Instant Pot Chicken and Potatoes

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Cook your chicken and potatoes together at the same time in the Instant Pot in just 6 minutes. Add your favorite sauce or use the homemade honey adobo sauce included below. The potatoes can be quickly re-crisped in a skillet for amazing crisp-tender texture.

overhead image of honey adobo chicken with potatoes on a white plate

The sauce for Instant Pot Honey Adobo Chicken is spicy, smoky, and sweet. Add your favorite toppings like sliced avocados or a dollop of creamy sour cream.

January at our house has been pretty delicious and, with the exception of a few nights where we had to scramble and cook from the freezer or eat popcorn (just the adults – kids had an actual meal), we’ve had a home-cooked or semi-home-cooked dinner every night.

Back to the next in this week’s lineup of meals from the Ultimate Guide to 6-Minute Instant Pot Meals. Be sure to check out that post if you want more ideas for mix-and-match meals to make in the Instant Pot. This one is sort of a twist on nachos. Sweet and smoky chicken spooned over crispy potatoes. 

It all cooks at once in just a few minutes. Here’s how to do it!

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overhead image of cooking honey adobo chicken in the instant pot

Ingredients

  • Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast – I found that chicken breast makes for a better protein in this recipe than chicken thighs. They are more lean and don’t affect the texture of the sauce. I find that chicken thighs make the sauce slightly heavy tasting and a bit greasy.
  • Stock – I like to use store-bought vegetable or chicken stock (sometimes labeled “broth”) to add extra flavor to the sauce. In a pinch, you can also use water. 
  • Tomato Paste – Tomato paste is notorious for causing the burn error in dishes cooked in the Instant Pot, but it’s important in this recipe for adding body and richness to the sauce. There is a sufficient amount of liquid to balance this out, so I never got the burn error in testing. If you know your machine is prone to the burn error, you can wait until after cooking and stir the tomato paste in at the end. 
  • Adobo Sauce – This is the sauce from a small can of chipotles in adobo sauce. It is smoky, spicy, and a tiny bit sweet. See below for more on this delicious ingredient.
  • Honey – The sweetness of honey balances the spiciness of the adobo sauce. You can substitute another sweetener if you prefer.
  • Garlic and Paprika – Use these ingredients to add depth of flavor to the sauce. 
  • Lemon Juice – This adds brightness to the sauce after cooking. You can skip it in a pinch, but the tart, fresh flavor really brings the sauce together.
  • Garnishes – Finish this dish however you’d like, but avocado (or guacamole), sour cream, and chopped green onions / scallions are great options.

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cooking potatoes in the instant pot

How to Make Pot-in-Pot Potatoes

Use the Pot-in-Pot (PIP) Method to cook potatoes at the same time as the Instant Pot Honey Adobo Chicken and you can make amazing crispy home fries to serve with the dish. Not familiar with this handy method that allows you to cook two things in the Instant Pot at the same time? Check out this post on the Pot-in-Pot Method for the Instant Pot.

For this recipe, the potatoes are steamed at the same time as chicken cooks. Use very small potatoes like baby, new, or fingerling potatoes and they will come out tender just as the chicken is finished cooking. But it’s in the next step that makes these potatoes really special. Take the potatoes out and slice them in half. Saute them in oil in a skillet for about 8 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Then season with some salt and pepper. 

placing potatoes in an instant pot
overhead image of sauteeing potatoes in a skillet

What are Chipotles in Adobo Sauce?

Look for canned Chipotles in Adobo Sauce in the international aisle of the grocery store. Usually the cans contain larger pieces or whole chipotle peppers surrounded by a smoky, spicy red sauce. The peppers and sauce can be pretty spicy, so a little goes a long way. They add a deep smoky, spicy flavor to any dish you use them in. 

For this recipe you’ll just use the sauce that surrounds the chipotle peppers. You can freeze leftover chipotle peppers and sauce. Freeze them in an ice cube tray so that you can just use a bit at a time.

Wondering what to do with the leftovers? These smoky, spicy peppers are great stirred into soups, taco meat, Latin-style sauces, or queso to serve with chips.

