Tropical Island Chicken–chicken cooked in pineapple juice, orange juice and soy sauce and then stirred together with lime zest. Chicken comes out tender and flavorful! Make this recipe in your Instant Pot or Crockpot.
Instant Pot Tropical Island Chicken
If you want a bright and fresh dish try this tropical chicken! The chicken is cooked with the flavors of pineapple, orange and lime for a fruity flavor. The flavors are balanced out with the use of soy sauce. The chicken tastes great rolled up in a tortilla or served on top of coconut rice. This dish not only tantalizes the taste buds but also evokes images of swaying palm trees and turquoise waters…ahhhhhh!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Pineapple juice
- Low sodium soy sauce–or tamari
- Orange juice concentrate
- Garlic powder–or 3 garlic cloves, minced
- Ground ginger–or 1 Tbsp grated gingerroot
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs–or chicken tenderloins (3 minutes pressure cook time)
- Lime zest
- Lime wedges
Steps
Add pineapple juice, soy sauce, orange juice concentrate, garlic powder and ginger into Instant Pot. Stir.
Add in the chicken and try to get as much of it as possible underneath the liquid.
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 then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Shred the chicken and stir it into juices in instant Pot. Stir in lime zest.
Serve chicken in tacos or on top of rice. Squeeze a wedge of lime over the top.
Notes/Tips
- We served our chicken on top of small street taco size tortillas. I served with chunks of pineapple, sour cream, cilantro, lime wedge, tomatoes, sour cream and cheese.
- If you don’t want tacos try serving this chicken over coconut rice.
- 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 soy sauce.
- You can also make this recipe with chicken breasts, although the results won’t be as tender. Use 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts and pressure cook for 12 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
- 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 pineapple juice are Instant Pot Sweet Hawaiian Chicken and Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken.
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes You’ll Love…
Instant Pot Mississippi Chicken
Tender chicken infused with flavor! This recipe only has a handful of ingredients and is a dump everything into the pot and walk away dinner.
Instant Pot Smoky Mountain Barbecue Chicken
Tender chicken with the most delicious homemade smoky barbecue sauce. It’s made fast and easy in your pressure cooker.
Instant Pot Fancy Pants Chicken
Chicken tenderloins in a creamy sauce with ham, spinach and mushrooms. Lots of flavor for a small amount of work!
Montana Chicken
A sweet and tart chicken and sauce that tastes great served over rice. Make it fast in the pressure cooker or slow in the crockpot.
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 Tropical Island Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Chicken cooked in pineapple juice, orange juice and soy sauce and then stirred together with lime zest. Chicken comes out tender and flavorful! Make this recipe in your Instant Pot or Crockpot.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 5 boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
- Zest from one lime
- Lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Add pineapple juice, soy sauce, orange juice concentrate, garlic powder and ginger into Instant Pot. Stir. Add in the chicken and try to get as much of it as possible underneath the liquid.
- 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 then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Shred the chicken and stir it into juices in instant Pot. Stir in lime zest.
- Serve chicken in tacos or on top of rice. Squeeze a wedge of lime over the top.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Add pineapple juice, soy sauce, orange juice concentrate, garlic powder and ginger into slow cooker. Stir. Add in the chicken and try to get as much of it as possible underneath the liquid.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
- Shred the chicken and stir it into juices in slow cooker. Stir in lime zest.
- Serve chicken in tacos or on top of rice. Squeeze a wedge of lime over the top.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
*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.
Wow!! This recipe was ah-mazing! One of the best recipes I’ve used here, and that’s sayin’ something. I made this as described, except for using pineapple-mango juice, which I always have on hand. The juices and soy sauce blended together perfectly. I’m not sure that substituting an equal amount of juice for the concentrate would work out as well. I did make a small cornstarch slurry to thicken up the juices for the bed of coconut rice I made (‘Calgon, take me away!’). Now I have plenty of o.j. concentrate in the freezer so I can make this again and again.
Thanks as always Karen, and a special thanks for giving your sister a helping hand.
YAYYYYYYYYY Thanks so much!
Concentrate is the orange juice sold in the freezer section of your supermarket. You just reconstitute it yourself. What I’d do is use 1/4 cup of squeezed orange juice. If the sauce is too thin at the end, make up a cornstarch slurry and that will thicken it. Don’t use too much, it thickens quickly with small quantities of cornstarch. Eg, think teaspoon. You can always add, to get the right thickness of sauce, but it’s a hard to going the other direction.
Simply delicious! Especially served over jasmine rice ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thanks Judith!
We do not have orange juice concentrate but have fresh oranges. What would be the equivalent of fresh to concentrate?
I’m not sure the equivalent but I like Carol’s comment earlier!