Pressure Cooker Asian Sticky Ginger Chicken Thighs

Oh pressure cooker let me give thanks to you for not letting us starve during this kitchen remodel. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.  You’ve kept me sane, fed and most importantly gave me some really cool topics of conversation.  I mean how many people prep food in their bedroom?  Yes I actually have a pressure cooker and hot plate in my bedroom right now.  I have a card table set up to do all of my prep work and a huge plastic tub I put all of the dirty stuff in that I then lug out to the pool house when the dishes need washed.

I had every intention of calling this dish “Bedroom Thighs” but I decided against it as lord only know what kind of search my recipe would end up in.  Again I love kitchen and food porn buuuuuuuuuuuut yeah, ‘bedroom porn’ is not something this blog is about.

And before you see this recipe and go “Aw man, there she goes again with another pressure cooker recipe. What am I supposed to do if I don’t own one?”  Fear not loved family – read the notes section of this recipe as I also tell you how you can bake these!  So now you have no excuse not to make this!

Chicken thighs are one of those indulgences for me as I don’t buy them often.  They taste amazing but then they should, dark meat always has a better richer taste but that also means they are higher in fat and calories.  So for me, these are deemed a ‘cheat’ meal. It’s funny though as they are ridiculously cheap here.  What are they in your area?  Like my butcher typically sells the boneless, skinless ones for 49 cents a pound! I know, right?!  That’s insane!  So I’ll buy up a big batch of them, portion them out and freeze them.

Now I go in phases when it comes to flavor profiles.  For the longest time all I wanted was tomato-based stuff – sauces, pizza, chicken Parmesan and so forth. Then I got into this huge everything had to be bbq – I mean down to my pizza even!  Well unfortunately Mr. Fantabulous doesn’t always cycle these cravings with me which meant he was super tired of bbq so he begged one night to go out for Chinese.  While I love Chinese, it doesn’t always agree with me however there is this one place we go to that literally makes the BEST wonton soup I have ever had in my life.  I mean we’re talking better than any place I had in China Town that I’ve been to in NY.  One day this place will share their recipe… one day *wink*.  So I agreed to go as I love their soup.  Well while we were there they brought  us out some korean spare ribs to sample while we waited for our meal.  Now I wasn’t a fan so much of the ribs but HELLO.. it was still bbq sauce.. in a Chinese place!

And that got me thinking… Asian BBQ?!  I’ve had it before but I haven’t ever made it. We must remediate that pronto!

That weekend I took out some of my chicken thighs as my cheat meal and honestly I was heading straight for my cowboy bbq sauce but then I started thinking about that dinner at the Chinese restaurant.

Now full disclosure this sauce took me a few tries to get right.  The first time I made it, it was waaaaaaaaaay too hot (i.e., too much Sriracha). The second time, too much ginger – and I love ginger but this was HOT ginger. The third time I burnt the sauce – cause I forgot about it because Mr. Fantabulous needed my help in the garage.  FYI.. don’t burn the sauce as it’s a PITA to get out of the pan. It gets uber thick and sticky – like candy sticky. Finally about the fifth try I nailed it.

That sauce was so incredible that I could have eaten just that and forgot about the chicken.  But hey this was cheat day and I was not forgetting that rich dark meat.  So into the pressure cooker the chicken went and once it was done a few minutes under the broiler and I was golden… er should I say caramelized as I had sauce from chin to elbow and could not care one iotta!

When it comes to chicken, Mr. Fantabulous is sooooooooo not a dark meat fan.  I think it stems from his days as a bodybuilder (when he was hardcore into it) – it was white plain chicken only.  Then I come into the picture with my “honey try this!”, “Honey taste this fattening thing.” annnnnnnnd let’s just say he loosened up quite a bit.  So once these came out of the oven seriously they just LOOKED delicious!  You could smell that sauce and honestly made me start to drool a bit.  I plate this along with a few sides and wait… let me share which sides rock with this dish…

Shaved Brussels Sprouts salad – because at least you are eating healthy, right?!

and of course you need herb roasted baby potatoes!

