Updated Recipe – This Instant Pot chicken parmesan pasta recipe is an easy weeknight dinner recipe. All the flavors of classic chicken parmesan made into a one pot, comforting meal. Easiest clean up!
Commute, homework, basket ball, guitar lessons… Instant pot chicken pasta recipes are such a life saver on week nights.
I love my Instant pot so much, that I have 2 different sizes and use it at least 5 days in a week and come up with new recipes in instant pot almost every day.
This is an easy instant pot chicken parmesan recipe with the addition of pasta. A meal that is often requested by the kiddos and has become a reader favorite.
Chicken parmesan is such a classic dish with breaded chicken cutlets topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Juicy chicken with a crisp coating and the tomato sauce plus warm melted cheese…..D-E-L-I-S-H. It is fabulous as is for dinner with some veggies and garlic bread or also great made into sandwiches as well. I love to enjoy baked chicken parmesan pasta in restaurants or make it over the weekends. Whereas, weekdays calls for easy, quick meals. Enter this instant pot chicken parm!
Instant Pot Italian recipes:
Instant Pot Creamy Tuscan Chicken Soup
Best Creamy Tomato Soup in Instant Pot
Meatless Baked Ziti in Instant Pot
Instant Pot Pasta with Chicken Meat Sauce
Instant Pot Shrimp Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
Instant Pot Gluten free Pasta Shakshuka
Tuscan Shrimp and Spinach Soup
Team players in this BEST CHICKEN PASTA recipe:
- Pasta – I tend to often use penne pasta since my children have somehow loved this shape since their young age. Maybe it’s easy to eat with a fork. Instant pot chicken penne pasta is so wonderful because penne works well in all Instant pots, even the 3-quart one (I tend to struggle with longer pastas like fettuccine/ spaghetti at times. Another instant pot penne pasta —> Instant Pot No-Cream Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce or more pasta recipes in instant pot
- Chicken – You could use both boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts for this Italian chicken pasta recipe. My choice is always chicken thighs – they are juicy, super tender and the additional fat flavors the pasta and makes it even more delicious. Check out more chicken recipes.
- Marinara sauce – Use your favorite brand. I have always loved Prego, tomato basil and garlic (this is not a sponsored post) and use only that sauce for all my recipes and the flavor is A-H-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Have you heard of pasta pizza? Any leftover pasta with tomato sauce can be made into a delicious Leftover Pasta Pizza
- Cheese – We are going with the classic, so it is strictly mozzarella and parmesan.
- Flavorings – Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
Pancakes for Dinner – Pizza Pancakes <—– Another kid friendly dinner idea!!!
Instant pot chicken and pasta recipes are so wonderful that I tend to make many variations.
Love to make chicken parmesan in Instant pot without the carbs? Check out this Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan that is great as is or made into sandwiches.
Why are you going to love this Instant pot chicken pasta recipe ?
- All good things here. Pasta. Chicken. Tomato sauce. Cheese. How can you go wrong?
- One pot to clean <— my favorite
- Chicken is melt-in-your-mouth tender
- Uses jarred pasta sauce ( I used Prego )
- All pantry ingredients + chicken
- Kid-friendly
- Tastes amazing
How to make Instant pot chicken parmesan pasta?
Step-1: Heat Instant pot to saute. Saute onion and garlic in some olive oil when hot.
Step-2: Add chicken and continue to saute for additional two minutes.
Step-3: Cancel Instant pot, stir in pasta, marinara sauce, water, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Pressure cook for 7 minutes and then in warm for 10 minutes.
Step-4: Release pressure, open lid, sprinkle both cheeses, close lid for about 2 minutes to melt cheese. Give a good stir and serve.
Super easy chicken parmesan for the win!
