Let me tell you, we have already made this Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken 5 times within the last 2 weeks. Therefore you tell me if we love this recipe or not… HA! Yes, 3 of those times were to make sure the recipe was perfecto for you guys. Then we just couldn’t stop making it after that. It’s easy, it’s delicious, it is healthy and it has less than 1 gram of added sugar per serving. Therefore, it is going to be your new go to for your family and/or just you! I love to make this recipe for dinner, however it is perfect for meal prep lunches as well.
Also it is a 2 in 1 Instant Pot Meal. What do I mean by that? You will make the Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken the same time you will be cooking the rice. That is one of the many things I love about the Instant Pot. It is called Pot in Pot Cooking. Which is a wonderful method for saving time in the kitchen and being able to make multiple things at once for the same meal. Also if you are wanting to cut time on meal prepping too! Let’s get started!
What Makes This Orange Chicken Healthier?
What makes this Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken a lot healthier than your take out Orange Chicken? Well for starters it doesn’t have that fried outside to the chicken, however I promise once you take a bite you will be LOVING these flavors, to mention how you feel after eating it— that you will 100% be good with it not!
LOWER SUGAR:
Regularly an order of Orange Chicken from restaurant has on average 19 grams of sugar per serving. American Health Association recommends women having on average no more than 24 grams of sugar a day. Therefore, orange chicken out could have over 75% of your sugar intake for the day.
HGHF Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken : has LESS THAN 1 gram of added sugar. The sauce in this recipe uses monk fruit sweetener as well as fresh squeezed oranges & simple ingredients. No need for the overly fake sugary syrups to make this recipe amazing!
LOWER FAT:
We are looking at about 18 grams of fat and 4 grams of saturated fat in one serving.
GLUTEN FREE:
One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it is thickened with arrow root powder. Arrow root is a root vegetable that is made into a powder, that is used for thickening recipes without the use of gluten. Arrow root has a lot of wonderful health benefits like regulating weight loss, supporting healthy immune system & regulating digestion. Whereas other thickening agents such as corn starch are high in calories and carbs, but very little nutrients.
What Delicious Ingredients are in the Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Another thing that I love about this recipe is that it is super easy but also, minimal ingredients! Feel free to add in regular sugar instead of monk fruit sweetener or regular orange juice. However, it is super easy to use both of these, promise! Also the key is to brown the chicken in sesame seed oil— soooo good!
Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (2 to 3)
- 2 tbsp Toasted Sesame Seed Oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger minced very fine
- 2 tbsp arrow root powder
Orange Chicken Sauce
- Zest of 1 orange
- Juice of 2 oranges ( 1/2 cup)
- 1/4 cup granulated monk fruit sweetner
- 1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp Toasted Sesame Seed Oil
- 2 tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce
- 2 1/2 tsp Sriracha
Directions: Whisk until through combined
Directions for Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken
This recipe is so stinking easy for so many reason! One being that you don’t have to worry about cooking the rice as well as the chicken at different times or making more a mess in the kitchen. This deliciously easy recipe cooks the chicken and rice all in one. This is called Pot in Pot cooking, and one of the genius reasons an Instant Pot in a necessity! Let me walk you through it.
Whisk together your Orange Chicken Sauce from above & set aside
First you will hit the sauté function on the Instant Pot. Set it for 10 minutes. That will give it enough time to do what we need to do for the recipe. Add in 2 tbsp of Toasted Sesame Seed oil. Then add in your 4 cloves garlic minced, 2 tbsp finely chopped ginger and sauté for 2 minutes
Add in your boneless skinless chicken breasts that you chopped into bite sized pieces
Season chicken with 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp garlic powder, Mix until throughly combined. Then let sauté for 5 more minutes
Turn off IP sauté function and pour the orange chicken sauce over the chicken. Scrape the bottom to make sure nothing is sticking the bottom.
Next you will place your IP safe insert on top of the orange chicken so that you can place you IP safe bowl that has the rice in it on top.
Place 2 cups white rice into IP safe bowl. Pour 2 cups water over it and stir. Place your rice bowl on top of the IP safe insert that is on the chicken. Do not cover the rice, leave as in like the picture. Cover with the IP lid, seal and make sure steam release valve in locked. High pressure for 4 minutes, then naturally release for 10.
- After 10 minutes naturally release you will quick release the valve, and once the pressure valve drops you will remove lid. Then remove the rice bowl and set aside
- Then in a small bowl add in your 2 tbsp arrow root & 2 tbsp warm water. Whisk until throughly combined, making a white slurry.
