Name: Instant Pot Honey Sriracha Chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 ½ lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts; ½ cup honey; 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth, divided; ¼ cup Sriracha sauce; 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar; 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce; 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 4 cloves); ½ teaspoon kosher salt; 3 tablespoons cornstarch; Cooked rice and broccoli, for serving

With a garlicky sweet and spicy sauce, Instant Pot Honey Sriracha chicken is ready to eat in less than 30 minutes. You won’t believe how good it is!

At a glance

What stands out: It’s so flavorful and straightforward to mix.

How long it takes: 30 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: pressure cooker/Instant Pot
Servings: 6

Close up view of pulled chicken with a honey sriracha sauce, served with rice and broccoli.

The sauce for this honey Sriracha chicken is so, so good. It’s garlicky, sweet, salty, tangy with lots of warm heat from Sriracha sauce.

If you’re not familiar with Sriracha, it’s a popular red chili pepper sauce, moderately spicy, produced in California. Have you ever had Sriracha mayonnaise on a burger or as a dip for sweet potato fries? Simply stir a spoonful of Sriracha into regular mayonnaise. Try a few drops in your next Bloody Mary. Sprinkle it on scrambled eggs, or shrimp tacos. Make chicken lettuce wraps.

Cooked chicken, rice, and broccoli, with a bottle of sriracha in the background.

Honey Sriracha chicken is just the most flavorful chicken! Do they serve this stuff in restaurants? We don’t know but it’s so good! It seems like every restaurant would want this on their menu.

But you can easily make it at home. And in less than 30 minutes. Really, seriously. So why go out? (P.S. Be sure to try our Instant Pot teriyaki chicken, too!)

Chicken, rice, and broccoli on a plate with sriracha in the background.

About this Honey Sriracha Chicken

It’s all about the sauce in this recipe. With such flavorful ingredients, this sauce will knock your socks off! Do people still say that? It kind of sounds like something our grandpa would say. But you know what we mean.

The honey/Sriracha combination may remind you a bit of hot honey. If you haven’t tried hot honey yet, you should! Sweet and spicy, it’s good on everything from pizza to ice cream. We love it on roasted vegetables or pan-seared salmon bites.

We'll run through the recipe here to get you started. Look for extra tips and information.

What’s in this powerhouse sauce?

Honey: Sticky, sweet, and wonderful, honey is the base of the sauce. You’ll need a half cup.
Chicken Broth: Look for unsalted or low-sodium broth.
Sriracha: Adjust the amount according to how spicy you like your food. Not a fan of Sriracha? Use your favorite hot sauce instead.
Rice Wine Vinegar: Vinegar gives the sauce tanginess and balances out the sweet and salty components.
Soy Sauce: Again, look for low-sodium soy sauce.
Garlic (four cloves!): Yup, lots of garlic! Add more if you dare.
Chicken: Okay, you’ll probably want to just spoon the sauce into your mouth but it goes great with chicken. Use boneless skinless breasts or thighs.

How it comes together

Stir the sauce together, add it to the chicken in your Instant Pot, and set the timer for just seven minutes. Speedy release the pressure, and remove the chicken. Shred the chicken lightly. You want the chicken to be a little chunky.

Thicken the sauce by making a slurry of cornstarch and additional broth. With your Instant Pot on Sauté, stir the cornstarch mixture into the sauce and cook briefly until the sauce is bubbly. Add the chicken back to the pot and you’re ready to eat.

Oh, by the way, did you get rice cooking? Honey Sriracha chicken is so good on jasmine rice with steamed broccoli. There’s just something reliable about that combination. The sauce is really, good with broccoli. We could almost skip the chicken and just eat honey Sriracha broccoli and rice.

(Did you know that your Instant Pot makes a great rice cooker? Make Instant Pot jasmine rice, Instant Pot white rice, or Instant Pot brown rice. It’s straightforward and turns out evenly every time.)

Another great go along with rice and broccoli is spicy garlic shrimp – reliable if you don’t happen to have chicken thawed out. Frozen shrimp thaws quickly under running water.

Make It Your Own

Sub in dark meat. Use boneless skinless chicken thighs if you prefer dark meat over white.
Add more heat! Increase/decrease the heat by adjusting the amount of Sriracha you add.
Make it on the stovetop in a large covered skillet. Cook until the chicken is tender and sauce has thickened.
Try it in your slow cooker. Combine the sauce ingredients, mix it with the chicken, cook for 3 hours on low, add the cornstarch slurry, and cook for another hour. If you prefer the flavor of teriyaki, try crockpot teriyaki chicken.
Looking for a recipe you can make in your oven? Try baked honey mustard chicken. It’s always a hit and reliable when you’re having guests.

Keeping leftovers

Refrigerate/Freeze: Honey Sriracha chicken is good leftover. Cover it well, and it can be stored for up to 3 days in the fridge, or three months in the freezer. Thaw overnight in the fridge for best results.

Reheat: Reheat gently on the stovetop in a skillet or in the microwave.

Make-Ahead Idea

Make double batch of Sriracha chicken and freeze the extra for meals in the future. So convenient and rich!

Meal plan 32 preview image with text and photos.

Free Meal Plan

Interested in a weekly meal plan (it’s free!) that includes this chicken recipe? Take a look at our Meal Plan #32. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. Let us do the planning for you this week! We add a new meal plan weekly.

Browse Meal Plans

Leftover Love

Make a spicy Sriracha pizza! Simply spread honey Sriracha chicken on a pizza crust, sprinkle with cheese, and bake. Garnish with sliced green onions.

Instant Potchicken recipes

Your Instant Pot is a shortcut to tasty chicken dishes. Here’s more recipes you’ll want to try:

Yield: 6 servings
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 ½ lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
½ cup honey
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth, divided
¼ cup Sriracha sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Cooked rice and broccoli, for serving

Method

Add honey, ¾ cup chicken broth, Sriracha, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and salt to Instant Pot. Whisk until blended. Add chicken to sauce, turn to coat.
Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set for High pressure for 7 minutes. When timer goes off, turn vent to quick release pressure.
Remove chicken to plate or cutting board; cool slightly and shred. Turn Instant Pot to sauté. Whisk cornstarch into remaining ¼ cup broth. Stir mixture into sauce and cook until thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Add chicken back to pot and stir until coated.
Serve with cooked rice and broccoli, if desired.
Nutrition information is based on one 4 oz. portion of chicken with sauce and does not include rice and broccoli.

Notes

Use boneless skinless chicken thighs if you prefer.

Increase/decrease the heat by adjusting the amount of Sriracha you add.

Stovetop Instructions: Cut chicken into bite size pieces. In a large covered skillet, brown chicken in a tablespoon of oil. Stir together all sauce ingredients (including the cornstarch). Simmer over low heat until the chicken is tender and sauce has thickened.

Slow Cooker Instructions: Combine the sauce ingredients, mix it with the chicken, cook for 3 hours on low. Remove chicken and shred. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the sauce, add chicken, and cook for another hour.