More easy weeknight chicken dinner ideas:
Butter Chicken Pasta (Indian Chicken Pasta Recipe)
Easy Instant Pot Cashew Chicken
Instant Pot Chicken and Kale Curry
Baked Chicken Meatballs with Cauliflower & Carrots
Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice
Baked Barbecue Chicken Meatballs with Avocado
Or this 30 Take Out Recipes you can make at Home
Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta
Ingredients
- 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized chunks
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 and 1/4 cups marinara sauce, I used Prego
- 1 cup water, refer notes
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 to 3/4 teaspooon salt, refer notes
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 8 ounces penne pasta
- 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- chopped parsley or basil, to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Set Instant pot to saute setting. When hot, add olive oil and then chopped onion and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently for 1 minute. Add chicken pieces and cook, stirring frequently for 2 minutes.
- Press cancel and then add marinara sauce, water, Italian seasoning, salt and ground pepper. Stir well, place pasta on top of the liquid (DO NOT STIR), pressing lightly for them to be slightly immersed in the liquid, but do not stir. Close and lock lid (making sure that valve is set to sealing). Select manual setting (or pressure cooker) for 7 minutes.
- After 7 minutes, let Instant pot in the warm mode for 4 minutes. Turn valve to venting to release pressure. Open lid, sprinkle both cheeses, close lid and let cheese melt for one minute.
- Open Instant pot, stir to mix in melted cheese and serve Instant pot chicken parmesan pasta hot with chopped parsley or basil. Or cool and pack into meal prep containers.(Few readers have brought to our attention that they get the 'BURN' signal while making this recipe. So, we have made necessary changes to the recipe to avoid burning. The recipe has been tested in both 8-quart and 3-quart sizes)
Notes
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98 Comments
I love when I have a yummy dinner on the table in the least possible amount of time..I love it more when I have less dishes to was :). Bookmarking this amazing recipe for those days Maria!! The Pasta looks too good!
Thank you dear:)
Followed the recipe as directed and even tried cooking the chicken for longer before doing the rest of the steps as chicken DEFINTELY was not cooked in 2 minutes; chicken was still raw..trying to save as we speak but I might have to throw it out. 🙁
Hi Lex, Chicken cooks for about 2 minutes initially and then CONTINUES TO COOK along with the pasta for the remaining cooking time. So, I don’t really see a reason for chicken not being cooked. Not sure where it went wrong, Maria
Lol did you forget the pressure cook step? 7 minutes at high pressure and your chicken is going to be cooked for sure
No as stated in my comment (if you read it completely so your assumption was a bit off putting) I followed the recipe as worded (except I did the chicken prior to doing the 7 pressure cook for about 6 minutes in the saute mode) and still a lot of pieces cooked through. Either way dinner was thrown out last night as I couldn’t save it
I’m going to cook the chicken seperately when I try again tomorrow. I find I like doing it better that way with some instant pot recipes
Hi Lex, I’m having trouble understanding the exact problem, however I’m so sorry that you had to throw away the pasta.
This pasta recipe does not use any stock and relies on the chicken being cooked along with the pasta for flavor. So, I will suggest cooking both together.
My sincere apologies again, Maria
I love that this is made all in one pot!! I so need to get me an Instant Pot! This pasta looks so hearty and filling too 🙂
Add a little more liquid. My noodles kinda burnt alittle. BUT so so so yummy!!!!
My instant pot says food burn so now what?/
Hi Nicole, press cancel and turn valve to venting position and release steam. Open, check if the pasta has cooked.
May I ask what size instant pot are you using?
it sounds like something is wrong with your instant pot
this sounds perfect! and i can imagine how happy my younger self (let’s be real, even my today self) would have been if my mom packed the leftovers in a warm thermos for my lunch (:
Thank you Heather:)
This recipe sounds amazing Maria. Really makes a perfect weekday meal, so full of delicious flavours 🙂
Made it. Love it. Great recipe. Thank you!!!!
Thank you so much for trying. So glad that you liked it 🙂
I don’t have an instant pot but I do have a crockpot.
Would this still turn out okay with the crockpot?
I have no experience with a crockpot, so I’m very sorry that I can’t be of much help to you.
