TheWildWaynes
a family of four cooking & creating our way through tiny living
Instant Pot Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Tacos
To start, I should say I am a person of system and processes. Honestly, I really should make a blog post about that some day because I swear it keeps my brain moving forward. Surprises are fun, yes, but I really love setting days and times that I know something is going to happen. Especially when it comes to planning. Which leads me to saying — we meal plan. Part of meal planning is begging for Instant Pot Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Tacos.
Additionally, meal planning also helps ensure that I can help Dave with certain aspects of ensuring that he can create his videos (something he really loves to do) and ensure that a lot of the technical things that are my wheel house are done and I have time to do it. Participating in meal planning allows me to also put my input into what we are cooking for the week.
Deciding on Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Tacos
There are similar recipes on Pinterest, but most of them were just for Hawaiian Teriyaki chicken. Since we are both native San Diegans so all things taco are built into our DNA. The adventure began with a few glass of wine in hand! Putting our heads together to figure out a way to make a recipe truly ours. Although, we did check out what other people are doing out there in Google. Also, we currently we have a goal to make sure our recipes are EASY. Dave and I have small kids, and the easier the recipe the better as they need (and deserve) a lot of our time. In case you didn’t know, Hailey is also a HUGE fan of onion so it was a nice win-win since she mowed down a ton of onion and kept her busy while we were cooking.
Leftovers? Budget? What!
What about leftovers? There was enough for 2 days! Which made my wallet VERY happy. ANDDDD, these Instant Pot Chicken Hawaiian Teriyaki Tacos tasted just as good on day three as they did on day one. For me, that’s huge… because normally I am not a huge leftovers fan. If I am being honest, Dave typically eats them for lunch. Welp, not this time! Everything was saved and eaten again for dinners and let me tell you it did not disappoint. A quick note, this was mainly with Dave and I eating the tacos. The kids had some meat, some pineapple, and some other veggies I cooked up — but in full taco form they were hesitant to dive in.
If you are looking for some fun process videos, check Dave’s YouTube channel out! I linked the Instant Pot Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Tacos below.
On the Side
Breaded Cauliflower in the Air Fryer
Asian Garlic Cauliflower in the Air Fryer
Asian Steamed Green Beans in the Instant Pot
Instant Pot Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Tacos
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1 Pineapple quartered, core removed, and sliced into thin slices (about 1/4 inch thick)
- 1/2 Red Onion sliced thin
- 12 Street Taco Flour Tortillas
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 tbsp Cornstarch
- 3 tbsp Water
Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce
- 5 Garlic Cloves Diced
- 1 tbsp Fresh Ginger Diced (Fresh)
- 1 cup Soy Sauce
- 1 cup Pineapple Juice
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
Instructions
Marinade (1-24 hours in advance)
- Dice garlic and ginger
- Add the diced garlic and ginger to a 1 gallon zip lock bag followed by the rest of the teriyaki sauce ingredients, zip the bag closed and mix the ingredients
- Open the bag and add the boneless skinless chicken thighs, zip the bag back up, shake it well and let it marinate in your refrigerator for 1 – 24 hours
Pressure Cooking (Making Dinner)
- Add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil to the cold instant pot and rub the oil into the inside of the pot using a folded paper towel
- Put the instant pot trivet into the instant pot and stack the marinated chicken thighs in a pile on top of the trivet
- Dump all of the teriyaki marinade over the top of the chicken thighs, put the instant pot lid on and seal the pressure release valve
- Pressure cook (high pressure) for 18 minutes
Prepare Toppings
- Slice the top and bottom off your pineapple, slice all of the skin off the outside, slice lengthwise into quarters, and slice the core off of each slice
- Slice the pineapple quarters into 1/4 to 1/2 inch crosswise pieces
- Slice the red or sweet onion in half, head to toe, cut the root and bulb off, and then slice the onion medium thin
Cornstarch Slurry
- Mix 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 3 Tbsp of cold water to make the cornstarch slurry
Chicken is Done
- After the 18 minutes of pressure cooking is finished, the instant pot will beep at you, open the pressure release valve and remove the lid when the pin drops
- Use tongs to move the tender chicken thighs to a plate, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil and set aside
Teriyaki Sauce
- Cancel pressure cook and press Sauté
- Stir or whisk in the cornstarch slurry
- Let simmer for about 4-5 minutes stirring often until the sauce is velvety
- Cancel Sauté
Teriyaki Chicken
- Slice the chicken thighs against the grain, the chicken will fall apart
Assemble Tacos
- Warm tortillas in the air fryer, oven, pan, or microwave
- Place tortillas on a plate (I like the street taco size tortillas for this recipe)
- Place a tong full of chicken on each tortilla with 1 slice of pineapple leaning against the chicken
- Place 4-6 slices of onion on top followed by and a couple Tbsp of teriyaki sauce from the instant pot
- Fold your taco and take a bite of heaven
Video
Nutrition
If you like this quick and easy recipe, take a gander at Instant Pot Mock Chicken Legs (a.k.a City Chicken). We put out a new recipe weekly!
I made this recipe tonight and let me tell you……they were delicious! I didn’t have fresh ginger..used powdered…used a bit more chicken (afamily pack) (not sure how much is in there…everything else exactly the same….delisjh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wooooooo!! So happy to hear that! I looooove the adjustments it keeps everything interesting, right? 🙂 Thank you for coming back and letting us know. I hope you have a great night!
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Made these last night for dinner. So delicious! My picky eater of a daughter gobbled it up. I recommend it!