Instant Pot Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken with bursts of sweet orange, spiced peppers in a fantastic sauce over rice.
Instant Pot Orange Pepper Chicken
Super tender and juicy chicken in sweet Orange Pepper Sauce. Learn the trick for tender chicken with my super easy recipe. Bursts of sweet Orange and spiced Peppers make Orange Pepper Chicken a real treat. With my method, you can cook the rice in a pan on top of the chicken in the same pot at the same time!
Cast of Ingredients
I keep hearing about rubbery and overcooked chicken and that’s no good. My unique method renders juicy, moist and chicken in the Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker every single time! Plus, cooking time is super important. White meat chicken cooks very, very quickly.
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Ingredients for Instant Pot Orange Pepper Chicken
- Chicken
- Frozen Orange Juice
- Pineapple Chunks
- Onions
- Chicken Broth
- Peppers
- Sweet/Black Soy Sauce
Turn Instant Pot Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken recipe into a one pot meal!
Pressure Cooker Perfectly Cooked Pot In Pot Rice
If you would like to cook your rice at the same time and in the same pot with your Pressure Cooker Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken, please check out my Pressure Cooker Perfectly Cooked Pot In Pot Rice recipe for step by step instructions.
You will just need these two accessories. One stainless steel flat bottomed insert pan or stainless steel flat bottomed insert pan for Pot in Pot Rice and Desserts and a Stainless Steel Tall Legged Trivet.
Rinse the White/Jasmine Rice
When creating recipes, there is a balance between amount of water needed to get to pressure, cook time, ingredients and Natural Pressure Release time. I almost always use a shorter cook time with a longer Natural Pressure Release time.
It is important to rinse the rice with water until the water runs clear. This will make the rice cook and taster much better.
Add Rice and Water to Rice Pan
When I cook rice with my meal, I like to use a stainless steel flat bottomed insert pan. It is flat and wide and help the rice to cook very evenly. A Tall Legged Stainless Steel Steaming Rack/Trivet is needed when cooking above your main course. They are really cheap, don’t fret. 🙂
I know many of you use your 1.5 Quart Stainless Steel “Pot in Pot” Bowl for Pot in Pot cooking. I first tried this recipe using that bowl and much prefer the stainless steel flat bottomed insert pan. The rice cooked more evenly and was totally perfect.
Plus, if you want a larger amount of rice, you could double the recipe and then use a Shorter Stainless Steel Trivet.
Rough Chop the Peppers and Onions
Since vegetables cook really fast in the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker, I like to rough chop my vegetables. If you cut them to small, they will disintegrate into the food. Save some of the peppers to use as a garnish.
The carrots should be cut into about one inch chunks, or more, if you like.
After all vegetables are cut, place them all in a Mixing Bowl, so that you can dump them all in at once. Remember, this moves fast and we don’t want the chicken to continue cooking all on its own.
Add Potato Starch
As I said, in this recipe, size does matter. The chicken breasts should be cut into large chunks. You don’t want them to be bite size. More like two to three bites….. probably two bites for men. Hehehehehe. Cutting them into large chunks will ensure perfect results.
I love to cook with Potato Starch, rather than cornstarch or flour.
Potato Starch Trick
- When using an Instant Pot or stand alone pressure cooker, more liquid than normal is sometimes needed, so the sauce often times will need to be thickened. Rather than making a slurry after pressure cooking, my method of coating the meat before cooking will make for a nice and thickened sauce.
- The starch on the meat adheres to the meat nicely and allows the pot to come up to pressure with minimal of liquid in the pot.
- As the release of the potato starch is very slow, you will not get a burn notice. During the cooking process, liquid releases from the meat and vegetables. Some starch also releases from the coated meat and will begin to thickens the sauce, without gumming up the ingredients and pot.
- Best of all, with the nice and thickened sauce, you don’t have to worry about making a starch slurry after pressure cooking.
Pro Tip: Coating beef, pork of chicken with potato starch before cooking under pressure, ensures extra juicy meat. It also saves you the step of having to make a slurry to thicken the liquid in the pot.
Sprinkle in the Seasoned Salt and True Orange Ginger
Sprinkle the Seasoned Salt and the True Orange Ginger over the Potato Starch. True Orange Ginger is optional, but will add a burst of Orange flavor.
True Orange, Orange Ginger
I use the True Crystalized products a lot. The citrus is in crystalized form and tastes like you just went outside and picked an orange off the tree. It’s that good.
I like to use it when I want the citrus taste, but without adding additional liquid. A perfect example is my Mexican Corn on the Cob (Elote). I wanted a strong lime taste in the sauce, but did not want to add any liquid and have a very wet corn.
