Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo – Just throw everything right in the instant pot (even the uncooked pasta!) and dinner will be ready in 30 minutes. Creamy, delicious, and a staple dinner recipe in our house!
Chicken Alfredo in the Instant Pot
I love Chicken Fettucinni Alfredo! It’s always been my favorite pasta recipe (and my kids). I also love using my Instant Pot. It makes classic recipes so much quicker and easier to make!
This recipe makes a creamy and delicious Chicken Alfredo, which’s done in just 30 minutes. Plus, it’s a dinner that our entire family can agree on.
What is an Instant Pot?
I’m pretty positive that, unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard of an Instant Pot by now. They have become a must-have kitchen appliance in the last few years! But, maybe you’re still asking yourself, “What exactly is it?”
An Instant Pot is a kitchen accessory that looks very similar to a crockpot. However, it’s much more powerful than that! It is capable of doing the job of a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, and more!
Instant Pots come with preset programs that are designed to cook your food to perfection. They can cook a huge variety of foods. They are seriously like a magic gadget that makes your life in the kitchen so much easier.
If you are looking for some basic beginner Instant Pot tips and recipes, we have a great article for you to read! Check out our how to use an Instant Pot guide!
Tips for Using an Instant Pot
If you don’t already have one, I highly recommend getting yourself an Instant Pot! There is an endless number of recipes you can make using one!
But, in order to do so, it’s important that you actually know how to use your Instant Pot. It’s not overly complicated, but it will take a bit of getting used to.
- Make sure to use at least a ½ cup of liquid when pressure cooking. Since the pressure cooker on your Instant Pot uses steam to build the pressure that cooks your food, you will need to have enough liquid inside to create this pressure. You can use water, but you can also use different liquids to add extra flavor.
- You can use multiple features when cooking the same meal. In our Instant Pot Chicken Wings recipe you will actually use both the pressure cooker, and saute mode! You don’t have to stick to just one setting for each cooking session.
- It’s a good idea to add about 10-15 minutes to your meal planning and cooking time because it will likely take that long for your Instant Pot to build up the necessary pressure.
Ingredients & Shopping List
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (cut into bite-size pieces)
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 1 ½ cups of chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups of heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon of pepper
- 8 ounces of fettuccine noodles (broken in half)
- 1 cup of fresh parmesan cheese (shredded)
- Chopped parsley for garnish (optional)
- Additional shredded parmesan cheese (for garnish)
SEE FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD BELOW
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo
Set the Instant Pot to saute and add the olive oil. Once the oil is heated add the chicken pieces and saute until brown on all sides, stir frequently. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.
Pro-Tip: You can certainly use more chicken if desired!
Turn the Instant Pot off.
Add the 1 tablespoon of butter until melted and add minced garlic. Cook for one minute. Add the chicken broth, heavy cream, salt, pepper and garlic powder and stir the bottom of the pot getting all the yummy browned bits up.
Place the broken fettuccini noodles in the pot. Gently push the noodles down into the liquid.
Pro-Tip: The pasta should go into the Instant Pot UNCOOKED.
The noodles and chicken in the liquid ingredients on manual and high pressure.
Pro-Tip: To determine cook time, look at your box of pasta and choose the al dente cook time, divide it in half and take away two minutes. That is your cook time (for the fettuccini, we did 4 minutes).
Once the timer goes off place a towel over the vent release and release the steam. Once steam is all released open the lid and remove the chicken.
Add the cheese and melt it. Add the chicken back in and stir until you get your desired thickness (we did about 3-4 minutes).
Serve with additional grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley for garnish if desired.
Pro-Tip: Shred your own parmesan cheese, it will make a huge difference! Also, the sauce will thicken as it cools, so if it is a bit runny at first, just give it a few minutes.
Variations / Options
Pasta: If you’re not a fan of fettuccine or prefer a different type of noodle, you could also use penne pasta or any fairly large pasta. A smaller pasta would get too mushy!
Meat: This dish could also be made with shrimp. Just saute the shrimp for 1-2 minutes in the oil, in place of the chicken. Then, continue with the same steps above! Or skip the meat and you can make it vegetarian.
Other Instant Pot Recipe
Instant Pot Chili | Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs | Instant Pot Chicken Scampi | The Best Instant Pot Lasagna | Instant Pot Buffalo Wings | Instant Pot Pulled Pork
Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 8 ounces fettuccini noodles broken in half
- 1 cup fresh parmesan cheese shredded
- Chopped parsley for garnish optional
- Additional shredded parmesan cheese for garnish
Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot on the counter making sure you have good clearance for the steam to release when the dish is done.
- Set the Instant Pot to saute and add the olive oil. Once the oil is heated add the chicken pieces and saute until brown on all sides, stir frequently. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Turn the Instant Pot off.
- Add the 1 tablespoon of butter until melted (there will be enough residual heat left to melt and cook the garlic)
- Add the minced garlic to the Instant Pot and cook for one minute.
- Add the chicken broth, heavy cream, salt, pepper and garlic powder and stir the bottom of the pot getting all the yummy browned bits up. Salt
- Place the broken fettuccini noodles in the pot. Gently push the noodles down into the liquid.
- Place the trivet that came with the instant pot on top of the pasta.
- Place the chicken pieces on top of the trivet. (Using the trivet dedicates all the liquid to cooking the pasta but you can just put your meat into the pot if you want).
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot. Set the Instant Pot to Manual and high pressure, close the vent to seal. For the cook time look at your box of pasta and choose the al dente cook time, divide it in half and take away two minutes. That is your total cook time (for the fettuccini we did 4 minutes).
- Once the timer goes off place a towel over the vent release and release the steam. Once steam is all released open the lid. Remove the trivet with the chicken on it being very careful as it is hot!
- Turn the Instant Pot to saute and add the parmesan cheese into the pot and stir to melt the cheese.
- Add the chicken pieces back in to the pasta and stir until the sauce is the desired thickness that you prefer (3-4 minutes).
- Turn the Instant Pot off.
- Serve with additional grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley for garnish if desired.
