Sweet and Sour Chicken with tender bites of chicken, bell peppers, and pineapple in a sweet and sour sauce can be made hands-off in the Instant Pot in just a few minutes. To make this Chinese take-out style dish even more weeknight-friendly, cook pot-in-pot rice at the same time. 

Before mid-March, I never could have imagined what it might be like to have the whole world shut down for weeks and weeks on end. So many things about these past weeks have been really hard, but it has not been hard for me personally to have a wide open calendar. As an introvert and a homebody, I’m pretty content to head into a new week with nothing but time as a family in the gaps between work.

One thing I have certainly missed though is the nights off from cooking. Yes, I make a living cooking and I definitely love to cook, but providing three meals for a family of five every single day…it’s a grind. There’s just no question about it. I’ve been digging deep to pull out some of our old and nearly-forgotten favorites, and to come up with totally new recipes that keep things fun (and, hopefully, keep dishes to a minimum). 

This recipe, like all of my favorite Instant Pot take-out fake-out recipes, is almost as easy as ordering take-out online. And bonus that it’s a fair amount healthier too. 

By the way, many of my other favorite Instant Pot take-out fake-out favorites are in The Ultimate Guide to 6-Minute Instant Pot Meals.

Healthier Sweet and Sour Chicken

Classic take-out sweet and sour chicken is deep fried and tossed in a super sweet sauce. This Instant Pot version has all the flavor in a lighter, healthier package. Cooking the chicken right in the sauce means the dish requires no frying at all and the chicken soaks up all of that delicious sauce flavor while it cooks. This version of Sweet and Sour Chicken also scraps the high amount of sugar in the take-out versions, while still delivering flavor that is balanced in its sweet and sour notes. 

Ingredients

• Chicken Breast – Boneless, skinless chicken breast works best here. Cube it before combining it with sauce so the dish is ready to serve straight from the Instant Pot to your plate. The chicken will absorb sauce as it pressure cooks and stay tender. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs can work too, but they make the sauce taste almost a bit to oily / rich. 
• Fresh Garlic and Ginger – These aromatics add a lot of nuanced flavor to the sauce. The classic take-out sauce is sometimes one dimensional with just the sweet and sour flavors coming through. With the addition of fresh garlic and ginger, this homemade sauce instantly gets a leg up on the takeout version. 
• Canned Pineapple – It’s handy to use canned pineapple in this recipe because you get both the pineapple and the liquid (juice) to help flavor the sauce. Add the liquid to the sauce, but save the pineapple cubes to add at the end. Pineapple works so well in this dish because it has both the sweet and sour notes the sauce is known for. 
• Ketchup, Apple Cider Vinegar, and Sugar – Hopefully you already have these staples in your pantry or fridge. If you don’t have apple cider vinegar, you could use white vinegar, but it doesn’t have the natural, subtle sweet flavor of apple cider vinegar. 
• Soy Sauce – Soy sauce gives this Asian dish a subtle savory flavor. If you want to make a gluten-free version of the dish, use Tamari instead. 
• Toasted Sesame Oil – This oil has a truly unique flavor that can make a homemade Chinese dish taste authentic. It’s a great pantry staple to have for making a variety of Asian and Asian-inspried dishes. Find it in the international aisle at your regular grocery store. 
• Bell Pepper – Red or green bell peppers work well. Be sure to chop them into bite-sized pieces. If you want to have them almost disappear into the sauce, you can also dice them very fine. You’ll add them at the end of cooking and just simmer for a minute or two so they hold their shape. (If you pressure cook the bell peppers along with the chicken, they practically turn to mush.) 
• Red Pepper Flakes – Just add this if you want a spicy element to the dish. I think a little spice really helps balance everything, but totally up to you if you want to add it!

How to Make Instant Pot Sweet And Sour Chicken

1. Separate the canned pineapple and juice. (Reserve the pineapple chunks to add at the end of cooking.)
2. Combine chicken and sauce ingredients in the bowl of an Instant Pot.
3. Add pot-in-pot rice if you’d like to cook rice at the same time. (See below for all the details on that.)
4. Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. 
5. Allow pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes and then release any remaining pressure.
6. Use Instant Pot’s saute function (Normal / Medium) to bring the chicken and sauce to a simmer. Add the pineapple and bell peppers and saute for just a minute to soften the bell peppers.
7. Add a cornstarch / water mixture and stir it into the sauce until it thickens (just a minute or two).
8. Serve the chicken and sauce over rice. Enjoy!

How to Make Rice Using the Pot-in-Pot Method

Use the Pot-in-Pot (PIP) Method to cook rice at the same time as the sweet and sour chicken. 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 all of the details.

Other Asian-Inspired Weeknight Favorites

Bacon and Asparagus Fried Rice

Salmon Sushi Bowls

Easy Wonton Soup

Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli