While recently reading a Hannah Swenson cozy mystery, I found a recipe for a slow cooker sweet and sour chicken. Hannah’s recipes often use convenience foods and ingredients that I stay away from, but I adapted the recipe to the Instant Pot and substituted fresh ingredients in the following Instant Pot Sweet & Sour Chicken. Rather than cook 5 or more hours in a slow cooker, this recipe cooks for only three minutes after browning the chicken. It can be made in about 30 minutes and was pronounced “delicious” by The Official Hancock Tasters.


Inciudentally, if you prefer crisp-tender vegetables, add the peppers and onions after the cycle has finished and let them cook while adding the chicken gravy mix to keep them crisp. Also, you can add other vegetables, such as carrots and mushrooms.

8 Servings

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed of any fat or veins, cut into 1" chunks

1 large onion, cut into 1" squares
1 green bell pepper, cored and cut into 1" squares
1 yellow bell pepper, cored and cut into 1" squares
1 red bell pepper, cored and cut into 1" squares
1 20 oz. can pineapple chunks, with juice

Sweet & Sour Sauce:
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 envelopes chicken gravy mix

Hot cooked rice

1. Heat the vegetable oil in the pan of an instant Pot on the sauté setting.
2. Add the chicken chunks and stir until they begin to turn white.
3. Turn the Instant Pot off. Cover the chicken with the onion squares, pepper squares and the pineapple chunks with the juice.
4. Mix the sauce ingredients and pour over the pineapple; do not stir.
5. Cover the pot, set the valve to sealing, and set the pot to manual for 3 minutes.
6. When the cycle has finished, immediately release the pressure. Set the pot to the sauté setting and stir in the chicken gravy mix; stir well until slightly thickened. Serve over rice.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 339 Calories from Fat 86
Percent Total Calories From: Fat 25% Protein 34% Carb. 41%

Nutrient Amount per Serving
Total Fat 10 g
Saturated Fat 2 g
Cholesterol 81 mg
Sodium 1222 mg
Total Carbohydrate 34 g
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Sugars 0 g
Protein 29 g

Vitamin A 26% Vitamin C 88% Calcium 0% Iron 10%