Olive garden chicken pasta recipe instant pot

Instant Pot Olive Garden chicken pasta can be made mild or with a cajun flare! Easy one pot pressure cooker dinner with meat and noodles.

I love an easy one pot meal I tell you. Being able to throw meat AND noodles into the pot with some sauce and have it come out perfectly has been a game changer. One of many quick Instant Pot recipes here on The Typical Mom blog. (participant in the amazon program, affiliate links present)

As with all of our other pressure cooker recipes you can make this in a Crockpot Express, Mealthy and/or as a Ninja Foodi recipe as well. I have all of them and they work the same, some just have a few different buttons.

The best part about this dish besides the fact that is it so delicious, is it’s truly a dump and go meal. If you have never cooked a side dish WITH your meat yet you are really in for a treat here. A bit like our Instant Pot crack chicken pasta but with a bit of heat, it’s sure to become a family favorite.

Let’s start with a few basic tips:

• Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
• Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
  • This is a great InstaPot cookbook and set of wooden utensils are great to grab too.
  • I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
    • You should still deglaze pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.

For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have and use for all recipe creations.

Instant Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta

You can make it a bit (or a lot) spicy, or just leave the cajun seasonings out all together. Either way it is delicious. If you want to try both you could make plain and then sprinkle the heat on at the very end with half of what’s left in the pot. Penne was used but small shells would work just as well if that is what you have on hand.

Can you put uncooked pasta in Instant Pot?

Most definitely. All of our Instant Pot pasta recipes do just that. You have to have enough liquid in the pot to be absorbed but in as few as 2 minutes it will come out tender and delicious. I wouldn’t cook longer than 5 if you are combining meat with it as well, 3 is usually my go to.

How long does it take to cook raw chicken in Instant Pot?

It depends. If it’s cut into bite size pieces and you are just sauteeing it, then pressure cooking it I say 5 minutes usually does it.

For whole breasts you usually want about 12 minutes to reach a safe internal temperature in the middle. Always check temp. before consuming poultry.

Olive Garden Dressing Chicken Instant Pot

You could use diced thighs as well if you preferred. A few years ago I started doing this regularly when they were much cheaper in the store. I found the dark meat became more tender and gave the dish more flavor as well.

So it just depends what is on sale as to what I use that day. The cook time doesn’t differ. You can buy ready made cajun mix or follow this recipe below;

Homemade Cajun Seasoning

• 2 tsp onion powder, garlic powder, oregano and paprika
• 1 tsp salt and pepper

Other items you’ll need to make this one pot dinner would be:

1. Cubed chicken
2. Penne pasta or other small noodles
   1. if you want to use rice, follow our cheesy Instant Pot chicken and rice recipe
3. Chicken broth
4. Olive oil for sauteeing
5. Diced onion
6. Heavy cream
7. You could add a bit of minced garlic if you wanted to
8. Bell pepper sliced or diced

Salt and pepper to taste and/or any other seasonings you would normally add to a sort of chicken pasta bake dish such as this.

Instant Pot Italian Chicken Pasta

Remember that any time you saute meat before pressure cooking you will want to deglaze your pressure cooker. If you don’t know what that means you can click on the link above and read about it’s importance. Once you understand why it is necessary you can carry it over to any other dishes you’ll make in the future.

It will surely save you some frustrated moments and success of your meals too.

Time needed: 8 minutes.

Instant Pot Olive Garden Chicken Pasta

1. Saute

   Set pot to saute and add a bit of olive oil. Add diced onions and chicken and cook just until the outside of meat pieces are no longer pink. Then turn pot off. Use a little bit of your broth to scrape off stuck on meat off bottom of pot (deglazing).

2. Prepare

   Sprinkle in all seasonings, add bell peppers (the smaller the pieces the softer they will get), stir everything together.

   Pour in remaining chicken broth, then sprinkle in uncooked small noodles and do not stir. Just gently use the back of the spoon to submerge into the liquid below it.

3. Cook

   Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 5 minutes. Do a quick release of steam once done.
   Remove lid, stir, then add heavy cream and parsley, stir together. Allow to sit for 5 minutes to thicken sauce a bit more. Then serve!

NO need to cook the pasta ahead of time which will save you a good 20ish minutes.

Instant Pot Chicken and Pasta

Alternatives to the heavy cream; you could leave it out entirely (but it won’t be creamy then), or instead add 1/2 a block of cream cheese. If you choose to do the latter leave it out to reach room temperature beforehand. Whisk it in so it gets everything creamy and smooth.

Tip: do not use whole breasts or thighs and expect to be able to shred the chicken at the end. 5 minutes won’t be long enough for it to cook all the way through. If you set to 12 so the meat is done, the noodles will be so soft and ewwwwy. Just follow the instructions below for a successful meal.

We have done a sort of Olive Garden Crockpot chicken pasta version here but honestly I think this way turns out much better. Pasta under pressure is a much better texture than slow cooking it.

You can serve this alone, with a salad with Olive Garden Italian dressing, or alongside some air fryer broccoli. You can jump to recipe and get to cooking and print recipe as well if you want to keep it on hand for later too. Of course we love “seeing” y’all so feel free to just come back!

Ninja Foodi Chicken Pasta

Instant Pot Olive Garden Chicken Pasta

Instant Pot Olive Garden chicken pasta can be made mild or with a cajun flare! Easy one pot pressure cooker dinner with meat and noodles.

Course Entree, Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword cajun, chicken, instant pot, noodles, pasta, pressure cooker, spicy

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Servings 5

Calories 619kcal

• 2 chicken breasts boneless, skinless, cubed into bite size pieces
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion diced
• 1 bell pepper sliced or diced
• 2 tbsp cajun seasoning optional to add heat, you can make your own with; Cajun Spices Mix ●  2 tsp onion powder ●  2 tsp garlic powder ●  2 tsp oregano ●  2 tsp mild paprika ●  1 tsp pepper ●  1 tsp salt
• 2.5 c chicken broth
• 3/4 c heavy cream
• 1/4 c parsley fresh, diced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb penne pasta

• Set pot to saute and add olive oil. Add diced onions and chicken and cook just until outside of meat is no longer pink. Then turn pot off. Use a little bit of your broth to scrape off stuck on meat off bottom of pot (deglazing).

• Sprinkle in all seasonings, add bell peppers (the smaller the pieces the softer they will get), stir everything together.

• Pour in remaining chicken broth, then sprinkle in uncooked small noodles and do not stir. Just gently use the back of the spoon to submerge into the liquid below it.

• Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 5 minutes. Do a quick release of steam once done.

• Remove lid, stir, then add heavy cream and parsley, stir together. Allow to sit for 5 minutes to thicken sauce a bit more. Then serve!

Nutrition Facts

Instant Pot Olive Garden Chicken Pasta

Amount Per Serving (2 oz)

Calories 619 Calories from Fat 180

% Daily Value*

Fat 20g31%

Saturated Fat 9g56%

Trans Fat 1g

Polyunsaturated Fat 2g

Monounsaturated Fat 7g

Cholesterol 107mg36%

Sodium 559mg24%

Potassium 820mg23%

Carbohydrates 74g25%

Fiber 5g21%

Sugar 5g6%

Protein 33g66%

Vitamin A 2932IU59%

Vitamin C 46mg56%

Calcium 71mg7%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.