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This healthy Instant Pot Orange Chicken is the perfect dinner recipe when you’re craving healthy Chinese food.
Using your pressure cooker, Orange Chicken is a super easy one pot meal. This Chinese recipe is great for meal prep, and you can add over precooked brown rice or make rice in the pot! There’s almost nothing easier than making this classic takeout recipe at home.
Where’s the recipe?
I provide a lot of helpful information in my recipes to best serve all of my readers. Some of this may be more than you need. If you just want to get to the recipe, simply scroll all the way to the bottom, past my tips and diet information, where you’ll find this easy to print recipe.
Healthy Orange Chicken Ingredients
- Chicken Breast: Chicken is a high protein, low fat staple in Asian cooking. Chicken soaks up all the flavors it is cooked in.
- Chicken broth: Be sure and grab low sodium chicken broth. If you don’t have any on hand just use water.
- Low sodium soy sauce: Use a soy sauce alternative, like low- sodium tamari or coconut aminos if you want a gluten free version.
- Rice vinegar: Rice vinegar is a type of vinegar made from fermented rice. It has a mild, slightly sweet flavor. It’s a staple ingredient in many Asian dishes, including pickled vegetables, sushi rice, salad dressings and slaws. You can substitute with white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or even lemon juice.
- Honey: Make sure to grab raw unfiltered honey, not the clover honey. Check your area bee farm, as there are tons of health benefits of using local honey. This recipe uses honey as a natural sweetener, rather than brown sugar.
- Ginger: Did you know ginger can help your body fight off germs? It’s a powerful antioxidant, and it tastes amazing.
- Crushed red pepper: No Asian recipe in my house is complete without some spice. Want more heat? Try adding half a tsp chili paste in addition to your crushed red pepper.
- Garlic: Eating garlic can combat the common cold, improve cholesterol, and is low in calories.
- Orange Zest: Orange zest is made from grating the top layer of an orange peel. It contains the fruits oils and gives your food a distinct citrus taste.
- Orange Juice: Loaded with vitamin C, you can hand squeeze or use a juicer to control the amount of pulp. Fresh oranges give an amazing orange flavor.
- Arrowroot Flour: Arrowroot flour is used as a thickener in gluten free cooking. You can substitute with cornstarch, if you’d rather!
Recipe Tips
- Partially frozen chicken is much easier to cut and handle, which is why this recipe calls for partially frozen chicken.
- I like to use a small handheld grater for my garlic and ginger. This also works great for zesting your orange.
- If you’d like to cook this recipe with brown rice (pot in pot), don’t cube your chicken and instead cook frozen chicken breasts (or chicken thighs) in an oven safe dish. Place 2 cups of rice and 2 cups of water on the bottom of the pot, then add your trivet on top, and place your oven safe dish with the chicken and sauce on top. Cook the chicken (and rice) for 20 minutes with a natural release. Cube your chicken before serving.
- I wouldn’t be shy about doubling the sauce for this recipe–it’s so delicious!
- To steam a hearty vegetable in the pot, wait for the cook time to end and then quick release pressure. Add your vegetable (I prefer broccoli) and replace the lid. Select Pressure Cook and set the time for zero minutes. Once cook time is done, allow steam to release naturally for 5 minutes before quick releasing.
- To steam a soft vegetable like sliced peppers, wait for the cook time to end and then quick release pressure. Add your vegetable and allow it to steam in the pot for 3-5 minutes without setting the cook time again.
- This recipe freezes well! I typically freeze this in a large storage container–brown rice on the bottom and chicken on the top. Thaw to fridge temperature and microwave for 5-7 minutes to heat.
Instant Pot Orange Chicken
I love that this recipe can be on the table in less than 30 minutes! Your pot will need 10-20 minutes to release pressure.
Time needed: 17 minutes
- Cube chicken
Cut your chicken into bite-sized pieces, about 1 inch.
- Sauté
Lightly spray your Instant Pot insert with oil and set to sauté.
- Make your sauce
Mix together the chicken broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, ginger, crushed red pepper, garlic, orange zest, and orange juice in the pot.
- Add chicken
Once the sauce is boiling add your cubed chicken, stir until all of the chicken is coated with the sauce.
