Instant Pot Coconut Chicken (Low-Carb Recipe)
This Instant Pot Coconut Chicken with Lime recipe is a 30-minute meal with only six ingredients. Serve the tender and flavorful coconut chicken with cooked rice or sautéed cauliflower rice. This recipe is gluten-free, Whole30, and keto-friendly.
This healthy chicken recipe is full of delicious creamy coconut milk flavor, topped with the bright freshness of lime. It also has great texture from the celery and onion.
I like to serve it over steamed white rice or sautéed cauliflower rice for a keto or low-carb option.
Why You Need This Recipe
- This Instant Pot Coconut Chicken can be made in 30 minutes, and it only has six ingredients.
- For my friends on restricted diets, this gluten-free and dairy-free recipe is a perfect fit. This is also a great recipe for people on a no sugar diet.
- Celery is a key ingredient that is budget-friendly, easy to find, and part of my list of the best vegetables for picky eaters.
- If you’re new to using the Instant Pot, this is a really simple recipe that is appropriate for beginners (see my full article on how to use the Instant Pot Duo).
Key Ingredients
- Chicken thighs stay incredibly moist but you can also use chicken breasts if you prefer. Both work great! Just be sure to cut them up into 1-inch pieces first.
- Onion & celery taste great in this dish but you can use what you have on hand. Carrots or bell peppers would work great too. Just be sure to chop them up before putting them into the pot.
- Chicken broth adds an easy boost of flavor with one ingredient. It also helps cook all the chicken and veggies. You can also use vegetable broth if you prefer. Just be sure to check the label to make sure it’s gluten-free if you follow a gluten-free diet.
- Coconut milk gives this dish a creamy and rich base that tastes delicious served over rice (or cauliflower rice). I always recommend having full-fat canned coconut milk on hand; it’s part of my list of no-sugar foods because it’s full of satisfying healthy fats.
- Lime juice brightens up the sauce and complements the flavor of the coconut milk.
Please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Recipe Steps
Step One
The first step is to add the celery and onion to the Instant Pot.
Please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Step Two
Next, add the chicken and broth to the pot.
Step Three
Lock on the lid and then cook it for 8 minutes at high pressure.
Step Four
Use the quick-release and then stir in the coconut milk and fresh lime juice. That’s it!
Depending on the type of diet you’re following, you can serve the tender chicken over sautéed cauliflower rice, steamed basmati rice, or even with cooked noodles. It’s your choice.
Recipe Tips
- If you don’t like celery, then feel free to substitute a similar vegetable instead (fennel, carrots, or bell peppers would all work okay too). But, in the interest of keeping this recipe to just a few ingredients, I used celery and onion.
- Feel free to add a cup of chopped mushrooms for even more texture to this dish. Again, in the interest of keeping this a really simple recipe, I just used onion and celery.
- Also, you can choose whether or not you want to use chicken thighs or chicken cutlets. The most important part is that you cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces so it cooks quickly and evenly.
- If you want to add even more spice and flavor to this recipe, feel free to add 1 teaspoon of curry powder OR 1 teaspoon of green curry paste to the Instant Pot before cooking.
- You can also make this recipe in the slow cooker. Just add all the ingredients and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5-6 hours.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! This recipe is meant for bite-sized pieces of chicken so frozen chicken will only work here if it’s already cut into chunks or is thawed enough to cut up. Add 5 minutes to the cooking time for frozen chunks of chicken.
Steamed rice or sautéed cauliflower rice is ideal. See my recipe for Instant Pot Basmati Rice.
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes You Might Like
- Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Tenders
- Instant Pot Chicken Thighs and Potatoes
- Instant Pot Chicken Soup with Potatoes
- Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Chicken
- Instant Pot Chicken Stew
And, don’t forget to check out my epic Instant Pot Chicken Recipes round-up featuring my favorite recipes.
Don’t Miss These Instant Pot Resources!
Instant Pot Coconut Chicken (Low-Carb)
This Instant Pot Coconut Chicken with Lime recipe is a 30-minute meal with only six ingredients. Serve the tender and flavorful coconut chicken with cooked rice or sautéed cauliflower rice. This recipe is gluten-free, Whole30, and keto-friendly.
