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I've had so much fun recipe testing instant pot recipes, and I'm sooooooo excited to share this Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta with you all today. A delicious pasta dish with creamy garlic sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and chicken. My family quickly fell in love with this yummy, EASY pressure cooker meal.
I've found myself using my Instant Pot more than ever in the past few weeks.
I especially love it for meals where you can throw all of the raw ingredients together, push one button, and BAM, it's ready in 15 minutes–Like these chicken taco bowls, or instant pot spaghetti.
The key is to cook everything well, without ending up with undercooked or overcooked noodles, or chicken.
One thing I really love about this tuscan chicken pasta dinner is how flavorful it is. The chicken is seasoned, and browned before you add everything else, and the onions are sauteed also, to give everything more depth of flavor.
Instead of water, we're cooking the pasta with chicken broth, and I've added milk and spices to make it creamier and extra flavorful. I hope you all love the end result as much as I do!
How to make Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta:
Start by seasoning your chicken with salt and pepper and paprika.
Turn your Instant Pot to saute, and brown the chicken on both sides. Remove it to a plate.
Add butter and chopped onion to the pot to saute.
Add the chicken broth, seasonings, milk, pasta and chicken to the pan. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
When the timer beeps, quick release the pressure and open the lid.
Remove the chicken to a plate, tent it with foil and allow it to rest.
Add the cream cheese to the instant pot and gently stir it in until melted and smooth.
Stir in the fresh parmesan cheese, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. Chop the chicken and add it as well.
Give everything a little stir. Can you already smell the goodness? YUM! Perfect creaminess, and tons of flavor. And now you're ready to enjoy! Add a little extra garnish of parmesan cheese, cracked pepper and a some crushed red pepper flakes, if you're into that kinda thing 🙂 .
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Recipe
Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 breasts)
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons paprika , smoked or regular
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 cup yellow onion , chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 4 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup milk
- 12 ounces penne pasta (or farfalle)
- 6 ounces cream cheese , softened and cut into small pieces
- 1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 8 ounces sun-dried tomatoes , drained and chopped
- 4 ounces baby spinach leaves
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Turn Instant pot to saute.
- Season chicken breasts on both sides with paprika, salt and pepper.
- Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the hot instant pot.
- Add chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until browned, but not cooked through. Remove to a plate.
- Add butter and onion to the pot and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add chicken broth, (scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze it), seasonings, milk, pasta, and chicken breasts back to pot.
- Close IP lid and turn release valve to sealed. Cook on manual (high pressure) for 5 minutes.
- When the timer beeps, do a controlled quick release, to release the pressure. (Turn the valve but if any liquid sprays close it again and try again in a few seconds.)
- Carefully open lid. Remove chicken to a plate and tent with foil. (Don’t skip this step. The chicken will continue to cook under the foil).
- Stir in cream cheese, stirring gently until it’s melted and the sauce is smooth.
- Stir in parmesan cheese, sun dried tomatoes and spinach. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Chop chicken and return to pot.
- Sauce will thicken as it cools. Serve warm, garnished with extra parmesan cheese, if desired.
This was easily 10/10. We had no leftovers and it fed two hungry men, me, and both of our children. I didn’t change anything about this recipe except we had to leave for a bit after it was done so I put it all back in the instant pot (it was a little watery) and just left on keep warm for about an hour while I was out. It was super easy and it’s been bookmarked for our favorites list now 🙂
I’m so happy to find a new instant pot dinner idea. This was really good. My favorite pasta dish I’ve made in my instant pot. Do you have other instant pot dinners like this?
Perfect composition ! Thank you !
I found my new favorite instant pot recipe! This was a winner with my family. Thanks.
I don’t have an IP will it still work out ?
I made this today. I do not have an IP and it turned out fine. I did make some changes after reading the comments. I have an 8 qt power pressure cooker. After reading about it being “soupy” I only added 4 cups chicken stock and 3/4 cups milk. I also used farfale instead of penne. I would like it a little thicker, so I may take out more stock next time I make this. I couldn’t figure out how to manually cook for 5 minutes, so I used rhe chicken/meat setting that cooked for 15 mins. But after 10 mins I hit the keep warm/cancel button and the released the steam. Chicken was done—almost dry, glad I didn’t wait the full 15 minutes. Mine came out great. I’d make this again. This was the maiden voyage for my cooker. Overall pretty happy.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. ?
