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Instant Pot Sticky Korean Chicken…the best Monday dinner.
FOR REAL.
Sorry, I don’t mean to shout at you, especially on a Monday, but it’s true what I said up there, this is the best Monday dinner. It’s an under thirty minute meal, super simple, and extra delicious.
Ok, all the dramatics aside, I do truly love this recipe and am very excited to share it with you guys for so many reasons.
I wanted to start the week off with yet another Korean inspired recipe, because you guys…we are just two days away from boarding an airplane and flying off to South Korea. Craziness! It’s still unbelievable to me that we are headed there to watch my brother compete in the Olympics. I know I’ve been talking about this for weeks, but this is for sure the coolest thing to ever happen within my family. I have been following along with my brother Red’s Instagram stories (it is so fun having social media so we can all be a part of his experience). He spent Saturday in Soul, South Korea getting fitted for his Team USA Opening and Closing Ceremony outfit. Yup, just another normal Saturday…
Right, right.
One of my favorite Korean inspired recipes is Bulgogi, which is Korean gilled beef in a sweet and spicy sauce. It’s truly just so good. I have a recipe for Korean Bulgogi BBQ Steak Bowls that you guys all seem to love, but I wanted to create a lighter, simpler chicken version using the Instant Pot (don’t worry, I included slow cooker directions too).
The key to this recipe is all in the sauce, it’s sweet, sticky, and a little bit spicy. It takes normally boring chicken to a whole new level.
Most traditional Bulgogi marinades use pears and a lot of brown sugar, but I wanted to keep this chicken on the healthier side, so I swapped honey for brown sugar and reduced the sweetness a bit by omitting the pear (which I am really not a fan of anyway). The rest of the sauce consists of Gochujang (Korean chili paste) sesame oil, ginger and garlic.
And then? Everything gets mixed and cooked up in the Instant Pot (or slow cooker). It could not be easier.
I like to serve this Korean chicken over a bed of rice with some kimchi, toasted sesame seeds, and green onions. I also added in some thinly sliced mango…because I am obsessed and I can’t help myself. Mango is for sure not Korean, but it’s delicious. Just go with me on this one.
Here’s the thing, as I said, I’m sure this is not traditional. But that’s kind of the idea of these Korean inspired recipes I’m sharing, they’re only Korean inspired. I can’t wait to see how the recipes I’m sharing now, differ from the real deal Korean food that we will be enjoying in South Korea. My goal is to find some new inspiration while there and be able to come home and share new, more traditional, Korean recipes with you guys.
But until then, you should probably make this chicken, because traditional or not, it’s really stinkin’ good.
Also? I think if there’s one thing I would cook in the Instant Pot, it would be chicken. I’m not going to lie, I have a love/hate relationship with my Instant Pot. I’m still trying to figure certain things out. But if there’s one thing the Instant Pot seems to cook amazingly well, it’s chicken. No matter what, it always turns out tender, moist, and never dry.
That said, this can easily be cooked in the slow cooker or even in the oven.
And with that, I’m off to keep working away in preparation for my week away. Happiest Monday!
PS. I have only ever been out of the country once, and that was to Mexico, so this will be a whole new kind of experience for me. It should be fun…and very interesting, considering no one in my family knows even a little Korean. Ahh, yikes!
Instant Pot Sticky Korean Chicken
Servings: 6 servings
Calories Per Serving: 358 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1-2 tablespoons Gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- steamed white rice, for serving
- 1 cup kimchi
- 1 mango, sliced
- toasted sesame seeds and green onions, for serving
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of your instant pot the soy sauce, honey, Gochujang, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Add the chicken, tossing to coat. Cover and cook on high pressure/manual for 8 minutes. Once done cooking, use the quick release valve and release the steam. If needed to thicken the sauce, set the instant post to sauté and cook 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens and coats the chicken. If the sauce seems thin, just continue to cook on sauté, checking often until the sauce is your desired consistency.2. To serve, spoon the chicken and sauce over bowls of rice. Toss the kimchi with the mangos and serve alongside the chicken. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds and green onions. Enjoy!
SLOW COOKER DIRECTIONS
- 1. In the bowl of your crockpot, combine 2 tablespoons water, the soy sauce, honey, Gochujang, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Add the chicken, tossing to coat. Cover and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours or on HIGH for 2-3 hours. If the sauce needs thickening, turn the heat to high and cook uncovered for 30 minutes. Finish as directed above.
NOPE….definitely not your average chicken.
