Easy Orange Chicken Made with Instant Pot®

Ingredients 0/12

Step 1

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then cut it into bite-sized chunks, about 1 to 2 inches each. Turn your Instant Pot on to the sauté setting, and crank the heat up to high. Once it's hot, add a bit of oil and let it shimmer before tossing in the chicken. Cook, stirring often, until the pieces start to turn golden—this should take around 2 to 3 minutes.

Step 2

Pour in 3/4 cup of orange juice and bring it to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits. Add the tomato sauce, sugar, molasses, soy sauce, garlic, orange zest, ginger, and rice wine, then gently stir everything together so the chicken is well coated. Turn off the sauté function.

Step 3

Seal the pot with the lid and make sure the vent is closed. Set it to cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. It will take about 10 to 15 minutes for the pressure to build up. Once the cooking time is up, let it sit on the Keep Warm setting for 10 minutes, then carefully release the pressure using the quick-release method.

Step 4

After removing the lid, switch back to the sauté function but lower the heat. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons of fresh orange juice with cornstarch until smooth, then stir this mixture into the pot. Keep cooking and stirring gently until the sauce thickens, which should take about 3 minutes. Let it simmer for a couple more minutes.

Step 5

Finally, turn off the heat and let the sauce sit for 5 to 7 minutes to thicken up even more before serving.