- Pressure Cook
Close and lock the lid and turn the valve to sealing. Select Pressure Cook and set the cook time for 7 minutes.
- Naturally release pressure
When the cook time is complete, let the pressure naturally release and remove the lid. As with all pressure cooker recipes, the size and fullness of your pot will determine the amount of time it takes to release pressure–typically 10-20 minutes.
- Thicken your sauce
Scoop out ½ cup of sauce from the pot. Whisk in your arrowroot flour, and add back to the pot. Stir well and let rest until the sauce thickens. This could take up to 10 minutes. If you’d like it to go faster, use another teaspoon or two of arrowroot powder.
- Serve
Top with additional ginger and red pepper, if desired, and serve over brown rice or brown rice noodles. I love serving this with a vegetable like broccoli as a side. See the Recipe Tips for how to cook a vegetable in the pot with this dish.
Stovetop Directions:
- Cube your chicken into bite-size pieces, about 1 inch by 1 inch.
- Preheat a large skillet over medium heat
- Add chicken broth, reduced sodium soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, ginger, crushed red pepper, garlic, orange zest, and orange juice.
- Once the sauce is simmering, add your chicken. Stir to make sure all of the chicken is coated with the sauce.
- Cover and simmer over medium/high heat for 7-10 minutes until chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Scoop out ½ cup of sauce, and whisk in arrowroot powder. Return sauce to the pan and stir well. Remove from heat and allow the sauce to thicken.
- Top with additional ginger and red pepper, if desired, and serve over brown rice or brown rice noodles.
Healthy Eating Plans
You can view the WW version of this recipe here.
21 Day Fix: The entire 21 Day Fix Orange Chicken recipe counts as: 4 Red containers, ¼ Purple container, and 6 sweetener teaspoons. I give you the counts for the entire recipe so it’s easier to recalculate the containers if you change any ingredients.
Per serving: (¾ cup of chicken and ¼ cup sauce) 1 Red container, 1 ½ sweetener tsp and a trace Purple container.
2B Mindset: This orange chicken recipe is great for lunch or dinner. For lunch, add 50% vegetables to your chicken (protein) and brown rice (FFC). For dinner, skip the brown rice and fill your plate with 75% vegetables.
Want more healthy Instant Pot Asian-inspired recipes?
If you like this healthy orange chicken recipe, you’ll love these other healthy Instant Pot recipes! Healthier ingredients like whole grain noodles and low sodium sauces make these delicious recipes healthier.
Instant Pot Orange Chicken | Healthy Orange Chicken
Equipment
- Instant Pot 6 qt
- Coconut Aminos
- Kitchen Knife
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken breast partially frozen, cut into one inch cubes
- 1/4 cup chicken broth low sodium
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos or low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp ginger minced
- 1 tsp crushed red peppers
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 orange zested and juiced
- 2 tsp arrowroot powder
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions
- Cube your chicken into bite-sized pieces, about 1 inch. 1.5 lbs chicken breast
- Lightly spray your Instant Pot insert with oil and set to sauté.
- Mix together the chicken broth, coconut aminos, rice vinegar, honey, ginger, crushed red pepper, garlic, orange zest, and orange juice in the pot. 1/4 cup chicken broth, 1/4 cup coconut aminos, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 2 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp ginger, 1 tsp crushed red peppers, 2 cloves garlic, 1 orange
- Once the sauce is boiling add your cubed chicken, stir until all of the chicken is coated with the sauce.
- Close and lock the lid and turn the valve to sealing. Select Pressure Cook and set the cook time for 7 minutes.
- When the cook time is complete let the pressure naturally release and remove the lid.
- Scoop out ½ cup of sauce from the pot. Whisk in your arrowroot powder, and add back to the pot. Stir well and let rest until the sauce thickens. 2 tsp arrowroot powder
- Top with additional ginger and red pepper, if desired, and serve over brown rice or brown rice noodles.
