Instant Pot Lemon Chicken

4.49 from 149 votes

Jump to Recipe 05/07/21 | Updated: 05/07/21 | by Nora

Make this Instant Pot Lemon Chicken for an easy dinner tonight! It’s quick to cook and tastes absolutely delicious with the lemon sauce.

The recipe includes instructions to cook the chicken from frozen, and instructions for using chicken breast instead of thighs, too.

close up photo of lemon chicken thighs on plate with lemon slices

Instant Pot Lemon Chicken Thighs

I make this easy chicken recipe whenever I need a quick meal on the table everyone will love – it’s so foolproof and simple to prep, and the chicken comes out fall-off-the-bone tender.
The chicken can cook from frozen if you forgot to defrost it – something that regularly happens to me, and recipes lkike this one save me on those days.
If you want to cook a side dish right along the chicken, I recommend adding baby potatoes on top. I outline the cooking process in my recipe for Instant Pot Bacon Ranch Chicken and Potatoes.

Please note: I updated this recipe on 05/07/2021 to use 2 pounds of chicken thighs instead of 1 pound, and slightly increased the amount of sauce. Feel free to stick to the original 1 pound of chicken thighs if you prefer.

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

ingredients for instant pot lemon chicken with text labels — Ingredients for Instant Pot Lemon Chicken: Chicken thighs, chicken broth, onion, garlic, lemon juice, cornstarch slurry, butter, dried rosemary and thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Ingredient notes

Chicken: I usually make this with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. You can also use boneless, the cooking time is the same. If you prefer chicken breast, you can use that, too. The cooking time changes to 6-8 minutes for fresh chicken and 12 minutes for frozen chicken breast. For boneless thighs and chicken breast, I recommend reducing the amount to 1.5 pounds; unless you have big eaters.
Chicken broth: If you don’t have any, you can use water instead. It will still be delicious, but you may need to add more seasoning. Please do not use beef broth, it alters the taste and color too much.
Onion and garlic: If you have picky eaters who will walk away from their uneaten dinner if they find so much as a single piece of onion in it… Ahem, like my 3 year old, feel free to use 1 teaspoon onion powder and ½ teaspoon garlic powder in place of the fresh ingredients.
Dried herbs: Feel free to cut back on the herbs if you want their flavors to be less dominant.
Lemon juice: I love fresh lemon juice here, but bottled is fine. The recipe yields a mild lemon flavor, double the amount for a stronger flavor. I generally prefer adding more fresh lemon juice at the table, especially because our youngest is only 2 years old at this point and not a huge fan of strongly flavored dishes.

How to make Lemon Chicken in the Instant Pot

1. Season the chicken, then brown it in olive oil on the Instant Pot’s “sauté” setting. I do it in two batches and cook it skin-side down first for about 3-4 minutes, flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Once the chicken is browned (it doesn’t have to be cooked through yet!), remove it and set aside on a plate.

2. Cook the onion and garlic until softened and lightly browned, then add the chicken broth, lemon juice, herbs and seasoning and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.

eight raw chicken thighs on white plate — season chicken

four seared chicken thighs inside instant pot — season chicken

3. Add the chicken to the instant pot, seal the lid and pressure cook – I do 7-8 minutes for small chicken thighs (4 thighs per pound) and 10-12 minutes for large chicken thighs (2 thighs per pound).

Once the pressure cooking time is up, switch off the instant pot and leave it alone to do a natural pressure release.

4. Once the lid is safe to open, remove the chicken and keep warm on a plate. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the sauce, then switch the instant pot to “sauté” and simmer, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened.

instant pot lemon chicken before pressure cooking — before pressure cooking

instant pot lemon chicken after pressure cooking — before pressure cooking

5. Finish the sauce with butter, then serve over the chicken!

overhead view of lemon chicken thighs in instant pot with lemon slices

Recipe tips

Using frozen chicken

Simply skip browning the chicken and only sauté the onion and garlic, then follow the recipe as written.

Pressure cook for 15-18 minutes (depending on size). Check the meat for doneness, if it’s still raw in the middle close the lid again and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Doubling the recipe/stacking the chicken

If you’re using defrosted thighs and want to double the recipe, you can stack the chicken thighs.Double the sauce ingredients too, but the cooking time should stay the same.

Please note: Do not stack the chicken if frozen/make sure the thighs are separated. If that’s not possible/they’re totally stuck together, your thighs may need longer to cook.

What if my sauce doesn’t thicken?

If your sauce doesn’t thicken, it either didn’t get hot enough for the cornstarch to work, or your chicken released more juices than mine.

Make sure to press “sauté” and wait for it to simmer and bubble. If it still hasn’t thickened enough to your liking, add another cornstarch slurry and see if this fixes the issue.

overhead view of instant pot lemon chicken on white plate with wooden spoon

Serving ideas

Like I mentioned in the intro, I often cook baby potatoes in the instant pot with the chicken.

If you want to cook rice at the same time, be very cautious – rice cooks very quickly in the instant pot. Pick a variety that’s not parboiled and needs at least 30 minutes on the stove, and use the pot-in-pot method. I generally don’t do this myself because I can’t stand overcooked rice – I just cook it on the stove. But many people have asked me, so this is my recommendation to those set on cooking everything at once 😉

We also love roasted broccoli, roasted asparagus or sautéed green beans with it for a vegetable side. If you have an air fryer, I highly recommend making air fryer green beans or air fryer asparagus with the chicken!

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.

Printable recipe

More instant pot recipes

More chicken thigh recipes

P.S: For more easy chicken dinners, check out my collection here: Easy Chicken Recipes, or browse all my chicken recipes here.

4.49 from 149 votes (132 ratings without comment)