Our Instant Pot Keto Orange Chicken Recipe is such a quick, easy, and healthy dinner idea! This homemade take on Panda Express is family-friendly! It’s low-carb, gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo-friendly, and ready in under 30 minutes!
Our instant pot orange chicken is super simple to make, and it’s also low carb and keto-friendly! Plus, if you’re craving Chinese food – this is a must-have dinner!!
What is Orange Chicken?
Orange chicken is one of the most popular Chinese takeout dishes. It’s typically made with crispy fried chicken covered in sweet, tangy orange sauce.
Our version is lighter than the original, but it still tastes great and is a family-favorite! We also love that it’s lower in calories, sugar and contains no MSG.
It also pairs really will with cauliflower rice or zoodles!
What We Love About this Keto Orange Chicken Recipe
- Healthier than takout
- Keto and low-carb friendly
- Gluten-free
- No MSG
- Ready in Under 30 Minutes
- Quick Prep & Clean Up
Can You Eat Orange Chicken on Keto?
Traditional orange chicken wouldn’t be allowed on a keto or low carb diet because of all of the carbs and sugar in it.
An average serving of orange chicken at a restaurant contains around 50 grams of carbs and 20 grams of sugar! Yowza!!
Our instant pot orange chicken recipe is lower in carbs, sugar, and calories though! So you can eat up without any guilt!
How Do You Make Instant Pot Keto Orange Chicken?
The first thing you’ll want to do is make the yummy, tangy sauce.
You’ll mix all of the ingredients into a bowl and whisk it to combine.
Then, you’ll cover the chicken with salt, pepper, and avocado oil.
Once it’s covered, you’ll want to turn your Instant Pot to SAUTE and add in your chicken.
Let the chicken cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side. It should be lightly browned.
Once all the chicken is browned, add everything back to the Instant Pot and pour sauce over top.
Now just close and seal Instant Pot. Set on MANUAL for 3 minutes, let naturally release for 10 minutes.
Then, enjoy! We like to serve it over rice or vegetables!
What Goes Well with this Instant Pot Keto Orange Chicken Recipe?
We like to pair cauliflower rice, stir-fried veggies, zoodles (zucchini noodles) or spaghetti squash noodles with keto orange chicken! You can also eat it on its own as well.
Can You Cook Frozen Meat in an Instant Pot?
Yes, you can cook frozen meat in an instant pot. We recommend cutting into chunks if possible so that it takes less cooking time to defrost the meat.
For chicken, we just add a cup of water or broth to the instant pot and then place the chicken instead. We turn the pot to high pressure and let it cook for 15 minutes.
What if white spots appear on my Instant pot?
No worries, this can happen when you’re cooking chicken. We recommend filling it up with vinegar and scrubbing it clean.
Is this Instant Pot Keto Orange Chicken 21 Day Fix Approved?
Along with being low carb, our instant pot keto orange chicken recipe is also 21 Day Fix approved! The recipe makes 4 servings, and we count it as 1.5 red containers and 1/2 a purple container.
You could also serve it with vegetables for a green container or rice for a yellow container.
Get An Instant Pot on Amazon
Why Should I Buy an Instant Pot?
If you’re looking for quick, easy meals, an Instant pot can be so helpful! You can unthaw meat, cook rice, and prepare recipes quickly, and it’s also pretty easy to use!
It can also help you meal prep since you can cook meat quickly and use it throughout the week for different lunches and dinners.
You may also like:
- Keto-Friendly Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Keto Meatloaf Recipe | Low Carb, Delicious, Easy & Ready in 30 Minutes!
- Best Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies
New to low carb diets? Check out Sorey Fitness’ Keto Quick Start Guide for Help!
Best Instant Pot Keto Orange Chicken Recipe - Healthy & Easy Dinner
Our Instant Pot Keto Orange Chicken Recipe is such a quick, easy, and healthy dinner idea! This healthy, homemade take on Panda Express is family-friendly! It's low-carb, gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo-friendly, and ready in under 30 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs , cut into 1" cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- SAUCE
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (1 medium orange)
- 1/2 tablespoon orange zest (1 medium orange)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 teaspoons freshly grated or minced ginger
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make the sauce In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce, set aside.
- Heat Instant Pot by turning on to SAUTE. Add the oil, and sear the chicken in batches (placing the browned chicken on a paper-towel lined plate) about 3-4 minutes on each side, until lightly browned.
- Once all the chicken is browned, add everything back to the Instant Pot and pour sauce over top.
- Close and seal Instant Pot. Set on MANUAL for 3 minutes, let naturally release for 10 minutes.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
244 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 318Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 1.2gTrans Fat: 0gCholesterol: 137mgSodium: 1706mgCarbohydrates: 5.2gNet Carbohydrates: 4.8gFiber: .3gSugar: 2.8gProtein: 29.4g
Nutrition information isnβt always accurate.
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I am obsessed with my IP and this was a great recipe. The whole family enjoyed it.
This orange chicken was just the thing I needed to cure my Chinese cravings! So yummy!
I wonder if one or two drops of orange essential oil will do the trick. I don’t keep oranges on hand, with keto.
I’d say so; you just want a little orange flavor in there! π If you try it with oil, we’d love to know how it turns out!