Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken
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Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken takes just five minutes to throw into the pressure cooker, and only 30 minutes to cook a flavorful, tender and juicy chicken!
We love making easy and delicious Asian dishes in the Instant Pot such as our famous Instant Pot Orange Chicken, Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken and Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli.
Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken
Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken is such a perfect, delicious and quick meal made in just 30 minutes ! It’s faster to make this meal at home, than to drive to a restaurant or to order takeout. Also, by making it at home you will save some good dollars and will have amazing leftovers.
The Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken is juicy, flavorful and absolutely amazing served over rice. This recipe is one that I make over and over again, it’s a time saver during crazy weeknights, and I am always excited to have the leftovers the next day.
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Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken Recipe Tips:
- Use high quality meat. A good meat centered meal starts with quality meat, so use organic chicken breasts when possible.
- You can reduce the sugar in half, restaurant style Mongolian meat requires lots of sugar, so feel free to adjust.
- Keep in mind, if you reduce the sugar, you will have to reduce the soy sauce as well, as the dish may taste saltier.
- To cut on sodium and sugar, reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup and soy sauce to 1/2 cup if desired.
- Cornstarch is a key ingredient in here, do not try to replace it with flour, the results will not be the same.
- Using carrots in the recipe is totally optional, I added them for a veggie boost and I also like their sweetness, but the dish can be prepared without them.
- Using fresh ginger and garlic will add amazing flavor and taste to the sauce.
Why you will enjoy this Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken:
- It is easy to make and it takes only around 30 minutes!
- Only one pot to clean and that is the Instant Pot, so minimum dishes for you.
- The dish is packed with amazing flavors and lean protein.
- It is perfect for busy weeknights and also for entertaining guests.
- You will have delicious leftovers that can be stored in the fridge, in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
Can Mongolian Chicken be made in the Crock Pot?
This dish can also be made in your Crock Pot or in the Instant Pot using the Slow Cooker function. Add browned beef to the Slow Cooker, add the mixtures except the cornstarch slurry. Cover and cook on High for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours. Make the cornstarch slurry, gently stir it in and cook on high for 20 more minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Can I substitute beef for chicken in this dish?
Yes, beef or pork is a great alternative for chicken in many recipes including this one. The cooking time will also vary best on the cut that you choose. You can check the beef recipe on here: Instant Pot Mongolian Beef.
What is best to serve with Mongolian Chicken?
- White or Brown Rice
- Vegetable such as broccoli, asparagus or bok choy
- Noodles
What wines pair well with Mongolian Chicken?
- A nice, fruity red wine such as Zinfandel or Syrah will pair nicely with the flavors in this beef dish.
- If you’re looking for a white option, Riesling or Pinot Grigio are always great matches for bold, somewhat spicy dishes.
Can you cook the rice with the chicken?
Yes, you will need a long legged trivet and an oven safe dish, I personally like to use these stackable pans to cook the rice with the chicken.
What is a 10 Minutes Natural Pressure Release?
A Natural Pressure Release means that the pressure is released gradually. For a Natural Pressure Release, you click on Keep Warm, and wait 10 minutes, after which you open the valve and let any leftover pressure release. Another option is to Turn Off/Unplug the pressure cooker, wait 10 minutes and after that open the valve. A natural release is usually used when cooking soups, meat, pasta or steel cut oats. This method prevents any foam from the dish to shoot out through the valve, which can happen during a Quick Pressure Release.
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Tools/Ingredients I used to make the Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken Recipe:
- Instant Pot – I use it all the time, either the Pressure Cooker function or the Slow Cooker function, I also like that I can just sauté / brown the meat and veggies directly in the pot using the Sauté function.
- Garlic Powder – love this one, I add it to almost all the savory meals, also great to make meat rubs and season veggies.
- Cornstarch – I prefer using cornstarch instead of flour to thicken sauces, and this organic brand is my favorite.
Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken
Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken takes just five minutes to throw into the pressure cooker, and only 30 minutes to cook a flavorful, tender and juicy chicken!
