Simple Man’s Lemon Garlic Chicken (Instant Pot or Crockpot)

Simple Man’s Lemon Garlic Chicken is an easy Instant Pot or Crockpot recipe with lots of lemony flavor. Serve over rice to sop up all the delicious sauce!

Note: the SLOW COOKER instructions are listed in the recipe card below

Pin this recipe for later!

Simple Man’s Lemon Garlic Chicken (Instant Pot or Crockpot)

This chicken with lemon garlic sauce is bright and flavorful. Fresh lemon zest and juice bring this dish to life. You’re going to want to lick up all the sauce off of your plate! You can use chicken breasts, thighs, tenderloins or bone-in pieces. You can even use frozen chicken. Another bonus is that pot-in-pot rice can be made at the same time.

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts–frozen is okay, you can use a combination of the two. You can also use bone-in chicken (12 minute pressure cook time) or chicken tenderloins (4 minute pressure cook time).
• Garlic powder
• Smoked paprika
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Onion–I used a yellow onion
• Minced garlic–jarred or fresh
• Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon chicken base
• Lemons–try using a microplane* or a small grater to zest and a hand juicer* to juice.
• Cornstarch–to thicken the sauce. You can also use arrowroot.
• Parsley–for garnish if desired

Steps

• Season chicken: Add chicken, garlic powder, paprika, salt, pepper and olive oil to a ziplock bag or a container. Shake to coat chicken in the seasonings. 
• Saute onions: Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the butter and let it melt. Add in the onions and saute for 4 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Turn off Instant Pot.
• Deglaze: Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Add the chicken into the pot.
• 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. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid. 
• Shred: Move chicken out of the pot and shred. 
• Lemon it: Zest one of the lemons and add the zest into the pot. Add juice from the lemon into the pot. 
• Thicken: Turn Instant Pot to sauté and thicken the sauce with a cornstarch slurry. Stir together 2 Tbsp cornstarch with 3 Tbsp of water until smooth. Stir the mixture into the Instant Pot. The sauce will thicken quickly. Turn off Instant Pot once it has thickened.
• Coat chicken in sauce: Stir the chicken into the sauce to coat the chicken well. Taste test and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve: Slice up the other lemon and chop some parsley. Serve the chicken and sauce over rice and top with a few lemon slices and some parsley. Eat and enjoy!

Notes/Tips

• Serve over rice or noodles or mashed potatoes. Or if you want to eat lower carb serve over cauliflower rice.
• I made brown rice in a separate Instant Pot. But if you want white rice you can use the pot-in-pot method to make it. After adding your chicken and ingredients into Instant Pot add in a tall trivet*. Place an oven safe dish on top of the trivet with your desired amount of water and rice. For long grain white rice use a 1 cup rice to 1.5 cup water ratio. 
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• This recipe is gluten-free. This recipe can be dairy free if you use oil instead of butter to sauté the onion in.
• Other recipes you can make with smoked paprika are Instant Pot Smoky Mountain Casserole and Keep A Man Chicken (Air Fryer Or Oven).

Pin this recipe for later!

More Recipes with Lemon…

• Instant Pot Lemon Chicken Romano
• Instant Pot Skinny Honey Lemon Chicken
• Instant Pot Lentil Lemon Chicken Soup
• Instant Pot Lemon Rice
• Instant Pot Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup

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.

Pin this recipe for later!

Get a daily Instant Pot recipe delivered to your email!

Print

Stay in touch!

• Sign up to receive daily Instant Pot recipes (it’s FREE)
• Join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group 
• Subscribe to my YouTube channel 
• Buy the 365 Days of Pressure Cooking Cookbook

*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.