Instant Pot Lemon Chicken Thighs
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Amazingly moist, tender, juicy lemon-thyme chicken, perfectly golden brown, made right in the IP in just 5 min! So quick!
I’ve been on a huge chicken thigh binge lately.
From the cilantro lime chicken thighs to the lemon garlic chicken thighs, it’s been ALL ABOUT THE THIGHS this summer.
But when I’m not in the mood to grill or smoke out the house using a grill pan, the IP is here for the juiciest, most tender chicken thigh rescue.
With a simple lemon-thyme spice rub, you can quickly sear your chicken right in the IP. From there, you’ll let it pressure cook for just 5 minutes, infusing your chicken thighs with all that lemony goodness without using a marinade. The pressure cooker takes care of that for you!
So boom. One pan meal. No mess. No fuss.
Use as a base for a salad or serve with a light green salad, crusty bread, and a glass of wine.
Instant Pot Lemon Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- Zest 1 lemon
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine thyme, lemon zest, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Brush chicken with 1 tablespoon canola oil; season with thyme mixture.
- Set 6-qt Instant Pot® to the high saute setting. Working in batches, add remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil and chicken, and cook until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side; set aside.
- Place metal trivet into the pot and add chicken stock and lemon juice. Gently place chicken on top of the trivet, slightly overlapping. Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 5 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- Serve immediately.
Did you make this recipe?
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Delicious dinner for the family. Everyone enjoyed this recipe.
Yum! I cooked diced potatoes & eggs in the InstantPot. While that was cooling cooked the chicken. I had boneless/skinless thighs and didn’t bother browning them, still turned out great! Will use the sauce tomorrow with sweet potatoes.
I made this tonight and it was excellent and easy! I removed the chicken once it was done cooking and added 1T cornstarch and 2T cold water mix to the chicken broth and lemon juice (I only used 2 tsp. lemon juice) turned the IP on saute and thickened the sauce for about 4 minutes stirring constantly. Poured sauce over pasta (I cooked while chicken was cooking.) and chicken, so good!
Delicious and easy! I used the recipe as is except used vegetable bouillon, as it was what I had on hand. Will definitely make again
Made this tonight since I had all the ingredients and it was super easy and very delicious. I did follow a suggestion to make a sauce out of the remaining liquid and that was perfection. Thank you for a wonderfully easy meal!
Me and my dad were looking for something for dinner it was fast and delicious. THANKS
Best “damn” chicken thighs I’ve had in a long time! I used the leftover sauce on baked yellow potatoes! YUMMMMM! Thanks for the recipe!
This was fabulous – easy to prep and cook, and more importantly, it’s delicious. I served it with sweet potato (very complimentary with the lemon/chicken broth) and asparagus. This will be made again and I look forward to experimenting with different sides to serve alongside it. Thank you for the recipe!
This is so easy and delicious. I added some potato, carrots and cauliflower and everything was cooked perfectly. Thank you
I made this last night and my wife and I really enjoyed it. I followed the recipe, but as I had an extra 1/2 pound of chicken thighs, I slightly increased all of the ingredients. It was very tasty! It delivered the promised flavor and was extremely easy to make, so it gets 5 stars from me.
I admit, however, to being surprised that making a gravy with the leftover chicken stock + seasonings in the instant pot was missing from this recipe. It seems to me that if the recipe calls for a cup of broth to be added to the instant pot, it should be put to use, ,especially when it has all that great flavor from the pressure cooking. So, I fixed this when the chicken was done by setting the IP to saute mode and making a slurry of 2 tablespoons of corn starch (If you just used 1 cup of broth, you might want only 1 tablespoon) to cold water and adding it to the broth, let it bubble a while to cook that starch, then adjusting taste with salt as necessary. It worked perfectly!
Excellent idea for the gravy Jeff! Thanks:) I can’t wait to make this☺️
Thanks for suggesting to save the juice and make a sauce, it was awesome
Jeff, you’re a genius!!!
We absolutely love this. Sure the chicken sticks a little, and yeah, I use lemon pepper seasoning instead of lemon zest, but it’s absolutely incredible.
And we make a slurry of cornstarch and water to make the sauce into the most decadent gravy/sauce to pour over egg noodles and top with the chicken.
This is a great recipe. Hubby loved it. I mixed a little flour and water and added to the broth to make gravy. It makes a wonderful gravy over the chicken and rice. I’ll be making this again!
I made this with a side of farro and sautéed kale. Then discovered if you slice up the chicken and put it atop a bowl of the farro and kale and drown the whole thing in the delicious broth that’s at the bottom of the instant pot it’s magical! The broth is such a nice mix of richness from the chicken thighs and little blackened pieces that stick to the bottom, but the lemon lightens everything up perfectly. Yum!
My very first instant pot recipe! Very delicious. I will make this again.
This chicken recipe is excellent. I made several batches of chicken thighs seasoned with the ingredients by tripling the recipe. I froze the chicken in Ziplock freezer bags. Then I thawed out a bag and proceeded with the other cooking processes, sautéing the thighs and adding the broth and lemon juice as indicated. The chicken turned out beautifully, and I served it with rice and a salad. It was a delicious and simple meal which the family enjoyed. I still have two bags frozen and that will make it fast and easy next time when making a meal. Definitely will use this recipe again!
I made this last night with bone in chicken thighs. Added an extra minute to the time. Instead of thyme, I used an herb mix from Penzy’s Spices, and I split the chicken both with white wine. It came out so good!
Hi. Can I make this and then just keep it warm in IP until we’re ready to eat?
Im always afraid when it says serve immediately. Thanks
I made this tonight and the flavors were great! As soon as the time was up I let the pressure off and tasted them. They were super moist and pleasant. Since we weren’t ready for dinner yet, I left them in the IP with the lid closed for another 15-20 minutes, just to keep them warm. Unfortunately, they were somewhat dried out when we ate them, so I would suggest not letting them sit long.
Just gave this a whirl with our new IP and love it. I did take a little extra step of adding some cornstarch to the left over lemon/broth to make a gravy that was a perfect addition to the meal.
Nice idea about the cornstarch. Thank you!
Family loves it. I added lemon slices on top to make it taste more citrusy. Might try a couple of orange slices too.
Made it tonight for dinner and family loved it! Very flavorful. I served it with asparagus and left over pasta which was perfect.
Loved it! Easy and quick. I served with rice and asparagus.