Jeanette's Healthy Living

Where delicious and healthy come together

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • List of All Recipes (alphabetical)
    • Breakfast
    • appetizers
    • soups
    • salads
    • main courses
    • side dishes
    • dips and sauces
    • beverages
    • smoothies
    • Desserts and Cookies
  • Special Diets
    • gluten-free
    • dairy-free
    • vegetarian
    • vegan
    • Liquid/Soft Food Diet
    • Pureed Food Diet
    • Low Residue Diet
  • Cancer Cooking
  • Faith
  • Healthy Living
    • Healthy Living
    • travel
  • About
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Work With Me
    • Media Features
    • Terms & Conditions

Chinese Smoked Chicken Recipe (Instant Pot)

January 23, 2020 by Jeanette 11 Comments

Jump to RecipePrint Recipe
342 shares
  • Facebook7
  • Twitter
  • Yummly
Instant Pot Chinese Smoked Chicken - pressure steaming chicken before smoking it is a time saver and ensures a tender chicken
Instant Pot Chinese Smoked Chicken - pressure steaming chicken before smoking it is a time saver and ensures a tender chicken

Chinese Smoked Chicken is tender, delicious and fragrant. One of my Dad’s specialities used to be his smoked chicken. He grew up in Beijing and recently, I learned that smoked meats were quite popular in that region when he was growing up. I found a recipe for Chinese smoked chicken in my late aunt’s Florence Lin’s Chinese Regional Cookbook. I’ve adapted my aunt’s recipe so it can be pressure steamed in an Instant Pot to save on time.

Instant Pot Chinese Smoked Chicken - pressure steaming chicken before smoking it is a time saver and ensures a tender chicken

Chinese cooking uses a variety of cooking techniques to achieve the optimal textural result.  Steaming is one cooking method that is used to retain moisture in chicken prior to finishing it, whether it’s deep fried or smoked, as in this recipe. Although steaming adds an extra step, the end product is juicy and tender, not dry at all, so the extra effort is well worth it.

First, the whole chicken is marinated overnight (or up to 2 days) with a dry rub of toasted salt and Szechuan peppercorns.

Instant Pot Chinese Smoked Chicken - pressure steaming chicken before smoking it is a time saver and ensures a tender chicken

Then, the chicken is pressure steamed for 25 minutes in an Instant Pot. You can also steam this on the stove top but it will take at least 45 minutes.

Instant Pot Chinese Smoked Chicken - pressure steaming chicken before smoking it is a time saver and ensures a tender chicken

After steaming the whole chicken, let it cool. At this point, you can refrigerate the chicken until you’re ready to smoke it, or you can go straight ahead and smoke it.

Stove-top smoking is easy to do. The bottom of a wok and the wok cover are lined with foil. A mixture of hickory chips and oolong tea are the smoking agents.

Instant Pot Chinese Smoked Chicken - pressure steaming chicken before smoking it is a time saver and ensures a tender chicken

An oiled rack is placed in the wok, and the chicken is placed on top. Smoking the chicken takes just 15 minutes. The result will be this beautiful amber-colored Chinese smoked chicken.

Instant Pot Chinese Smoked Chicken - pressure steaming chicken before smoking it is a time saver and ensures a tender chicken

Chinese Smoked Chicken can be served warm or cold. I’m still working on my chicken chopping skills, but you get the idea.

Instant Pot Chinese Smoked Chicken - pressure steaming chicken before smoking it is a time saver and ensures a tender chicken

4.75 from 4 votes
Print

Chinese Smoked Chicken (Instant Pot)

Marinade the chicken overnight or up to 2 days. Pressure steaming the chicken prior to smoking ensures tender meat.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Prep Time 12 hours
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 12 hours 40 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients

  • 4 pound whole chicken
  • 4 tablespoons coarse salt
  • 1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns
  • 1/4 cup hickory chips
  • 2 tablespoons black tea leaves I used oolong
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil

Instructions

Marinating Chicken

  1. Brown salt and peppercorns in a dry skillet until peppercorns are fragrant; cool.

    Rub salt peppercorn mixture all over chicken, outside and inside.

    Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days.

Steaming Chicken (Instant Pot Method)

  1. Pour 1 cup water in bottom of Instant Pot. Place steam rack in pot and put chicken on top. 

  2. Steam on high pressure for 25 minutes. Let pressure naturally release for 15 minutes; release remaining pressure. Remove chicken and let cool. You can proceed with smoking the chicken at this point or refrigerate and smoke later.

Wok-Smoking Chicken

  1. Line inside of wok and wok cover with foil. Place hickory chips and tea leaves in bottom of foil-lined wok.

  2. Place oiled rack in wok; place steamed chicken on top of rack. Cover wok with foil-lined wok cover, and smoke over medium heat for 15 minutes.

  3. Turn off heat and let stand for 5 minutes to allow smoke to dissipate.

  4. Remove chicken and brush with sesame oil. 

  5. Cut chicken into small pieces and serve.

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Florence Lin's Chinese Regional Cookbook

If you like this authentic Asian chicken recipe, you  might also like:

Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup

Korean Chicken Ginseng Soup - a nourishing, rejuvenating chicken soup made with Korean ginseng

Chinese Braised Chicken and Chestnuts

Chinese Chestnut Chicken © Jeanette's Healthy Living

Related Posts
Filter by
Post Page
dairy-free gluten-free Dinner main courses Asian chicken Clean Eating Slow Cooker Pantry Recipe healthy choices Desserts and Cookies Resources Recipes For Foodies Chinese New Year soups low carb Instant Pot air fryer Pasta and Noodles Beef whole grain vegan vegetarian Summer Recipes side dishes lunch Seafood shellfish dips and sauces
Sort by
Slow Cooker Chinese Three Cup Chicken - this is a lighter version of a traditional braised chicken dish. Delicious served over steamed rice.

