Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken [Instant Pot]

Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken is an old Foster Farms recipe, cooked in a spicy sweet sauce. Now, it’s what’s for dinner in less than 30 minutes!

Pressure Cooker Simmered Chinese Chicken

If you buy Foster Farms Chicken, then you may remember when they used to put recipes on the back of their packages. This Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmer Chicken is adapted from the original Foster Farms Simmered Chinese Chicken recipe.

While I don’t consider this recipe Chinese at all, this Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken with Rice is very delicious and very easy to make. The ingredients are not strange or fancy and most of us already have them in our pantry.

Cast of Ingredients for Pressure Cooker Simmered Chinese Chicken

While the original recipe calls for one whole chicken cut up, I have included instructions to use boneless and skinless chicken as well.

Ingredients for Pressure Cooker Simmered Chicken Chicken

• One Whole Chicken – cut into parts
• Soy Sauce
• Ketchup
• Sherry or Shaoxing
• Crushed Red Pepper
• Brown Sugar
• Potato Starch

All white meat or all dark meat, with or without skin can be used as well. In this house we just use a whole chicken as I like the dark meat and my other half prefers the white meat.

Mix together all sauce ingredients

As a liquid measuring cup is needed anyway, I like to use a one a bit larger and use it to whisk up the Simmering Sauce. I use Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups and my very favorite whisk which is a Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk. I use this whisk in almost every recipe; it is THAT good.

Allow Pressure Cooker to Fully Heat

If you choose to use a whole chicken with skin, you must first heat up your Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot or Pressure Cooker before adding any oil or fat. This helps the stainless steel pot to become non stick.

Why this Recipe Works for Everyone

• People who love skin and bones on their chicken will enjoy the recipe as the skin is first seared in the Instant Pot pressure cooker.
• Those who like bones on the chicken, but not the skin will also enjoy the recipe as Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken can be made without the skin.
• The rest of those folks who prefer no skin and no bone will enjoy a dump and push start recipe as the chicken with the sauce is just tossed into the pot and cooked.

A similar flavored recipe to this dish is my Pressure Cooker Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken. White meat chicken chunks are used in this recipe and with my trick, the chicken is moist, tender and juicy.

Dark meat chicken and white meat chicken cook at slightly different times. No worries as the directions below make it so simple.

Potato Starch is used in Asian cooking and is gluten free. I prefer to either an Asian Potato Starch or Bob Mills Potato Starch, rather than flour, as I love the flavor it gives when coating meat and shrimp. If you don’t have any, go a head and use cornstarch.

Add the dark meat first and sear

Why Use Potato Starch?

• Potato starch is a wonderful way to ensure that your meat says nice and juicy during pressure cooking.
• For searing or browning the meat, a coating of potato starch really helps to seal in the juices. It also helps as you will know when the chicken skin is perfectly sealed as the chicken will release from the bottom of the pot.

Potato Starch Coating on Chicken Instead of Slurry

• When using the pressure cooker, more liquid than normal is needed, so the sauce often times needs to be thickened. With my method, the starch on the meat adheres to the meat nicely and allows the pot to come up to pressure with the little amount of liquid in the pot. As the release of the potato starch is slow, you will not get a burn notice.
• As the meat cooks and releases liquid, it also releases the starch and therefore thickens the sauce without gumming up.
• Best of all, with the nice and thickened sauce, you don’t have to worry about making a starch slurry after pressure cooking.

Pro Tip: Coating beef, pork of chicken with potato starch before cooking under pressure, ensures extra juicy meat. It also saves you the step of having to make a slurry to thicken the liquid in the pot.

Pour in the Simmer Sauce

Whether you sear the meat first to crisp up the skin or make this a dump and go recipe, the sauce goes in after the chicken.

Turn this Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken recipe into a one pot meal!

If you would like to cook your rice at the same time and in the same pot with your Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken, we will use my popular Pressure Cooker Perfectly Cooked Pot In Pot Rice recipe.

Place Pan on Top of Trivet

You are ready to lock the lid and cook your entire dinner in ONE pot at the same time!!!

Perfectly Cooked Rice

Perfectly cooked pot in pot rice, cooked at the same time as your main course.

Remove the White Meat Chicken

After removing the chicken from the pot, the sauce should be perfect. If you want it more sticky and thicker, just simmer until you are happy.

Whisk the Chinese Simmered Sauce to Thickness Perfection

Continue mixing until your Sauce becomes a bit thick and a bit sticky. It will only take a minute or two.

Oh, first, toast some Sesame Seeds. I use my cast iron skillet with a touch of Homemade Ghee and cook for a few minutes on medium heat. If you don’t want to bother with the Sesame Seeds, don’t worry about it. It really doesn’t add much to the flavor.

Garnish the Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken with Toasted Sesame Seeds and Scallions

You can add in some veggies too if you like.

Add in Options

• Sliced Carrots
• Snow Peas
• Bok Choy
• Mushrooms

One Pot Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken with Rice

This Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken with Rice was very delicious and very easy to make. The ingredients are not strange or fancy and most of us already have them in our pantry.

