Old Lady on a Bus Chicken is chicken tenderloins that can be made in your Instant Pot, Crockpot or oven. The secret is the barbecue sauce that has a special ingredient…orange juice concentrate!
Old Lady on a Bus Chicken
Today’s recipe is my Instant Pot take on an old mennonite recipe that’s called “old lady on a bus chicken.” What a fun name, right?! My family was thrilled and kept saying the name over and over. “Mom, can you make old lady on a bus chicken tomorrow?” I retrieved the recipe from Amish 365 and the author stated, “One of my favorite Plain cookbooks was written by Marjorie Rohrer, a Mennonite woman in Virginia. This book contains over 300 recipes culled from Mennonite families and traditions. This book, by the way, is very difficult to find. It was only published about 10 years ago, but the print run was very limited. Okay, this recipe gets its name from a conversation, which included a recipe, that a Mennonite woman overheard between ‘two old ladies on a bus near Atlanta.’ (what the Mennonite woman was doing in Atlanta on a bus never was explained) The recipe then became a favorite of Mennonite women in Dayton, Virginia.”
The chicken tenders came out perfectly tender! And the sauce!!! The sauce! I loved it. I kept sneaking bites of chicken. Which is unusual for me because I am not typically a huge meat eater. Skyler especially loved this chicken and said to me, “Mom, that chicken was outstanding.”
This chicken can be made in your Instant Pot, Crockpot or the oven. You choose the method. The Instant Pot will be the fastest method. The slow cooker gives you freedom to make dinner in the early afternoon and have it ready to go when you are. The oven version will give you a more baked on, sticky sauce. All versions are great!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Orange juice concentrate–just the frozen stuff! We like to use a tablespoon of this when we make blueberry “ice cream” in our blender. And I always stir in a tablespoon of it when I make fruit salad.
- Barbecue sauce–I used Sweet Baby Ray’s brand
- Ketchup–I used Heinz
- Worcestershire sauce
- Lemon juice
- Brown sugar
- Liquid smoke–find it by the BBQ sauces at your grocery store
- Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
- Chicken tenderloins–frozen or fresh. I buy the big bag from Costco.
- Salt and pepper
Instant Pot Steps
In a pot-in-pot dish (I used one of these stainless steel pans*) add the orange juice concentrate, bbq sauce, ketchup, worcestershire, lemon juice, brown sugar and liquid smoke. Whisk well until smooth. We are going to cook the sauce separately from the chicken so that it doesn’t get watered down.
Add chicken broth into bottom of Instant Pot. Add the chicken tenders into the pot. Lightly sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place a tall trivet into the pot. Place the pot-in-pot dish on top of the trivet.
Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Move the pot-in-pot dish out of the Instant Pot and set aside. Drain the broth out and discard. Stir the sauce into the chicken. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Stir together 1 Tbsp cornstarch and 1 Tbsp of water until smooth. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the pot until thickened. Turn off Instant Pot.
Serve chicken and enjoy!
Notes/Tips
- Serve with baked potatoes or over rice. Add a green vegetable, like asparagus, on the side.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in an 8 quart pot.
- I use one of these stainless steel pans* for my pot-in-pot dish and I placed it on top of a tall trivet*.
- This recipe can be gluten-free if you use gluten-free Worcestershire sauce.
- This recipe is dairy free.
- 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 orange juice concentrate are Instant Pot Mojo Chicken and Marie Osmond’s Chicken.
More Chicken Tenderloins Recipes…
Instant Pot Last Minute Chicken
A fast and easy chicken tenderloin recipe that you can make when you don’t have a lot of time.
Instant Pot Sunshine Chicken
Chicken tenderloins and rice simmered in orange juice and seasoned with turmeric makes a bright yellow, sunny dish that has great flavor and takes only minutes to prepare.
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Casserole
A creamy sauce envelopes chicken tenderloins, noodles and mushrooms and then the dish is topped with shredded cheese and panko breadcrumbs.
Easy Club Chicken
Easy Club Chicken is an air fryer chicken tenderloin recipe with only 4 ingredients! The chicken is juicy and tender and takes just a few minutes to make.
Instant Pot Chicken Julienne
Chicken tenderloins in a creamy lemon paprika sauce. An easy, dump and go, saucy chicken recipe.
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.
Old Lady on a Bus Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 18 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Old Lady on a Bus Chicken is chicken tenderloins that can be made in your Instant Pot, Crockpot or oven. The secret is the barbecue sauce that has a special ingredient…orange juice concentrate!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
- 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenderloins (frozen or fresh)
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- In a pot-in-pot dish (I used one of these stainless steel pans*) add the orange juice concentrate, bbq sauce, ketchup, worcestershire, lemon juice, brown sugar and liquid smoke. Whisk* well until smooth.
- Add chicken broth into bottom of Instant Pot. Add the chicken tenders into the pot. Lightly sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Place a tall trivet* into the pot on top of the chicken. Place the pot-in-pot dish on top of the trivet.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Move the pot-in-pot dish out of the Instant Pot and set aside. Drain the broth out and discard. Stir the sauce into the chicken. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Stir together 1 Tbsp cornstarch and 1 Tbsp of water until smooth. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the pot until thickened. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Serve chicken and enjoy!
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- In a bowl stir together the orange juice concentrate, bbq sauce, ketchup, worcestershire, lemon juice, brown sugar and liquid smoke. Whisk well until smooth.
- Add chicken into slow cooker. Dump the sauce over the chicken (no broth needed for slow cooker recipe).
- Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 2-3 hours.
- Serve chicken and enjoy!
Oven Instructions:
- In a bowl stir together the orange juice concentrate, bbq sauce, ketchup, worcestershire, lemon juice, brown sugar and liquid smoke. Whisk well until smooth.
- Place chicken into a 9×13 inch baking dish. Dump the sauce over the chicken (no broth needed for oven recipe).
- Bake at 350° F for 20-25 minutes or until internal temperature of largest tender is 165°F. You may need extra time for frozen tenders.
- Serve chicken and enjoy!
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot/Slow Cooker/Oven
*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.
Would whole chicken breasts work for this and then just cook them 18 minutes pressure and 10 minute natural release?
Yes you can do that.
Can I use regular orange juice instead of orange juice concentrate? If so, how much would you recommend? Thank you.
You could try it…I would use a half cup of OJ instead of the chicken broth
Do I have to use the pot-in-pot?
You’ll get a watered down version if not and perhaps the burn error message. So if you don’t want to do pot in pot I would do crockpot or oven version instead.
This sauce would also be an excellent ham glaze. I used 1/8 teaspoon liquid smoke which was plenty. Will make this again.
GREAT idea!
But I don’t see anywhere in two recipes, I only have the Crock…I want to cook the Bus one and thr Sweet and Tangy BBQ One, however with the ingredients, there is NO measurements and anything?? And it says the recipe is on the bottom is the page for Crock pots and it’s not, just more instant pot ones. They look delicious, and I would love to cook them, however I don’t know how much to put in for each ingredient…I’m not the type to ohhhh a little here and little of that, I’ll screw it up…so if u have better measurements for those two recipes I would really appreciate it! Thanks so much! Amy…
Hi Amy, go here: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/old-lady-on-a-bus-chicken/#tasty-recipes-47125-jump-target
Scroll down past the Instant Pot instructions and you’ll see “slow cooker instructions”
3 minute cook time for fresh or frozen tenderloins?
yes 3 minutes for either fresh or frozen
Thanks!
would this recipe work with chicken breasts sliced in half for thin strips?
★★★★★
yes!