However, if you are interested in making it on the stovetop then here is the method that you can adopt – Choose a pan with a tight fitting lid – Proceed step 1 in the pan. then add 8 oz pasta + 1 1/4 cup marinara sauce + 1 1/2 cup water + other seasonings in step2. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes, until pasta is cooked to your liking. Stir in cheese to finish. Hope it helps:)
How would you change this if you wanted to increase the number of servings? I would like to use 12.5 oz of pasta and ~2 pounds of chicken.
Here are the measurements for 12 ounces of penne –
4-5 boneless skinless chicken thighs
4 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups marinara sauce
1 cup to 1 1/2 cups water (1 cup for al dente)
12 ounces penne pasta
3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cups grated mozzarella cheese
slightly heaped 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Proceed with the same instructions
Hope it helps:)
Thanks!
I made this with the increased measurements. It turned out very good, but I would use the entire bottle of Marinara (24 oz) next time, also I did use the 1 1/2 cups water, but the pasta was al dente and I like it more tender so next time I will increase the water by 1/4 cup. Also I had chicken tenders. I used 8 (I think), maybe this was more meat than 4-5 thighs, that may be why I needed more marinara sauce. Over all, a great recipe, thank you!
So glad that you loved it Maryann and thank you for all the suggestions. It really helps 🙂
Quick and tasty little dish worked out very well – I used spelt pasta and tomato pasata just added extra garlic and oinion to flavour up.
Also had no parma cheese so went the stretchy option of mozzarella.
Mozzarella sounds delicious, so glad that you liked it:)
Is the setting for 7 minutes in lower or high pressure?
High.
Any thoughts on doing this with frozen chicken?
Hi Kate, sorry I didn’t understand. Do you mean frozen, raw chicken or frozen cooked chicken nuggets/chicken fingers ??
I would also like to know your thoughts on doing this with frozen raw chicken
Though it is convenient to cook chicken in an Instant pot from a frozen stage, my guess would be that it might not work when working with pasta. Since, the cooking time of frozen chicken and pasta will vary, one might be undercooked or overcooked. Hope it helps:)
I’m so happy I found this recipe!
YAY!! Hope you love it 🙂
Loved it. I added fresh mushrooms to mine.
YAY!!!!
WOW I am so impressed with this recipe. It came out perfect! The chicken was very tender and nothing stuck to the bottom of the pan. My company loved it! I used 2/3 cup water and pasta cooked absolutely perfect!
Thank you so much Robin, so glad that you liked it)
When do you cook the pasta. I’m sorry, I’m new to the instant pot and didn’t see when to put it in. Maybe I missed it?
Thanks!
Mel
In step 2. You add the sauce, water, PASTA and seasoning. Hope it helps:)
Could I use chicken breast cut up instead of thighs?
Totally!!!
I could not decide on what to make for dinner, and it was getting late….so, I stumbled upon your recipe on Pinterest and I tried it. I haven’t cooked pasta in my instant pot yet so I was nervous. I used chicken breasts because that is what I had defrosted. I followed the recipe and the flavor was awesome. I have one question… I used rigatoni noodles because that was all I had and I used 1 cup of water and 1 1/4cups of sauce…..some of my noodles were a little hard on the edges….could this be because the noodles are a little bigger than penne? Should I have used more water or smaller pasta? Or, is this how pasta comes out? The flavor was awesome and so convenient only using one pot! Thanks!
Hi Shell,I’m so glad that you tried the recipe and liked it. My guess would be because of the size of rigatoni when compared to penne, hence cooking a minute or two longer might have solved the uneven cooking. Hope it helps:)
Am i suppose to let it naturally release pressure for 10 minutes? Then quick release any pressure afterwards?
Hi Jackie, After 10 minutes at warm mode, you quick release pressure. How it helps:)
If I double the recipe, how does that affect the cooking time?