Coat the Chicken with the Potato Starch
Make sure your hands are very dry and coat the chicken well. I use Tongs to move the chicken around, so that the Potato Starch won’t stick to my hands.
A bit of Chinese Five Spice
Into your Measuring Cup full of chicken broth, add in 4 ounces of the concentrated orange juice and the Chinese Five Spice. Genene also wanted me to incorporate Chinese Five Spice in the recipe.
We are going to hold back some of the frozen juice to add after we release pressure, to get another burst of orange.
Whisk it all together
Whisk the sauce together and set it aside. You are now ready to start cooking.
Select Sauté or Browning on your Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker and allow it to fully heat. To make a stainless steel pot non-stick, it is important to allow the pot to heat before adding your fat.
Add about a Tablespoon of Ghee to the cooking pot and it will melt fast. Pressure Slow Cooker Simple Ghee is easy to make and great under high heats, so it won’t burn.
If you don’t want to make Ghee, you can always purchase it by clicking here. Alternatively, Olive Oil will work okay. I just prefer the Ghee taste over the Olive Oil in this recipe.
Lightly Brown the Chicken
Once the display on your Instant Pot reads “Hot,” use the tongs and add the chicken to your Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker cooking pot. If you don’t have a display, just wait several minutes to make sure your pot is very hot.
Shake any excess Potato Starch from the chicken pieces before placing them into the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker cooking pot.
Turn over the Chicken Chunks
You can see there is just a little sear on the chicken. The Potato Starch is staying nicely in place. You don’t want a clump of starch in your Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker cooking pot, that is for sure!
You’ll get a nasty mess and the pot won’t come up to pressure if it gets gunked up from excess Potato Starch.
Pro Tip: When searing the coated meat in the Instant Pot, after a few seconds, the meat will release itself from the bottom of the pot and can easily be moved around. That is how you know the meat is properly sealed in the potato starch and will retain its moisture during cooking.
Dump in the Vegetables
Hit the Off button on the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker. Dump in all the vegetables and mix them in with the chicken to get the chicken off of the bottom.
Add the Sauce
Pour in the sauce and mix it through the chicken and vegetables.
As mentioned above, there is no need to make a slurry at the end of the cook time to thicken the sauce. The Potato Starch on the chicken will thicken it up, just right. Look at the above photo. You can see that there is no starch floating around…it is all nicely stuck to the chicken.
Add the Long Legged Trivet
If you are making this a One Pot Meal using my Pressure Cooker Perfectly Cooked Pot In Pot Rice recipe, add your Tall Legged Trivet and Rice now.
You are ready to lock on the lid and cook your entire dinner in ONE pot at the same time!!!
Diced Peppers
While the chicken is cooking, dice up the reserved bell peppers. I really wanted to add some bright and fresh color and crunch to the Pressure Cooker Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken.
Perfectly Cooked Rice
The One Pot Pressure Cooker Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken & Rice, has a short cook time, so we will let the chicken and rice finish cooking and steaming, during a ten minute Natural Pressure Release.
Open the pot and remove the Pan of rice. Fluff it with a fork. It will be perfectly cooked.
Add Orange Juice and Pineapple
Dump the rest of the Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice and some pineapple chunks into your Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker and mix through.
Hit the Sauté or Browning button to warm the Orange Juice and Pineapple chunks. The sauce will quickly thicken up as you stir.
This is thanks to the Potato Starch trick you learned above.
Pressure Cooker Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken
Garnish with diced peppers for some crunch! Enjoy your One Pot Pressure Cooker Orange Pepper Chicken & Rice! I love that I can make my entire meal all at the same time, in just a few minutes. For another wonderful One Pot Recipe, try my Pressure Cooker Take-Out General Tso’s Chicken
Enjoy! 🙂
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes to Make:
- Instant Pot Rojo Fiesta Chicken [Pressure Cooker]
- Instant Pot Chicken and Rice + Video
- Instant Pot BBQ Ranch Chicken (Pressure Cooker)
- Instant Pot Japanese Chicken Curry
Kitchen Equipment and Essentials
- Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker
- J.A. Henckels Classic 8 inch Chef’s Knife
- My FANTASTIC Teak Cutting & Charcuterie Board & Compartments
- Salbree Steamer Basket
- Ekovana Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker Stackable Pans Set
- Stainless Steel Tall Legged Trivet
- Sweet/Black Soy Sauce
- Potato Starch
- Chinese Five Spice
- True Orange Ginger
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Here is the handy printable recipe:
Instant Pot Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken
Print Pin Save RateIngredients
- 2.5 pounds Chicken Breasts Boneless/Skinless boneless and skinless
- 1/4 cup Potato Starch
- 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon True Orange Ginger
- 1 Tablespoon Ghee or other oil
- 1/2 cup Orange Bell Pepper cut into chunks
- 1/2 cup Green Bell Pepper cut into chunks
- 3 large Carrots cut into chunks
- 1 large Yellow/Brown Onion rough cut
Sauce
- 4 oz Orange Juice Concentrate frozen
- 1 cup Chicken Stock/Broth
- 5 cloves Fresh Garlic minced
- 3 Tablespoons Sweet/Black Soy Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice
Rice
- 12 ounces Jasmine Rice
- 12 ounces Fresh Water
Add Ins
- 2 oz Orange Juice Concentrate frozen
- 1/2 cup Unsweetened Pineapple Chunks (optional)
- 1/4 cup Green Bell Pepper diced
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Instructions
- Rinse rice and place in small stainless steel bowl with fresh water. Set aside.
