This Instant Pot Stir Fry is a delicious, healthy option if you don’t have access to a stovetop – all you need is chicken, veggies and a simple sauce!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Sesame oil – sesame oil will add a fragrant and flavourful taste to the dish. If you are looking for an alternative, you can use olive oil, avocado oil or sunflower oil in place of sesame oil.
- Chicken breasts – chicken breasts are a leaner meat but you can replace them with chicken thighs. Chicken thighs may give a juicier cut of meat to the meal.
- Broccoli – instead of broccoli, you can use cauliflower, sugar snap peas, green beans or any other vegetable of your choice.
- Carrot – substitute for any vegetable of your choice. If you don’t have any fresh vegetables on hand, feel free to use frozen.
- Red bell pepper – see substitution notes.
- Green onion – green onions are a great garnish for the meal but also add flavour to the stir fry. If you’re in a pinch, feel free to leave them out or replace them with chives.
- Sesame seeds – black or white same seeds would both be good to garnish, or you can leave these off altogether.
Stir fry sauce
- Hoisin sauce – you can use bean paste, garlic teriyaki or a sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) in place of hoisin sauce.
- Soy sauce – Low-sodium soy sauce is best. Coconut aminos or tamari can also be used.
- Ginger – fresh ginger is best but ginger powder can be used in a pinch.
- Garlic – fresh minced garlic or jarred minced garlic will both work.
Rice
- White rice – jasmine rice is the best option for this recipe but basmati rice or brown rice can be used in place of jasmine rice.
- Butter – feel free to use olive oil, margarine or a vegan butter of your choice in place of butter.
- Salt – to taste.
How to make stir fry in the Instant Pot
Step 1: Brown the chicken.
Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until browned.
Step 2: Add the broccoli.
Step 3: Add the veggies.
Add the carrot and red pepper and sauté until tender-crisp.
Step 4: Make the sauce.
Mix together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, fresh ginger and minced garlic.
Step 5: Mix everything together.
Pour the sauce over top the veggies and chicken, and sauté until the sauce thickens.
Step 6: Serve over rice and dig in!
Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds and serve!
More stir fry variations
This Instant Pot chicken stir fry is super easy to customize. Switch up the protein, veggies, sauces and side dishes until you find a flavor you love! Here are some different variations you can try:
- Protein: Beef, shrimp, ground turkey, tofu
- Veggies: Cauliflower, snow peas, bok choy, zucchi, cabbage, mushrooms
- Sauces: Mongolian beef, honey garlic, ginger sesame, kung pao
- Sides: Brown rice, cauliflower rice, quinoa, ramen noodles, spicy garlic noodles, rice noodles
Frequently Asked Questions
You won’t get the same flavour as you would with a wok when you’re making stir fry in the pressure cooker, but it’s way easier to use and a great option if you don’t have access to a stovetop. Just use the saute function to make your stir fry!
The stir fry sauce for this recipe is plenty thick already thanks to the hoisin sauce, but if you want it to be even thicker, whisk in a cornstarch slurry. Add the lid onto the Instant Pot and let the mixture sit for a few minutes.
You can definitely use frozen vegetables in this recipe. Frozen vegetables are an easier way of adding veggies to any dish because they’re pre-cut, pre-washed and typically pre-cooked as well! With that being said, you will want to reduce the cook time of the frozen vegetables so you don’t end up with soggy stir fry veggies.
I like serving this stir fry with white rice, but you can serve it with any kind of rice of your choice. It would also be delicious with cauliflower rice, quinoa, ramen or rice noodles!
If you want to double this recipe, I’d recommend cooking in batches. If you cook a double batch all at once, the chicken and veggies might not cook through properly.
Storing and reheating
Stir fry is easy to make and is a great meal prep dish to have throughout the week. Divide individual portions into airtight meal prep containers and store them in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. When you’re ready to enjoy, reheat your stir fry in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes or in a pan on the stovetop. If you’re reheating the rice, I’d suggest sprinkling some water over top first so it doesn’t dry out.
If you have some extra stir fry sauce, you can store it in a mason jar for up to 2 weeks for any future stir fry you’re planning on making!
Freezing this recipe
Unfortunately, this Instant Pot stir fry won’t freeze well, as the vegetables will get soggy when they defrost.
More Asian-inspired Instant Pot recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this dish into your weekly lunches.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- Get a meat thermometer to make sure your chicken is cooked through.
Instant Pot Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 lb chicken breasts, diced
- 1 head broccoli, chopped
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 2 green onions, sliced
- Sesame seeds, for garnish
Stir fry sauce
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Rice
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup white rice
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Cook ingredients under the rice heading in a rice cooker or on the stovetop.
- Add sesame oil to Instant Pot and press the saute button. When hot, add the chicken, seasoning with salt & pepper and sauteeing for 2 minutes until browned. Add in broccoli, cooking for another 2 minutes.
- Add in carrot, and red pepper, then mix up stir fry sauce in a small bowl. Saute veggies for 3-4 minutes until tender-crisp, then pour sauce overtop and saute another 2 minutes until sauce thickens.
- Serve stir fry over rice, then garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!
