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When you need a fast, flavor-packed dinner, this Instant Pot Honey Mustard Chicken delivers big taste with minimal effort. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and tangy, with tender, juicy chicken bathed in a thick, honey mustard sauce that’s good enough to drizzle on everything.
This one-pot recipe is ready in under 30 minutes and works with fresh or frozen chicken—no defrosting required. Serve it over rice, quinoa, or roasted veggies for a meal that’s as effortless as it is delicious.
Why You’ll Love this Instant Pot Honey Mustard Chicken
- Dump & Go – Just throw everything in the Instant Pot and let it do the work!
- Sweet & Tangy Perfection – The honey + mustard combo is next-level good.
- Cooks from Frozen – No need to thaw the chicken first!One-Pot Meal – Less cleanup, more time to enjoy.
- Versatile & Family-Friendly – Serve it with rice, veggies, or shredded in sandwiches.
What You Need
- Honey: raw honey is best and gives this a sweet and thick sauce.
- Chicken Broth or water: you need at least half a cup of liquid to bring the Instant Pot to pressure.
- Mustard: we’ve tested this recipe with Dijon mustard and yellow mustard and love both!
- Spices: a mix of Italian seasoning paprika, garlic powder, and salt and pepper.
- Chicken: use chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs, or bone-in skin-on chicken thighs for this recipe. The cooking time will vary based on the type of chicken you use. Bone-in chicken thighs will take 2-3 minutes longer.
- Cornstarch or tapioca starch: this thickens the sauce at the end and is optional.
How to Make Instant Pot Honey Mustard Chicken
- Combine & Dissolve Honey: Add honey and water to the Instant Pot bowl. Set to Sauté mode and stir for about 5 minutes, until the honey is fully dissolved.
- Mix the Sauce: Add mustard, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, stirring to combine.
- Add the Chicken: Place the steam rack inside the Instant Pot and lay the chicken breasts on top, coating them with the honey mustard sauce.
- Pressure Cook: Seal the lid and turn the steam valve to sealing position. Set to Manual/Pressure Cook, High Pressure:
- 8 minutes for medium-sized (6-8 oz) chicken breasts.
- 12 minutes for frozen chicken breasts.
- Natural Pressure Build-Up: The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure, then start counting down the cook time—so expect 18 minutes total.
- Quick Release: Once the timer beeps, carefully quick release the pressure by turning the steam valve to venting using a long spoon handle.
- Thicken the Sauce: Remove the chicken and set it aside. Whisk together 1 teaspoon of cornstarch or tapioca starch with 1 tablespoon of water to create a slurry. Add it to the sauce in the Instant Pot, turn on Sauté mode, and let it boil for 2-3 minutes, stirring, until thickened.
How long does it take to cook frozen chicken in the instant pot?
You can definitely cook frozen chicken in the instant pot and do so without worrying about thawing the chicken. Follow the steps for the instant pot honey mustard chicken recipe, but instead cook it 4 minutes longer.
It takes about 10 minutes for the pressure cooker to heat and build pressure then it takes about 12 minutes for the frozen chicken to cook through for a total of about 22 minutes for a medium 6-8 ounce frozen chicken breast.
What to Serve with Honey Mustard Chicken
🍚 Rice or Quinoa – Coconut rice is perfect for soaking up the sauce.
🥦 Steamed Broccoli or Roasted Veggies – Roasted broccoli and carrots keeps it fresh and healthy.
🥔 Mashed or Roasted Potatoes – Because sauce + boursin mashed potatoes = magic.
🥪 Shredded in a Sandwich or Wrap – Add it to a toasted bun or cottage cheese flatbread with lettuce!
🥗Salad – Alongside brussels sprout salad.
If you love this recipe, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and tag me with @what_mollymade so I can see it and feature you.
More healthy chicken recipes:
- Rice crispy chicken with healthy honey mustard [GF]
- Chicken parmesan spaghetti squash casserole
- One pan greek chicken
- Sheet pan paleo baked chicken
- Buffalo chicken stuffed zucchini boats
Instant pot honey mustard chicken
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup yellow mustard or Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 (4-6 ounce) boneless skinless chicken breasts thawed or frozen
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch or tapioca starch
Instructions
- Combine honey and water in the bowl of the instant pot. Next, turn the instant pot to saute and leaving the lid off, stir together until the honey dissolves, about 5 minutes. Next, add the mustard, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika and stir to combine.
- Set the steam rack inside add the chicken breasts to the Instant Pot and coat with the honey mustard sauce.
- Seal the lid and turn the steam valve to the sealing position.
- Set Instant Pot to pressure cook/manual, high pressure. Set the cook time to 8 minutes for a medium-sized 6-8 ounce chicken breast. Set the cook time to 12 minutes if the chicken breast is frozen.
- The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure and then will start counting down the cook time, so 18 minutes total.
- When it beeps to let you know the cook time has finished, carefully quick release the pressure by using the handle of a long spoon to turn the steam valve to venting.
- Finally, remove the lid then remove the chicken and set aside on a plate. Add 1 teaspoon of tapioca starch or cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water. Add the cornstarch slurry to the honey mustard sauce in the instant pot and turn on saute. Allow to boil and thicken for 2-3 minutes then add chicken back to instant pot and coat chicken with sauce.
- Serve with rice, vegetables or quinoa.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Absolutely delicious! Best recipe for honey mustard chicken I have tried so far. Do extra and freeze for wraps!
Thanks, Heather!
Hi! This recipe looks delicious and I am going to try it out. I’m a little confused with the steam rack. Does the chicken sit on the rack in the sauce so it doesn’t burn or can the chicken just be in the sauce?
I made it but my chicken dried out. I think some of my chicken was to thick and some to thin or I put to much. The sauce was amazing and made the dry chicken tolerable. Will definitely try again.