Pressure Cooker Bourbon Chicken is easy on the wallet and can be on your table in less than 30 minutes.
You know how you walk through the food court and you are bombarded with employees handing you a toothpick with a piece of Bourbon Chicken? Now you can make it quickly and easily, right in your own Pressure Cooker!
You won’t need to stand over a hot stove or hot oil. Using a pressure cooker is so easy and your chicken will be so flavorful.
Well, now you can have it on the table in under 30 minutes. Bourbon Chicken isn’t actually made with Bourbon, but that doesn’t stop me from adding a bit. 🙂
Chicken thighs work best as they are so much more forgiving than white meat chicken. If you must use white meat chicken, just lessen the cook time by three minutes.
Turn this Pressure Cooker Bourbon Chicken recipe into a one pot meal!
You will just need these two accessories. The shorter of the two stainless steel flat bottomed insert pan and a Tall Legged Stainless Steel Steaming Rack/Trivet.
Whisk up the marinade in a bowl or measuring cup.
Cut up the chicken into 3 inch pieces. They will shrink during cooking and will end up being bite size!
Place the chicken pieces into a Medium Mixing Bowl and pour in the marinade over the chicken.
This really is an optional step. I feel chicken tastes better after being marinated. If you are in a hurry, just skip this part. Place the Bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Make sure to always heat your Pressure Cooker until very hot and then add in your oil. Adding the fat after a stainless steel pot is hot makes the stainless steel pot non stick!
I like to use both Peanut Oil/Olive Oil and Pure Sesame Oil to brown.
Lightly and quickly brown the chicken on both sides and remove to a plate, if more room in the pot is needed. When all the chicken has been browned, whisk in the marinade to deglaze the pot.
Add any chicken (along with any juice) you may have removed back into the pot and you are ready to cook.
If you are making this a One Pot Meal using my Pressure Cooker Perfectly Cooked Pot In Pot Rice recipe, add your Tall Legged Trivet and Rice now.
Lock on the lid and you are ready to cook.
If a thicker sauce is desired, remove a little liquid from the pot and add in a bit of Potato Starch to make a slurry. Whisk the potato starch into the liquid and then pour into the Pressure Cooker cooking pot.
Drizzle in a little Toasted Sesame Oil and serve.
Serve with my Pressure Cooker Thai Triple Coconut Rice or my Pressure Cooker White Rice and broccoli. Enjoy!
Kitchen Equipment and Esssentials
- Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker
- J.A. Henckels Classic 7-inch Hollow Edge Santoku Knife
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Simply Gourmet (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk – a MUST have, probably my most used utensil
- Rachael Ray Stoneware EVOO Oil Dispensing Bottle
- My FANTASTIC Teak Cutting & Charcuterie Board & Compartments
- 3.5 Quart Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl
- Kadoya Pure Sesame Oil
- La Tourangelle Toasted Sesame Oil
- Potato Starch
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Here is the handy printable recipe:
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Boneless Chicken Thighs (cut into 2 inch pieces)
- 2 Tablespoons Peanut Oil (or other oil)
- 2 cloves Fresh Garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Ginger Root minced
- 3/4 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- 1/4 cup Apple Juice
- 1/3 cup Light Brown Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Ketchup
- 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 cup Fresh Water
- 1/4 cup Soy Sauce, Low Sodium
- 2 Tablespoons Potato Starch , if needed
- 1/4 cup Bourbon (optional)
- 3 Scallions , cut one inch long, on the diagonal
Optional
- 1 teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil
Recommended Products
Instructions
- In a bowl, add ginger, garlic red pepper flakes, apple juice, brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar, water, soy sauce and chicken and allow to marinate for 30 minutes.
- Turn the Pressure Cooker to Sauté or Browning and allow to heat.
- Add oil to the Pressure Cooker cooking pot and brown the chicken pieces in batches, removing each batch to a plate. Continue until all the chicken has been browned.
- Pour the reserved marinade into the cooking pot and deglaze the pot by removing all the brown bits from the bottom.
- Return all the chicken to the Pressure Cooker cooking pot.
- If making this a One Pot Meal, add the Prepared PIP Rice now.
