![Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken [Instant Pot]](https://staging.thisoldgal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/instant-pot-apricot-glazed-herbed-chicken-thighs-2-150x150.jpg)
Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken turns ordinary chicken thighs into a 5 star meal. Little effort yet fancy enough for a dinner party or date night.
Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken ThighsOne of my favorite meals to make for company and Friday night meals is Apricot Glazed Cornish Game Hens. It always impresses!
Cornish Game Hens can be made in the oven or on the barbecue grill, so I thought I would change it up a bit, use chicken thighs and use the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker to make a quick meal. Oh my gosh, was I surprised at the wonderful meal with so little effort.
Cast of Ingredients for Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken
Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken is such an easy recipe to make and you can use individual seasonings or a seasoning blend.
The Orange Liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Triple-Sec add so much flavor to this apricot chicken!
Mix Together Seasonings
If you don’t have all the individual spices on hand, Herbes de Provence will work in a pinch.
The seasonings are very potent and flavorful and pair so well with the apricot flavor.
Chicken with Herb Seasoning and Butter
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Can Chicken Breast Be Used Instead?
- Yes, this recipe works very well with chicken breasts too. White meat chicken is a bit leaner and drier than dark meat chicken.
We’ll add some extra butter and the Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken will be fantastic, juicy and delicious, just like the juicy thighs.
Make Apricot Glaze in Instant Pot
The apricot glaze can be made on the stove using a 1-1/2 Quart Stainless Steel Saucepan over low heat, but with this easy recipe, I’ll show you how to make the glaze right in the Instant Pot cooking pot.
What Kind Of Orange Liqueur?
- Grand Marnier or Triple-Sec are perfect to use.
- If there is another brand you like, no problem. As long as it is an orange liqueur, you are good to go.
As much of the alcohol content will burn off during cooking, there isn’t much of a chance of becoming drunk and falling over. 🙂
Delicious Apricot Glaze
I like this Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk for whisking the glaze ingredients . It does a great job of breaking up the apricot into tiny pieces. If you check out my Easy 5 Minute Apricot Glaze Recipe, you will get an idea of how to make this apricot glaze on the stove top.
Use CrispLid to Brown the Topping
There are a few ways to crisp the chicken skin with the apricot glaze.
The quickest and easiest way is to use a crisping lid.
Crisping Lid – Which to Use
- Mealthy Crisplid will fit on all 6 and 8 quart pressure cookers regardless of brand.
- Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid will only fit on specific Instant Pot models, so please check my article Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid to see if this brand will fit your model.
- Each lid can be purchased from Amazon, which I have linked below.
- Mealthy CrispLid (buy from Amazon)
- Instant Pot Crisping Lid (buy from Amazon)
Pro Tip: Buy a crisping lid. ^^^^^ It saves so much time and no need to turn on the stove or oven!
Brush Glaze On to Chicken
A cast iron skillet or a good baking/cookie sheet can be used as well. You will need to use your oven’s broiler.
The glaze is easily applied with a Silicone BBQ Basting Brush. You will need to do both sides.
Brush Apricot Glaze Over Chicken Skin
Now if you like you can also use a stand alone air fryer too and I recommend this Ultrean 8.5 Quart Air Fryer model.
When the glaze starts to caramelize, you are good to go!
Brush Extra Glaze Over Chicken
After crisping up and charring the chicken skin, you’ll want to give the chicken another coating of the apricot glaze before serving.
If you want to make rice at the same time as your chicken, just use my Pressure Cooker Perfectly Cooked Pot In Pot Rice method!
Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herbed Chicken Thighs
This chicken brings back so many memories every time I make it. It pairs very nicely with my Pressure Cooker Thai Triple Coconut Rice or Mashed Potatoes with Glistening Sauce and a green vegetable.
Finish off your meal with a wonderful Instant Pot Apple Crisp. Your date night will be perfect.
More Chicken Recipes You Will Love.
- Air Fryer Hamburger Hamlet Fried Chicken Wings & Secret Apricot Sauce
- Pressure Cooker Bang Bang Chicken
- Low Carb Chicken Schnitzel {Chicken Cutlets}
- Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Chicken Jalapeño Poppers
Kitchen Equipment and Essentials
- Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker
- J.A. Henckels Classic 8 inch Chef’s Knife
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Simply Gourmet (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk – a MUST have, probably my most used utensil
- My FANTASTIC Teak Cutting & Charcuterie Board
- Mealthy CrispLid (buy from Mealthy) / Mealthy CrispLid (buy from Amazon) or
- Instant Pot Crisping Lid (buy from Instant Pot) / Instant Pot Crisping Lid (buy from Amazon) or
- Lodge 10.25″ Cast Iron Skillet
- Silicone BBQ Brush
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If you share a picture of something you make from our blog, tag it with #thisoldgalcooks so we can see it. We might feature it on Instagram! It makes my day when I see you’ve made one of our recipes!
Here is the handy printable recipe.
Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken Thighs
Print Pin Save RateIngredients
- 4 Chicken Thighs
- 3 Tablespoons Salted Butter
- 1/4 teaspoon Dried Rosemary
- 1/4 teaspoon Dried Tarragon
- 1/8 teaspoon Ground White Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Glaze
- 1/4 cup Apricot Preserves
- 2 Tablespoons Orange Liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Triple-Sec
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
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Instructions
- Add lemon juice to Instant Pot pressure cooker.
- Pat dry chicken thighs and place into a bowl.
- Mix together rosemary, tarragon, salt and white pepper and rub into chicken thighs.
- Place seasoned chicken thighs, skin side down into Instant Pot pressure cooker.
