Instant Pot Paleo Kung Pao Chicken

Name: Instant Pot Paleo Kung Pao Chicken
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 2 tbs vegetable oil; 1 ½ lbs Chicken (skinless chicken breast, cut into 1″ cubes); 1 zucchini (diced); ½ red bell pepper (diced); ½ cup onion (chopped red or white); 3 garlic cloves (minced); ¾ cup cashews or peanuts (optional); Green onion (to garnish); ¼ tsp ground black pepper; ½ tsp red pepper flakes; ½ tsp ground ginger; ⅔ cup garlic coconut aminos or soy sauce

At Ajpal, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Instant Pot Kung Pao Chicken

One of my favorite things to eat from takeout is Kung Pao Chicken – it’s a little spicy, a little salty, and bursting with flavor. Kung Pao Chicken isn’t the healthiest or wisest take-out option. However, it is super easy to make at home, and really adaptable to specialty diets like Paleo or Whole 30.

When I recently got an Instant Pot (who else has one? So far, it really IS worth all the hype!!!!) I wanted to try out a ton of new recipes – and this Skinny Kung Pao Chicken has been one of my favorites so far!

How to make Instant Pot Kung Pao Chicken

First you will want to assemble the following ingredients:

Vegetable oil – I use vegetable oil since it has a very high smoke point. You can use olive oil or mix vegetable oil with another oil if you want.
Chicken – you want to use skinless chicken breast cut into cubes as the protein for this recipe.
Zucchini, Red bell pepper, and Onion – you can use any vegetable combination you want, make sure they are diced. I like using these three since they all have different flavors and textures.
Garlic – minced garlic gives a strong punch to this chicken, use fresh minced garlic.
Cashews or peanuts – these are optional but give a nice crunch and nuttiness to this chinese favorite.
Green onion – green onions are the perfect garnish for this recipe since they add a fresh lift without having that super pungent onion flavor.
Ground black pepper, Red pepper flakes, Ginger – these spices define the kung pao sauce.
Garlic coconut aminos or soy sauce – this is the base for the kung pao sauce, use regular soy sauce if you aren’t paleo/Whole 30.

picture of chicken kung pao with chicken and vegetables in a white bowl with a fork in it.

Once you have assembled the ingredients use the following method

Cook the chicken. Put oil to the instant pot and sautéed until the chicken is lightly browned.

Add other ingredients. Add the vegetables and garlic, stir. Put the sauces in the Instant Pot add the lid set and seal.

Cook. Cook on Meat or a similar setting (depending on your Instant Pot) for 30 minutes on Low pressure or for 15 minutes on High pressure. Release the pressure.

Serve. Serve this over our favorite cauliflower rice if Paleo or Whole 30 or regular rice. Enjoy!

Tips and Tricks for Perfect Instant Pot Kung Pao Chicken

Mix up the veggies. Feel free to use different vegetables than what I recommend here. I like to use a few that have different textures and are cut in different sizes.

Double the sauce. If you want enough sauce to soak some of that flavor into your rice, you can double the sauce for this recipe.

You can make it vegan. To make this vegan double the sauce and marinate pressed cubed Tofu in the sauce. Cook the vegetables in the slow cooker then add the tofu when serving. You can also just double up on the vegetables if you prefer.