This Pressure Cooker Lemon Orange Chicken is an easy way to make a roast chicken at home! With only a few simple ingredients you can have a delicious, juicy chicken ready for dinner in just about an hour. The best part? You can make the gravy in the same pot!
Table of contents
This is super simple dinner that turns out a beautifully tender and juicy meat that is so tasty by itself and just terrific tossed with a green salad. You could even do it one way the first night and use the leftovers to make Mango and Mandarin Orange Salad the next night.
Using the pressure cooker means I can keep the heat down to the bare minimum during the summer but still have a fantastic meal for dinner. You can also make this in the slow cooker if you don’t have a pressure cooker! Either way a quick stint under the broiler will give you a crisp skin to the chicken.
Perhaps the best part was the gravy! Most of my family is lukewarm about gravy in general but everyone was raving about the citrus kick to the gravy. It’s a bit unusual but was one that everyone enjoyed.
Ingredients
Pantry staples
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Paprika
- Lemon pepper
- Ginger
- Turmeric
- Salt
- Olive oil or butter
Shopping list
- Oranges
- Lemons
- Whole chicken
I’ve made this with both a boneless turkey roast and with a whole chicken and both were equally tasty.
What to serve with this?
You can serve this with mashed potatoes and green beans like I did or you could mix it up and try some of these side dishes:
Top tips
How to get crispy skin on the chicken after pressure cooking?
Whether I make this in the slow cooker or in the pressure cooker, I still like to have a crispier chicken skin. You can do this by cooking the chicken under the broiler for a few minutes.
Remove the chicken to an oven safe pan. Set your broiler to high heat and place the chicken about 5-6 inches away from the heat source. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until your chicken skin has become a nice golden brown color.
Using the Mealthy Crisp Lid
I used my Mealthy Crisp Lid to crisp the chicken skin right in my pressure cooker. It’s a fantastic shortcut that I love being able to have.
To use the crisp lid, use the rack handles to carefully remove the chicken from the pot. Remove the liquid and the orange and lemon pieces. Save the liquid for the gravy and you can discard the citrus pieces. Return the chicken to the pot and place your crisp lid on top. Cook at 400F for about 5-6 minutes. I had to shift my chicken slightly halfway through so that it crisped both halves of the chicken evenly.
To cook in the slow cooker
To make this in the slow cooker instead of the pressure cooker, place the seasoned chicken and citrus pieces into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
Make the gravy following the same method, except cook in a sauce pan on the stove top.
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Recipe
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 3 pound whole chicken or boneless turkey roast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 orange sliced
- 2 lemons sliced
- 1 cup water or chicken broth
For the gravy:
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup flour
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken by tying the legs together with chicken twine. Then rub the oil onto the skin of the chicken.
- Mix together the spices in a small bowl. Sprinkle the spices over the chicken skin.
- Pour the 1 cup water into the pressure cooker liner. Place the rack into the pot and then place the chicken onto the rack. Tuck the orange and lemon slices in around the chicken.
- Place the lid on the pot, set the valve to sealing, and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.
- When cooking time has finished, allow to no pressure release for 5 minutes before unsealing the pot. Using the rack, remove the chicken from the pot. Remove the liquid, saving it for later, and discard the citrus pieces.
- Place the chicken on an oven safe pan and place 5-6 inches away from the broiler. Set the broiler on high and cook for 5-10 minutes until skin is golden and crispy.
To make the gravy:
- Add 2 cups chicken stock and the flour to the pressure cooker pot and whisk till smooth. Add the liquid you reserved earlier and whisk again. Cook on the sauté setting on high, whisking constantly until gravy has thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
Notes
- To use the crisp lid, use the rack handles to carefully remove the chicken from the pot. Remove the liquid and the orange and lemon pieces. Save the liquid for the gravy and you can discard the citrus pieces.
- Return the chicken to the pot and place your crisp lid on top. Cook at 400F for about 5-6 minutes. I had to shift my chicken slightly halfway through so that it crisped both halves of the chicken evenly.
- Once the chicken is done cooking, then you can use the pot to make your gravy.
I am thinking about making this for Thanksgiving. Have you ever tried to make a gravy with this? Or would these flavors not work well for this purpose?
I haven’t ever used this particular version to make gravy but I’ve added lemon juice to gravy before so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I’m going to make it this weekend so I can update this post with new pictures and I will try making a gravy and let you know.
Mmm, this recipe looks good & I needed more slow cooker recipes. Thanks for sharing & linking up at the Tasty Tuesday linkup. Pinning
Mmm I love using my slow cooker for meal prep since it’s so easy, and these flavors look awesome! Will definitely have to give it a try soon 🙂
I rely on my slow cooker a ton during the summer! I don’t have to heat up the house cooking, I can set it and leave it and go have fun with the family, shoot what isn’t there to love. 🙂
This sounds really good! I love crockpot recipes. 🙂 Thanks for linking up with “Try a New Recipe Tuesday.” Hope you can join us again this week. http://our4kiddos.blogspot.com/2014/06/try-new-recipe-tuesday-june-10.html
What a great, simple and delicious recipe! I am so trying it this week!
Thank you for stopping by the Tasty Tuesday linkup party at Lena Lena, Jade.
Thanks so much Lena. I would love to hear how it goes. I’ll definitely stop by again.