For as long as we’ve been writing this blog, dinner time has been a major point of focus for the majority of our readers. And we get it. I too, often look at the clock around 5pm and suddenly wonder what the heck I’m going to pull together and how I’m going to do it when all the meat in the house is currently frozen. My pressure cooker has been a game-changer in this department, which is why you’ve been seeing more and more pressure-cooker recipes from me! (You can read more about them, here.) This recipe can also very easily be made in a slow cooker, and I’ve included directions for that. So we’ve got super fast AND super slow options for ya. The best part? You can take use those completely frozen chicken breasts from the giant Costco bag and stick them straight from the freezer into your pot and it only takes 15 minutes cooking time in the pressure cooker. The whole meal is done and on the table in about 30. I shared my Chili-Lime version recently, and this is my Asian-inspired version. I’ve got another Italian style version and with those three flavor profiles you can seriously make ANYTHING for dinner depending on what else you can scrounge up in the fridge.
If these ingredients look familiar to you, it’s because I borrowed a lot of flavors from this Honey Orange Pork, which is one of my family’s favorite recipes. I swapped out the cider vinegar for rice vinegar and added a hefty dose of ginger and then used the juices to make the easiest sauce. These are things that you can keep around in the fridge and pantry all the time so you can whip this up easily. You could even sub out powdered ginger if you didn’t have fresh.
Orange marmalade is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with, and honestly- what else do people do with orange marmalade?? I don’t see many people spreading it on toast or plopping it on their PB&J but man it’s good. It’s works perfectly in a sauce like this because it adds sweetness, thickness, and concentrated orange all in one hit.
The sauce comes together in minutes, maybe even seconds.
And then you can just pour it right over your chicken.
If the chicken is frozen, I set it to 15 minutes pressure cooking time, and if thawed, 6 minutes. When it’s done, pop it on a cutting board and shred and while you’re doing that, just turn the heat on the pan and bring the sauce up to a simmer.
I just add a little cornstarch slurry, which takes all those flavorful juices and turns them into a nice sauce that coats the chicken.
From there you can serve it over rice and vegetables, or use it in lettuce wraps or on a salad or whatever. It’s super versatile and my whole family loves it. So there you go, dinner in under 30, boom.
Looking for more Pressure Cooker Recipes? Here’s 3 more for you to try!
Pressure Cooker Brazilian Black Beans
Pressure Cooker BBQ Ribs
Pressure Cooker Chili-Lime Chicken
Orange-Ginger Chicken
Equipment
- Slow Cooker optional
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breasts, boneless, skinless frozen or thawed
- ⅓ cup orange marmalade
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- ½ tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons water, broth, or orange juice broth, or orange juice
- 2 tablespoons ginger, fresh chopped
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts in pressure cooker.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together: marmalade, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, water, ginger and garlic. Pour mixture over chicken. Secure lid on pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes (15 minutes is the cooking time once under pressure.)
- When finished, release steam according to pressure cooker instructions and use an instant-read thermometer to make sure meat has reached 165 degrees. (If it has not reached temperature, simply return shredded chicken to sauce and simmer until cooked through.)
- Remove chicken breasts and place on a cutting board. Bring remaining sauce in pan up to a simmer (use the saute feature on an electric cooker). Combine cornstarch with 3 teaspoons cold water and then pour mixture into pan. Simmer until sauce is thickened and the turn off heat.
- Shred chicken and return to pot with sauce. Serve as desired. Yields 4 cups shredded chicken.
Notes
Nutrition
Questions & Reviews
Love this recipe! Just printed it to make for my freezer meal swap group. Just curious, did you publish your Italian variation because I love the Asian and Mexican versions, I’m sure I’d like that one too. 🙂
Hi Sara,
I’ve just dicovered your blog (thanks for writing it for us) and made this chicken tonight for dinner. it was delicious! I never order orange chicken at restaurant or take-out counters because it’s always way too sweet. This wasn’t. The huge amounts of garlic and ginger cut through the sweetness (I added half the honey) to make a perfect sauce. It was a little thick for me, so I’ll back off on the cornstarch next time.
I halved the recipe using an 11-oz breast, which was just right for the 2 of us. I cooked it in my IP Mini using the Slow Cooker function set to high (which = low in my Cuisinart slow cooker). It was ready in just 1 hour, temping at 167ºF. Turning it to Sauté made it easy to finish the sauce right in the pot. I served it over jasmine rice with an Asian slaw for brightness. Perfect dinner for two! My husband called it a keeper, which made me happy, because I love dump recipes that work!
Glad you loved it!
Okay! Grocery shopping tomorrow and this just went on the meal plan. I’m finally taking it out of the box ?
This looks amazing!!! Will certainly be trying this out this week! Thank you for sharing.
Yum! Thank you! Keep the pressure cooker recipes coming! I got one a year ago and feel like I’m still figuring out how to use my “little droid” (as my sister calls it). Are you planning on posting your Italian recipe eventually too? I’d LOVE to see that one!
Made it tonight, it came out quite tasty. Definitely in the “make again” category.
I’m trying this tomorrow for the first time. Maiden voyage for my pressure cooker! Wish me luck! I love every recipe of yours I’ve tried so I have high hopes. I’m still hoping you’ll post your recipe for the Italian pressure cooker chicken of the three, that one intrigues me the most!
Good luck! (And don’t worry, it’s coming!)
Borrowed a friends pressure cooker to try this out and it was a definite success. SO fast and easy! And idea when you are planning on posting the Italian version? I’m super excited to try it out!!
Any idea how long this cooks in the crockpot for?
I’m not sure, you’ll have to eyeball it. I’d do it on low for maybe 3 hours or so? People tend to overcook chicken breasts in the crock pot, so just make sure to only cook them until they reach 165 degrees internally.
It shouldn’t take more than 1-2 hours on low (my Cuisinart cooks boneless chicken breast in 1.5 hours). Check it at 1 hour.
Any idea on approximately how long the chicken would need to cook in a slow cooker? Normal sized chicken breasts, will probably cut in half to make thinner than an inch. Thx!!