This Pressure Cooker Chicken Ramen with Sweet Chili Oil is an easy and healthy dinner recipe made in your Instant Pot with Asian inspired broth with vegetables and noodles!
Pressure Cooker Ramen
The beauty of the electric pressure cooker is that it takes so much of the work out of cooking dinner. I particularly love it for making a wide variety of Instant Pot Soup Recipes.
Instant pot chicken ramen with sweet chili oil brings layer upon layer of flavor to a pot of ramen in this soup like dish. This isn’t the open a flavor packet and wait until the noodles are no longer crunchy ramen. But, if you want to know just how good ramen noodles can be, then give this a try.
Using an Instant Pot keeps things moving quickly, so it is still a conveniently quick meal to make. But, this is much healthier as well as tastier too. So skip the packet of flavored msg, and step into an incredible ramen dish.
The prep for instant pot chicken ramen
One of the keys to this dish is how you build the flavor along the way. You only need the one pot to do everything, and you don’t have to clean up in between steps. That is how you achieve layer upon layer of flavor.
Get everything set up first, and it helps to lay it out in the order you will use it. From heating and infusing the sweet chili oil, though searing the chicken and dropping in the noodles. Also, since you will be searing, then removing the chicken, have something heat resistant to transfer the chicken to.
Infusing your sweet chili oil
You start by making some sweet chili oil. So exotic, yet absolutely easy to make. Essentially, you preheat the instant pot to the saute setting, then heat the oil, honey, red pepper flakes, and garlic.
Once the garlic starts turning light golden brown, remove from heat and cool. Make sure to keep an eye on the garlic. Garlic cooks very quickly and if you let it burn just the slightest bit, then it can really throw things off.
Burnt garlic is like licking a nine volt battery. You tongue sends you warning signals like something terribly weird just went down in your mouth.
As the sweet chili oil cools, the honey and chili flakes will clump together at the bottom. This is totally normal— they have already infused the oil with their flavor!
What kind of chicken is best to use in chicken ramen?
I recommend skin on boneless thighs. The thighs are dark meat and have not only a richer flavor but I think the meat has a better texture for chicken ramen.
If you can’t find skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, boneless skinless will work (reduce the searing time by 1-2 minutes) or bone-in, skin-on will work (add 2 minutes to the pressure cooking time for a total of 12 minutes).
Sometimes you can ask the butcher counter if they will debone the thighs for you too. It isn’t hard to do yourself either, but I get it if you don’t feel like dealing with it.
Also, if you only have white breast meat handy, then that will work too, skin on or off. Follow the same guidelines as far as cooking times.
How to make Instant Pot Ramen?
After you make your sweet chili oil, its time to add your chicken to the pot to sear off the skin. Once they are golden brown, remove them from the pot and add the mushrooms, ginger and garlic.
Saute for a couple minutes and add the the chicken stock, soy sauce, green onion and rice vinegar to the pot. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom browned bits off the pot.
Return the chicken to the broth and mushroom mixture and place the lid on the electric pressure cooker. Turn it to manual high pressure and set the timer for 10 minutes. Make sure the valve on the lid is turned to the “sealing” position.
When the Instant Pot has finished cooking, carefully release the pressure manually by switching the valve to the “venting” position. Be careful when opening the valve, as it will steam and may splatter. I always like to use an oven mitt when opening the valve.
Using kitchen tongs, remove the chicken and set it on a cutting board to allow it to rest for at least 5 minutes.
How to cook eggs in Instant Pot with ramen
Before you cook eggs in your broth, it is very important to clean them well. Normally this isn’t a concern when making Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs, but because these eggs are cooking directly in the ramen broth, it is essential.
Turn the Instant Pot to the Saute function. Add the eggs to the broth and cook for 8 minutes for a nice soft boiled egg. The eggs are completely optional but add a delicious flavor and texture to the ramen.
Check the cook time on your ramen noodles and add the noodles in while the eggs are cooking. My ramen cooks in 4 minutes so I allowed the eggs to cook for 4 minutes, then add the ramen and continued cooking them together for 4 minutes.