From my Instant pot experience and from all the information that I have gathered, you will NOT need to change the cooking time, but instant pot might take bit longer to build pressure. That being said, I would try it with caution the first time, to make sure it works the same. Hope it helps:)
Best ever so easy no hassle. Tastes great.
So glad that you liked it:)
I have an 8 quart instant pot and we doubled the recipe. I brownen the chicken in 2 batches. I then placed all the ingredients into the instant pot and set the appropriate time. However, I never could get the instant pot up to pressure because it kept going in to burn. Each time I would open it up and stir it up and make sure that the bottom was clear. After the third time I checked the noodles and they seemed to be tender and chicken was done so we ate it. It tasted really good but there was a lot of burnt food (I’m guessing pasta) stuck to the bottom of the pot. Any ideas how I could avoid the burn issue in the future?
Hmmm…. this is new to me! My guess would be to check if the valve was sealed properly. I’m not able to thick of any other reasons. Sorry that I was not able to be of much help. Mu suggestion would be to try the exact recipe measurements next time to see how it goes. Happy holidays Andrew:)
My first “burn” message ;-(
I also have an 8 quart IP-Duo-80
After saute, all other recipes remind me to scrape the bits off the bottom.
I don’t know why I didn’t detect the burned parts on the bottom when I was stirring in the pasta and sauce.
I did a pressure release, scraped the bottom with the contents in the pot, until I couldn’t feel the bumps. This is the same as I’ve done when deglazing by removing the contents and deglazing with broth, except that I could see what I was doing.
I added another 1/2 cup of water, and tried again.
“burn”
I transferred the contents to a different pot.
There was quite a bit of pasta burned to the bottom of the Instant Pot.
Some WebWisdom about “burn” said to not mix pasta all the way to the bottom. Another recipe for “Hamburger Helper” said not to stir in the pasta, but just press it into the top of the sauce.
It turned out fine. I figured with two heat-up cycles, it was cooked as well as it needed to be.
I will try it again, but making sure that the bottom is free of burnt bits after sauteing the chicken, and I won’t stir the past in, just press it in.
Hi Clarence, I’m sorry that it did not work out well for you. I’m not sure the reason for burnt bits to begin with, but this method of not stirring the pasta in, sounds very interesting. Will try it next time:)
This is my third batch, now.
Batch two, penne pasta, just pressed into the liquid, was perfect. Today, we have Wagon Wheel pasta. I’ve never been sure what the different shapes mean, anyway.
I used to have Wagon Wheels and butter as a kid.
How wonderful, thank you Clarence:)
I had the “Burn” message as well. After reading a couple of comments here, I depressurized, scraped the bottom to unstick all the burnt bits, I added 1 cup of water and restarted the 7 minutes. Not only was it perfect, it didn’t taste like burnt food at all! 🙂
Do you have a water to pasta ratio for long noodles, like vermicelli (thinner than Spaghetti, thicker than Angel Hair)?
Hi Noah, Not yet! I’m working on various Instant pot recipes and spaghetti is one of them. But, as of now the answer is no. Sorry:)
I am making this tonight, looks delicious!! Thank u for recipe!!
Hope you liked it Kristy.
I loved this and so did my husband! I had to use spiral noodles because that was all I had. I used a breast and a thigh. The Prego I used was Chunky garden tomato and leafy greens. I followed the recipe and steps to a T, and it came out fantastic! The chicken was tender too! Thanks for the great recipe! It will be in my file!
Wahoo!! I’m so glad you loved it!
Do you add cooked pasta or uncooked pasta?
Uncooked!!!
5 stars!! My family loved it! Even my 23 month old ate multiple helpings of this. This is so quick and easy and I loved that it didn’t make my house super hot during these toasty summer days! I doubled the recipe with all the same cooking times except I cooked the chicken during the sauté stage a little bit longer but it still worked out perfectly! This will definitely be added to the go to list for my family! Thank you for sharing!
Hi, what setting am I using when pressure cooking it for 7 minutes… soup?
