Sweet and spicy Instant Pot firecracker chicken served on a bed of jasmine rice. This is a dinner that the whole family will love, and trust me, if you make it once you will instantly fall in love with it!
This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free and takes less than 30 minutes to be ready.
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’d know how much I love my Instant Pot! I use it to make all kinds of dinners from restaurant-quality dishes such as Instant Pot chicken parmesan and Tuscan chicken, and hibachi restaurant meals such as hibachi steak, hibachi chicken, hibachi shrimp, and even fried rice, to easy comforting dinners such as butter chicken, creamy mushroom chicken, and creamy salsa chicken.
This firecracker chicken is a new family favorite, I only started making it a couple of months ago, and we already made it at least 5 times! It’s sweet, spicy, saucy, and full of flavor. And the best part? It’s SUPER easy to make!
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What You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need to make firecracker chicken in the Instant Pot. You can use any cut of chicken that you have available. I used diced chicken breast, but if you would like to use chicken thighs, that totally works!
To make it less spicy, you can reduce the amount of hot sauce. I used Sriracha, but Frank’s red sauce would also work here.
As for the vinegar, I used rice wine vinegar, but you can substitute it with apple cider vinegar.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Instant Pot Firecracker Chicken
- Season the chicken, then coat in cornstarch. I like to use my kitchen tongs for this.
- Lightly brown the chicken in the Instant Pot, remove it, and set aside. Deglaze, and I like to remove the bits that got stuck to the bottom of the pot (discard) to get a smooth sauce.
- Make the sauce, so simple! Just mix the ingredients in a small bowl.
- Put the chicken back in, add the sauce and water, and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes.
- Remove the chicken, and thicken the sauce. Put the chicken back in, stir, and garnish with chopped green onion.
Now you can totally skip the cornstarch coating, and make this a dump and start recipe. But I personally love the crust that the cornstarch creates, it makes it so close to a classic firecracker chicken.
What to Serve With Firecracker Chicken
I like to serve this firecracker chicken on a bed of perfectly cooked jasmine rice (it cooks the same as basmati rice in the Instant Pot). For low-carb, you can serve this over cauliflower rice.
Video Tutorial
I also created a quick video for you to show you how I make Instant Pot Firecracker chicken, so make sure to check it out!
I hope you enjoy this mouthwatering meal! Be sure to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Instant Pot Firecracker Chicken
Recipe Video
Equipment
- Instant Pot 6-quart
Ingredients
- 2 lbs (900 g) chicken breasts cubed into bite-size or 1 inch pieces
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ cup water ¼ to deglaze and ¼ added to the chicken and sauce
For the Sauce
- ⅓ cup hot sauce such as Frank's hot sauce or sriracha
- ½ cup light brown sugar or honey
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce use tamari sauce for a gluten-free option
For Serving
- ¼ cup green onion chopped
- Cooked rice for serving
To Thicken the Sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- To a bowl, add the chicken, corn starch, salt, and pepper. Mix so that the chicken is well coated.
- On the Instant Pot press on SAUTE (on low) and heat the oil. Add the chicken, and brown it until lightly browned. Remove the chicken from the pot onto a plate and set aside.
- Deglaze the pot by adding ¼ cup of water, and with a wooden spoon or a heat resistant spatula scrape off any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. I recommend discarding the liquid and the chicken cornstarch bits that were stuck to the pot to get a smooth sauce. Switch off the saute setting.
- In a bowl, whisk all of the sauce ingredients until well combined, then add them to the Instant Pot and put the chicken back. Add ¼ cup of water to the chicken and sauce, and give everything a good mix.
- Secure the lid and set the vent to SEALING. Select the PRESSURE COOK/MANUAL setting and set the cooking time for 5 minutes at high pressure. The Instant Pot will take around 4 minutes to come to pressure and start cooking. When the cooking program ends, quickly release the steam.
- Carefully open the lid, and remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.
To Thicken the Sauce
- Press on SAUTE if the sauce is no longer hot, and once the sauce comes to a gentle boil add the cornstarch mixed with water. Whisk until the sauce is thickened (it thickens very quickly). Put the chicken back in, and mix.
- Serve over rice, and garnish with chopped green onion.
Notes:
- This dish is quite spicy, if you don’t like spicy food then you can reduce the amount of hot sauce. If you would like to omit the hot sauce, use ketchup instead.
- It’s important that you deglaze the pot after the saute to avoid getting a burn message.
- The reason why I like to deglaze and discard the liquid with the stuck bits then wipe the pot clean is to get a smooth sauce.
- Serve over jasmine rice, and garnish with chopped green onions.
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Freeze in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Zach says
After reading comments, the only modification I made was one… I doubled the sauce. I used 2x heavy cream and not sure how much grated parm… I bought a triangle that probably yielded 3.5 cups I used it all… and because I wanted thick sauce, I did 4 tablespoons melted butter and 4 tablespoons flour cooked together and added to the recipe. made it thick and gravy sauce like. was amazing.
Little Sunny Kitchen says
Thank you for sharing how you doubled the sauce, it sounds delicious!
Michi says
I enjoyed this recipe on top of white rice. Thank you so much. Next time I will add some pineapple as others recommended.
Little Sunny Kitchen says
I think pineapple is a great addition! Enjoy!
Brian says
I really like this recipe but… I keep get a food burn message. The first 7 or 8 times I made it it was perfect. 4 of the last 5 I have had a food burn message. Today it never came to pressure (after a long time of waiting) before I got the message. I cleaned out the pot between steps 3 and 4. A little help please 🙂
Little Sunny Kitchen says
Hi Brian, I’m sorry you’re having trouble. Are you getting the burn message with other recipes as well? If you’ve cleaned the pot out after browning the chicken there shouldn’t be a problem. The message may have to do with your Instant Pot. Check to be sure that your sealing ring is installed correctly and that the steam valve is closed.