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Instant Pot Honey Adobo Chicken with potatoes on a white plate
5 from 2 votes

Instant Pot Chicken and Potatoes

Cook your chicken and potatoes together at the same time in the Instant Pot in just 6 minutes. Add your favorite sauce or use the homemade honey adobo sauce included below. The potatoes can be quickly re-crisped in a skillet for amazing crisp-tender texture.
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 4 minutes
Natural Release: 10 minutes
Total: 24 minutes
Servings: 4

Equipment

  • 6-quart Instant Pot / pressure cooker
  • Pressure cooker-safe metal trivet and bowl

Ingredients 

Chicken and Sauce

  • 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (from a can of chipotles in adobo)
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika (substitute regular paprika)
  • 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped into cubes
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Pot-in-Pot Potatoes

  • 1 pound potatoes, rinsed and scrubbed (use any small variety like fingerling, baby, or new potatoes)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil (I typically use avocado or grapeseed oil for cooking)

For Serving (optional)

  • avocado
  • sour cream
  • chopped green onions

Instructions 

  • In the bowl of the Instant Pot, combine all of the ingredients for Chicken and Sauce (except lemon juice) – stock, tomato paste, adobo sauce, honey, garlic, paprika, and chicken. (Note: If you don't want to add the pot-in-pot potatoes, skip ahead to Step #4.)
  • Top the chicken and sauce with a 2” rack then with a 7-cup glass bowl. (Be sure that both the rack and bowl are approved for use in the Instant Pot.)
  • Fill the bowl with potatoes and water.
  • Close and lock the lid.
  • Set the steam valve to Sealing.
  • Cook on manual / high pressure for 6 minutes.
  • When done cooking, leave the machine on Warming (most machines automatically revert to this after cooking). Allow pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes. (Tip: I like to set a kitchen timer so that I don’t get distracted and forget.)
  • Manually release any remaining pressure.
  • Carefully remove the bowl of potatoes and set aside to cool.
  • To chicken and sauce, add lemon juice. Taste sauce and season with some additional salt and pepper, if needed. Place the lid back on the Instant Pot to keep the chicken and sauce warm while you finish the potatoes.
  • Slice the potatoes in half.
  • Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil and then halved potatoes. Saute potatoes, letting them brown slightly on each side until deep golden brown and very tender, 8 to 10 minutes total. Season potatoes with some salt as they cook.
  • Serve chicken and sauce over potatoes. Serve with avocado, sour cream, and / or green onions.

Notes

Optional Pot-in-Pot Potatoes – Feel free to skip the pot-in-pot potatoes here. Just skip over the steps to add the trivet, bowl, and potatoes. Follow all other directions (including cook time) as written.
Chipotles in Adobo – Look for these in a can in the international aisle of the grocery store. Usually the cans contain larger pieces of chipotle peppers surrounded by a smoky, spicy red sauce. For this recipe just use the sauce. You can freeze any leftover chipotle peppers and sauce (this works especially well if you freeze them in an ice cube tray). These smoky, spicy peppers are great stirred into soups, taco meat, or Latin-style sauces.

Nutrition

Calories: 293kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 110mg | Sodium: 1881mg | Potassium: 836mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 748IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Author: Jess Smith via Inquiring Chef
Cost: $10.00
Calories: 293
Keyword: easy chicken recipe, easy recipe, instant pot, Mexican, pot-in-pot, potatoes, spicy chicken
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About Jess Smith

Jess is the recipe creator and photographer at InquiringChef.com. She spent nearly a decade as the Chief Recipe Developer for the award-winning meal planning app Cook Smarts. Her colorful, healthyish recipes have been featured in popular online publications including Parade, Hallmark, and HuffPost.

5 from 2 votes (1 rating without comment)

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3 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I just used the technique for the potatoes onlyโ€”started them in the IP on a trivet for 6 min (with a cup of the leftover chicken water) after my whole chicken was done, and finished them on a pan with the garlic butter and onion… omg! So good! Definitely doing this from now on.

    1. Betsy – so glad you liked these as much as we do! I’ve only every made the potatoes this way using pot-in-pot, but I’m totally going to add it to my list to make them on their own.