These insanely delicious Instant Pot chicken thighs with lemon butter sauce are bursting with fresh lemon flavor and are perfectly spiced with paprika, chili flakes and Italian seasoning. If you have been looking for a new flavorful way to cook chicken thighs in an Instant Pot, this is the perfect recipe for you.
Instant Pot lemon butter chicken cooks up in less than 30 minutes and therefore makes an ideal weeknight dinner. The mouthwatering sauce tastes wonderful over rice or noodles. Serve with a side of your favorite roasted vegetables and your family will be amazed by this special dinner.
You don't have an Instant Pot? No problem. You can easily prepare his amazing lemon butter chicken dish in a skillet on the stove top. We have included detailed instructions below.
❤️ WHY YOU'LL LOVE THIS CHICKEN THIGH RECIPE
✔️ Cooks completely in the Instant Pot. Not a lot of dishes to wash!
✔️ Delicious lemon butter flavor and sauce.
✔️ Only 8 minutes of pressure cooker time.
✔️ 24 grams of protein.
INSTANT POT CHICKEN THIGHS WITH LEMON BUTTER SAUCE INGREDIENTS
You may have all of these instant pot lemon butter chicken ingredients in your refrigerator or pantry and not need to make a trip to the grocery store. See recipe card below for ingredient amounts.
- Chicken Thighs: We use bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs for this recipe.
- Garlic
- Paprika: We used regular paprika, but if you are a big fan of smoky flavor you can also try smoked paprika.
- Chili Flakes
- Garlic Powder
- Salt
- Olive Oil
- Butter
- Onion
- Lemon juice: For best flavor use fresh lemon juice.
- Italian Seasoning
- Lemon Zest: For best results use fresh and bright yellow lemons. Make sure you only use the yellow part of the lemon peel and not the white one. The white part, also called pith, tastes bitter and might ruin the flavor of your lemon chicken.
- Chicken Broth
- Cornstarch (omit if you're following Keto diet)
- Water
INSTRUCTIONS
If you'd like to print this recipe, scroll down to the recipe card where you can print the recipe or have it scaled to double or triple. You'll also find nutrition information.
PREP: In a small bowl, combine paprika, chili flakes, salt and garlic powder. Zest your lemon and measure all your other ingredients.
RUB IN SPICE BLEND: Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Then rub the seasoning blend onto the skin of the chicken.
BROWN CHICKEN: Turn the Instant Pot on to the sauté setting. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add chicken thighs and cook on each side for 2-3 minutes until the chicken is a nice deep golden color.
COOK VEGETABLES: Remove chicken from the Instant Pot and set on a plate. Add butter to the instant pot and melt. Once the butter is melted, add the chopped onion and minced garlic. Sauté for a minute.
DEGLAZE: Add the lemon juice and deglaze the pan by scraping the brown bits off the bottom.
COOK CHICKEN: Add Italian seasoning, lemon zest, and pour in chicken broth. Put chicken back into the Instant Pot. Flip over to coat in lemon butter.
Put the lid on and lock. Turn the valve to sealing. Set to cook for 7 minutes. When the pressure cooker is done, allow 5 minutes for a natural pressure release. Turn the valve to release and allow all the steam to release. Push stop.
MAKE THE SAUCE: Unlock the lid and remove chicken to a clean plate and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water to make a slurry. Add slurry to the juices in the Instant Pot. Turn back to sauté. Whisk and heat until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
SERVE: Put chicken back into the pot with the delicious gravy. Garnish and serve.
TIPS FOR THE BEST LEMON BUTTER CHICKEN
✔️ Use chicken thighs with skin on, if possible. Browning the chicken skin adds a lot of flavor to this dish.
✔️ When zesting a lemon, only zest the yellow part of the peel. The white part of the peel is bitter.
✔️ Don't skip the browning step! Browning the chicken thighs and deglazing the pan is an important step.
