Reason 100 I love my Instant Pot…the fact that you can make a super easy meal, like this 5 ingredient instant pot chicken alfredo in less than half an hour! Yay for easy 30 minute dinners that the whole family will love.
With the help of my Instant Pot, dinnertime is so much easier in our house. This recipe, being only 5 Ingredients AND made in an Instant Pot means is top of the list for easy dinners and of course is a lovely addition to my Five Ingredient Fridays series!
Chicken breasts are one of those things I always have in my freezer. I tend to buy them when they’re on sale and save some in the freezer for a rainy day. So being able to make a hearty dinner using my Instant Pot makes having frozen chicken no problem. You don’t have to thaw the chicken, you can literally put the chicken from freezer (remove the packaging) into your instant pot with a little bit of chicken stock and cook it on high pressure for 15 minutes.
I made this 5 ingredient Instant Pot chicken fettuccine alfredo on my Instagram stories and asked if you’d like to see the recipe, and the response was 100% yes! So I made it again, photographed it and am sharing it with you here as a place to come back to for the recipe.
All you need for this recipe is chicken (cubed), garlic, olive oil, fettuccine (or whole wheat spaghetti), and alfredo sauce.
When you’re picking which Alfredo sauce to use, there are no rules. My favorite sauce to use is Bertolli, but pick what you love the most. Once you’ve released the pressure on the Instant Pot, let it sit without stirring. This will help the sauce thicken up.
My favorite way to serve this dinner is with a beautiful side of broccoli. The easiest thing to do -and what we do in my house – is use simple veggie steamers bags to get veggies on your plate quickly. Six minutes in the microwave and you’re all set.
If alfredo sauce isn’t your fave, I’ve got you covered with an Instant Pot spaghetti and meat sauce recipe I think you’ll enjoy!
Next time you’re in the mood for a quick and comforting dinner, look no further than this 5 ingredient Instant Pot chicken alfredo recipe!
Other recipes you might enjoy:
- 5 Ingredient Baked Chicken Parmesan Pasta
- Chicken Feta Spinach Tomato Pasta
- Sausage Pasta with Kale and Peppers
5 Ingredient Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 2 garlic cloves finely minced
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts about two large breasts, cut into 1-2 inch cubes*
- 8 oz. dry fettuccine or whole wheat linguine
- 1 jar 15 oz. alfredo sauce
- 1 jar water 15 oz.**
- salt and pepper to taste***
Instructions
- Hit saute setting on your Instant Pot and set timer for 5 minutes.
- Add olive oil, garlic and chicken to Instant Pot and saute for 5 minutes, stirring only once or twice. Add salt/pepper to taste.
- Make sure no chicken is stuck to bottom after sauteing has finished.
- Break dry/uncooked pasta in half and add into Instant Pot
- Empty jar of alfredo sauce into Instant Pot. Refill the same jar with water and add to Instant Pot. Do not stir, sauce will thicken as it sits.
- Seal, and set Instant Pot to 'high pressure' and set timer for 9 minutes.
- Flip valve to release the pressure (quick release) and when pressure subsides, open the lid and stir.
- Divide between 4 plates, top with parmesan and serve with a side of broccoli if desired, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Used in this post:
Chris Diles says
I followed recipe for 8 servings, but once done my noodles were not cooked. This happens every time I try fettuccine or spaghetti in the instant pot. Any advice?
Sweetphi says
Thank you for the comment. Sorry to hear it didn’t turn out perfectly for you. I just checked to see what would happen if I changed the serving number to see if the recipe card would change the cooking instruction times appropriately, and it didn’t sadly. So I think the issue is/was that this recipe was tested for 4 servings, and when you changed it to 8, the time in the instructions didn’t adjust appropriately. So the main thing I think is that the pasta isn’t cooking long enough/sitting long enough. I would try 10 minutes at high pressure and then do a quick release and check it, and if it’s not cooked to your liking, simply let it sit for a few minutes.
Jeff says
Can I double this? I’d like to use a pound of pasta for my whole family. I have the 8qt IP, so I have the room. Would I need 2 jars of Alfredo? I know for the “soccer mom” spaghetti & meatballs recipe, they say a jar of marinara with 1lb pasta
Sweetphi says
Yes, you could totally double this! I’ve done that before trying to use a whole box of pasta lol (in this recipe I use a pound of spaghetti https://sweetphi.com/pressure-cooker-chicken-spaghetti-casserole/ ) You could get away with 1 bottle of Alfredo, sometimes though Alfredo comes in smaller containers than marinara sauce. Please let me know how how you like it!
Jeff says
I certainly will! I’m handicapped, & love my instant pot (& air fryer) because I can sit at my dining room table & cook. I also figure I could use frozen meatballs (chicken if I can find them) if we want a faster dinner!
Sweetphi says
Thank you for sharing that Jeff. I think frozen meatballs would be such a good substitution to make this an even quicker dinner.
Kaleigh says
Hi, this is my 2nd meal with my instant pot. My 1st was chili. When you add the sauce and pasta what setting do you hit? My instant pot said “off” and so I hit pressure cook and it was on high so I set the time to 9 minutes. Is that right?
Sweetphi says
That is correct 🙂 Hope you love Instant Pot cooking!!
Megan says
What if I’m using the packet of alfredo sauce that you have to make first? Would I only use 1 packet? And would I still add water?
Sweetphi says
I would make the packet and make sure you have the equivalent to 1 jar, and yes, still add the water (the water is in addition to the sauce). Hope you love this recipe
Samantha says
When do you add the salt and pepper? Not seeing it in the recipe. I assume while sauteing?
Lauren says
That’s what i did and it turned out great!!
Sweetphi says
Oh yay, so happy to hear
Sweetphi says
Add with the chicken 🙂 I’ll go ahead and add that, thanks for the feedback!
Chelsie Woolcott says
I just made this recipe amdy sauce is completely liquid. What did I do wrong? This is my first dinner cooking with my instant pot.
Sweetphi says
Hi Chelsie, if you leave the lid off and let it sit there for a few minutes (about 10 I’d say) it should thicken up. Hope that helps, and congrats on your instant pot!
Anna says
Hi Philia (Fellow FI-er!)
This is a great idea. Love the Instant Pot.
Also, your photography is really excellent.
So exciting to meet an FI-er who is a food blogger too.
By the way, does this recipe freeze well?
Anna
Sweetphi says
Thanks for commenting Anna 🙂 Thank you for your kind words. I don’t think I’d freeze this recipe, pasta with sauce (unless it’s lasagna/or a baked type of pasta) doesn’t freeze/thaw that well). Hope that helps.
Anna says
Hi Philia,
Got it. If I do an experiment to see how it freezes, I’ll let you know. Often I find, it is OK if I separate the sauce but with a cream-based sauce (alfredo), it’ll probably fail.
By the way, I just read your About page and can’t believe you started blogging in 2011. That is so AWESOME. I just started so still a baby blog growing and finding my legs.
Last thing, I saw you work with the Lisa Ekus Group. I just met Sally Ekus this month at the Everything Food Conference. I guess the world is smaller than I thought.
Have a great day. Looking forward to staying in touch & chatting here or in the ChooseFI group.
Sweetphi says
Thank you for the kind words, so glad you enjoyed reading my about page 🙂 Sally is amazing.
Have a wonderful weekend
Phi