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into one-two inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (use less if you want)
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced
- 3/4 cup lite soy sauce* (use 1/2 cup if you are sensitive to sodium)
- 3/4 cup water or chicken broth
- 1 cup carrots chopped*
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes*
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 cup green onions chopped
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons herbed or unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
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Heat up your pressure cooker: press Sauté -> click on the Adjust button -> select More to get the Sauté More function, which means that the food will be sautéed over medium-high heat. Wait for the Instant Pot indicator to read HOT.
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Add the oil to the hot Instant Pot, add the chicken and sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring a few times. Cook until it just starts to get golden. When sautéing it, stir constantly so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
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Also, after you sauté the chicken, check if bits stuck to the bottom, in that case, deglaze the pot with 1/4 cup water and scrape them with a wooden spoon. If you leave the bits stuck to the bottom, they may burn or cause the pot not to come to pressure.
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Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot: minced garlic, minced ginger, lite soy sauce, brown sugar, water, carrots, garlic powder and red pepper flakes.
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Stir well until all the ingredients are combined and coated in sauce.
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Add the rice, salt and the two cups of water to an Instant Pot safe dish/pot. Stir to combine.
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Add a long legged trivet to the Instant Pot on top of the chicken. Add the pot with the rice onto the trivet. Cover with aluminum foil and pinch a few times with a fork.
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Close lid and pressure cook at High Pressure for 5 minutes + 10 minutes Natural Release. Turn off the heat. Release the remaining pressure. Open the lid.
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Open the lid, remove the pot with the rice, let it rest covered for 5-10 minutes. Before serving, fluff the rice with a fork.
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Select again the Sauté function, on LOW. In a medium bowl combine 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup water, whisk until all combined with no lumps. Add the mixture to the Instant Pot and gently stir to combine. Cook on Sauté function on LOW for a few more minutes without the lid, stirring gently, until the sauce thickens.
Turn off your Instant Pot.
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Serve over rice and garnish with fresh chopped green onions and sesame seeds.
- Carrots are optional in this recipe.
- Add more or less Red pepper flakes, based on the level of heat you like in a dish. Also, they can be omitted from the recipe.
- Garlic powder was added for extra garlic flavor on top of the fresh garlic.
- Use gluten free tamari or amino acids if you want to avoid gluten.
Here is a step-by-step video of how to make the Instant Pot Mongolian Chicken and Rice Recipe:
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Just made this tonight. I doubled the recipe to feed our large family and cooked it for 7 min…it was a delicious hit! Thank you for the recipe!
What a great easy way to make Mongolian chicken! Looks delicious!
This looks absolutely delicious! I really need to get on the Instant Pot bandwagon!
Quick, Easy, and Delicious! Count me in!
That looks delicious, one of my favorite takeout dishes!
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The corn starch is added after pressure cooking the chicken. Read the recipe, it clearly states to add the slurry after it’s been cooked.
Sauce was good but after three tries and replacing the sealing ring my IP never came to pressure. (The timer started all three times.) I finished the recipe on site mode. Naturally, the chicken burned to the pot after 3 tries of pressurizing and starting counting down. I used fresh chicken fillets. Please help!
Hi Kit, thank you for the feedback, I can see that the recipe was NOT at fault for your troubles, so why the 3 stars? There is definitely an issue with you IP if it doesn’t come to pressure, its not a recipe issue. I would call the company and tell them your issue, also did you make sure that the valve was in seal position?
Hi, the same thing happened to me. It never came to pressure. I tried this recipe multiple times with the same result. I think it has something to do with the corn starch. Next time I am going to try adding the cornstarch at the very end on sauté.
I have never had this issue with this recipe, very weird.
People must not read directions, you don’t put the cornstarch in until afterwards…
Im making this right now and my IP had no issues coming to pressure. But I also didn’t add the corn starch yet per the recipe directions. Reading really is fundamental.
We had a similar issue with another recipe we tried with the Instant Pot and it was indeed because of the stuff stuck on the bottom of the pot after sautéing. What we read, and has worked since, is that after sautéing food, you HAVE to DEGLAZE the pot with some kind of liquid and scrape as much stuff off the bottom as you can. Since I had this experience before, when I made this recipe I used the soy sauce and water to deglaze the pot before adding any of the other ingredients. This allows the bottom of the pot to have good conduction to get up to temp and get up to pressure.
