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You’re going to love this tender, juicy, and incredibly flavorful Instant Pot Orange Chicken! This easy and healthy orange chicken recipe involves no frying, nothing sketchy – just simple ingredients that beats takeout.
This Instant Pot orange chicken recipe is about to be your new favorite dinner! It’s so easy, absolutely delicious, and will make the most tender chicken you’ve ever had!
If you’re looking for a crispy and breaded version of this recipe, check out our Air Fryer Orange Chicken. And if you are new to pressure cooking and the Instant Pot, check out this post on recipes for Instant Pot beginners.
Ingredients
This recipe is rocking:
- Chicken breast – boneless skinless, but chicken thighs would work great too.
- Orange zest and juice – fresh is preferred.
- Olive oil
- Low-sodium soy sauce or coconut aminos if you need gluten-free
- Toasted sesame oil
- Rice vinegar
- Fresh garlic
- Fresh ginger
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda – for tenderizing the chicken
- Sriracha – leave out if spicy isn’t your jam
How to make instant pot orange chicken
*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.
The first step in making this orange chicken in the Instant Pot is to prep the chicken and marinate it with baking soda.
Cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces, place them into a medium mixing bowl, and toss them with the baking soda. Let the baking soda sit on the chicken for 10-15 minutes.
While the chicken is resting, mince the ginger and garlic, and juice and zest the orange(s).
Place the chicken in a small strainer and rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear. You must completely rinse the baking soda from the chicken. Do not skip this step!
Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and let it sit while the Instant Pot heats up using the saute function.
Once the Instant Pot shows “HOT”, add 1 tsp olive and sesame oil to the Instant Pot insert. Add the chicken and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. The chicken will stick a bit, but that’s ok.
Push the chicken to the sides of the Instant Pot, add the other 1 tsp of olive oil, then add ginger and garlic. Stir for 1 minute. Turn Instant Pot to off.
Add a splash of the orange juice to the pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape any stuck-on residue off the bottom of the Instant Pot.
Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, orange juice, orange zest, and sriracha (if using). Give everything a brief stir and then lock the lid into place and set the steam release handle (valve on top) to “Sealing”. Press Manual>High Pressure>5 minutes.
While the orange chicken is cooking, combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Set it aside; you’ll be using it in a bit.
When the cooking time is up, do a natural release for 5 minutes, and then flip the vent to venting and perform a quick release. Carefully open the lid and press “Saute”.
Add the cornstarch slurry to the chicken and mix. Allow everything to come to a boil, stirring often until the sauce begins to thicken, which will take about 3-5 minutes.
If you’re feeling extra, top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.
How to Store and Reheat
Storing Leftovers: Store leftover orange chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Reheating Leftovers: Place chicken in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 60-90 seconds.
Freezing Leftovers: Instant Pot orange chicken is best enjoyed right away, but you can freeze it in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating following the instructions above.
What to serve with orange chicken
This recipe is easy enough that you can make something else to go on the side—or, if you’re not in the mood to cook, just pick up a pouch of heat-and-serve rice or quinoa at the grocery store, along with some air fryer egg rolls and roasted frozen broccoli.
In the mood to cook? Here are some ideas:
- Grains, like Instant Pot Basmati Rice, Instant Pot Jasmine Rice (or Instant Pot Brown Jasmine Rice), or Instant Pot Quinoa.
- A simple salad. Chopped Cabbage Salad, Cucumber and Onion Salad, and Cold Soba Salad would all pair well with orange chicken.
- A vegetable like Air Fryer Green Beans, Snow Pea Stir Fry, or Air Fryer Sweet Potato Cubes.
Frequently Asked Questions
In a nutshell, it turns the texture of chicken breasts into chicken thighs.
Tossing the raw chicken breast in a few teaspoons of baking soda, letting it rest for 10-15 minutes, and then rinsing it really well will give you the most tender chicken you’ve ever had.
You can skip this step if you’re pressed for time, but I highly encourage you to give it a try.
In a pinch, store-bought orange juice will work just fine. I think it misses some of the intensity of fresh orange juice, but sometimes it is the only option, which makes it the best.
I’ve had a friend make this with frozen orange juice concentrate when her fresh oranges went bad. At the end of the day, use what works best for you.
Yes! You can use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.
This recipe was originally written to be Whole30 compliant and called for arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch.
You can use the same amount of arrowroot as cornstarch in this recipe.
Absolutely! You can cut, marinate, and rinse the chicken and then store it in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
You can also prep the other ingredients ahead of time, or even use frozen garlic and frozen ginger.
Recipe Notes/Pro Tips
- Don’t skip the deglazing step. Any stuck on residue on the bottom of the pot could impact the ability for it to properly come to pressure. Deglazing only adds about 30 seconds of work to the overall recipe. Do it.
- No Instant Pot? Use a large frying pan or wok and cook the chicken throughout until no pink remains. Follow the instructions in the recipe card below for more details.
