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Delicious tropical flavors from your Instant pot! This sweet and slightly sour Hawaiian chicken is so easy, and family friendly, kid approved! 

Moving across the country hasn’t been without it’s challenges. For example, we are living in our RV right now, while waiting for our new home to be ready. 5 adults in a 31 foot trailer. Well, 4 adults, and 1 15 year old. But, the boy is 6’4″ and takes up a lot of space, so I count him as an adult.

I am so grateful I had the foresight to bring my Instant Pot along when we moved. It’s been a meal, time, and taste bud saver. We have options besides eating out, grilled foods, and anything in the microwave.

This Hawaiian chicken is easy to put together and it’s amazing! It’s a delicious blend of sweet and savory flavors, and one of our favorite Instant Pot recipes. Fresh pineapple, chicken, and rice. It’s what’s for dinner tonight!

What is an Instant Pot?

Unless you have not had the internet, pinterest, or have been generally living under a rock, you have at least heard of, or have seen the Instant Pot. It’s an amazing, all in one, kitchen appliance that you can brown, sautee, cook, and reheat in. All on the countertop, and without giving off a lot of heat.

This electric pressure cooker has presets for soup, chicken, stews, chili, and even yogurt. A twist of the lid, a touch of the button, and you have your next meal coming up fast.  

Tropical flavors from your Instant pot are yours! This sweet and slightly sour Hawaiian chicken is so easy, and family approved!  #Instantpot #chickenrecipes #easyrecipes #hawaiianchicken Click to Tweet

How easy is it to make this Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken recipe?

This is one of the best easy chicken recipes you’ll find. This makes a great weeknight dinner, even when you are busy.

Simply add a trivet to the bottom of the Instant Pot, add chicken, and remaining ingredients. Set the valve to “seal”, and turn on, cook, allow a bit of natural pressure release, then do a quick release by moving the valve over to “release”. 

Ingredients you need:

• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
• Brown sugar
• Lemon Juice
• White vinegar
• Soy sauce
• Pineapple chunks in juice
• Cilantro
• Salt
• White pepper
• Cornstarch
• Water
• Optional: green or red bell pepper.

Making your Hawaiian chicken:

1. Dice chicken breast into bite sized chunks and season lightly with salt and white pepper. If using bell pepper, dice them into bite sized chunks as well.
2. In a medium bowl whisk brown sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, and soy sauce.
3. Place chicken pieces on the trivet in your instant pot as best as possible to avoid burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot.
4. Dump the entire can of pineapple chunks with juice over the chicken. If you are adding bell pepper, this is the step to do it in.
5. Pressure cook on high, allow short natural pressure release then finish with quick release.
6. Remove chicken and pineapple from instant pot, and add cornstarch/water mixture to thicken the sauce.
7. Add all ingredients to a serving bowl, top with cilantro, and serve with rice.

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The cooking time says 6 minutes, is that really all it takes?

A slight caveat to this recipe. While it only needs to COOK for 6 minutes, the total time this recipe takes from start to finish is about 30 minutes. That includes the time needed for the Instant Pot to come up to pressure, which can take 20-25 minutes.

If you have a second Instant Pot, you can easily cook your rice for the side. See how to make it here. Otherwise, try instant rice on the stove top for a quick weeknight meal.

What kind of rice goes great with this Hawaiian chicken?

For the Frenchman’s sake, I use white rice. It’s one of his comfort foods. However, you can use:

• brown rice
• basmati rice
• cauliflower rice (to lower the carbs)

Do I have to use chicken breasts for this? 

The Instant pot is great for chicken breast recipes such as this. It helps keep the chicken moist and tender. However, if you prefer, you can certainly use boneless, skinless chicken thighs as well. Dark meat has it’s own rich flavor, and also works great in this recipe. 

The cooking time will remain the same for both white and dark meat chicken. 

Other recipes you’ll love:

• BBQ Pulled Chicken Tacos
• Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
• Butternut Squash Soup
• Penne with Marinara in the Instant Pot