These Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken Noodle Bowls are ready in 20 minutes and will satisfy all your takeout cravings with way less calories.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Chicken breasts — you can just as easily swap the chicken out for boneless pork chops, or go plant-based with some extra firm tofu or tempeh.
- Honey — if you want to avoid honey, switch it for agave or maple syrup. No syrup at all? Feel free to use brown or regular white sugar.
- Soy sauce — if you need to avoid gluten, use tamari instead. And if you want to skip the soy, coconut aminos are a great choice!
- Sriracha — any hot sauce will work here in a pinch: Texas Pete, Louisiana, or Mexican hot sauces are great. Or stay with the Asian flavours and use Korean gochujang.
- Sesame oil — avocado or grapeseed oil are wonderful substitutes for sesame oil.
- Rice noodles — you can use wheat noodles instead. Try angel hair, linguini, or fettuccini. If you use wheat noodles, you'll probably have better luck cooking and draining them separately before stirring in at the end, though.
- Bell pepper — try another veg that's a little sweet and pleasantly crunchy. Chunky chopped zucchini and yellow squash are great. Thick sliced sweet onions are also delicious!
- Snap peas — perfectly fresh chopped green beans make a wonderful sub for snap peas.
- Scallions – green onions would be best or you can leave this out altogether.
- Sesame seeds — poppy seeds are a great replacement! You can also use roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds for a nutty crunch.
How to make honey sesame chicken
- Add everything but the snap peas, bell peppers, scallions and sesame seeds to the Instant Pot in order.
- Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes.
- Do a quick release of the pressure.
- Stir in the snap peas and bell peppers.
- Add the lid back on for 5 minutes.
- Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds and serve!
How to get the perfect noodles
Cooking the noodles in the Instant Pot this way does make them a bit soft, and lots of folks might prefer the noodles to have a bit more bite to them.
If you prefer your noodles to be firmer, it's super easy to cook your noodles to perfection on the side:
- Boil water.
- Add to noodles.
- Soak for 1-2 minutes.
- Drain and serve!
Tada! So easy, right?
Frequently Asked Questions
The main ingredients of this dish are all in the name – honey, sesame oil (and sesame seeds!) and chicken. I like to make this chicken into noodle bowls and add some extra veggies for crunch!
This recipe is sweet with a hint of spice thanks to the sriracha sauce. If you don’t want your dish to have any kick, you can cut down on the sriracha or leave it out completely.
These noodle bowls are a great complete meal on their own, but serving with a fresh salad on the side is never a bad idea. Or, maybe an Asian side like hot and sour soup!
Storing and reheating
Portion out leftovers into some glass meal prep bowls and store in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave for two minutes, stir, and then reheat at one-minute intervals with quick stirs between until it reaches your preferred temperature. Garnish with fresh sesame seeds and scallions and voila!
Freezing the rice noodles
Rice noodles actually freeze super well! Just cook them a little underdone if you plan on freezing so they don't go mushy when you reheat. You can freeze them for up to 3 months then let them thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat in the microwave or eat them cold.
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More Instant Pot noodle recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- The Instant Pot DUO Plus 60 is the version I use in this recipe.
- I use these Thai Kitchen Rice Noodles too.
- This is the brand of tamari I like, and I love this low-sodium soy sauce.
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls for your leftovers.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box.
Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken Noodle Bowls
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, diced
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tbsp ginger
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp Sriracha
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 (454g) package rice noodles
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 each red and yellow pepper, chopped
- 1 cup snap peas
- 3 scallions, sliced
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds (for topping)
Instructions
INSTANT POT INSTRUCTIONS
- Add all ingredients except for snap peas, bell peppers, scallions and sesame seeds to Instant Pot. Leave noodles sitting on top of other ingredients just above the liquid. Set to manual and pressure cook on high for 3 minutes. Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to pre-heat and then the 3 minutes to cook. When complete, press cancel and do a quick release of the steam, waiting until the pressure gauge drops back down and the lid is safe to open.
- Stir in snap peas and bell peppers, then place lid back on and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve and top with scallions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!
STOVETOP INSTRUCTIONS
- Mix together honey, soy sauce, minced garlic, minced ginger, sriracha and sesame oil in a small bowl and set aside.
- Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a large pot over med-high heat. Add chicken breasts, seasoning with salt and pepper and sauteeing for 3-4 minutes until browned.
- Meanwhile, add rice noodles to a large bowl filled boiling water (disregard the 1.5 cups of water in the ingredient list as that is meant for Instant Pot instructions). Soak the noodles for 2-3 minutes until al dente. Drain and set aside.
