This Instant Pot Chicken Pasta with Cheese makes a perfect family dinner. The chicken cooks so tender in your pressure cooker, and it combines penne pasta, onion, garlic, tomato sauce and cheese! YUM!
Nothing says “comfort food” like a nice, heavy pasta dish with meat, cheese and garlic! My favorite kind of pasta has always been been penne pasta, so I love to find great recipes that use it. I’ve had my Instant Pot for about three years now, and I love to make all sorts of things in it like this Instant Pot Taco Meat. My pressure cooker has made my life so much easier in the kitchen, I’ve been absolutely loving it!
What Is An Instant Pot?
An Instant Pot is a small electrical kitchen appliance that uses extremely hot, pressurized air to cook your food. When your food cooks in this pressurized vacuum, nothing can escape, including all the aromas, juices and heat. So your food will cook much quicker and with more consistent results. You can get the same tenderness that you’d expect from a Crock Pot in a fraction of the time in your Instant Pot! And you can make so many things in it, from soups to desserts and from dips to even yogurt! It is small enough to store in your pantry and easily fits on just about any kitchen counter!
Instant Pot Chicken Pasta With Cheese
There are a ton of Instant Pot Pasta recipes out there. I love this recipe because is is quick to make, has just a couple of easy ingredients and there will probably be some left over for lunch the next day!
This makes a great weeknight dinner when you are crunched for time and haven’t been to the store yet! In fact you probably already have most of these ingredients in your kitchen right now!
Instant Pot Chicken Pasta With Cheese Ingredients:
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ small onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound boneless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces (we used a mix of boneless thighs and chicken breast)
- 1 ½ cup water
- 3 cups penne pasta
- 1 ¼ cup tomato pasta sauce
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
Instant Pot Chicken Pasta With Cheese Instructions:
- Place olive oil, onion and garlic into the inner pot and set to saute.
- Cook the garlic and onion for about 2 minutes.
- Add chopped chicken and brown on all sides, for about 3-4 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the inner pot and place on a plate.
- Add water into the inner pot and use a wooden spoon to remove all the brown bits from the bottom of the inner pot.
- Add pasta and chicken back into the inner pot.
- Close the Instant Pot and set to manual high pressure for 7 minutes.
- Once the time is up, allow for a 10 minute Natural Pressure Release.
- Remove the Instant Pot’s lid and stir in pasta sauce and parmesan cheese.
- Add mozzarella on top and serve in individual bowls. Add additional mozzarella cheese, if desired.
Feel free to add a little kick to this recipe by sprinkling some crushed red pepper flakes into the pasta before serving. And don’t be shy on the extra mozzarella cheese. Enjoy!
Instant Pot Chicken Pasta with Cheese
Ingredients
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ small onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 pound boneless chicken cut into bite-sized pieces (we used a mix of boneless thighs and chicken breast)
- 1 ½ cup water
- 3 cups penne pasta
- 1 ¼ cup tomato pasta sauce
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese grated
Instructions
- Place olive oil, onion and garlic into the inner pot and set to saute.
- Cook the garlic and onion for about 2 minutes.
- Add chopped chicken and brown on all sides, for about 3-4 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the inner pot and place on a plate.
- Add water into the inner pot and use a wooden spoon to remove all the brown bits from the bottom of the inner pot.
- Add pasta and chicken back into the inner pot.
- Close the Instant Pot and set to manual high pressure for 7 minutes.
- Once the time is up, allow for a 10 minute Natural Pressure Release.
- Remove the Instant Pot’s lid and stir in pasta sauce and parmesan cheese.
- Add mozzarella on top and serve in individual bowls. Add additional mozzarella cheese, if desired.
Comments & Reviews
Traci says
Epic fail. Way not enough water so barely any of my pasta was cooked. had to throw out. May be add 3 + cups of water when cooking and it could possibly work.
Kathy says
Cooking pasta in a pressure cooker can be tricky. The best practice I have found is to press the pasta down into the liquid before you cook. If you stir it can cause a burn error, if you press it, the pasta is allowed to cook in the liquid and not on top of it. I hope that helps.