You are going to love this easy pressure cooker chicken recipe! It’s healthy, simple, and made in less than 30 minutes. This delicious cashew chicken is a family favorite that I often make, as it’s one of those recipes that require minimal effort. Even better, cleaning up is super easy since it’s made in the pressure cooker.
The recipe is excellent for a quick weeknight meal when you’ve got a hundred things going on before dinner time, and even better, it holds up well for lunch the next day at work. That’s what I call “winner winner, chicken dinner!” If you want to try another easy, weeknight-friendly Instant Pot chicken recipe, you should try my Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup.
Key Ingredients You Need
- Chicken — I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you can use chicken thighs instead. Be sure to cut them into similar-sized cubes as you want them to cook evenly.
- Arrowroot flour — This thickens the sauce at the end as well as coats the chicken pieces before searing. However, you can use cornstarch or flour if you do not have arrowroot flour.
- Cashews — I use roasted unsalted cashews. I find salted cashews too salty for this but if you only have salted cashews, then reduce the amount of salt in the sauce. If you only have raw cashews, you can roast them yourself in the oven.
How to Make Instant Pot Cashew Chicken
Step 1: In a bowl, whisk together 1 tbsp sesame oil, soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, honey, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
Step 2: Trim any excess fat from the chicken breasts and cut into approximately 1” pieces. Place the chicken pieces in a bowl with 1 tbsp arrowroot flour and salt and pepper. Toss to coat the chicken.
Step 3: Set your Instant Pot to Saute mode and add 1 tbsp of sesame oil. Add the chicken pieces and cook until browned. Turn off Saute mode.
Step 4: Pour in the sauce from earlier and toss to coat the chicken and add the cashews. Give it a quick mix. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set to Pressure Cook on high for 6 minutes. When the timer is done, do a quick release on the pressure.
Step 5: In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tbsp arrowroot flour and the water. Add it slowly to the pot while whisking. After the sauce has thickened, add in the cashews and stir.
Step 6: Garnish with sliced green onion and sesame seeds if desired.
Tips For This Recipe
- To make this cashew chicken gluten-free, you can swap the soy sauce for tamari.
- When sauteing the chicken, there’s no need to cook the chicken all the way through as it will continue cooking in the Instant Pot.
- Make sure to set the lid valve to sealing so the pressure can build in the pot. It’ll take a couple of minutes for the pot to come up to pressure before it starts counting down from 6 minutes.
- To prevent a burn notice, make sure there isn't anything stuck to the bottom of the liner before you pressure cook. If needed, deglaze the bottom of the pot with the sauce before pressure cooking.
- To mince the ginger, scrape the skin off the knob of ginger with the back of the spoon beforehand.
- You may have to brown the chicken in batches if your Instant Pot is smaller than 8qt.
Frequently Asked Questions
This cashew chicken goes well with jasmine rice, cauliflower rice, quinoa, or in a lettuce wrap.
Store leftover cashew chicken in an airtight container in the fridge. It’ll stay fresh for up to 4 days. To reheat, you can microwave or stir fry on the stovetop until warmed through.
Quick releasing the Instant Pot is to switch the valve on the lid from sealing to venting. When quick releasing, be mindful that the steam is exiting the pot away from you.
Not in this recipe. The chicken will not brown properly if frozen.
IF YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE TRY THESE OUT!
If you’ve tried this Instant Pot Cashew Chicken Recipe, then don’t forget to leave me a 5 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below!
Instant Pot Cashew Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp sesame oil divided
- 7 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 tsp ginger minced mince
- 2 tbsp arrowroot flour divided
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 cup cashews
- 2 tbsp water
- sliced green onion for garnish
- sesame Seeds for garnish
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together 1 tbsp sesame oil, soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, honey, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
- Trim any excess fat from the chicken breasts and cut into approximately 1” pieces.
- Place the chicken pieces in a bowl with 1 tbsp arrowroot flour and salt and pepper. Toss to coat the chicken.
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute mode and add 1 tbsp of sesame oil. Add the chicken pieces and cook until browned. Turn off Saute mode.
- Add the cashews into the pot and pour in the sauce from earlier and toss to coat the chicken and cashews. Give it a quick stir and place the lid on the Instant Pot and set to Pressure Cook on high for 6 minutes. When the timer is done do a quick release on the pressure.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tbsp arrowroot flour and the water. Add it slowly to the pot while whisking. After the sauce has thickened, add in the cashews and stir.
- Garnish with sliced green onion and sesame seeds.
Notes
- To make this cashew chicken gluten-free, you can swap the soy sauce for tamari.
- When sauteing the chicken, there’s no need to cook the chicken all the way through as it will continue cooking in the Instant Pot.
- Make sure to set the lid valve to sealing so the pressure can build in the pot. It’ll take a couple of minutes for the pot to come up to pressure before it starts counting down from 6 minutes.
- To prevent a burn notice, make sure there isn't anything stuck to the bottom of the liner before you pressure cook. If needed, deglaze the bottom of the pot with the sauce before pressure cooking.
- To mince the ginger, scrape the skin off the knob of ginger with the back of the spoon beforehand.
- You may have to brown the chicken in batches if your Instant Pot is smaller than 8qt.
Would definitely like to try this recipe - I'm a big fan of the instant pot AND Kung Pao chicken! Can you please tell me what you mean by:
"let Instant Pot release pressure"
Does this mean "natural release"? If so, how long?
Or do you mean once the 6 minutes is done, turn the valve to release pressure immediately?
Hi- you can use natural release, thanks!