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of celery, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1.25 pounds chicken thighs or chicken cutlets, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 2 limes, juiced
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add the celery and onion to the pot of your pressure cooker. Place the chicken tenders on top of the celery. Add the chicken broth and lock on the Instant Pot lid.
- Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. When the cooking time is complete, let the pressure come down naturally for 5 minutes, then release any remaining pressure.
- Carefully remove the lid. Pour in the coconut milk and fresh lime juice and give the soup a good stir. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve with cooked rice or cauliflower rice, if desired.
Notes
- Store any leftovers in a tightly-sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- If you don’t like celery, then feel free to substitute a similar vegetable instead (fennel, carrots, or bell peppers would all work okay too). But, in the interest of keeping this recipe to just a few ingredients, I used celery and onion.
- Also, you can choose whether or not you want to use chicken thighs or chicken cutlets. The most important part is that you cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces so it cooks quickly and evenly.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Category: Main dish, soup
- Method: Pressure cooker, instant pot
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Diet: Gluten Free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 276
- Sugar: 2.5 g
- Sodium: 238.9 mg
- Fat: 15.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 11.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 7.1 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 28.2 g
- Cholesterol: 82.7 mg
Don’t forget to join my newsletter list to get exclusive clean eating recipes and tips. The newsletter is 100% free with no spam; unsubscribe anytime.
About the Author: Carrie Forrest is the author of the best-selling Instant Pot-authorized cookbook, The Healthy Meal Prep Instant Pot Cookbook. She has a master’s degree in public health with a specialty in nutrition and receives over 5 million annual visitors to her site. Send Carrie a message through her contact form.
Is there any way to do this with frozen chicken tenders? I ask as I stand here with all of the ingredients ? and realize I have no idea what to do!
Yes, just add 10 more minutes to the cooking time.
Absolutely love your creative idea with Instant Pot Coconut Chicken! As you know I made it a short while ago and it was lovely! Thx, Carrie for sharing!
If I wanted to make a double batch…is it as simple as just doubling the ingredients and cooking at one go? Or will flavor be diluted?
You can definitely double this recipe, it will be delish! 🙂
I am new to the Instant Pot and clean eating. This was perfect for me. Thank you.
Great, that makes me so happy to hear, Tina! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
My family and I love this recipe. I’m not sure why others say it has not flavor…….ours turned out great. The finishing touch for the entire dish is the fresh squeezed lime juice at the end with an addition of some pink himalayan salt. The infusion of the lemongrass fragrance is what we enjoyed the most. Our 2 year old had three servings of this recipe so thanks for this wonderful recipe.
Thanks, Starr! I’m so glad you liked this recipe! It’s one of my favorites too. XOXO.
This recipe itself was rather flavorless – I added some ginger while it cooked (it always goes well with coconut milk recipes) then once it was cooked I added garlic powder (next time would cook it with 3 or 4 cloves), the zest and juice of a lime, and some Thai basil… it was really tasty by the time I was done – similar to a Tom khan soup. I will make that version again, probably with some mushrooms and chili peppers as well.
I realized after making this that most of the reviewers had not actually made the dish. First it was incredibly bland. Like REALLY REALLY tasteless. Pouring the coconut milk over at the very end without any further cooking does not actually impart the coconut flavor into the sad, pale chicken. Secondly, without thickener or further cooking of the 1 cup of coconut milk, it was like a very thin soup. But really less like a soup and more like bland boiled chicken bobbing around in coconut milk. Flavors didn’t integrate. This is a good idea for a rough starting point, but not there yet.
Unfortunately, this was not worth the trouble and I notice none of the other reviewers appears to have made the dish. It needs a lot of seasoning and garnishes to make it acceptable and I feel like I could have gotten a lemongrass flavored chicken stock pretty easily without going through all the bother. Think of this recipe as a starting point, not the desired result.
This looks so good, and I can probably get away with using my crockpot (I think I just need to adjust the timing).
An instant pot is on my list of things I would like to have for my kitchen. I love trying out news ways of cooking chicken. This dish looks quite tasty!