Formerly Your Homebased Mom

Leigh Anne Wilkes

Instant Pot Chinese Lemon Chicken

Name: Instant Pot Chinese Lemon Chicken
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 2 lbs. chicken thighs or breasts (cut into bite sized pieces); 1 tsp lemon zest; 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice; 1/4 cup soy sauce; 1/4 cup water; 1/3 cup honey; 2-3 Tbsp brown sugar (to taste); 2 tsp rice wine vinegar or white vinegar; 1/2 tsp ginger (minced); 1/2 tsp garlic (minced); 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes; 1/2 tsp salt; 3 TBSP cornstarch; 3 Tbsp water; green onions (chopped)

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By: Leigh Anne WilkesPosted: 2/12/18Updated: 1/25/22

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Instant Pot Chinese Lemon Chicken is quicker than take out. Create a restaurant style lemon chicken in minutes using your Instant Pot. If you don’t have an Instant Pot scroll down for the Crock Pot directions.

Later this week I am teaching a class at church on using the Instant Pot. The class is actually Instant Pot vs. Slow Cooker. I’ll be talking about the advantages and disadvantages of both, and of course sharing recipes and demonstrating a few recipes. I will also be sharing how you can convert your slow cooker recipes to the instant pot and vica versa.

In preparation for the class I’ve been doing some Instant Pot recipe development trying to get more comfortable with the Instant Pot.

I’ve shared a few other Instant Pot recipes here on the blog and in fact, my most popular recipe of 2017 was an Instant Pot recipe! This Instant Pot Shredded Mexican Beef is really good! You can find my other Instant Pot recipes here. Today’s recipe for Lemon chicken is going to definitely be a favorite.

This Instant Pot Lemon Chicken has tang from the lemons but also thanks to some honey and brown sugar it has that sweetness I love in restaurant style lemon chicken without being overly sweet. I love to serve it over brown rice that I also make in the Instant Pot. Making rice is the Instant Pot is so easy and it turns out perfect every time. I guess I need to do a post on that!

The addition of ginger, garlic and a little red pepper gives this lemon chicken the perfect flavor combo. I like to use chicken thighs but you can also use chicken breasts if you prefer. After the Instant Pot comes to pressure, the chicken only cooks for 3 minutes and then I did a quick release so the total time was about 15 minutes. I can’t even get down to my local Chinese restaurant and home again in that amount of time!

Crock Pot Directions: If you don’t have an Instant Pot you can convert this recipe to a slow cooker. If I was using a slow cooker I wouldn’t cut the chicken into bite size pieces but would put the chicken thighs in whole and then cut them up after they cook. Just add the sauce over the thighs and cook it on low for 4-5 hours. Add in the cornstarch mixture the last 30 minutes. Serve over brown or white rice and give it a garnish of green onions to give it some color.

Check out some other yummy lemon recipes here: Lemon Basil Pasta – Really Good Lemon Chicken Pasta – Lemon Cream Chicken.

My favorite kitchen items I used to make this INSTANT POT CHINESE LEMON CHICKEN:

LEMON JUICE SQUEEZER – this is one of my most used kitchen tools. Nothing beats fresh squeezed lemon juice and this guy makes it so easy.

MICROPLANE ZESTER– this is the perfect tool for zesting lemons or limes. I use mine on a daily and weekly basis.

INSTANT POT – This 6 qt electric pressure cooker helps cook dinner quicker and easier! Has 7 different functions.