Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken in Minutes

Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken in 5 minutes or pressure cook from frozen in only 15 minutes! Great for meal prep or as a quick, delicious, gluten-free weeknight meal.

Jump to:

• Easy weeknight dinner
• Ingredients
• Step by step instructions
• Yield
• How to serve
• Instant Pot teriyaki chicken from frozen
• Slow cooker teriyaki chicken
• Stovetop teriyaki chicken
• 📖 Recipe

Easy weeknight dinner

Tender shredded chicken in a lightly sweet homemade teriyaki sauce with fresh garlic and ginger. This flavorful meal goes from fridge to table in minutes with an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker.

This Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken is one of my favorite weeknight chicken dinner recipes! Perfect for those days when dinner time hits and there’s nothing ready to cook.

Even frozen chicken gets soft, tender and shreddable after just minutes on high pressure.

While you shred the chicken the juices reduce toa. lightly sweet teriyaki sauce with big flavor from the fresh garlic and ginger.

It’s so easy and takes only minutes to serve this delicious and nutritious meal. See for yourself!

Ingredients

• Boneless skinless chicken thighs
• Low sodium soy sauce– or gluten free tamari
• Sugar
• Rice wine vinegar
• Red pepper flakes
• Garlic
• Ginger 
• Corn starch
• Water
• Scallion / green onion sliced
• Sesame seeds 
• Fresh cilantro 

Step by step instructions

1. Place soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger and chicken in Instant Pot. Close and seal Instant Pot. Ensure venting knob is set to SEALING. 
2. Press PRESSURE COOK on new models or MANUAL on older models and cook on high for 5 minutes. The Instant Pot will takes a few minutes to come to pressure then begin counting time.
3. Once the Instant Pot has finished cooking and beeps allow it to naturally release pressure for at least 5 minutes. Flip seal to RELEASE to ensure pressure has released then open and remove chicken to rest. Once rested shred with two forks.
4. Meanwhile, press SAUTE on the Instant Pot and let the liquid reduce and the flavors concentrate. After liquid has reduced by ¼, combine corn starch with water and stir in.
5. Whisk frequently while boiling until thick enough to coat a spoon. Add shredded chicken back to the Instant Pot. Stir until coated with homemade teriyaki sauce and heated through. 
6. Serve with additional sauce, sliced scallions, sesame seeds, hot sauce and/or fresh cilantro. 

Yield

Recipe makes enough for 6 meals when combined with rice and vegetables. To serve a larger or hungrier crowd double the recipe and make as instructed. When fuller Instant Pot may take longer to pressurize but will still be just as tender and delicious.

How to serve

Serve Instant Pot Chicken Teriyaki over rice with broccoli for a quick weeknight meal. Or use the tender shredded chicken to meal prep teriyaki bowls, wraps, salads, etc. to treat yourself to fresh, affordable meals all workweek long.

Instant Pot teriyaki chicken from frozen

If you’re like me and always forget to take something out for dinner, you can make this recipe with completely frozen chicken

If using frozen chicken, simply increase the cooking time from 5 to 15 minutes and let Instant Pot naturally release pressure for at least 15 minutes. Also, decrease soy sauce to ¼ cup and water to 1 tablespoon.

Slow cooker teriyaki chicken

To make Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken place all ingredients except cornstarch, water, green onions, sesame seeds and cilantro in pressure cooker and cook on low 3-4 hours or 2-3 on high. Stir in cornstarch/water mixture and let simmer for the last 45 minutes of cooking to thicken. Then garnish and serve.

Stovetop teriyaki chicken

To make Crispy Stovetop Teriyaki Chicken substitute skin-on chicken thighs and fry skin side down in a tablespoon of canola oil until crispy in a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Weigh down chicken with additional heavy pot to flatten and crisp the skin if needed. Remove chicken once cooked through and skin is crispy then remove to rest before slicing. Meanwhile, whisk remaining ingredients except sesame seeds, scallions and cilantro. Remove all except 1 tablespoon of chicken fat from the pan and return to medium heat. Pour in teriyaki sauce scrapping up browned bits from bottom of pan. Simmer until thick and add sliced chicken back to sauce to warm through before serving.

However you cook it, I hope you love this Teriyaki Chicken recipe as much as I do!

📖 Recipe

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