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Delicious Instant Pot Bourbon Butternut Chicken. Creamy, salty with a little sweet- perfection in your mouth! Serve it over rice or cauliflower rice. Garnish with green onions, black sesame seeds and toasted cashews.
Scale
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken breasts, cut into small bite-sized pieces (if you use chicken thighs, add 3 smart points to the individual total smart point count)
- olive oil spray ( I like to use my Olive Oil Mister)
- 2 t.sesame oil
- 3 c. butternut squash cubed (about 1 small butternut squash or you can use frozen)
- 1/2 t. kosher salt or to taste
- dash of pepper or to taste
- 3/4 c. onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves, garlic, minced
- 2/3 c. light soy sauce (use light soy sauce or the dish will be too salty)
- 1/4 c. ketchup
- 1/4 c. bourbon
- 2 T. apple cider vinegar or Shaohsing Wine if you have it
- 1/4 c. honey
- 1 T. brown sugar
- 1/8–1/4 cayenne pepper (depending on how you like it)
- 1/2 t. red pepper flakes
- 2 T. cornstarch
- 2 t. fresh ginger, minced (don’t forget this, it’s important, see note at bottom)
- 1 bunch green onions, finely chopped (for garnish if desired)
- toasted sesame seeds (for garnish if desired, pinch over each serving)
Instructions
- Spray the Instant Pot liner with oil from your Olive Oil Mister. Add sesame oil. Turn Instant Pot to saute.
- While waiting for Instant Pot to heat up, in a small bowl or glass measuring cup, mix soy sauce, ketchup, bourbon, vinegar/Shaohsing wine, honey, brown sugar, cayenne and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
- Add onions and garlic to the Instant Pot. Brown for a few minutes, use more of your Olive Oil Mister if you need to keep the onions from sticking and burning.
- Add chicken, salt and pepper, and soy sauce mixture. Cook for about 3 minutes so the alcohol in the bourbon burns off. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Add butternut squash. Place lid on Instant Pot. Set knob to sealing. Press “Manual,” or on some models, “Pressure Cook,” and decrease time to 3 minutes (yes, really 3 minutes!).
- When the timer beeps, allow to sit for about 5 minutes, then do pressure release.
- In a small bowl or cup add cornstarch and 3 T. water. Mix thoroughly then add to Instant Pot mixture.
- Add in fresh ginger.
- Turn Instant Pot to saute and cook until sauce is thickened usually only a few minutes.
- Serve over rice or cauliflower rice in bowls and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds if desired. It’s also great with a little cashews crushed over the top (if you have enough points).
Notes
Don’t leave out the fresh ginger! It makes a big difference. When testing this recipe, I forgot it on the second take. I couldn’t figure out what was missing until I tasted the first batch again. Ginger! It’s that important to this dish.