- Place pieces of butter on top of chicken.
- Lock on lid and close pressure valve. Cook at high pressure (most machines default to high) for 6 minutes.
- When beep sounds, wait 10 minutes and then release the rest of the pressure.
- Remove chicken thighs from cooking pot and set aside.
- Dump out excess liquid from cooking pot and wipe out with a paper towel. Place cooking pot back into Instant Pot pressure cooker.
- Select Sauté or Browning on the pressure cooker.
- Add apricot jam, orange liqueur and butter to cooking pot.
- Whisk well until the jam becomes liquidy, about two minutes and then turn off or unplug Instant Pot pressure cooker..
- Place chicken thighs back into cooking pot and roll chicken through the glaze, so that both sides are covered well. Use a pasty brush to get into all the crevices of the chicken.
- Start out with chicken facing skin side down.
- Place a crisping lid like Mealthy Crisplid or Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid over cooking pot.
- Set temperature to 400 degrees and cook for 5 minutes.
- Flip chicken over so the skin side is up. Use a pastry brush and make sure the skin is coated with the glaze.
- Cook another 5 minutes at 400 degrees or until the skin is browned and the glaze is bubbling.
- Roll chicken around in the glaze and remove to a plate. Brush with any remaining glaze from the cooking pot if desired.
Notes
Crisping Lid - Which to Use
- Mealthy Crisplid will fit on all 6 and 8 quart pressure cookers regardless of brand.
- Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid will only fit on specific Instant Pot models, so please check my article Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid to see if this brand will fit your model.
- Each lid can be purchased from Amazon, which I have linked below.
- Mealthy CrispLid (buy from Amazon)
- Instant Pot Crisping Lid (buy from Amazon)
Glazing in the Oven
- Place chicken onto cookie sheet skin side down.
- Brush Apricot Glaze onto chicken and place under broiler for five minutes, or until Glaze is bubbling.
- Remove from oven, flip chicken and brush Glaze onto chicken skin and place back under broiler for five minutes, or until skin starts to char.
- Remove from oven, brush with the remainder of the Glaze.
Nutrition
PIN this Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken Thighs!
![Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken [Instant Pot]](https://staging.thisoldgal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/instant-pot-apricot-glazed-herbed-chicken-thighs-1.jpg)
Pressure Cooker Apricot Glazed Herb Chicken [Instant Pot]
Tonight I made the apricot chicken thighs. Everything about this dish appealed to me. I would have done this in one pot, but I just received whole grain brown rice, and that’s what I wanted tonite. I used a crisp-lid . It was delicious!
I did the rice in the microwave while I was playing with the chicken and the new lid. Broccoli was my side.
What an easy and healthy meal. I loved it, and had I made regular white rice it could have been made all in one pot at the same time.
I hope you can offer more ideas like this that can be done in only one pot, because the IP pot is so easy to clean.
My bird has flown the coop and I don’t want to kill myself cooking anymore. And I can eat or not eat as I please. Just don’t want a big clean up.
This recipe was perfect. I may try it with orange marmalade too.
So much easier than cleaning an air fryer. Kudos !!
Thank you, Vivian. I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe. I know the marmalade would be wonderful too. Jill
This was simple to make and delicious and I will definitely make it again. The only thing is that in the above recipe there is no mention of the 1/2 cup water, I only saw mention of it when I read the comments.
Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed my recipe. The recipe is correct as written. Jill
Made this tonight. Very tasty! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Thank you so much, Lani. Jill
This sounds yummy, my only question is the amount of water. My instapot says to not use less then 1 cup of liquid but you call for only 1/2 cup of water and a tablespoon of lemon juice. For my own peace of mind can I increase he water to 1 cup. I will also be using 10 to 12 chicken legs would the cook time be the same?
It is your meal and you may do as you please. Just note that your chicken won’t come out as intended. Jill
do you suppose that I could use boneless/skinless chicken thighs or even breasts?
Hi Amanda~
Not a problem. Cut the time by a few minutes.
Jill
I have a large family and just bought the instant pot. Could I add more thighs and how would that affect the cooking time? Thanks!
Hi Jenn~
Cook time would be the same. Double everything.
Jill
is this recipe with the skin on?
Ariel, yes, skin on.
Jill
This looks awesome. I have leg quarters….do you think the cook times would remain the same?
Hi Sherry~
The cook time for the legs would be the same as the thighs. 🙂
Jill
Instead of apricot jam, do you think fresh apricots would be ok in the pressure cooker?
Hi Sarah~
I don’t see why fresh apricots would not work. Perhaps add a bit of a sweetener, like honey or agave, if needed.
Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Jill
I just got an Instant Pot and made this tonight for dinner and it turned out really good!! I used bone in thighs and used the poultry setting for 11 minutes with immediate release of the steam. The coconut rice went perfect with it! A good meal if you are new to the Instant Pot and want to try poultry, chicken thighs seem like a good choice
Hi Meg~
Thank you so much for the nice comments. I am glad you liked the chicken and my coconut rice recipe. Welcome to the World of cooking under pressure!
Jill
HI Jill, I am new to using my instant pot and would like to make this recipe. I have frozen cut up chicken parts… bone-in, skin-on: 1 large breast, and some thighs and legs. Do you have any idea how I would need to adjust the pressure cooker piece of this to cook those instead of 4 thawed thighs? Can it be done? Thank you!
Hi Khrystle~
I would suggest 13 minutes for all of that. If the dark meat still isn’t cooked, then you can always keep it in the pot while the sauce thickens or when crisping up in the oven, give it some extra time. Welcome to pressure cooking!
Jill
Thank you so much!