 5 stars!
Can I make it in the insta pot on slow cooking and if can how long.
yes you can. Do it on the slow cooking setting on the highest setting “more” for 4-6 hours
I used boneless skinless thighs and followed the recipe as written and the chicken was very good. My kids, who aren’t in love with onions, didn’t really know they were in there and 1 kid said he really liked the flavor! I did place a low rack on top of the chicken and put quartered, unskinned sweet potatoes in a corningwear dish on top of the rack. They were cooked at the same time as the chicken …the skins fell off and we had sweet potatoes with the meal. I guess you could probably do the same with red potatoes- quarter or halve them pending size- and then smash them and put the chicken and gravy on top- at least that’s what I’m going to try next time!!
★★★★★
Love that idea with the potatoes!
I followed the directions as listed and this was so so good! One of my favorite chicken recipes I’ve made! Thank you!
★★★★★
I want to try this would this work in the oven?
Amazing. Very happy with this dish. Used partially frozen boneless thighs. I added a few more minutes to the timer because I’m paranoid about raw chicken since I have a nonverbal child, lol.
★★★★★
So glad you liked it! Thanks for the 5 stars 🙂
if using frozen chicken thighs should cooking time be longer?
I would keep it the same 🙂
The marinade that you put on the chicken. Do you put chicken and the marinade in together. or chicken alone?
I put the chicken in the pot and then poured the sauce on top that had been whisked together.
Was so very delicious! Followed recipe exactly. Am thinking about just using bite-sized pieces of fresh thighs next time. That sauce was amazing. Thanks again. BTW, your new search thingie is really nice!
★★★★★
So glad you liked it Kim! Thanks for the review 🙂
I’d like to know if anyone has a air fryer lid for their instant pot and if so do they like/use it much.
I do and I live it.I use it almost every day
Laur;yl What do you use it for? I love my Instant pot and wonder if I would like the air fryer part of it.
Yes, I use the air fryer lid several times weekly. Great for frozen fries or tater tots, frozen breaded shrimp, baking, broiling, searing anything…
★★★★★
Buenos dias. Saludos desde Colombia. Gracias por esas deliciosas recetas! Me encantaria y te agradezco si explicas lo de el arroz en el salvamanteles no lo entiendo. Gracias de nuevo
If you view this video you it might help you. https://youtu.be/hhBVsREuCEw
I do have a fryer lid but I have only used it about 3-4 times and I’ve had my instant pot for about 6 months now. I don’t use it that often but it’s nice to have.
Made this for dinner tonight with rice and steamed broccoli. I wasn’t sure if the recipe used chicken with the skin on or not but I thought it would be better with it off so I did that. I will absolutely be making this again! Very delicious and easy.
★★★★★
So glad you liked it Libby! Thanks for the 5 stars ★★★★★
my wife and I really enjoyed this dish. really easy to make great flavor. I used breast instead of thighs. cut them up almost like tenderloins. cut down cook time to 10 min and they came out so tender. Great dish will make again
★★★★★
Good to know! Thanks for sharing your experience and for the review!
How sweet does the 1T on brown sugar make this? I don’t want a sweet dish. Thanks.
Not very sweet…I think the sweetness comes more from the caramelized onions. You can leave out the brown sugar completely.
Don’t care for chicken thighs can I use breasts instead
Sure. Scroll above ’til you see Notes/Tips. She has that info there.
Can I use chicken breasts? Personally, I haven’t tried this recipe with chicken breasts yet but they would work okay. They won’t be as moist and tender but they’ll still work. Cook the same amount of time as thighs. You can also use bone-in chicken breasts which would work nicely.