I think the next time around I will not add the corn starch to the chicken ahead of time and will add it as a slurry (mixed with some of the water) after deglazing the bottom of the pot. That should help solve this potential problem.
If I were to half this recipe, would it still work, and would the cook time be the same?
yes, you should be good and use same cooking time.
I made this last night, served it on rice with mixed veggies. It was pretty tasty. The sauce was a bit on the thin side, but that may be because I had to scale back the cornstarch as I didn’t have quite enough. The sauce was nice and flavourful. I found the chicken breast chunks to be juicy and flaked into little yummy little strands. I did not run into the pressure issues the other commenters encountered.
Thank you for the feedback!
I’m sure it doesn’t matter as far as the cooking part is concerned, but for the integrity of the recipe, how do you prepare the carrots? Just roughly chopped into chunks, cut into thin sticks or thin rounds?? Thanks!!
I would do 1/4 inch rounds, if you cut them too thin, they will get mushy. Sticks also break easier once cooked, so I recommend rounds.
This was my first IP trial and it was delicious! Husband and 2 boys (picky eaters) approved! Sauce was a little thin but easily thickened with corn starch. I’ll try to add more vegie’s next time. Thanks so much for sharing!
so happy that you liked it!! 🙂
I just made this dish. It was so good! I had a second helping and ate too much but I couldn’t help myself. I loved the flavor! My husband loved it too! The recipe was easy to follow. I added cornstarch at the end and everything came out perfect. This will be one of our favorites- we will cooking this dish a lot more. We have such busy schedules, its nice to be able to make something so quick that tastes great. Thanks!
Hi Nina, I am very happy that you liked the recipe, thank you for your feedback. Its a family favorite here too!
Is there a way to cook the rice in the Instant Pot with the chicken?
I haven’t tried the pot in the pot version for this recipe, sorry.
Could I add 2 tbsp of hoisen sauce and 1 tsp of sesame oil for more of an authentic flavor?
yes, sure!
This is a 5 star recipe! My version was using sesame oil then arrowroot powder for thickening. Can add almost any veggie to this dish. Yummy, thanks to instant pot and the internet l cook less boring meals!
Hi Sue, I am so happy that you guys loved this recipe. It’s a keeper, I make it every two weeks at least, my husband also loved it. Thank you for taking the time to write your feedback, its much appreciated!
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Is that sodium content correct? May want to try this with less soy sauce, since the recipe calls for “lite” already! Going to try it out tonight and reduce the sodium.
Hi Joel, yes it correct, you can use less.
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Can you use frozen chicken?
if you use the same amount of chicken as I did, I would add 4 more minutes to the cooking time. NOTE: the sauce will taste differently, because of the extra water from frozen chicken.
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it! Two questions for you: how much is a serving? Is the brown sugar packed or unpacked?
Thanks!
packed 🙂
Great results!
But on #7 the recipe should read “Turn on the Sauté function” and NOT “Turn on the Sauce function” . There is NOT a sauce function on the IP. Thanks for posting this fast and great recipe.
You are right, that is a typo, thank you for letting me know, I have corrected it.
Can you double this? How would you adjust the cooking time? (Using the 8qt)I’m an instant pot newbie but made this and my kids ate so much of it there was hardly any left for myself and hubby!!
Glad that they liked it, yes you can double and no, increase the cooking time by 1-2 minutes only.
Just made this- super easy and tasty! My carrots turned out a little over cooked and mushy, so next time I think I’ll either lessen the cooking time or throw veggies in while the sauce is reducing. You could add broccoli, mushrooms, bell pepper, bok choy- this is an easy recipe to add to depending on what you have on hand.
I am very happy that you liked it!!! Yes, its an easy recipe that you can play with once you try it!
