For as long as we’ve been writing this blog, dinner time has been a major point of focus for the majority of our readers. And we get it. I too, often look at the clock around 5pm and suddenly wonder what the heck I’m going to pull together and how I’m going to do it when all the meat in the house is currently frozen. My pressure cooker has been a game-changer in this department, which is why you’ve been seeing more and more pressure-cooker recipes from me! (You can read more about them, here.) This recipe can also very easily be made in a slow cooker, and I’ve included directions for that. So we’ve got super fast AND super slow options for ya. The best part? You can take use those completely frozen chicken breasts from the giant Costco bag and stick them straight from the freezer into your pot and it only takes 15 minutes cooking time in the pressure cooker. The whole meal is done and on the table in about 30. I shared my Chili-Lime version recently, and this is my Asian-inspired version. I’ve got another Italian style version and with those three flavor profiles you can seriously make ANYTHING for dinner depending on what else you can scrounge up in the fridge.
If these ingredients look familiar to you, it’s because I borrowed a lot of flavors from this Honey Orange Pork, which is one of my family’s favorite recipes. I swapped out the cider vinegar for rice vinegar and added a hefty dose of ginger and then used the juices to make the easiest sauce. These are things that you can keep around in the fridge and pantry all the time so you can whip this up easily. You could even sub out powdered ginger if you didn’t have fresh.
Orange marmalade is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with, and honestly- what else do people do with orange marmalade?? I don’t see many people spreading it on toast or plopping it on their PB&J but man it’s good. It’s works perfectly in a sauce like this because it adds sweetness, thickness, and concentrated orange all in one hit.
The sauce comes together in minutes, maybe even seconds.
And then you can just pour it right over your chicken.
If the chicken is frozen, I set it to 15 minutes pressure cooking time, and if thawed, 6 minutes. When it’s done, pop it on a cutting board and shred and while you’re doing that, just turn the heat on the pan and bring the sauce up to a simmer.
I just add a little cornstarch slurry, which takes all those flavorful juices and turns them into a nice sauce that coats the chicken.
From there you can serve it over rice and vegetables, or use it in lettuce wraps or on a salad or whatever. It’s super versatile and my whole family loves it. So there you go, dinner in under 30, boom.
Looking for more Pressure Cooker Recipes? Here’s 3 more for you to try!
Pressure Cooker Brazilian Black Beans
Pressure Cooker BBQ Ribs
Pressure Cooker Chili-Lime Chicken
Orange-Ginger Chicken
Description
Sweet and tangy Asian-inspired shredded chicken. Perfect with rice, over steamed vegetables, in lettuce cups,a wrap, or on a salad.
Ingredients
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (frozen OR thawed)
1/3 cup orange marmalade
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons water, broth, or orange juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 teaspoons cornstarch
Instructions
Place chicken breasts in pressure cooker (see notes below for alternate cooking methods).
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together: marmalade, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, water, ginger and garlic. Pour mixture over chicken. Secure lid on pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes (15 minutes is the cooking time once under pressure.) When finished, release steam according to pressure cooker instructions and use an instant-read thermometer to make sure meat has reached 165 degrees. (If it has not reached temperature, simply return shredded chicken to sauce and simmer until cooked through.)
Remove chicken breasts and place on a cutting board. Bring remaining sauce in pan up to a simmer (use the saute feature on an electric cooker). Combine cornstarch with 3 teaspoons cold water and then pour mixture into pan. Simmer until sauce is thickened and the turn off heat.
Shred chicken and return to pot with sauce.
Yields about 4 cups shredded chicken
Notes
Tip: If your chicken breasts are extra thick (more than about an inch or so) they might require a longer cooking time, or if they are thawed, simply cut them in half before putting them in pan.
Slow cooker instructions: place thawed chicken breasts in slow cooker and top with sauce. Cook on low until internal temperature reaches 165. Don’t overcook. While you are shredding chicken, turn slow cooker to high to bring to a simmer and finish thickening sauce.
Questions & Reviews
Love this recipe! Just printed it to make for my freezer meal swap group. Just curious, did you publish your Italian variation because I love the Asian and Mexican versions, I’m sure I’d like that one too. 🙂
Hi Sara,
I’ve just dicovered your blog (thanks for writing it for us) and made this chicken tonight for dinner. it was delicious! I never order orange chicken at restaurant or take-out counters because it’s always way too sweet. This wasn’t. The huge amounts of garlic and ginger cut through the sweetness (I added half the honey) to make a perfect sauce. It was a little thick for me, so I’ll back off on the cornstarch next time.
I halved the recipe using an 11-oz breast, which was just right for the 2 of us. I cooked it in my IP Mini using the Slow Cooker function set to high (which = low in my Cuisinart slow cooker). It was ready in just 1 hour, temping at 167ºF. Turning it to Sauté made it easy to finish the sauce right in the pot. I served it over jasmine rice with an Asian slaw for brightness. Perfect dinner for two! My husband called it a keeper, which made me happy, because I love dump recipes that work!
Glad you loved it!
Okay! Grocery shopping tomorrow and this just went on the meal plan. I’m finally taking it out of the box ?
This looks amazing!!! Will certainly be trying this out this week! Thank you for sharing.