- Lock on lid and close Pressure Valve. Cook at High Pressure for 7 minutes.
- When Beep is heard, wait 10 minutes and then release the rest of the pressure.
- If you would like a thicker sauce, remove a little liquid from the cooking pot and add a teaspoon of potato starch and whisk until combined. Pour that back into the cooking pot, add bourbon (if using) and scallions.
- Select the Sauté or Browning button and simmer until desired thickness is achieved.
- Drizzle Toasted Sesame Oil (if using) into pot, mix and serve.
Heidi says
So good!! Thank you!! I’ve never liked any chicken recipe I’ve ever made so I’ve verified this recipe is fool proof! Thank you for sharing your recipes.❤️
Jill Selkowitz says
Thank you, Heidi. I am glad you enjoyed my recipe. Jill
Linda Alina says
It looks yummy!
Thank you for sharing.
WIll definitely try.
Simon Cooker says
I’ve wanted to try those free samples but there’s no way I’m going to because I don’t know how long the food has been sitting out. This recipe caught my eye, but what really got my attention was the cool accessories for the Instapot. I didn’t know they existed. Can’t wait to check them out.
Jill says
Hehehe, Simon, right!!!!! You never know what is in that food. I hope you enjoy this recipe. I love accessories. Jill
Sasha Jamison says
I just made the recipe using frozen chicken breasts and I am beyond impressed! I added some ginger paste and apple juice and didn’t use the full amount of honey. Rice is cooking on the stove right now. Can’t wait to dig in!
mary says
I don’t see honey in the recipe???
Vicki Smith says
hi. I just got the power quick pot. doing the first recipe . chicken and rice …finding a mixture of times to cook. we are cooking it at med. cooked for 10 min and now letting it rest for 10 min. guess we will see what happens. there are two of us trying ti figure this out. Do you know of any place on line that might give out classes?
Jill says
I can tell you that my recipes and cook time are spot on. Many recipes on line use a longer cook time than necessary. Jill
Kristina Godwin says
Made this for dinner tonight, and everyone liked it – went back for seconds (and thirds) and all said they’d eat it again. It was too spicy though. I’ll use half of the red pepper flake next time. Also, I didn’t have bourbon, so that was omitted, but I did add about a tablespoon of honey at the end (when I added cornstarch to thicken it up). I think the sweetness of the additional honey helped cut through the heat of the pepper flake. The taste was good, and I was happy that I could cook the entire meal in the IP. I made the rice first (while the chicken was marinating), and I used frozen chicken breasts (instead of thighs). I was able to thaw the chicken a bit while it was marinating so once the rice was done, I was able to cut it up (and put back into the marinade until the saute function was ready. I wasn’t able to brown the chicken, but it turned out well anyway. Thanks for the recipe, I am glad I found it and was able to make it.
Gail Van Brunt says
Love this recipe! I believe bourbon is an enhancer, even if the original didn’t include it. My pot is coming to pressure now and it smells amazing.
Jill says
Hi Gail. How can bourbon not be good. 😉 Jill
Linda says
How long do you sauce for? Mine have juice from the marinade, so they’re not really browning.
Linda says
I didn’t pour the whole marinade in when I was about to sauce. It’s just that each chicken piece has some marinade on it.
Barbara Pickering says
How long would you cook one pound of chicken for Bourbon chicken
Saby F says
Tried out today. Whole family including kids loved it!
Jill says
Hi Saby. Thank you for letting me know. I am thrilled the whole family enjoyed the meal. Jill
LJ says
It was really good. Each of my family members liked it a lot and would eat it again- We all have different tastes so that is saying a lot! It was not too sweet, not too salty. I added a bit more ginger (about a half inch or so of the root, finely grated) and zing was liked. I gave it only 4 stars because of the timing. Prep and cook time was over an hour for me, I expected about a half hour.
Carolyn c says
Can I double this recipe in the instant pot? If so, how would I adjust cooking time?
Susan M says
This is really a great dish. I made it tonight and it was a big hit.
One question though. Did you mean green onions or shallots?
Kim Bearup says
Susan, scallions = green onions.