Remove the eggs to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Gently peel them and set aside.
Thinly slice the chicken and add it back to the ramen. Serve hot with a drizzle of sweet chili oil.
What makes instant pot chicken ramen special?
In Japan, ramen was voted the best Japanese invention of the 20th century. That means it beat out Nintendo, Atari, and even Tamagotchi. So, we are talking about serious reverence. When you taste this ramen recipe, then you begin to appreciate why.
I mean instant ramen is great, but taking just a few extra minutes to create a deeply rich broth makes all the difference. Using an instant pot keeps the cooking time down too so it is still just as convenient as instant.
More instant pot pressure cooker soup recipes
Instant pot pressure cookers work for so many recipes, but soups, I think, are the best way to get used to using one. You can make a soup that tastes like you prepped the broth for days ahead, oftentimes in minutes.
I have so many pressure cooker soup recipes to recommend if you are looking for a few good ideas.
- Pressure cooker creamy beef and mushroom soup
- Instant Pot cabbage beef & rice soup
- Pressure cooker stuffed pepper sausage soup
- Instant pot white chicken chili
- Instant pot cheese and broccoli soup
Instant Pot Chicken Ramen With Sweet Chili
Ingredients
Sweet Chili Oil
- 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 clove garlic smashed
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Chicken Ramen
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 boneless skin-on chicken thighs
- 1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms sliced 1/4” thick
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger about 1” knob of ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic about 3 cloves
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup sliced green onion about 2 large green onions
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 4 large eggs optional
- 6 ounces uncooked ramen noodles
- Sliced green onions to serve— optional
- Lime wedge to serve— optional
Instructions
- Heat the Instant Pot using the Saute-Low function.
- Add the sesame oil, olive oil, honey, garlic clove, and red pepper flakes.
- Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the garlic clove is starting to turn golden brown.
- Transfer the oil to a jar and set aside. There is no need to rinse out the pan from the chili oil, it will add more flavor!
- Add the olive oil and heat the Instant Pot using the Saute-Normal function. When the oil is hot, add the chicken thighs, skin side down. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the chicken skin is golden brown and can be removed from the pan without sticking.
- Flip the chicken thighs and cook for an additional minute.
- Remove the chicken thighs from the Instant Pot and add the sliced mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, for 1-2 minutes, or until they start to turn golden brown. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the chicken stock, soy sauce, green onion, rice vinegar, and chicken thighs to the Instant Pot. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Turn the Instant Pot to Manual Pressure and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Make sure the valve on the lid is turned to the “sealing” position.
- The Instant Pot will take a few minutes to come to pressure and then begin counting down from 10. When the Instant Pot has finished cooking, carefully release the pressure manually by switching the valve to the “venting” position. Be careful when opening the valve, it will steam and may splatter.
- Remove the chicken and set aside, allowing to rest for at least 5 minutes.
- Turn the Instant Pot to the Saute function. Add the cleaned eggs (if using) and cook for 8 minutes.
- Check the cook time on your ramen noodles. Add the noodles into the pot with the broth while the eggs are cooking. My ramen cooks in 4 minutes so I allowed the eggs to cook for 4 minutes, then added the ramen and continued cooking them together for 4 minutes.
- Remove the eggs to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Gently peel them and set aside.
- Slice the chicken and add it back to the ramen. Serve hot with a drizzle of sweet chili oil, sliced green onions and lime wedges.
Malinda says
SO GOOD!! My whole family loved this recipe!!
Alison LaFortune says
So much flavor! And easy enough for a weeknight. Chicken thighs were perfect here.
Julie says
We loved this one! So much flavor and so easy to make in the Instant Pot. Thanks for the recipe!
Megan says
This was so delicious! I love using my Instant Pot, this will definitely be a recipe in our weekly rotation!
Susan Dubose says
This was my first time making ramen and it was delicious! I’m excited to make it again and again and throw in different veggies to add some variety. This recipe is so quick and easy.