If you don’t want to cook your rice with the Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken, you can make it in a separate pot, using this recipe, Pressure Cooker White Rice.

More ONE POT Instant Pot Recipes to Make:

• Pressure Cooker Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken & Rice
• Pressure Cooker Chinese Take-Out Beef & Broccoli
• Pressure Cooker Chicken Pesto Penne + Video
• Pressure Cooker Healthy Inside Out “Eggrolls”

Kitchen Equipment and Essentials

• Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot or Pressure Cooker
• J.A. Henckels Classic 8 inch Chef’s Knife
• Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
• Culina Stackable (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
• Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
• Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk – a MUST have, probably my most used utensil
• My FANTASTIC Teak Cutting & Charcuterie Board
• Ekovana Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker Stackable Pans Set
• Stainless Steel Tall/Short Trivet & Egg Cooker Set

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Here is your handy printable recipe:

Chinese Simmered Chicken

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: American Chinese, Asian, Asian inspired, Chinese, Chinese Take-Out

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 6 minutes

Total Time: 21 minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 414kcal

Author: Jill Selkowitz

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 pounds Whole Chicken cut into 8 pieces (back and neck removed)
• 2 Tablespoons Potato Starch or Cornstarch
• ¼ cup Dry Sherry Wine or Apple Juice

Simmer Sauce

• 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/3 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup Fresh Water
• 1 Tablespoon Ketchup
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes crushed
• 1 clove Fresh Garlic minced

Rice (Optional)

• 2 "rice" cups Jasmine Rice rinsed well
• 2 cups Fresh Water (or chicken broth)

Garnish

• 2 teaspoons Natural Sesame Seeds toasted (optional)
• 1 Scallion sliced

US Customary - Metric

Recommended Products

Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker

J.A. Henckels Classic 8 inch Chef's Knife

Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk

Liquid Measuring Cup Set

High Heat Resistant Spatula

Ekovana Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker Stackable Pans Set

Instructions

• To a glass measuring cup add soy sauce, brown sugar, water, ketchup, red pepper flakes and whisk to combine.

Instructions for Whole Chicken

• Select Sauté or Browning on your Instant Pot pressure cooker and allow to full heat. 
• Dredge chicken through potato starch and shake off any excess.
• When pot is hot, add 1 Tablespoon oil to cooking pot.
• Place dark meat chicken into oil, skin side down and sear for about 20 seconds or until chicken no longer sticks to from bottom of pot. Repeat with the white meat. (Only sear the sides with skin.)
• Add sherry and deglaze cooking pot by scraping the bottom with a good high heat index spatula and make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom.
• Pour Simmer Sauce over chicken

Instructions for Boneless and Skinless Chicken

• Remove skin and fat from chicken.
• Dredge chicken in potato starch, so all pieces are completely coated.
• Add 1 Tablespoon oil to Instant Pot / pressure cooker and swirl to coat bottom.
• Pour in Sherry.
• Shake off excess starch from each piece of chicken and place chicken into Instant Pot pressure cooker.
• Pour Simmer Sauce over chicken.

Cooking

• If making the rice at the same time, place stainless steel trivet into pot and place rice pan of rinsed rise on to the trivet.
• Pour two cups of fresh water in with the rice and cover (if you have the lid with the steam holes, otherwise, don't worry about covering).
• Lock on lid and close pressure valve.  Cook at high pressure (most machines default to high pressure) for 5 minutes.
• When beep is heard, wait 10 minutes and then release the rest of the pressure.
• Remove lid and remove bowl of rice and trivet.  Set rice aside to finish steaming.
• Remove chicken to a serving platter.
• If needed, Sauté or Browning and simmer the sauce until thickened.
• Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

Notes

Whole cut up chicken or boneless skinless chicken can be used. All light meat or all dark meat can be used.

A "rice" cup is the little plastic cup which comes with multi-cookers, pressure cookers and rice cookers. It is simply a cup (not a unit of measurement) used to measure raw rice. It is not a proper dry measuring cup. A "rice" cup measures similarly to a 3/4 dry measuring cup.

How to Tell When Chicken Skin is Seared

• Once the skin of the chicken has become brown and the fat has rendered away, the chicken will easily be able to be moved in the pot.
• The potato starch will form a firm coat and release/loosen the chicken from the bottom of the pot.

Shaoxing Wine can be used in place of Sherry. If you use Sherry, make sure to use a good Sherry, not a cooking sherry!

Nutrition is for one whole skin on chicken.

Originally published on November 1, 2016. Republished February 23, 2020 to add notes.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Chinese Simmered Chicken

Amount Per Serving

Calories 414 Calories from Fat 225

% Daily Value*

Fat 25g38%

Saturated Fat 7g44%

Cholesterol 109mg36%

Sodium 856mg37%

Potassium 360mg10%

Carbohydrates 17g6%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 13g14%

Protein 29g58%

Vitamin A 261IU5%

Vitamin C 3mg4%

Calcium 39mg4%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken [Instant Pot]