- Make the sauce pop even more by adding in a few pieces of dehydrated oranges during the cooking process. Discard prior to serving.
- If you prefer your sauce on the sweeter side, add 1-2 tbsp of honey to the sauce prior to cooking.
More Instant Pot Dinner RECIPES to Try
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS
One serving has 2 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.
Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast {boneless skinless}
- 2 tsp baking soda {optional – see notes}
- 2 tsp olive oil, divided
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 3 tbsp fresh ginger {minced}
- 4 cloves garlic {minced}
- 4 tbsp orange zest
- 1/3 cup soy sauce, reduced sodium {or coconut aminos}
- 1/3 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 2 tsp sriracha {optional}
Slurry
- 2 tbsp cornstarch {or arrowroot powder}
- 1 tbsp cool water
Instructions
- Cut chicken breast into bite-sized pieces. Toss with baking soda, stirring to distribute. Set aside for 10-15 minutes.2 lbs chicken breast, 2 tsp baking soda
- Chop the ginger, garlic, zest and juice the oranges.3 tbsp fresh ginger, 4 cloves garlic, 4 tbsp orange zest, 1/2 cup orange juice
- Place the chicken in a small strainer and rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear. You must completely rinse the baking soda from the chicken.
- Pat chicken dry with paper towels.
- Set the Instant Pot to Saute and allow to heat until it shows "HOT" on the display.
- Add 1 tsp olive and sesame oil. Add chicken and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.2 tsp olive oil, divided, 2 tsp sesame oil
- Push the chicken to the sides of the Instant Pot, add the other 1 tsp of olive oil, then add ginger and garlic. Stir for 1 minute. Turn Instant Pot to off.3 tbsp fresh ginger, 4 cloves garlic
- Add a splash of the orange juice to the pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape any stuck on residue off the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Add the rest of the ingredients through the cornstarch.1/3 cup soy sauce, reduced sodium, 1/3 cup rice vinegar, 1/2 cup orange juice, 2 tsp sriracha
- Lock the lid into place and set the steam release handle (valve on top) to “Sealing”. Press Manual>High Pressure>5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch and water until smooth and set aside.2 tbsp cornstarch, 1 tbsp cool water
- When the cooking time is up, do a natural release for 5 minutes, and then flip the vent to venting and perform a quick release.
- Open the lid and press Saute.
- Add the cornstarch mixture to the chicken and mix.
- Allow everything to come to a boil, stirring often until the sauce begins to thicken ~ 5 minutes.
Notes
- You MUST rinse all the baking soda from the chicken prior to cooking.
- Don’t skip the deglazing step. Any stuck on residue on the bottom of the pot could impact the ability for it to properly come to pressure. Deglazing only adds about 30 seconds of work to the overall recipe.
- Follow steps 1-3 above. Make the arrowroot slurry and set aside.
- Heat a large frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp olive oil and sesame oil to the pan. Swirl to coat.
- Add the chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add ginger and garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
- Push the chicken to the sides of the pan and add the rest of the ingredients including the arrowroot slurry to the pan.
- Cook thoroughly until the chicken is completely white when a test piece is cut.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This looks delicious and sounds so easy too! I really have to get myself an instant pot
Oh, it is time Nicole!!!
Making this recipe is worth it just so that you try the baking soda. Sounded far fetched but the chicken came out nicely tender. I loved the seasoning and made it a little spicier. It smells super sweet but doesn’t taste too sweet. I added some veggies that were precut stir fry assortment from the grocery store. Adding them at the time the sauce was thickened left them tender-crisp.
So glad you enjoyed it Molly, and I agree the baking soda is worth the extra step!
I love that you added veg to it. I’m totally going to try it next time!
I’m finally trying this tonight! I’ve used the baking soda in other recipes and I agree it’s “magic”. I’ll try veggies tonight too – sliced carrots and broccoli cuz that’s what I have on hand. I have another question and maybe there’s a better place to ask this – I am adding stuff to my gift exchange wishlist and wondered what you consider the go to essentials for instantpot accessories? I already have the egg bite cooker thingys.
It’s amazing what a little baking soda can do, huh sis?
I have a few Instant Pot add-ons listed in this post: https://www.sustainablecooks.com/beginner-instant-pot-recipes/ but honestly, I don’t use/have many gadgets to go with it.
This was really a fantastic meal! I couldn’t believe the flavor with no sugar or salt in it. It was so great to know that everything I was eating was healthy for us, and tasted so good.
Lisa, I’m so glad to hear you liked it! It is one of our favorites and I’m thrilled to know others are enjoying it as well.
Tried this tonight….never did the baking soda on chicken….amazing. chicken tastes so juicy and tender. So good. Thank you for this recipe.
It’s pretty fricking awesome, right Heather? Who knew that baking soda could do that to chicken! So glad you enjoyed it. It’s even better the next day so hopefully you have leftovers for tomorrow.
