Instant Pot Sesame Chicken

This Instant Pot Sesame Chicken recipe is sure to delight your taste buds and fulfill your cravings!

It’s tremendously delicious and you may even prefer it to your favorite Asian restaurant meal.

As a bonus, it’s super easy to make! With minimal effort, thanks to your pressure cooker, this recipe will be ready to eat in just 20 minutes. Keep reading for some helpful tricks and tips.

Is this Recipe Gluten Free?

This recipe is not gluten free, but can easily be altered to adhere to a gluten free diet.

How to make it Gluten Free?

First, substitute the soy sauce with tamari. Soy sauce is traditionally made from fermented soybeans and wheat, so it’s not gluten free. However, tamari is a very similar product made from only soybeans. They taste almost identical, especially incorporated in this recipe!

You’ll also want to double check your brand of cornstarch. Most cornstarch is naturally gluten free but is oftentimes manufactured on the same equipment as wheat-based starches, so be sure to check your ingredient label for potential cross-contamination.

With those two small steps, you’re on your way to a delectable gluten free meal.

Why Cornstarch?

Cornstarch is a traditional thickening agent in many Asian cuisines, versus flour which is more common in European cooking. In China, they frequently utilize a technique called velveting in which cornstarch is used to lightly coat proteins before briefly frying in oil or blanching in water.

Velveting chicken is a trick that sets great food apart but is fairly simple to do. To try the simplified technique in this recipe, simply coat the chicken pieces with a light layer of cornstarch before the sautéing step.

When used to thicken sauces, cornstarch should be mixed with water to create what’s called a slurry before adding it to the sauce. This helps prevent clumping and results in a silky-smooth sauce.

What Can I Substitute for Honey?

You can substitute the honey in this recipe with virtually any sweetener, including maple syrup or brown sugar. Feel free to add a little more or less sweetener depending on your taste preferences.

Can I add more honey?

Sure. Add as much as you like! You can also check our Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken recipe, where we are using ¼ cup of honey.

Should I Use Toasted Sesame Seeds?

Toasting sesame seeds brings out their flavor to the fullest extent. If you only have untoasted sesame seeds, you can easily toast them in a dry skillet for a few minutes. It really enhances the flavor, so is worth the effort in my opinion!

You could also try black sesame seeds, or a combination of white and black sesame seeds. Black and white sesame seeds taste very similar to each other.

Some say black sesame seeds are slightly more bitter, while white sesame seeds are a tiny bit sweeter. The balance of the two will make for a more complex flavor and it also makes for a visually appealing garnish.

Sides

As pictured, we like to serve Instant Pot Sesame Chicken with jasmine rice. Add steamed vegetables and you’ve got yourself a complete meal!

More Recipes

If you love Asian cuisine, check out the recipes for Instant Pot Orange Chicken and Mongolian Beef.

If you like chicken recipes, try this fan favorite—Instant Pot Chicken and Broccoli

This Instant Pot Butter Chicken is a great option as well.