Three cup chicken is a very famous Taiwanese dish. It is called three cup chicken because the cooking requires 1 cup of sesame oil, 1 cup of soy sauce and 1 cup of rice wine/Shaoxing wine. This recipe cooks the entire dish in the instant pot. It is super fast and it doesn’t make a mess in your kitchen. It’s a perfect recipe for a work day dinner!

Preparation List for Instant Pot Three Cup Chicken Recipe

• Servings: 3-4
• Cook Time: 20 min
• Ingredients:
  • 2 lbs(900g) chicken drummettes/wing portions/wingettes
  • 1/4 cup(60ml) sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup(60ml) soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup(60ml) rice wine/Shaoxing wine
  • 1 tablespoon(15g) rock candy sugar 
  • 6-8 slices of ginger
  • 6-8 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 10-12 fresh basil leaves
  • 1 tablespoon(15ml) dark soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons(15g) cornstarch

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Instant Pot Three Cup Chicken Recipe

• Fry ginger and garlic. Add 1/4 cup(60ml) seasame oil, 6-8 slices of ginger and 6-8 crushed garlic cloves into the pot. Cook for around a minute or until fragrant.

• Fry Chicken. Add 2 lbs(900g) chicken drummettes/wing portions/wingettes and saute for around 3-5 min until skin turned a bit golden. Then add 1/4 cup(60ml) Shaoxing wine. Let it boil for a minute or two to evaporate the alcohol. Then add 1 tablespoon(15g) rock candy sugar and 1/4 cup(60ml) soy sauce.

• Pressure cook chicken. Close the instant pot lid and turn the valve to the sealing position as shown in the left figure below。Hit “Pressure Cook” button. Cook the chicken for 5 min and let it natural release for at least 10 min.

• Set chicken aside. If after 10 min of natural release, the pot is still pressurized, then turn the valve to “Venting”. After the pressure is fully released, open the lid with caution. The chicken would look like the left figure below. Then set the chicken aside into a plate (see right picture below).

• Make sauce. Press “Saute” button again to heat up the liquid left in the pot. Add 1 tablespoon(15ml) dark soy sauce and 2 tablespoons(15g) corn starch to thicken the sauce. Keep stirring the sauce while heating until the sauce reaches the ideal thickness (see left picture below), Then stir in 10-12 fresh basil leaves at the end for a minute or two, as shown in the right picture below. Turn off the pot. Pour the sauce over the chicken set aside earlier and mix well. Serve hot.