- Slowly add that on top of the chicken mixture, then stirring making a figure 8 with your ladle.
- Then pour over rice, sprinkle with some sesame seeds & fresh green onion. Enjoy!
Other HGHF Instant Pot Recipes
The Best Instant Pot Chicken Taquitos
Instant Pot Chicken Salad
Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Instant Pot Oatmeal
Easy and Healthy Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Quesadilla
Common Questions when making Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Can I use chicken thigh meat instead of chicken breasts for the Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken?
You sure can! However, when you are sautéing the chicken for the initial 5 minutes, sauté your chicken for 7 minutes. It takes longer for thigh meat to cook and we want to be able to use the same pressure cook time for the rices sake too.
Instead of using Granulated Monk Fruit Sweetener, could I use granulated cane sugar?
Sure can! We use granulated monk fruit sweetener in this recipe to lower the sugar content. It is something we use a lot and it does not taste “fake” sugar tasting, like some sugar replacements. I also don’t really think of monk fruit as a replacement per say, it provides great health benefits. We love it!
In the recipe for Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken, it calls for fresh squeezed oranges for the orange juice, can’t I just use regular store bought orange juice?
You can however, the fresh orange juice takes about 1 minute to squeeze on hand juicer & then you get the exact sweetness without all the extra sugar.
If I double the recipe do I have to double the pressure cook time in the Instant Pot?
No you don’t have to! That is another amazing thing about the Instant Pot, it will adjust to how much you have in there because it will take longer to pressurize, making sure the cook time is balanced.
What is the best way to store the Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken?
I will store the rice in a separate container than the chicken. I will make sure all the sauce is covered over the chicken as well to keep it moist. (tried to think of another word that would work here, but couldn’t lol!)
How do I know what bowl is Instant Pot Safe?
Google it & check to make sure it says they are oven as well as microwavable safe. I then also check to see if it is a brand that even identifies as instant pot safe. I have heard the newer pyrex dishes are NOT, so make sure you google which one you are using or use a designated IP bowl.
What is the Instant Pot insert you use to rest the rice on to do the Pot in Pot cooking?
I like using the egg insert shelf as seen here, because it rests higher than some of my other inserts. I love this set of inserts, a great basic set we use all the time.
Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
Easy Gluten Free Instant Pot Orange Chicken
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts 2 to 3
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 2 tbsp Toasted Sesame Seed Oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger minced very fine
- 2 tbsp arrow root powder
Orange Chicken Sauce
- Zest of 1 orange
- Juice of 2 oranges 1/2 cup
- 1/4 cup granulated monk fruit sweetner
- 1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp Toasted Sesame Seed Oil
- 2 tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce
- 2 1/2 tsp Sriracha
Instructions
- Whisk together your Orange Chicken Sauce: Zest of 1 orangeJuice of 2 oranges 1/2 cup1/4 cup granulated monk fruit sweetner1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce2 tbsp rice vinegar2 tbsp Toasted Sesame Seed Oil2 tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce2 1/2 tsp Sriracha. Then set aside.
- Then you will hit the sauté function on the Instant Pot. Set it for 10 minutes. That will give it enough time to do what we need to do for the recipe. Add in 2 tbsp of Toasted Sesame Seed oil. Then add in your 4 cloves garlic minced, 2 tbsp finely chopped ginger and sauté for 2 minutes
- Add in your boneless skinless chicken breasts that you chopped into bite sized pieces
- Season chicken with 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp garlic powder, Mix until thoroughly combined. Then let sauté for 5 more minutes
- Turn off IP sauté function and pour the orange chicken sauce over the chicken. Scrape the bottom to make sure nothing is sticking the bottom.
- Next you will place your IP safe insert on top of the orange chicken so that you can place you IP safe bowl that has the rice in it on top.
- Place the 2 cups dried rice in the IP safe bowl. Then 2 cups water & stir. Set the IP safe bowl on top of the IP safe insert that is on the chicken. Do not cover the rice, leave as in like the picture. Cover with the IP lid, seal and make sure steam release valve in locked. High pressure for 4 minutes, then naturally release for 10.
- After 10 minutes naturally release you will quick release the valve, and once the pressure valve drops you will remove lid. Then remove the rice bowl and set aside
- Then in a small bowl add in your 2 tbsp arrow root & 2 tbsp warm water. Whisk until thoroughly combined, making a white slurry.
- Slowly add that on top of the chicken mixture, then stirring making a figure 8 with your ladle. Until it starts to thicken.
- Then pour over rice, sprinkle with some sesame seeds & fresh green onion. Enjoy!
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