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
Leslie says
Another great dish Taylor. Thank you.
Taylor Stinson says
Thank you so much Leslie! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Maryjoy says
Is this 1 Tbs Fresh Ginger?
Taylor Stinson says
Yes it is 🙂
Abigail Keenan says
any advice with those of us without a Instant Pot? Want to invest in one later but for right now I would love to try this recipe but don’t know how to substitute it?
Taylor Stinson says
So sorry Abigail but I don’t have a similar substitute right now 🙁
brenden says
gonna try this recipe and the pad thai….
Taylor Stinson says
Yay! So happy to hear that Brenden!
Deyrdre Szyndrowski says
The name of the recipe say HONEY sesame, but I don’t see honey in the list of ingredients. Oversight, or really no honey in it?
Deyrdre Szyndrowski says
Cancel that. apparently it is too early in the morning for me to be planning dinner. I looked right past it.
My apologies
Taylor Stinson says
It’s okay Deyrdre, it happens hehe
Karly says
I’m obsessed with my instant pot! This recipe is so easy! Now you’ve got me hungry!
Taylor Stinson says
Isn’t it the most amazing appliance?! Thank you Karly! 🙂
Ann says
This was the first recipe I tried with my new Instant pot OMG I love, love, loved it. This one with be a regular at my house. Thank you!!!
Kourtney says
I don’t have any sriracha on hand, do you think it would matter if I left it out completely?
Taylor Stinson says
It would still taste perfectly fine if you left out the sriracha, it just won’t have any spiciness to it – if you like spice, you can use red chili flakes 🙂
Vicki says
Your recipe ingredient GINGER doesn’t specify ground ginger or fresh ginger. Since the amount is 1 Tablespoon, I’m thinking it’s fresh ginger. Is that correct?
Taylor Stinson says
So sorry Vicki, yes it’s fresh minced ginger!
Brittany says
Do you think you could make this in a slow cooker or a pressure cooker ?