Wonderful!! This was my first IP recipe and it was a hit. The chicken was so tender and flavorful. Everyone had seconds!! Unfortunately the sauce was actually “soup” and wouldn’t thicken even though I added cornstarch slurry at end. Directions were fairly easy to follow. Sautéing chicken took longer than 2-3 minutes. I’m still getting used to IP so for step 7 I couldn’t figure out how to turn Sauté function to Low. I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Hi there! Glad that you loved it, ha interesting about the sauce, just add more cornstarch and bring it to a simmer, it should thicken! 🙂 let me know if you have more troubles with it.
What is considered one serving? A cup?
yes
Look forward to trying it. About how much chicken is this in ounces or pounds? Chicken breast can vary greatly in size.
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Ive made this recipe more tjme than I can count! I love it! Has anyone tried doubling this recipe? I’m wondering what the cook time would be or even if it would change? Thank you!
My Girl Scout troop is preparing for a big event, and we had a long meeting yesterday (10-5). I prepped everything at home and took my instant pot, ingredients, and rice cooker (with rice) to the meeting.
It was such a hit! Even the two pickiest girls loved it (one of those picky girls is mine). I used 3 lbs chicken tenders, cubed. Increased soy sauce (reduced sodium) and brown sugar to 1 c each. I did add a little hon dashi (Japanese dashi granules) while browning chicken, for a little extra depth of flavor. After pressure cooking I tossed in fresh broccoli with cornstarch slurry. There was barely enough for me to take home to my husband (there were 6 teenage girls and two adults).
Afterward I told the girls that it was going to be either this or sandwiches. They were all so happy that I made the Mongolian chicken and rice. Thanks so much for sharing this easy, tasty recipe!
Roughly how many pounds does 4 boneless, skinless breasts translate to? I’d like to try this recipe but only have chicken breast tenderloins.
2.5-3lbs.
Thank you!
Made it! It’s soooo yummy!! Thank you!
🙂 thanks
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The orange chicken and mongolian chicken are the same recipes or are they just the same ingredients?
They are not the same recipe, the Orange chicken has more ingredients, please check carefully.
My picky 14 year old son and husband loved this dish. I mixed boneless, skinless chicken thighs in with the white meat. After cooking, I sprinkled roasted, salted cashews on top. What a hit! Better than any restaurant dish. We’re watching carbs so with all the brown sugar, we skipped the rice and nothing was lost. I’ll be making this again.
This was the first thing I tried with my instapot and it was such a success. I followed it exactly and even my picky husband loved it. It’ll be come a regular thing in my house! Thank youuuu!
I accidently used normal soy sauce. I hope I don’t die. Was tasty though.
I love making my favorite Chinese food at home so I can control the quality of ingredients that go into it. This one looks incredible, and would be a winner in my house!
I just got an IP and can’t wait to try this recipe! Can you provide a link or any more details about the accessories you use to cook the rice while cooking the chicken? I’ve looked on Amazon, but can’t quite find anything that matches your description.
Thanks in advance!
This recipe looks wonderful! How long would you cook it if it was brown rice instead of white rice?
Thanks!
I just bought my instant pot and want to try this recipe. What are instant pot safe cookware to do the rice in? Must it be made of metal? What did you use for a long stemmed trivet? Are there instant pot accessories?
hi I mention everything I like here https://sweetandsavorymeals.com/category/recipes/instant-pot-recipes/
Made this on Friday for a dinner party and it was a hit! I can’t recommend it enough.
It looks soo tasty! I love your recipes!
What is best to serve with Mongolian Chicken?
•White or Brown Rice
•Vegetable such as broccoli, asparagus or bok choy
•Noddles
I am a crazy typo finder and fixer, so please make an edit and replace Noddles with Noodles!
as long as it makes you happy 🙂
Hi, what would the cooking time be for chicken thighs with the bone?
I like to do 15 minutes.
I made this this evening. Didn’t have a problem with sauce. I thought i gad ginger in my freezerbut i didn’t. I used piwdered but sure fresh would have been better. Very easy and tady recipe. Thanks
This was delicious. Next time I will reduce the sugar as it was a little too sweet for us. Loved the addition of the chilli flakes. I doubled the recipe and had no issues cooking it (without the rice).
Thank you for the feedback Liv! Yes, you can totally reduce the sugar.