This Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta recipe is going to be one of your family's favorite dishes! It combines all the yummy bits you love about chicken parmesan with the warm, deliciousness of baked spaghetti, all rolled into one! And the best part??? It all goes in the pressure cooker for just one dish to clean after your gluten-free meal!
Oh man. It has been quite a week. I'm not going to bore you with the details of my week, but I am happy to welcome the weekend!
With a stressful personal week, toppled with a crazy workload, this girl LOVES a simple 30-minute recipe to back me up and make me seem like I got myself together partly together.
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Easiest Instant Pot Chicken Parm Recipe!
Not only is this recipe so incredibly tasty, the epitome of comfort food, but it is also so incredibly easy to make!
This pressure cooker recipe uses just the Instant Pot as it's only dish to clean after your meal.
It combines gluten-free pasta with sauteed garlic and onion and juicy pieces of chicken and slathers your favorite spaghetti sauce together in minutes.
Once done, a creamy helping of parmesan cheese is mixed in and then it is all topped with a healthy portion of gooey, stringy mozzarella cheese and chopped basil leaves for good measure!
So basically it's the best of chicken parmesan mixed with it's best friend, baked spaghetti, but it's better!
Because it's two dishes in one - with just one dish to clean (and hopefully your pressure cooker insert is dishwasher safe - chuck it in the dishwasher and be done!)
It tastes just as fantastic as this dish looks y'all!
Chicken Parmesan Pairings:
This hearty dish pairs best with lighter friends such as a delicious Healthy Ceasar Salad, quick Greek Green Beans, or even Air Fryer Asparagus!!!
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What Pressure Cooker to Use:
I have two favorite pressure cookers: My first is my Instant Pot - love that guy!
My second one is my Pampered Chef Quick Cooker - Man is this thing worth the money!
You'd be perfectly happy and content with either pressure cooker option here.
Chicken Parmesan Pasta Ingredients:
You will need to grab:
- olive oil
- minced garlic
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- 1 pound chicken breast or thigh meat, cut into ½ - 1" cubes
- water
- bite-sized pasta (rotini or penne do best) - Gluten-Free if needed
- 1 jar of spaghetti sauce - Gluten-Free if needed
- shredded parmesan cheese
- shredded mozzarella cheese
Instant Pot Directions:
- Place the olive oil in the bottom of the pressure cooker insert and turn it on to the 'sear' or 'saute' setting depending on your type of pressure cooker. Add the minced garlic and the onion and stir and saute until fragrant and soft, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the cubed raw chicken and cook until all sides are cooked and browned, about 3-5 minutes. Turn the pressure cooker off. Pour in the water and then place the pasta on top of the water, and then spaghetti sauce on top of the pasta, making sure that the pasta is submerged under the pasta sauce/water combination.
- Seal up your pressure cooker and cook on high setting or "pasta" or "grains" setting (depends on your brand of pressure cooker) for the amount of time explained HERE: Whatever time the package instructions of your pasta says to cook your pasta for, you will simply divide that by two and that is how long you will set your pressure cooker for.
- Once down, do a manual release of the pressure and once ready to open, open the top off of your Instant Pot, stir in the parmesan cheese until melted and them immediately plate while still hot. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top of each plate quickly so that the heat from the pasta melts it on top! Serve with chopped fresh parsley on top!
How Long to Cook in Pressure Cooker?
Look on the package of your pasta for the instructions on how to prepare the noodles.
Whatever time it tells you to boil or cook the noodles for, you are going to divide that number by two.
Essentially you are halving the time it would take to cook the noodles the traditional way.
Recipe Pro Tips:
If you need this recipe to stay gluten-free, then please make sure that all of your ingredients are truly gluten free.
My biggest tip with the gluten-free version for this recipe is to use a high-quality pasta that is going to hold up to the pressure cooker.
There are a couple of brands that I highly recommend for this recipe and they are the Jovial brand Penne and the Ancient Harvest brand of gluten-free pastas.