- Once chicken is browned, add peppers, snap peas and sauce, cooking for 2 minutes until veggies are softened. Add noodles, tossing to coat, cooking another minute. Serve in large bowls with scallions and sesame seeds for garnish. Enjoy!
Comments & Reviews
Amy says
This turned out great! My chicken breasts were both very large, so I doubled the noodles, liquid, and spices. That was a good ratio since we tend to go lighter on meat. I would say the end result is 7 servings the way we eat. The spice combination is flavorful and it really does taste like a noodle bowl from a restaurant.
Deb says
Wondering if you could sub broccoli for the snap peas? If so, do you think you should Blanche first. Thanks for the great recipe!
Taylor Stinson says
You could definitely sub in broccoli for the snap peas! I would recommend blanching ahead of time if you’re cutting the broccoli into larger florets. If you cut them up pretty fine, you could just stir them in and let it all sit for 5 minutes. Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Jenny says
I’m so excited to try this! I received an instapot for Christmas and haven’t used it yet, so this will be my first attempt! Am I reading correctly that the chicken is put in raw? Thanks!
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Jenny! YAY! I got mine as a Black Friday deal and LOVE it! You do put the chicken in raw – the Instant Pot typically takes about 10-15 minutes to come to pressure, then it pressure cooks for 3 minutes, and quick release takes about 2 minutes so you’re really cooking it all for 20 minutes or so. And the chicken is diced into chunks so it cooks fast!
Barbie says
I am wondering what you could substitute he sesame oil with. We have some allergies in our family but love Asian food. We cannot do sesame, soy, or gluten. Do you think that just canola oil or avocado oil would work?
Taylor Stinson says
You could definitely use canola or avocado oil, or even olive oil or sunflower oil (you don’t taste the flavour of olive oil when it’s cooked at high heat). Good luck! 🙂
Angela says
Can I double this ??
Taylor Stinson says
Yes of course Angela! You should be able to adjust the serving amount on the recipe itself 🙂
Anna says
If you double it, would you increase the time?
Taylor Stinson says
Unfortunately I haven’t tried it this way myself…maybe up it by a minute and see what happens? I wouldn’t double the time!
Julie says
I ended up doubling it tonight because I had too much chicken and a bigger pack of noodles. I doubled everything and kept the time the same. It came out perfectly and now we have a second meal!
Taylor Stinson says
So happy it turned out for you Julie, YAY!!! So happy you liked it 🙂
amy says
this looks so yummy. however can you tell me what your serving size is? I see it has a total of 4 servings. but …. would be helpful to know for those of us calorie counting. and make it eaiser than having to split the meal in 4 equal parts.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Amy! You would just divide the recipe in four – I’m sorry I can’t offer a serving size per cup. If I had to guesstimate, I would say 1 1/2 to 2 cups is a serving size?
Vanessa says
Looks delicious! I like my peppers a bit mushy. Are they quite firm just mixing them in at the end? Do you think they would turn out ok if I added them in with the other ingredients and pressure cooked them?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Vanessa! If you like them a bit mushy you could definitely add them in at the beginning 🙂 I like mine pretty firm so that’s why I suggested mixing in at the end. Let me know how it turns out!
Vanessa says
It was delicious! I added broccoli too for some extra veg!
Angie B says
I also love my pot & stir fry…..I am wondering do you think if you wanted a bit less firm but not mushy veg, if adding veg at end, then putting time at 0 and start, so it just builds pressure then is done would work?….I`ve done the 0 time before and is crazy….
Michelle says
Can you meal prep these and freeze ahead of time and then throw in frozen?
Taylor Stinson says
I wish I could answer that Michelle but I haven’t tried that myself! The cooking time would probably be different so I can’t even give you an estimate – sorry about that!
Clara says
Keep posting these instant pot recipes! Yours are great as they’re one pot, dump it all in recipes – perfect for quick meals! Made the burrito bowl and turned out great. Will try this one tomorrow!
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy to hear that Clara!!! I am in LOVE with my Instant Pot and that’s the main reason I like it, you just dump all the ingredients and go! Will definitely be posting more 🙂
Lisa says
If I substitute pork tenderloin for the chicken how long do I need to cook?
.
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Lisa – I’ve never made this with pork tenderloin so I really couldn’t tell you unfortunately!
Kevin says
Lisa, did you end up trying it with pork? I’m also wondering how long now.
I made the recipe last night and I already want more.