This Instant Pot Honey Balsamic Chicken is the perfect meal prep recipe – serve it with roasted vegetables for a full healthy meal!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – or another neutral cooking oil like canola oil or avocado oil.
- Chicken broth – vegetable broth would be the next best thing to chicken broth.
- Chicken breasts – you can also make this recipe with boneless skinless chicken thighs.
- Balsamic vinegar – try using ride wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar instead (although the flavour will be different).
- Honey – agave, maple syrup or brown sugar would be the best substitutes here.
- Dijon mustard – stone-ground mustard would provide a similar flavour.
- Garlic – freshly minced garlic is best, but jarred minced garlic will work in a pinch.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
Roasted vegetables
- Olive oil – or another neutral cooking oil like canola oil or avocado oil.
- Garlic – freshly minced garlic is best, but jarred minced garlic will work in a pinch.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
- Baby potatoes – swap out for another potato of your choice or use another vegetable entirely.
- Carrots – swap out for another veggie of your choice like parsnips.
- Green beans – swap out for another veggie of your choice like asparagus.
- Red pepper – use any other colour bell pepper instead.
How to make this recipe
- Roast the vegetables.
- Add all the chicken ingredients to the Instant Pot in order.
- Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
- Do a quick release of the pressure.
- Shred the chicken.
- Serve with veggies and enjoy!
Side dish ideas
On its own, this Instant Pot chicken meal prep recipe is a complete gluten-free dinner idea. If you want to change things up a bit, here are some ideas:
- To add some grains, serve it in bowls over white or brown rice or with quinoa for a healthy choice.
- Tuck it into flour tortillas, pita bread or naan.
- Serve it over some healthy greens to make a honey balsamic chicken salad!
Frequently Asked Questions
For this Instant Pot meal prep chicken recipe, you’ll need to cook the chicken on high pressure for 5 minutes. Since it’ll take the Instant Pot about 10-15 minutes to come up to high pressure, the total cooking time is around 20 minutes.
Absolutely! I use chicken thighs in a lot of my Instant Pot meal prep recipes. Just make sure that the thighs are boneless and skinless. This chicken dinner is meant to be healthy; however, chicken skin is not a healthy choice. As a result, the chicken skin will add calories and fat. Besides, the skin won’t get crispy in the Instant Pot anyways.
This Instant Pot chicken meal prep recipe is super healthy with only 295 calories per serving. Keep in mind that if you swap out the chicken breasts for thighs, that will slightly increase the calorie count.
Storing and reheating
This Instant Pot chicken meal prep recipe will last in the fridge for 3-5 days. Once everything has completely cooled, transfer individual serving sizes to glass meal prep containers. That way, when you’re ready to enjoy, all you have to do is pull a container out of the fridge and stick it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes! I suggest sprinkling some water over top of the chicken before microwaving to make sure it doesn’t dry out.
Freezing the chicken
While the roasted vegetables won’t defrost very well, you can definitely freeze the chicken for easy Instant Pot meal prep. Freeze it in airtight glass containers or freezer-safe Ziploc bags for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy, transfer it to the fridge to defrost overnight then reheat. Easy-peasy!
More make-ahead meal prep chicken recipes
- Instant Pot Chicken Tortellini Soup
- Instant Pot Ramen Noodles with Chicken
- Meal Prep Instant Pot Jambalaya
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- If you plan to use this Instant Pot Honey Balsamic Chicken for lunches, grab some glass meal prep bowls.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
Instant Pot Honey Balsamic Chicken {Meal Prep}
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Roasted vegetables
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 cup baby potatoes
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped green beans
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss vegetables with olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Add all ingredients for chicken to Instant Pot in order that they are listed. Place lid on Instant Pot and make sure valve is set to seal.
- Press the pressure cook button and set to high, then cook for 5 minutes. Instant Pot will take about 10-15 minutes to come to pressure then pressure cook the 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, roast veggies for 15-20 minutes until fully cooked, tossing halfway through.
- Do a quick release of the pressure on the Instant Pot by flicking the switch at the top with a spoon. Open the lid when pressure gauge has dropped and the lid opens easily. Shred chicken, then serve in meal prep bowls alongside roasted veggies. Enjoy!