I made this tonight & it was family approved! I had no where near 4 tbsp of orange zest but there was plenty of orange flavor. I had run out of rice vinegar (thanks to a recent obsession with making my own salad dressings) so I used apple cider vinegar, don’t know how that impacted the flavor. I saw another comment that someone added sweetener. Was it supposed to have a bit of a sweet taste?
Hi Izzy, I don’t add sweetener to mine but it’s really up to you. I dump so much hot sauce on mine that it doesn’t make any sense to sweeten it. lol
So glad the family enjoyed it!
I loved this meal! It’s even better the next day. My kids are picky eaters and they gobbled it right up. The sauce is sweet but not too sweet like you would find in restaurants. I didn’t have an orange to zest so I added a little extra OJ after cooking it. Super easy and super delish. I will absolutely make this again!
So glad you and the family loved it Elaina!
Just made this tonight. We practically licked the skillet clean! Our oranges weren’t very sweet, so I added a little sweetener. I really like how the baking soda helped the texture of the chicken too! Who knew? Served it with riced cauliflower. Thank you so much, Sarah!! I’ve already forwarded the recipe to my sisters.
Yahoo! So glad you liked it Paulette! We recently discovered riced cauliflower as well and love it as a base for this chicken.
Isn’t it amazing with a little baking soda can do to chicken? It’s magic.
Greetings,
Know that I appreciate your swift reply to my comments on the hot pot orange chicken.
Yes, I did gloss over the part of the recipe( shell shock from the sodium content ?) which offered a more conventional method of cooking this dish.
Thanks for pointing this out to me .
Recently, I have, by necessity ,meandered over to 85% plant based dietary plan, and only eat Chicken maybe 3 times/ month, in small portions. No red meat. Yes on Alaska wild Sockeye Salmon & Alaska Cod plus wild Argentina red Shrimp from the Deep South Pacific.
As you know, it is necessary on a More limited diet, it’s important to find provacative new dishes to avoid crashing back into pasta/ white bread/ ready meals with some bad ingredients.
Thanks so much for your gifts of your website and the work it takes to maintain.
Be Well,
Bonnie
I’m not sure if you’re near a Trader Joes, but they have wild caught Argentinan shrimp in their freezer section! Also, have you tried canned wild salmon? I buy it at Costco for our salmon cakes. I’m glad you said salmon because I knew I needed something to add to our Costco list since this morning and I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was!
Anyhoo, the canned salmon is delicious for the salmon cakes. The recipe makes a bunch so I cook them all up at once and then freeze leftovers. If you like roasted veggies (my fav), simply throw a few in during the last 10 minutes of cooking and the cakes will heat up. Bonus: use cast iron to roast those veggies and salmon cakes and you don’t have to do dishes! Re: roasted veggies: did you see my post two weeks ago with the tip on roasting frozen veg? It has been a game changer for my weekly meal prep.
If all goes well I’ll have a new sweet potato recipe out for you in a few weeks. I always make things multiple times before posting so there is always the potential for disaster.
Have a great weekend!
Your orange chicken recipe has shockingly high levels of SODIUM! 1111 mg per serving? Are you serious? Does this have anything to with baking soda used to tenderize?
Also would appreciate versions for NON Hot pot cooking , as I have other dietary financial priorities at the moment, such as more Organic ingredients.
Hi Bonnie,
I use a third party nutritional label program and while I don’t agree with the sodium content in this nutritional label, I can’t edit it. Baking soda does contain sodium but since it is rinsed off it shouldn’t impact the counts too much but of course the program can’t interpret that. 1/3 cup of reduced sodium soy sauce has 2805 mg of sodium in it. As this serves 6 it would be 467.5 mg per serving. I’ll add a note to the recipe notes. Thanks!
Additionally, there ARE non-Instant Pot cooking directions in the post. Please see the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post. There is a heading that says “FRYING PAN/WOK INSTRUCTIONS”. 99.99% of my Instant Pot recipes have conventional/stovetop instructions included as I want anyone to be able to enjoy my recipes regardless of what special cooking equipment they may have.
It is also mentioned in the main post under the “recipe notes” heading: No Instant Pot? Use a large frying pan or wok and cook the chicken throughout until no pink remains. Follow instructions in the recipe card below for more details.
Please do take a close look at my IP recipes as the two-part instructions are always included because I want you guys to be happy! Let me know if you’re unable to find them and I can shoot you an email with the details or even send the recipe card as an attachment.
Sarah
ETA: I did some googling and turns out I could update the sodium. Doh! It has been updated to reflect the accurate amounts.
Oh man, another recipe that sounds amazing! My husband loves orange chicken but I rarely eat it since MSG gives me migraines. I’m definitely going to try this. I’m so intrigued by the secret ingredient!
I can’t wait to hear what you think! The baking soda is the business my friend.