Chinese Simmered Chicken
Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken is an old recipe, cooked in a spicy sweet sauce. Now, it’s what’s for dinner in less than 30 minutes!
Pressure Cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken is an old recipe, cooked in a spicy sweet sauce. Now, it’s what’s for dinner in less than 30 minutes!
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup soy sauce (low sodium)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 4 pounds chicken (white and/or dark meat boneless or bone in, skin removed)
- 1/4 cup dry sherry (or apple juice)
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (crushed)
- 1 scallion sliced
- 2 tablespoons potato starch (or cornstarch)
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds (toasted (optional))
- rice (already cooked )
- Carbohydrate 24.6062992998832 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 2.25774992708062 g
- Fiber 0.0074999253132364 g
- Protein 0.0728328984589633 g
- Saturated Fat 0.311754989882501 g
- Serving Size 1 1 serving (342g)
- Sodium 35.1341660100935 mg
- Sugar 24.5987993745699 g
- Trans Fat 0.0632799766283849 g
- Calories 115 calories
Step-by-step
- Remove skin and fat from chicken.
- Combine Sauce ingredients and whisk together well.
- Select Sauté on your Instant Pot and allow to fully heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the cooking pot and lightly sear chicken pieces, doing the dark meat first.
- Deglaze the cooking pot with the Sherry and then add the sauce and mix through.
- If making this a One Pot Meal, add the prepared rice now.
- Close and Lock the lid of the Instant Pot and set the valve to "Sealing". Cook at High Pressure for 6 minutes. When beep sounds, allow a 15 minute Natural Pressure Release.
- Turn off the Instant Pot and then select Sauté function again.
- Remove rice and trivet and cover rice. Remove white meat chicken to a platter.
- Remove 1/2 cup of sauce, add potato starch and whisk until smooth. Add the slurry to the cooking pot and incorporate.
- Remove dark meat chicken to the platter. Continue whisking until sauce is sticky and thick.
- Pour sauce over chicken and garish with toasted sesame seeds.
Ingredient lists omit how sugar and soy sauce behave under pressure, often scorching before proteins release adequate moisture. Deglazing the stainless steel pot thoroughly with dry sherry prevents the dreaded burn notice by dissolving caramelized fond from the bottom. Searing dark meat pieces first renders excess fat, concentrating the savory base before pressure cooking begins. High pressure cooks four pounds of poultry in precisely six minutes, but the subsequent fifteen-minute natural release is non-negotiable for tender texture. Quick-releasing pressure prematurely forces moisture out of muscle fibers, yielding dry meat. Pair this sweet-savory poultry with plain steamed jasmine rice or garlic-sautéed bok choy to balance the rich sauce. Acidic elements cut through the heavy sugar profile, so a side of pickled cucumbers provides necessary contrast. Whisking potato starch directly into a removed half-cup of warm cooking liquid creates a lump-free slurry before returning it to the pot. Simmering the combined mixture on the sauté function thickens the glaze until it coats the back of a spoon cleanly. Substitute apple juice for dry sherry at a one-to-one ratio if alcohol is absent from the pantry.