For this particular time that I made this recipe for these pictures, I used Ancient Harvest's Gluten-Free Rotini pasta and it ALWAYS turns out perfect!
No matter what pasta or noodle you choose to use, my pro tip for everyone is to take the cook time that is on the package instructions and divide that time in half.
That is the time you will want to set your pressure cooker to when closing it all up to actually pressurize and cook under pressure after the chicken has been browned.
How to Store Leftovers:
Make sure that your leftovers are cooled down to room temperature before storing them.
When ready to store your leftovers, place them in an airtight food-safe storage container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheat Instructions:
To reheat leftovers, simply place your reheats in a microwave-safe dish with a loose-fitting cover to protect our microwave from splatter and splashes.
Microwave on high power increments of 30 seconds until your desired warmth is achieved.
I always like to sprinkle in a little bit extra shredded mozzarella and chopped basil on the very top of reheats for good measure! YUM!
Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- 1 pound chicken breast or thigh meat, cut into ½ - 1" cubes
- 1 cup of water
- 8 oz of bite-sized pasta (rotini or penne do best) - Gluten-Free if needed
- 1 jar of spaghetti sauce - Gluten-Free if needed
- 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Place the olive oil in the bottom of the pressure cooker insert and turn it on to the 'sear' or 'saute' setting depending on your type of pressure cooker. Add the minced garlic and the onion and stir and saute until fragrant and soft, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the cubed raw chicken and cook until all sides are cooked and browned, about 3-5 minutes. Turn the pressure cooker off. Pour in the water and then place the pasta on top of the water, and then spaghetti sauce on top of the pasta, making sure that the pasta is submerged under the pasta sauce/water combination.
- Seal up your pressure cooker and cook on high setting or "pasta" or "grains" setting (depends on your brand of pressure cooker) for the amount of time explained HERE: Whatever time the package instructions of your pasta says to cook your pasta for, you will simply divide that by two and that is how long you will set your pressure cooker for.
- Once down, do a manual release of the pressure and once ready to open, open the top off of your Instant Pot, stir in the parmesan cheese until melted and them immediately plate while still hot. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top of each plate quickly so that the heat from the pasta melts it on top! Serve with chopped fresh parsley on top!
Notes
Whatever time the package instructions tells you to boil or cook the noodles for, you are going to divide that number by two when using the pressure cooker for this recipe.
This post was first published on July 23, 2015 and last updated on April 19, 2020.
Good to know that works too! I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.
Your recipe sounds so great! Chicken bake, parmesan and tomatoes....this will be my next baked dish! Hope everything is ok with your family 🙂
Thanks dear! And I hope you like the dish! It's so tasty and easy to make! 🙂
It sounds like a lot is going on in your family! I hope things get better soon 🙂 BTW, love the fresh flavors in this dish.
This chicken bake is the perfect summer bite!
Agreed Lisa! It's easy and light. Thanks for the sweet comment! 🙂
You actually got a post out this week, despite all that family chaos? I say well done to you. And that fact that the recipe is so fresh, delicious and inviting is a bonus. You can be proud.
Thank goodness for a stock-up of posts! I am usually 1 week ahead of schedule when it comes to blog posts. I am photographing and writing up posts right now for next week and the week after. You are so sweet to say such nice things dear! Thanks so much for stopping by and saying hi!
That looks pretty amazing, J! Love your photos and I can only imagine the taste of that chicken, YUM! Thanks for linking up with us at Thursday Favorite Things!
Thanks for the photo-love and yes, the chicken was so easy to make and so so yummy! Thanks for hosting such a great link up! 🙂
Love how simple and fresh this is-- way better than using a tomato sauce in the summertime. And looks a bit fancy even though I can imagine it taking 5 minutes to throw together and put in the oven. Will be trying soon!
Hope everything goes well with your family 🙂
I agree with ya, using fresh 'matoes in the summer is so much better than using sauce. Don't let the fancy look fool you, it's extremely simple and really really yummy 🙂