Yum! Thank you! Keep the pressure cooker recipes coming! I got one a year ago and feel like I’m still figuring out how to use my “little droid” (as my sister calls it). Are you planning on posting your Italian recipe eventually too? I’d LOVE to see that one!
Made it tonight, it came out quite tasty. Definitely in the “make again” category.
I’m trying this tomorrow for the first time. Maiden voyage for my pressure cooker! Wish me luck! I love every recipe of yours I’ve tried so I have high hopes. I’m still hoping you’ll post your recipe for the Italian pressure cooker chicken of the three, that one intrigues me the most!
Good luck! (And don’t worry, it’s coming!)
Borrowed a friends pressure cooker to try this out and it was a definite success. SO fast and easy! And idea when you are planning on posting the Italian version? I’m super excited to try it out!!
Any idea how long this cooks in the crockpot for?
I’m not sure, you’ll have to eyeball it. I’d do it on low for maybe 3 hours or so? People tend to overcook chicken breasts in the crock pot, so just make sure to only cook them until they reach 165 degrees internally.
It shouldn’t take more than 1-2 hours on low (my Cuisinart cooks boneless chicken breast in 1.5 hours). Check it at 1 hour.
Any idea on approximately how long the chicken would need to cook in a slow cooker? Normal sized chicken breasts, will probably cut in half to make thinner than an inch. Thx!!
Thank you for the pressure cooker recipes! I have had my Instant Pot since black Friday and I love it! I use it almost daily, but I haven’t done many chicken recipes other than whole chickens. I’m going to try this one.
I made this tonight and it was a HUGE hit! All 5 of my kids asked for seconds. I have always wanted a good recipe to use marmalade for because 1. it looks fancy and 2. it sounds fancy but seems impracticable for everyday use. I was able to easily double the recipe and use my crockpot. Another winning recipe! Thanks Sara and Kate!
Oh I’m so glad!
Ok- this looks delicious! I wanna try it, but after trying (and failing) at the pressure cooker chili-lime chicken I’m a little gun shy. I have a regular, old fashioned stove-top pressure cooker. I’m the first to admit that I’ve used it for over 10 years to do nothing but mashed potatoes, but I’m trying to branch out. I know they don’t require the same time as the electric variety, but I can’t find any concise conversion charts anywhere. (Even at hippressurecooking.com) I made the chili-lime recipe last week and cooked fresh breasts for 5 minutes (once it was up to pressure) at 15 pounds pressure. They were SOOOOOOO dried out. Any suggestions for better success this time around?
Hi Michelle, sorry for the frustration! Your stove-top version obviously cooks a little different. Have you been able to nail down a basic time that generally works for boneless skinless breasts? Have you tried googling the user manual for your particular make and model? That might be able to help you get it right, but I would say if your chicken was dry with only 5 minutes, maybe just try cutting it in half and see how that goes. Since the cooking time is so low anyway, there’s not a whole lot of margin for error and you should be able to get it just right with only a try or two!
I made the Chili Lime chicken in my new Instant Pot on Sunday, it was fantastic! I threw it in a white chicken chili and the flavor was amazing! I am definitely going to try out this Asian version! I’m so excited for this introduction to pressure cooker cooking. It is going to make summertime cooking so easy without heating up the kitchen.
So excited to try this. Orange marmalade is not something I normally buy, but I’d noticed it as an ingredient in some yummy somethings I saw on Pinterest, so I picked a jar up a few months ago on a grocery trip. And of course, by Murphy’s Law, once I had the marmalade, I could no longer find the recipe I’d wanted it for. But like a miracle from heaven, I actually have every ingredient in this recipe in my home at this very moment. That so rarely happens; it must be a sign.
Haha, perfect!
Loving all the pressure cooker recipes!
This might be a silly question, but when I cook the Costco chicken breasts from frozen I get quite a bit of white fat (chunky white something, I’m assuming it is fat)… Does this happen to you? Do you just skim it off and go on your way with thickening the sauce? I ask because I just made your Slow Cooker Taco Chicken this way (because we eat it once a week or so) and that’s what happened.
Yep, that happens sometimes, just skim it off and you’re good to go 🙂
When I learned that you can freeze unpeeled ginger… the whole knob… and just zest it with your microplane, it was kind of life-changing. Maybe slightly over-dramatic, but I always have ginger on hand, and zesting frozen ginger takes a fraction of the time of chopping it. This looks yummy!
Awesome tip! Thanks for sharing! I’m going to have to start.
Thanks for another pressure cooker recipe!
I recently made your Weeknight Chili in my electric pressure cooker and it turned out great. I reduced the beef broth to 1 cup, but otherwise followed the recipe (browning the meat and veg, etc) and cooked it for 7 minutes on high pressure. I did a partial natural release – maybe 8-10 minutes so the beans wouldn’t blow up? – and then released the rest of the pressure.
I have the cookbook, but it is also here: https://ourbestbites.com/2015/09/easy-weeknight-chili/
Awesome! Great to know!
Keep those pressure cooker recipes coming!!! I am SO interested! I just bought one and this recipe looks perfect. Thank you.
I glad to see this wonderful post i finding it for many days and now i get it i make it and the result was awesome every was happy to see it.