Instant Pot Crack Chicken Pasta – chicken pasta loaded with cheddar, bacon and ranch! Seriously delicious! 4 minutes of cook time. We ate this two days in a row. Chicken, ranch dressing mix, bacon, chicken broth, water, cream cheese, penne pasta and cheddar cheese. Everyone cleaned their plate! Even our picky eaters!!
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Pin This RecipeHow many of you LOVE the Instant Pot?!?! I’ve owned one for over a year, but I just started using it. In case you aren’t familiar with the Instant Pot, it is an electric pressure cooker. You can cook just about anything in the Instant Pot. You can cook it fast or use it as a slow cooker.
Today I am sharing one of our favorite pasta dishes – Crack Chicken Pasta. Chicken and pasta loaded with cheddar, bacon and ranch. This is seriously DELICIOUS! The best part is that it takes less than 20 minutes from start to finish. Everything cooks in the Instant Pot – even the pasta! Woot Woot!
We made this Instant Pot Crack Chicken Pasta for lunch two days in a row. It was that GOOD!! I loved that I could cook everything in the Instant Pot. Only one pot to clean! I sautéed the chicken and then dumped everything else in and closed the lid. It takes the Instant Pot a few minutes to come to full steam, but once it is locked the pasta is ready in about 4 minutes. LOVE that!! Can’t wait to experiment more with the Instant Pot!
Instant Pot Crack Chicken Pasta
Ingredients:
- 1- lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 (1-oz) package ranch dressing mix
- 1/4 cup cooked chopped bacon
- 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese
- 1- lb dry penne pasta
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions:
- Preheat Instant Pot on “Sauté” setting; add oil, chicken, and ranch packet, stirring to coat. Cook chicken 2–3 minutes.
- Add pasta, broth, and water to pot.
- Close lid, lock pot, select “Manual” setting and 4 minutes time. Cook pasta until time is up, then quick release and open Pot.
- Stir in cream cheese, cheddar cheese and cooked bacon until combined; let pasta set
- 5 minutes to thicken. Serve immediately.
Steph
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Do you leave the chicken in there while the pasta cooks or do you remove it? Thanks!
leave it in
Made this today as a maiden voyage on my instapot. Added chopped tomato and added 2 min pressure cooking to cook noodles until soft. Perfect flavors and tender chicken. Will be doing this recipe again as it is delicious.
Can I use red lentil or chickpea pasta and would the cook time be the same?
Made this last night and it is delicious! Would like to make it for my Bunco group next week. Do you think making ahead and keeping it warm in a crock pot would be ok? I’m sure I’ll need to make 2 batches.
I think that would work great. Hope everyone loves it!
What do you think about freezing?
We love this but it makes a lot! Would be great if we could freze half!
I’ve never frozen this dish, so I can not say how it would taste reheated. If you try freezing it, let us know how it turns out.
Can you use rotisserie chicken instead of uncooked?
This recipe was simply amazing!!! Perfect Sunday dinner comfort food!! Picky kiddos gobbled it all up!!
This turned out very delicious and I would definitely make it again! It took a long time for the cream cheese to melt into the pasta though, so I would recommend cubing it or softening it to room temp before adding it in. Mine turned out a little watery even after letting it sit for 10 minutes, so I think I may try omitting 1/2 C water next time.
OR use whipped cream cheese! That’s all I happened to have “on hand” when we decided to make the recipe spur of the moment. It melted really easily and tasted great!
So great! Add a little old bay to your bowl…. thank me later!
Absolutely love this recipe! It is a favorite in our house. I do have one question though, what is the serving size or how many people would one batch of this feed? I’m assuming 8 since I have so much left over but was wondering if anyone knew the serving size off hand.
All serving sizes are listed under the recipe title.
This recipe does not have the servings under the title, as per your reply to someone that it does.
Yes it does
It says 6 people
I have an 8 quart instant pot/air fryer duo. Do I need to add more liquid or should that be enough, if so, how much? Also, I don’t have a manual button?? Not sure what to do since this is my first time using it… making this tonight, help please!!
SO. AMAZING! Definitely addictive! Going to try adding broccoli next time.
Planning to make tonight. Has anyone thrown in frozen veggies?
I’ve made this several times now. It’s my favorite, however I use 1/2 the chicken and sub Smoke sausage. Then sprinkle slap your Mama cajun seasoning on it. Oh so good!
Hello! Have you tried this with spaghetti or other types of pasta? Would that change the cook time?
Thanks so much!
Can this’ recipe be cut in half? If so would cooking time change?
I made this dish with half the ingredients. Same cooking times. I also only used 8 oz of dried penne pasta and 2.5 oz of low sodium chicken broth.
I want to try this, but have to eat gluten free. Is the cook time in the pressure cooker just to cook the pasta? I’ve seen that gf noodles take different timing than regular. thx.