- Cut chicken into large chunks and pat dry. Place in large bowl. Sprinkle potato starch over chicken and add seasoned salt and True Orange Ginger (if using). Mix to coat chicken.
- In a measuring cup or bowl, combine the sauce ingredients.
- Select Sauté or Browning on your Pressure Cooker and allow to heat.
- Add Ghee and toss in all chicken, shaking off any excess potato starch prior to placing in the cooking pot.
- Lightly brown chicken on all sides.
- Add in peppers, carrots and onions and mix.
- Turn off Pressure Cooker and pour sauce into Pressure Cooker cooking pot and mix through.
- If making this a One Pot Meal, rinse the rice until water becomes clear.
- Place rice and fresh water into rice pan. Place trivet into cooking pot and place pan of rice on top.
- Lock on lid and close Pressure Valve. Cook at High Pressure for 5 minutes.
- When Beep sounds, allow a 10 minute Natural Pressure Release, then release the rest of the pressure.
- Remove lid and remove bowl of rice and trivet. Fluff rice.
- Select Sauté or Browning. Add in the remaining orange juice and pineapple chunks. Mix into chicken.
- Turn off Pressure Cooker after 2 minutes. Garnish with died peppers.
Nutrition
PIN this Pressure Cooker Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken!
Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Chinese Orange Pepper Chicken
I’m most definitely going to try this recipe this week! I have two questions though, first… can I use brown rice instead of white in the one pot method? And secondly, what are your thoughts on using baby carrots to cut down on the peeling and chopping? Thanks!
Brown rice cooks much longer than white, so in this case it cannot be used for pot in pot. Baby carrots are fine. Jill
Jill, is there an equivalent amount of fresh orange juice I could use for the frozen? I tried google but was not able to find a response. This sounds like a really tasty recipe and I’m anxious to try it! Hope you have a solution to my inquiry.
Hi, question and comment…I would like you to offer alternatives to items that are NOT readily available in local stores or even specialty stores. I called my “Bulk food” store and they had 2 items, I called an oriental store, she had no idea what I was talking about so told me to come in to see what she has on the shelf.
So for 5 spice, Orange ginger, Healthy Boy Black Soy sauce are items I cann’t get to make this recipe tonight. So if you gave some alternatives to those of us ( at least me just starting out) I don’t want to invest in a lot of ingredients I many never use again. So instead of the Orange ginger spice, can I add maybe orange marmalade? Or Orange Zest and some shreddings from a fresh ginger, Regular and or low sodium soy sauce ok to use too?
As you post started out…for those of us who just got their Instant Pot for Christmas.
I did appreciate the tip about Potato starch vs flour but there again, no one has it without going store to store to get it. The bulk food store said they have a 2 pound box so that may be a lot to have on hand, for just starting out. Thanks! Rosanne
Thank you for your advice. All ingredients link to where they can be purchased. Jill
Hi are the peppers in the chicken mushy or crisp? Not talking about the ones you add after. The other day I tried this with broccoli and it turned to mush and I had to go out and buy more broccoli and salvaged the meal by just resautèing the broccoli for a delicious beef and broccoli.
Broccoli cooks so fast and is not recommended under pressure. Jill
This looks delicious ! Is there something I could sub for Ghee?
Thank you Jill! This looks delicious. Is there anyway to use your affiliate links on Amazon.ca?
Hi Amanda~
Thank you so much for asking. Here is the page of links.
https://staging.thisoldgal.com/amazon-affiliate-links-various-countries/
Jill
This looks yummy. Two things: I don’t use soy what is a good sub? Also, how would you change when using brown rice
Hi Rita~
Thanks so much. Braggs Liquid Aminos is a good sub for soy. Brown rice takes a long time to cook, so you would not be able to do it with this recipe.
Jill