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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.
This Instant Pot Chinese Lemon Chicken has tang from the lemons but also sweetness thanks to some honey and brown sugar. I love to serve it over brown rice that I also make in the Instant Pot.
The addition to the 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.
And the best part, is this recipe only takes 15 minutes of cooking time! I can’t even get down to my local Chinese restaurant and home again in that amount of time!
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken, thighs or breasts
- Lemon, juice and zest
- Soy Sauce
- Honey
- Brown Sugar
- Rice Wine Vinegar
- Ginger, Garlic, Red Pepper Flakes
- Salt
- Cornstarch
- Green Onions
How To Make Instant Pot Chinese Lemon Chicken
- Trim fat off of chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces and put into Instant Pot.
- Mix together all remaining ingredients except for cornstarch, water and green onions. Pour over chicken.
- Lock on lid and select manual, high pressure and set to 3 minutes.
- Quick release when cook time is over. Carefully remove lid.
- Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl, stir until smooth.
- Add mixture to pot.
- Turn pot onto sauté and simmer until sauce thickens.
- Serve over rice and topped with green onions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this in a slow cooker?
If you don’t have an Instant Pot you can convert this recipe to a slow cooker. Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Add the chicken and sauce to slow cooker and cook it on low for 4-5 hours. Add in the cornstarch mixture the last 30 minutes.
Check out some other yummy lemon recipes here:
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Instant Pot Chinese Lemon Chicken
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
Instructions
- Trim fat off of chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces and put into Instant Pot.
- Mix together all remaining ingredients except for cornstarch, water and green onions. Pour over chicken.
- Lock on lid and select manual, high pressure and set to 3 minutes. When cook time is over do a quick release. Carefully remove lid.
- In a small bowl combine cornstarch and water, stir until smooth. Add into pot. Turn pot onto saute and simmer until sauce thickens. Serve over rice and topped with green onions.
Tips & Notes:
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Nutrition Facts:
Carrie M says
My daughter loves her Instant Pot, I gave her mine so now she has 2 and uses them both. I like adding veggies, and ingredients at the end of the cooking process so instant pot doesn’t allow for that easily. I think they both cook equally. So, can you convince me by info the reason I should have kept the pot, because she thinks it was a great loss to me! I don’t Thanks. I would probably prefer a post verses watching something. Thank you so much for your info and recipes. I love your blog. Carrie from sunny AZ
Leigh Anne says
Carrie, Honestly I still love my slow cooker better than my Instant Pot but I’ve had fun experimenting with it. If you love your slow cooker I’d stick with that.
Charlotte says
Oh sorry, I just now saw the slow cooker instructions. Thank you!
Pam Henderson says
This looks like a great recipe. I will try it this week! Did you know that you can cook Rice in your Instant Pot at the same time as the chicken. Just put in a small heat-resistant pan (I use a 6-inch Wilton cake pan) and put the pan directly on top of the chicken or use a trivet to raise it a bit. 1 cup rice, 1 1/4 cup water, 1/2 tsp salt; stir. Cook at the same time as your chicken—3 minutes. Remove when you get ready to put in your cornstarch mixture. Cover with foil and let steam a little while you are making your sauce. Fluff and serve. Ta da! No cleaning your rice cooker with this meal!
Leigh Anne says
Thanks for the great tip – will have to try it.
Jen T says
Oh, how I wish I could come to your class! Any possibility you could record it and post it on your blog? I am a crock pot lover and have been for years, and just got an instant pot for Christmas, and am wondering what to do. If you could record and share it, that would be awesome!! Thanks!
Leigh Anne says
Jen, I’m thinking about doing a Facebook Live with the info next week.
Charlotte Prow says
This lemon chicken recipe looks so good but for those of us who don’t have an instant pot, is there a slow cooker or stove top version?
Thank you!
Leigh Anne says
Yes, and I explain how to do that at the end of the post.