Normal setting. Hope it helps:)
Not a cook but this recipe made me look like a four star cook with my inlaws !
My first time cooking in an InstantPot! My family and I loved this pasta. Very delicious and easy to follow.
Excellent quick recipe and it tastes awesome 👏🤤.
Just finished having this for dinner!! I have 3 VERY picky eaters and all 4 of us LOVED this! It has definitely made the rotation of meals for us!! Thanks for the yummy and super easy recipe! Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes!!
I just got my new instant pot a few days ago and this is my second recipe in it and it was DELICIOUS! I never cook and purchased an Instant Pot to encourage myself to cook and this recipe did it! My kids liked it and my son does not like spaghetti but he liked this! Thank you!
Not a cook but this recipe made me look like a four star cook with my inlaws !
This turned out great!
I have made this recipe too many times to count since buying my instant pot over a year ago. My husband and I love it and it’s super easy too! Thanks for posting.
What would I change to use elbow macaroni? Thanks!
Hi Ericka, Since elbow macaroni is considerably smaller in shape when compared to penne pasta, I’d suggest reducing the cooking time to 5 minutes (instead of 7) and warm mode for 3 (instead of 4).
Hope it helps:)
Thank you!
I would like to use 12 oz pasta. Should I use 1.5 cups of water?
Hi Hannah,
Yes for 12 ounce pasta – you would use 1 and 1/2 cups water + 2 cups of marinara sauce (However, if you like al dente pasta then you could try using only 1 and 1/4 cups water)
Hope it helps:)
I would like to add another note – Do not change the cooking time. The instant pot will automatically take additional time in coming to pressure.
Burned – twice. Had to finish it on the stove.
So sorry that this recipe didn’t work for you. What size instant pot did you use?
Do u keep the “keep warm” feature on from the start or only turn it on after the 7 minutes are up?
Hi Rum, I’m sorry that I don’t understand your question. My instant pot’s “keep warm” turns on automatically when it is in cooking mode and then goes to warm mode when cooking time is done.
May be we are dealing with a different model here. May I know your model? We could find some info online.
we’ve made this about a 15 times, and i’ve gotten the burn notice probably a dozn of those times (even when i cook the chicken separately or add in tons of extra liquit). BUT, my kids love it, so we keep going. it usually cooks for a few minutes, then i get burn. scrape, cook again, burn again–but then it’s done, lol! so, even tho we get the burn, it still ends up cooking perfectly! and we love it. so, burn or not, we’ll keep at it:). thank you!!
Hi Jeri, Appreciate your honest feedback. We are working on making necessary changes to the recipe, so that it works in all size Instant pots . Thanks again 🙂
I used my Ninja Foodi and it turned out perfect. My family thought it was fantastic! I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow.
Glad you loved it Stacy 🙂
Mine unfortunately came out watery, I followed the recipe exact
🙁
Do you know the nutritional facts for this recipe?
Hi Sam, I’m sorry to say that we do not have nutrition information for this recipe. We started adding nutrition information recently, our apologies again, Maria
I don’t think it would be that hard to add up the different components. especially if you use some kind of recipe builder like the myfitness pal app or something. good luck!
my family loves his recipe and we’ve probably had it a dozen times. however we haven’t eaten it for a couple months and I can’t recall if I need to change the pasta sauce, water, or cooking time if I am using gluten free pasta (bionaturae fusilli, in this case). can you please help me with this? thank you so much. and thank you for this recipe!
I made this tonight. Doubled meat, sauce and cheeses and spices. I like to have enough for another meal. It was delicious and they hope I make it again. I didn’t have enough mozzarella and used what I have plus shredded Mexican cheese mix. It was very easy and a pleasure to make. I’m looking at your other recipes.
Hi Kathleen, That sounds wonderful, glad you liked it! Happy Holidays:)
I passed the recipe on to someone else. We heated it up tonight and they loved it. It’s great as a leftover too. 5 stars.