Slow Cooker Chinese Three Cup Chicken Recipe

2021-10-19 05:00:31
jeanette

18

Chinese Coconut Almond Sticky Rice Cake © Jeanette

Florence Lin’s Baked Coconut Sticky Rice Cake Recipe for Chinese New Year

2021-02-08 05:00:42
jeanette

18

Chinese Lamb Noodle Soup

Chinese Lamb Noodle Soup

2020-11-04 00:00:22
jeanette

18

Air Fried Spicy Chinese Eggplant

Air Fried Spicy Chinese Eggplant

2020-08-26 00:00:24
jeanette

18

Spicy Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

2019-10-28 05:00:15
jeanette

18

Cold Chinese Sesame Noodles - I

Cold Chinese Sesame Noodles Recipe

2019-06-19 05:00:00
jeanette

18

Grilled Chinese Char Siu Chicken - this marinade is phenomenal ~ no artificial colors in this recipe - brilliant red beet powder stands in for red food coloring

Grilled Chinese Char Siu Chicken Recipe

2019-05-21 05:00:07
jeanette

18

Shrimp Fried Brown Rice © Jeanette

Chinese Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe

2019-02-07 05:00:10
jeanette

18

A Collection of Lunar New Year Recipes

20+ Lunar and Chinese New Year Recipes

2019-02-02 05:00:01
jeanette

18

Chinese Poached Chicken with Soy Ginger Sauce

Chinese Poached Chicken with Ginger Soy Sauce

2019-01-21 05:00:00
jeanette

18

342 shares
  • Facebook7
  • Twitter
  • Yummly

Filed Under: Asian, chicken, Chinese New Year, dairy-free, Dinner, gluten-free, Instant Pot, main courses Tagged With: Florence Lin, Instant Pot, pressure steaming, wok smoking

« Lion’s Head Casserole
Vietnamese Beef Pho Noodle Soup Recipe »

Comments

  1. Angie@Angie's Recipes says

    March 26, 2018 at 8:59 am

    Cool! I didn’t know IP could work as a smoker. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe, Jeanette. Happy Spring!

    Reply
    • Jeanette says

      March 26, 2018 at 5:20 pm

      The IP is actually used to pressure steam the chicken before smoking it in the wok – it’s a time saver!

      Reply
  2. Nausheen says

    January 24, 2020 at 6:24 am

    5 stars
    When a dish is cooked by smoking it, especially meat it really enhances the flavors in the dish. That too without losing its core nutrients much.
    The smokey aroma is so delightful to the senses and a treat to the meat lovers specifically.
    It is just so yummm….

    Reply
    • Chris says

      November 24, 2020 at 9:42 am

      4 stars
      Thank you for posting it. I followed recipe as is and chicken was delicious. My only feedback is that one should soack the wood chicps in water for 30 mins before putting in wok. My chicken has a burned flavor but still delicious.

      Reply
      • Jeanette says

        January 3, 2021 at 8:22 pm

        Thank you for your feedback and for your suggestion to soak the wood chips.

        Reply
  3. mary anderson says

    February 1, 2020 at 2:30 pm

    I can’t believe my kids wouldn’t be all over this! But more for mommy then hehehe. my mouth is watering I found that to be very amusing! Does look fabulous. Happy Valentine’s Day

    Reply
  4. marie johson says

    February 27, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    5 stars
    Yummy recipe. Thanks for sharing 🙂

    Reply
  5. Mary M says

    June 15, 2020 at 7:35 am

    Hello,
    I would like to make your smoked chicken, but have a question about the smoking details.

    Could you clarify step #2 about smoking the chicken?
    After chicken is covered with foil-lined wok lid, HOW do I smoke it? For example…Do I turn the burner on to a certain temperature? Do I need to light the hickory/tea, or does it just smoke from the pan heat?

    Also, does this work with an electric glass-top stove? Do I need a carbon-steel wok or will any wok work for this? I am thinking that for me, perhaps a heavy-lid cast-iron Dutch oven will work better on my electric stove?

    Thank you!
    Love your Blog! I found your blog because of your Instant Pot Nicaraguan rice recipe…we cook a lot of Nicaraguan cuisine.

    Reply
    • Jeanette says

      June 15, 2020 at 9:34 am

      Hi Mary – I have a gas stove and set my temperature to medium, cover the wok with the foil-lined lid and let the hickory/tea start smoking. Once it starts smoking, I put the chicken on the rack inside the wok, and cover the wok tightly. I would line the wok with 2 layers of foil to protect your wok. I think a cast iron Dutch oven should work fine – it may just take longer for the hickory/tea to start smoking. Thanks for trying this recipe!

      Reply
  6. Bryson Fico says

    February 19, 2021 at 10:24 pm

    5 stars
    I gave it a shot and it worked out great. So tasty and flavorful – smoking meat usually does that.

    Reply
    • Jeanette says

      February 19, 2021 at 10:39 pm

      So glad you tried this and enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know Bryson!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hi! I'm Jeanette - welcome! Step into my kitchen, where you'll find healthy dishes packed with flavor and goodness.

[Read More …]

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Get Your Free e-Book!

Weekly College Meal Planner

Good recipes come to those who subscribe!

Archives

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Copyright © 2016 Jeanette's Healthy Living · Privacy Policy
342 shares
  • 7Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Yummly