STOVE TOP INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Heat oil. When oil is hot, add chicken and cook on each side 5-7 minutes, or until chicken reaches an inside temperature of 165ºF. Remove chicken to a plate.
- Turn heat to medium. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and onions to the pan. Sauté until onions are translucent. Put in garlic and sauté for another 1 minute.
- Add butter to the pan and melt. Then add lemon juice and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen the bits on the bottom (deglaze).
- Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl with a whisk to make a slurry.
- Add ¼ cup chicken stock, Italian seasoning and lemon zest and cornstarch slurry to the pan. Simmer until sauce has thickened slightly. Put the chicken back into the pan and cook until hot. Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken and garnish with chopped fresh parsley and lemon slices.
STORAGE TIPS
Storing your food properly is important to prevent spoiling or food poisoning.
Refrigerate: Store Instant Pot chicken thighs with lemon butter sauce in an airtight container or ziploc bag in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Freeze: Lemon butter chicken thighs are best eaten fresh. You can, however, freeze them in an airtight and freezer safe container and/or a ziploc freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Defrosting: A great way to defrost frozen chicken thighs is in the refrigerator overnight.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH LEMON BUTTER CHICKEN:
Whip up some Cheesy Garlic Knots or Copycat Lion House Rolls to serve with Jasmine Rice or your favorite white rice and some roasted vegetables.
MORE CHICKEN RECIPES:
While we love these easy Instant Pot chicken thighs we also love some of these other recipes and think you will as well.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
It's not a problem if you don’t own a lemon zester. You can also use the fine side of a box grater to rub off the lemon zest. Another way to zest a lemon is using a vegetable peeler. First, peel off very thin slices of lemon peel (avoid the white part) and then chop the lemon peel finely on a cutting board with a knife.
Yes, you can. Please follow our STOVE TOP INSTRUCTIONS above.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in chicken thighs with skin
- 4 cloves of garlic - minced
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp chili flakes
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 5 tablespoon butter
- ½ cup onion (½ small onion) - chopped
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice - fresh squeezed
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ⅓ cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
Garnish:
- fresh chopped parsley
- lemon slices
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine paprika, chili flakes, salt and garlic powder.
Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Then rub the seasoning blend onto the skin of the chicken.- Turn the Instant Pot on to the sauté setting. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Add chicken thighs and cook on each side for 2-3 minutes until the chicken is a nice deep golden color. Remove chicken from the Instant Pot and set on a plate.
Put the butter into the instant pot.
Once it is melted, add the chopped onion and minced garlic. Sauté for a minute.
Add the lemon juice and deglaze the pan by scraping the bits off the bottom.
Then add Italian seasoning, lemon zest, and chicken broth.
Put the chicken back into the Instant Pot. Flip over to coat in lemon butter sauce.- Put the lid on and lock. Turn the valve to sealing.
- Set to cook for 7 minutes. When the presure cooker is done, allow to naturally release for 5 minutes.
- Turn the valve to release and allow all the steam to release. Push stop.
- Unlock the lid and remove chicken to a clean plate and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water to make a slurry. Add slurry to the juices in the Instant Pot. Turn back to sauté. Whisk and heat until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
Put chicken back into the pot. Garnish and serve.
Notes
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Heat oil. When oil is hot, add chicken and cook on each side 5-7 minutes, or until chicken reaches an inside temperature of 165ºF. Remove chicken to a plate.
- Turn heat to medium. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and onions to the pan. Sauté until onions are translucent. Put in garlic and sauté for another 1 minute.
- Add butter to the pan and melt. Then add lemon juice and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen the bits on the bottom (deglaze).
- Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl with a whisk to make a slurry.
- Add ¼ cup chicken stock, Italian seasoning and lemon zest and cornstarch slurry to the pan. Simmer until sauce has thickened slightly. Add the chicken back to the pan and cook until hot. Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken and garnish with chopped fresh parsley and lemon slices.
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