Ignite your taste buds with Instant Pot Firecracker Chicken - a speedy blend of succulent chicken, fiery spices, and sweet perfection. Let the Instant Pot work its magic for an instant, bold, and irresistibly delicious meal. Ready for a zesty adventure? Dive in!
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Why This Recipe Works
- Explosion of Flavors: Experience a tantalizing mix of sweet, savory, and spicy in each bite.
- Quick Meal: Utilize your Instant Pot for a speedy yet satisfying dinner.
- Restaurant Quality: Create this popular takeout dish at home with simple, accessible ingredients.
📋 Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed for pressure cooker firecracker chicken:
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts: The main protein in the dish, these are cut into bite-sized pieces for quick and even cooking.
- Corn Flour and Flour: Create a crispy coating on the chicken when it's cooked, adding texture to the dish.
- Eggs: Act as a binder for the flour mixture, helping it adhere to the chicken pieces.
- Olive Oil: Used to sauté the chicken, it adds a depth of flavor and aids in browning.
- Buffalo Hot Sauce: Provides the fiery kick that gives firecracker chicken its name.
- Brown Sugar: Balances out the heat from the hot sauce and red pepper flakes, adding a sweet component to the dish.
- Rice Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar: Adds a tangy note to the sauce, complementing the sweetness and heat.
- Red Pepper Flakes: Enhance the spiciness of the dish. You can adjust the amount to suit your heat preference.
- Green Onions, Onion, Snow Peas/Sugar Snap Peas, and Red Pepper: These vegetables not only add color and crunch to the dish, but also provide a fresh counterpoint to the spicy-sweet sauce.
For the complete list of ingredients with measurements and instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
🔀 Substitutions & Variations
- Firecracker Chicken Pasta: You could turn this dish into a firecracker chicken pasta by adding your favorite pasta to the mix.
- Firecracker Chicken Soup: Turn this recipe into firecracker chicken soup by adding your favorite broth and veggies.
- Chicken: You may use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breast in this recipe
- Rice: Switch regular rice for cauliflower rice if looking for a low carb option to go with firecracker chicken.
🔪How To Make Firecracker Chicken?
Here is a step-by-step guide for making Instant Pot Fire Cracker Chicken.
Cut up your chicken breasts into 1″ to 1.5″ chunks and set them aside.
Set up your station with one bowl holding your beaten eggs, and the other holding your flour, and corn flour. Spray the inside of your air fryer lightly with some oil.
Dip your chicken cube into the egg wash, then place it into your coating. Make sure your chicken is well coated and place it into the air fryer.Repeat until your air fryer is full.
Set your air fryer to 400F and cook your homemade chicken for 5 minutes. You do not want to fully cook as we will use the Instant Pot next.
In a small bowl, whisk together the buffalo sauce, brown sugar, ricevinegar and red pepper flakes. Set to the side.
Have the Instant Pot turned on saute mode. Add the olive oil and all the vegetables to the Instant Pot. Stir fry on saute mode for 5 minutes.
Add the air fried chicken to the Instant Pot. Pour the firecracker sauce over the chicken and veg. Toss to combine and close the Instant Pot Lid.
Turn the seal to closed and set the pressure cooker to pressure cook for 4 minutes. once the timer beeps, release the pressure with a quick release.
Once pressure cooked, remove the lid and serve your Instant Pot firecracker chicken. Garnish with chopped green onions for extra texture and crunch.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
The key to making perfectly crispy firecracker chicken is ensuring that the pieces are coated in the spicy asian sauce mixture evenly and fully before cooking. You may want to consider using the Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid to crispen the chicken even further once your Instant Pot firecracker chicken has completely cooked.
💭 FAQs
Buffalo sauce is a popular condiment that is traditionally made with hot sauce, butter, vinegar, and spices. It is used as a topping for chicken wings or other savory dishes and adds a zingy flavor and spicy kick to any dish.
It is believed that Buffalo sauce gets its name from the city of Buffalo, New York, where it was first created. The spicy and tangy flavor combination of buffalo sauce has become an iconic staple in American cuisine.
While this specific recipe uses boneless skinless chicken breasts you can switch this for chicken thighs if you want to make Firecracker Chicken Thighs instead!
Yes, you can use frozen chicken in this recipe. Simply increase the cooking time to 8 minutes under high pressure to get tender chicken.
Cool and store leftover firecracker chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator within 2 hours. Enjoy within 3-4 days. For extended storage, freeze in airtight containers or freezer bags labeled with the date for up to 2-3 months.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve firecracker chicken with a variety of different side dishes, such as rice or noodles, steamed veggies, or salad. Some great options include:
It also goes perfectly with our Instant Pot Orange Chicken if you want a little more variety.
🍜 Related Recipes
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Instant Pot Fire Cracker Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pounds Chicken Breast
- ⅓ cup Corn Flour
- ⅓ cup FLour
- 3 Eggs beaten room temp
- 1 tbsp. Olive Oil
- ⅓ cup Buffalo Hot Sauce
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp. Rice Vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- ¼ tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
- ¼ cup Green Onions Sliced
- ½ Onion sliced
- ¼ cup Snow Peas
- ¼ cup Red Bell Pepper Sliced
Instructions
- Cut up your chicken breasts into 1″ to 1.5″ chunks and set them aside.
- Set up your station with one bowl holding your beaten eggs, and the
- other holding your flour, and corn flour.
- Spray the inside of your air fryer lightly with some oil.
- Dip your chicken cube into the egg wash, then place it into your coating.
- Make sure your chicken is well coated and place it into the air fryer.
- Repeat until your air fryer is full.
- Set your air fryer to 400F and cook your homemade chicken for 5 minutes.
- You do not want to fully cook as we will use the Instant Pot next.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the buffalo sauce, brown sugar, rice
- vinegar and red pepper flakes. Set to the side.
- Have the Instant Pot turned on saute mode. Add the olive oil and all the vegetables to the Instant Pot. Stir fry on saute mode for 5 minutes.
- Add the air-fried chicken to the Instant Pot. Pour the firecracker sauce over the chicken and veg. Toss to combine and close the Instant Pot Lid.
- Turn the seal to closed and set the pressure cooker to pressure cook for 4 minutes. once the timer beeps, release the pressure with a quick release.
- Remove the lid and serve your Instant Pot firecracker chicken. Garnish with chopped green onions for extra texture and crunch.
Notes
Nutrition
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