So anyway as I was saying, I create the plates and set this in front of him.  He just kinda shook his head, muttered “bbq…again” and sighed.  I smirked because I knew this was going to blow his mind.  Folks when he took that first bite… no seriously that FIRST BITE and tasted that sauce his eyes lit up.  IMMEDIATELY the fork and knife went into super ninja slicing mode and he devoured that chicken.  He raved over and over about this chicken and about the sauce.  He could have cared less that it was thighs instead of white meat. He loved it so much he asked for more – which he has never done with thighs.

So yeah you will LOOOOOOOOOOOVE this recipe and this sauce.  WAIT until you see how I mix it up for other recipes *pizza…* WHA?!?

Pressure Cooker Sticky Hoisin Ginger Sesame Thighs

• Author: The Kitchen Whisperer

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Ingredients

• 2–3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, thawed
• 1 3/4 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 3 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoon hoisin
• 2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 4 tablespoon Sriracha
• 5 tablespoon brown sugar
• 3 green onions, white and green parts sliced

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Instructions

1. Pat dry the thighs.
2. Add the thighs into the pressure cooker.
3. In a bowl whisk together the stock, 1 teaspoon garlic, 1 teaspoon ginger. 2 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 tablespoon hoisin, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1 tablespoon Sriracha.
4. Pour over the thighs.
5. Lock the lid down and set it to High pressure, 10 minutes. If using a Gas Pressure Cooker, place over high heat and once the pressure cooker is up to temperature, reduce the heat to low to maintain a high pressure and set the timer for 10 minutes. If using an Electric Pressure Cooker, set it to high with a timer of 10 minutes.
6. While the thighs are cooking place a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add in the remaining ingredients (minus the green onions) and whisk.
7. Bring the mixture to a slight boil, reduce the heat to medium low and cook until slightly thickened like bbq sauce. ~10-15 minutes.
8. When the 10 minutes is up do a quick release. While the quick release is relieving pressure, place the oven to broil with a rack in the middle.
9. Line a rimmed pan with foil and place a cooling rack on top.
10. Lightly spray the rack.
11. Gently remove the thighs from the pressure cooker with tongs and place on the rack; discard the cooking liquid.
12. Place the thighs in the oven and broil for 5-7 minutes each side.
13. Remove the pan from the oven and slather on some sauce.
14. Return to the broiler for 5 minutes.
15. Flip the thighs over, cover with more sauce and broil for 5 more minutes or until they are nicely charred.
16. Place the sauce in a container for serving.
17. Garnish with green onions.
18. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Notes

For oven baking:
1. Preheat oven to 425F, rack in the middle.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and top with a cooling rack.
3. Spray the cooling rack with non-stick spray and set aside.
4. Pat dry with paper towels.
5. Place a medium sauce pan over medium heat. 5. Place a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add in 1 tablespoon garlic, 2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup hoisin, 2 tablespoon sesame oil, 2 tablespoon Sriracha and 4 tablespoon brown sugar and whisk.
6. Bring the mixture to a slight boil, reduce the heat to medium low and cook until slightly thickened like bbq sauce. ~10-15 minutes.
7. Place the thighs on the cooling rack and brush on part of the sauce.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, flip, brush with a bit more sauce and bake for another 15 minutes or until the internal temp is 165F.
9. Remove from the oven, brush with more sauce and let rest for a few minutes before serving.

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And yes I know I’m repeating myself here but if you looking for the BEST Gas Pressure cooker out there then I HIGHLY recommend the All-Clad PC8! It’s INCREDIBLE!!!

If you’re looking for an Electric Pressure Cooker I recommend one of these 2 as they both are awesome:

Emeril by T-fal CY4000 Nonstick Dishwasher Safe Electric Pressure Cooker

or the Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker

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