Chinese take-out ready in 30 minutes! This Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken is chopstick licking good and only takes about 25 minutes of hands-off cooking time! 
Who doesn’t love a good classic Chinese takeout meal?! It’s always bursting with flavor and leaves you feeling satisfied. But if you’re anything like me and try to cut down on take out to save some cash money, then you need this recipe in your repertoire.
How to Make Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken
This recipe is super easy to make thanks to the Instant Pot. Only 10 minutes of prep. And then you throw all the ingredients into the Instant Pot. Set to pressure cook for 5 minutes. Natural release for 10 minutes and then quick release. It’s 25 minutes of HANDS-OFF cooking time. So you can clean up, do the dishes, and dance to Lizzo around your kitchen (no? just me?) while it cooks. This is my kind of weeknight dinner.
You’re gonna go cray for this recipe if you like:
- quick & easy
- Instant Pot (or slow cooker!) recipes
- sweet & tangy flavors
- saucy chicken
- Asian-inspired flavors
- Chinese take out
- Saving money
So get your chopsticks ready and add this to your weeknight dinner line up! Or, add this sweet dish to your Valentine’s Day menu tomorrow!
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Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken
(6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6-8 1x
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 lbs chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1, 20-ounce can pineapple chunks in juice
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- Rice, for serving
- Optional: sesame seeds and green onion for garnish
Instructions
- In the Instant Pot, add olive oil and set to Sauté. Sauté chicken until slightly browned, 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and let sauté until fragrant, about one minute.
- Add bell pepper, pineapple chunks and juice, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce and brown sugar.
- Secure lid onto Instant Pot. Close the steam vent (should be on sealing). Set to high pressure for 5 minutes. Allow natural pressure release for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, use quick release valve to release steam.
- Once pressure is released, open lid and stir.
- In a small bowl, mix together cornstarch and water until slurry is formed. Stir cornstarch slurry into chicken mixture.
- Set Instant Pot to sauté until mixture is bubbling and thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
- Serve chicken with rice.
- Optional: Garnish with sesame seeds and/or green onion.
Notes
How to make sweet and sour chicken in the slow cooker:
- Add all ingredients (except olive oil, corn starch and water) to slow cooker and set to low for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. After chicken is done cooking, add cornstarch slurry to slow cooker to thicken mixture.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Chinese
Keywords: sweet and sour, chicken, instant pot, Chinese
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LOVE your recipes …. do you list the calorie count anywhere?
Hi Barb! I don’t include a calorie calculator in my recipes. You can learn more here: https://karalydon.com/intuitive-eating/why-i-dont-include-the-nutrition-information-for-my-recipes/
Wow this looks so good! It looks more delicious than any takeout version. I’ve never tried making my own sweet and sour before! x
Thank you, Gemma! It’s ready in no time at all, and definitely as good as takeout. 🙂