Can you add the chicken breasts frozen to the crockpot?
Hey Jennifer,
I wouldn’t recommend that, I would thaw the chicken first. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this recipe! xx
Would you recommend subbing the soy for coconut aminos. This sounds incredible as is however I just try to stay away from spy products.
Hey Jen,
Totally, that will work well for you!! Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
Yep! I do that with almost all recipes and it works great. I do generally find coconut aminos to be sweeter than soy sauce though; so if a recipe calls for a sweetener, like honey or brown sugar, I usually omit or decrease the amount
Question- would you put this under the broiler for some caramelizing? Any reason not to with this recipe?
Hey Robyn,
You could totally do that! I hope you enjoy the dish, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
So yummy – I did have to sauté the sauce a bit longer to thicken it up like some people mentioned, but mine actually looked just like your pic! I was so proud I sent it to my whole family haha (and it tasted so good my fiancé and I were actually excited for leftovers the next day!)
Hey Ashley,
I am thrilled that you enjoyed the recipe, thanks so much for making it! xTieghan
I made this last night for my Korean food loving friends and it was a huge hit! The sticky sweet/spicy chicken combined with fresh crunchy veggies over rice was a wonderful combination that felt both indulgent and healthy. A few things: Like others, my sauce was not thick after the chicken finished cooking in the IP. I removed the chicken, chopped it into bite-sized pieces, and let the sauce simmer for a while. I eventually added some cornstarch before returning the chicken back to the sauce & at that point it stuck quite well to the meat. I served it over sushi rice (we love the stickiness!) and chopped radish, carrots, green onion, and topped with daikon kimchi. So delicious!
Hi Emma! I am so happy you and your friends loved this recipe! Thank you for trying it! xTieghan
Hi, can you link the recipe for the slaw that is in the photos?
Hey Darcy,
Sorry I do not have a recipe for that, just used it as a garnish:) I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
This recipe unfortunately missed the mark for me. I followed the directions exactly as written, apart from substituting low sodium soy sauce for regular soy and it was still far too salty, overpowering the honey, ginger, and gochujang. The sauce never thickened. Continuing to sauté the sauce would have resulted in overcooked chicken.
Hi Adriana! I am really sorry to hear that! Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with! xTieghan
I followed the recipe as written and the sauce was really thin. I cooked it longer to see if it would thicken but it didn’t, so I added a cornstarch slurry and that did the trick. The sauce was thick but not sticky. However the sauce tasted incredible! I am 1/2 Korean and I was very skeptical about adding mango to kimchi but I gave it a go and it was amazing! Another awesome recipe by HBH!
Thank you so much Debra! xTieghan
Very nice, I replaced the gochujang by siracha. Unfortunately I didn’t have low sodium soy sauce so it was very salty but the mango balanced it out. I also added a bit of flour to thicken the sauce because it was too runny.
I recommend this recipe, it’s super quick and easy. I just put everything in the slow cooker and wait for the magic to happen.
Thank you so much Aurore! I am so glad this recipe turned out so well for you! Please let me know if there is anything I can help with! xTieghan
Wow! So good!
Thank you! xTieghan
Wow!so good!
Thank you Melissa! xTieghan
10/10 would make again. seriously so so easy.
That is so amazing to hear! Thank you so much Lauren! xTieghan
It smells amazing, but takes FOREVER to thicken 🙁
I’m going on 30 minutes alone just trying to sauté it to the point where it doesn’t have a water like consistency.
Hi Berkley! Did it end up thickening? Please let me know if I can help! xTieghan
Can you use in-bone chicken breast? Thanks!
Hi! Yes! Just add 2 minutes to the cooking time. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you!! xTieghan
SALTY!!! I made it exactly as the recipe called, I’m an OCD recipe follower. I was hesitant to put that much soy sauce in it, but it was overpoweringly salty. Night one was ok, I hardly put any of the sauce (not sticky in texture, wish I had had corn starch to thicken) on it so it was ok. The leftovers soaked in the sauce overnight and the chicken is soaked through with soy sauce and too salty. I love Tieghan’s recipes, but this one was a miss 🙁
Hi Eris! I am sorry to hear that! Please let me know if there are any questions I could help you with! xTieghan
Love the chicken, have made it numerous times. How would you recommend doing a pot-in-pot rice cook at the same time?
Hi there,
Amazing!! Thanks a lot for trying this dish and sharing your feedback, I love to hear that it was tasty for you! Sorry, I am not sure what you are asking for the rice? xT