This honey garlic instant pot chicken thighs recipe is bursting flavor! It’s sweet, tangy, spicy, and the perfect way to get your “Chinese takeout” fix right from your own kitchen! These tender and juicy chicken thighs in this AMAZING honey garlic sauce will be ready in 30 minutes in the instant pot. Total game changer!
I have a ton of delicious chicken thigh recipes on this website like my smoked paprika baked chicken thighs and my crispy oven baked chicken thighs. You can also try a slow cooker whole chicken in honey garlic sauce with vegetables.
Instant Pot Chicken Thighs
This quick and easy chicken recipe really requires the minimum amount of effort and ingredients, so it’s the ultimate go-to dish for a busy weeknight – and the leftovers are super handy for lunch the next day! I’d be very surprised if you didn’t have the majority of these ingredients in your cupboard at home already too.
I like to serve my honest garlic instant pot chicken thighs with rice (or quinoa!) and vegetables and I often serve it up with my instant pot mashed potatoes too! (yes, I have two Instant Pots and they will be going at the same time some days!)
How To Make Honey Garlic Instant Pot Chicken Thighs
This recipe really comes together fast and is sure to be a new fast family favorite.
- Combine all of the sauce ingredients and place it and the chicken thighs in the Instant Pot.
- Cook for the recommended amount of time (see the recipe below)
- Release the pressure, then make the sauce!
Tips And Tricks For Instant Pot Chicken Thighs
- Don’t have an instant pot? No worries! Check out my recipe for Mom’s Easy Honey Garlic Chicken to cook in your oven instead!
- You can also use chicken breasts instead if you’d prefer, just reduce the cooking time by a minute or two.
- Want to mix it up a bit? Make it a stir-fry by adding in some veg! Mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, and snap peas all work well with this. Just add them in at the end when you’re cooking the sauce.
- You can totally use honey garlic sauce from the store instead, but this is so easy to make there’s not much point!
- To freeze, mix the sauce up with raw chicken, place in a freezer-safe container or bag, and it’ll keep for 6 months.
- If I HAD to choose between rice and mashed potatoes for serving alongside this dish I’d go for rice. It just absorbs all of the juicy flavor so well, it’s absolutely delicious!
More popular chicken recipes for you to try
Salt and Pepper Baked Chicken Legs
Ginger and Cumin Baked Drumsticks
You can make double the sauce in this recipe if you desire (some people are just extra saucy) and only cook enough chicken thighs so that they aren’t in layers in the Instant Pot. You can place them on their sides to fit more, just don’t put them on top of each other, or they won’t cook.
Happy cooking!
Love,
Karlynn
Honey Garlic Instant Pot Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 6 large chicken thighs skinless
Honey Garlic Sauce
- 1/2 cup soy sauce make it low sodium if salt bothers you
- 1 cup liquid honey
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Thickening Agent
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 cup cold water
Instructions
- Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients in a large glass measuring cup.
- Place the chicken thighs into the bottom of your Instant Pot and pour the sauce over top.
- Seal the Instant Pot according to the manufactures directions.
- Cook boneless chicken thighs on on high pressure for 20 minutes and bone-in for 22 minutes. (make your rice or potatoes during this time!)
- Let the pressure naturally release for 5-7 minutes, the remove the lid safely and according to the manufacturer’s directions for manual release.
- Press the saute button. Whisk together the cornstarch and water until smooth, then rapidly whisk into the sauce in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Cook until it's thickened.
- Serve the chicken thighs and the sauce on rice or mashed potatoes.
Notes
- Chicken thighs need to be an internal temperature of 165 °F for safety BUT are delicious when cooked longer. Dark chicken meat benefits from being cooked longer to break down the meat fibers and fat content. I find that at LEAST 185 °F is what you need for the best meat texture. If you have very large chicken thighs, cook for 25 minutes to get that velvety, fall apart texture. Smaller chicken thighs without a bone will be around 18 minutes. It all depends on the size, boneless or bone-in.
- Nutrition info calculates that you eat ALL of the sauce.
Nutrition
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April says
So absolutely no salt?
Karlynn Johnston says
Oh lordy no, that soy sauce is SO salty! Even if you use low sodium, it’s still crazy salty!
Kay cee says
Is it ground ginger or fresh?
Joe Waz says
How long should I leave chicken thighs in the instant pot if frozen?
Karlynn says
Add another 5-7 minutes cook time for frozen!