Stove Top Instructions
- Cube your chicken into bite-size pieces, about 1 inch. 1.5 lbs chicken breast
- Preheat a large skillet over medium heat
- Add chicken broth, coconut aminos, rice vinegar, honey, ginger, crushed red pepper, garlic, orange zest, and orange juice. 1/4 cup chicken broth, 1/4 cup coconut aminos, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 2 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp ginger, 1 tsp crushed red peppers, 2 cloves garlic, 1 orange
- Once the sauce is simmering add your chicken. Stir to make sure all of the chicken is coated with the sauce.
- Cover and simmer over medium/high heat for 7-10 minutes until chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Scoop out ½ cup of sauce, and whisk in arrowroot powder. Return sauce to the pan and stir well. Remove from heat and allow the sauce to thicken. 2 tsp arrowroot powder
- Top with additional ginger and red pepper, if desired, and serve over brown rice or brown rice noodles.
Video
Notes
- Partially frozen chicken is much easier to cut and handle.
- I like to use a small handheld grater for my garlic and ginger. This also works great for zesting your orange.
Nutrition
Make This Recipe?
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Aha…mouth watering dish! I have added this dish to my wishlist :)
This was really good with zoodles! I don’t even usually like chicken and this will definitely become a staple!
Hi Becca-this looks so yummy! Unless something has changed recently, this recipe doesn’t require 2 tsp. That’s just for oil and nut butters. Honey is a different category (you got a couple tsp a day as a freebie). Can’t wait to try it!
Hi Mary, I actually wrote this recipe before that change was started! This is a great reminder to go through my recipes today and update container counts! Thank you!
Hi Becca – I can’t wait to make this!! I LOVE your website too!
Not sure what liquid aminos or arrowroot powder ingredients are. Can I use a substitiuition?
Hi there! You can replace Arrowroot Flour with regular flour, and Coconut Aminos with Soy Sauce :)
Loosk Super Delicious Dish. Never tried something like this. But love to try this.
Could you freeze the chicken?
Yummy to try!
Does the honey count in this recipe on the 21 day fix?
Yes :) honey goes towards your 4 tsp a day of natural sweetener.
So thought this would actually take 20 minutes like it said. Upon further review it says to let the steam naturally release. That can take 10-40 minutes. So far it’s been 20 minutes for that with no end in sight. I wish that it would’ve said that in the recipe so I’d have known.
Robin, using the Instant Pot always adds time on for building and releasing pressure. I’ll add in extra time for NPR into the printable recipe, I’m sorry this took so long for you.
I thought the same thing following the recipe on the site and I’m still waiting. Can you update this for planning purposes? This caused an issue at dinner time.
Hi there, the time that your pot takes to come to pressure is dependent on a few things–your elevation, the size of your pot, and how much food is in the pot (if you halved or doubled the recipe). I completely understand what you’re saying, but want to explain why I can’t easily do this.
I can’t assume the cooking circumstances and create a custom time that this recipe will take–especially when every other recipe creator is giving the standard cook time. As someone who cooks in an Instant Pot, you’re going to have to add time on for coming to and releasing pressure–it’s what everyone does.
If you’re seeing this time on other websites, I’d love to see how they’re doing it and I’m definitely open to doing it in the future. I want to make this as easy as possible for everyone! From here on out, I will include a note in the Notes section about the time that it takes to come to pressure.
Looks easy enough to try this Christmas. Instant Pot all the way!
Lots of great flavors but even after adding extra arrowroot and letting the sauce cool, it was still pretty runny. Is there a trick to getting it to stick to the chicken? What would’ve caused this issue?
It takes a bit to thicken–maybe 10 minutes. It’s not a super thick sauce but it definitely thickens up a bit.
If I used thawed chicken, should I decrease the cook time to just a few minutes?
Nope, it’ll cook in the same time but the pot will take a little less time to come to pressure with thawed chicken :)
I simply love instant pot! Thanks for sharing this recipe
Delicious! We tried this last night. I had to use ground ginger because I didn’t realize I was out of fresh, but we all loved it! My husband said it was so very flavorful and he’s hard to please. I can’t wait to try it again with fresh ginger. Thanks for the recipe!
Hey! This is such a great post! I have never tried orange chicken before but here I am excited to try.
Made it for first time tonight. Keeper. I forgot to make rice to put it over, but we had a couple of the cheat bags you can microwave. We have three little boys and it went over VERY well. Thank you!