Thanks for you tips, especially for those have a different type of pressure cooker. Happy you liked it 🙂
My family and I were anxious to try this recipe as we’re always looking for additions to our dinner rotation. I carefully followed each step in preparation and mine didn’t turn out as expected. It was more of a ‘soup’ with too much liquid, even after adding the cheese. The flavor was good but the consistency was not. Still wondering where I went wrong with the directions or maybe I was expecting a creamier sauce?
Hi Sandy,
I’m so sorry to hear that they didn’t turn out. I’m not sure what went wrong but it seems like it may have to do with the chicken broth or milk measurements. I hope you get the chance to try it again sometime because they are one of our families new favorite recipes!
I had the same experience. The taste was ok, but the consistency was a runny mess. It thickened up a little as it cooled, but it still wasn’t appealing. I am looking forward to many of your other recipes, however. Thank you.
Delicious. Comments made: this is a 10. This is a repeater.
Thanks for a great recipe tjat turned out perfect. Also thanks for explicit instructions for us newbies.
Wanted to try this after making your IP taco bowls because everyone loved them. This one is even better! I left out the sun-dried tomatoes because I didn’t have any, and I added fresh basil at the end. SOO good.
Made this last night and it was great. Excited to try your other instant pot recipes. Thanks!
A new family favorite! This was so yummy! Thanks for sharing!
This was a total fail. There’s no way this could serve 8 with 2 chicken breasts and 12 oz of pasta. Adding 5 cups of liquid created a soup not a sauce. Nothing in the world could thicken this up. Chicken was tough based on cooking times and a quick release, flavours were just off. I’m sorry but there is nothing positive I can say about this. I just wasted good ingredients and had to dump this. I can’t even give this a single star. Just a warning to others. Photos looked good but following the receipe it did not come close.
Hi Drew,
I’m so sorry that you had a bad experience with this recipe. I appreciate the feedback about the serving size- that was certainly a typo and I apologize. Thanks for bringing it to my attention! As for the actually recipe, the sauce will thicken as it cools and next time you could even add a little more cheese. I have also added a note to use a 6 quart size instant pot (not sure what size you used).
Based on a few comments about liquid, I used 3 chicken breasts, 14 oz. of pasta, and 4 cups of liquid (reserved 1/2 cup broth to use if needed). It was perfect I’m my 6-quart IP Ultra. I will actually need that. 1/2 cup to moisten the leftovers. I also used about 1/2-2/3 cup shredded pecorino cheese instead of grated parm. Pecorino has a lot more flavor, so it takes less.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for your hints. It turned out perfectly!
Recipe still says 2 chicken breasts. Recipe needs updated
No, the recipe is correct. It will serve 4-5 portions using 2 chicken breasts. You’re welcome to double it, if your instant pot will fit more. The cooking time will be the same.
I made this recipe almost exact last night. I used a little more pasta and added a tiny bit of ranch seasoning and crushed pepper. It was absolutely delicious! Sauce thickened nicely after cooling a bit, I think the ranch seasoning helped. My teenage Son loved it. This one is definitely a keeper!!
I actually loved this recipe. No problems with soupiness for me – I ended up using a 16 oz container of penne instead of 12 so I think that helped. Served 4 (generous helpings!) with plenty of leftovers. Also, the chicken was perfect.
Weird – I found this recipe today and followed it to the letter since I’d never made it before – with the exception of using drained frozen spinach. I did find it needed more salt and pepper, but the pasta and sauce was delicious! Three adults ate and we still had three leftover containers. My husband said it could be ‘meatier’ but I thought it was really good flavour. I’d add 2 extra chicken breasts next time.
I made this for the first time this evening. I got home at 8 pm. Sauteed two chicken breasts (I butterfly’d them). I made just like the recipe except I used half and half because I had some that needed to be used. I also used 8 oz of cream cheese …because why not. I did add more spinach than the recipe called for but I typically use what I have on hand rather than measuring exactly.
I had a serving, my husband had two, and I put six in the fridge for lunches this week. That is 9 servings out of this recipe. It was really delicious too!