Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta With White Beans

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This creamy Instant Pot chicken parmesan pasta recipe is easy to make dinner, with only 3 minutes of time in the electric pressure cooker. It’s made even more creamy by using white beans to thicken the pasta and includes mostly pantry staples. 

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Creamy Chicken Parmesan Pasta

We’ve sort of been on a comfort food kick. We cook a lot of Italian recipes at home, particularly because we travel to Italy a lot for our food and travel blog. We’ve always tried to cook Italian food as authentic as possible.

But, there are times where I just want a bit of Italian essence, without a lot of the strict adherence to tradition that forms the cornerstone of Italian cuisine. After all, we grew up in New Jersey, where the cuisine was more Italian American than traditional Italian. 

That’s how we came up with recipes like our One Pot Chicken, White Bean, And Spinach Saute. Sort of inspired by Italian dishes we ate growing up and while traveling in Italy, but entirely our own take.

And, although Eric frequently makes his “famous” chicken parm, sometimes we just want something super creamy. That’s how this creamy chicken parmesan pasta recipe was born. 

Check out our recipe for Instant Pot Italian Wedding Soup With Cannellini Beans.

Instant Pot Creamy Pasta Recipes

I’ve been loving our electric pressure cooker and creamy pasta recipes. I like how quick they are. I particularly like that I can cook everything in one pot. It’s so much easier than boiling the pasta in one pot, cooking the meat in another, and creating the sauce in a third pot – what a mess. 

Making instant pot pasta recipes are super easy. Generally, only a few minutes on the saute function and generally 3-5 minutes on pressure cook and they are done! 

Check out some of our other Instant Pot recipes:

Hearty Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli

Instant Pot Taco Pasta With Black Beans

Instant Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta With White Beans 

Instant Pot Sausage, Peppers, And White Beans

Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana

Adding White Beans To Instant Pot Chicken And Pasta

So, why add white beans to this recipe? For a few reasons.

One, you know we are trying to reduce our intake of meat and increase our intake of plant-based proteins. By reducing this recipe to only one chicken breast, we get the chicken, which we love cooking with.

The white beans add an alternate, cheap protein to stretch the recipe while filling us up. It’s also great when I have just one extra chicken breast lying around.

Plus, I love adding white beans to any Italian recipe I can. White beans, also known as cannellini beans, are the perfect addition to so many Italian-inspired recipes. 

Using White Beans To Thicken A Sauce

Third, you can actually use some of the white beans to thicken the sauce without relying on as much heavy cream – or any heavy cream at all.

Take a couple of tablespoons of white beans and mash them with a fork. Add them into any creamy sauce and it will thicken the sauce with bean protein instead of heavy, fat-based dairy.

I did use a bit of heavy cream in this instant pot creamy chicken pasta (I mean, creamy is in the title) but white beans also make a good substitution if needed. 

Ingredients For Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta With White Beans

I feel like most of the ingredients for this instant pot chicken and pasta is kind of in the title of the recipe. But, there’s a little more to it than that. There always is, right? 

Although I normally like using fresh garlic and onion powder, I made this recipe with pantry staples – ingredients I tend to always have around the house.

This means cooking some leftover chicken with garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika, all cooked in olive oil. The paprika adds a little heat but also turns the pasta a pretty pink color. Any small dried pasta shape will work.

I used small pasta shells, which I normally use for macaroni and cheese. Elbow macaroni or even fusilli would work too. The pasta is cooked in chicken broth, although vegetable broth works too. 

In addition to the white beans, grated parmesan cheese and heavy cream make the pasta super creamy. Milk would work as well, but the heavy cream is better if you have it.  If you use milk, thicken the sauce a bit with the white beans as I mentioned above.

How To Make Chicken Parmesan Pasta In An Instant Pot

This is one of those recipes where Eric turned his back and a few minutes later dinner was served. It’s that easy.

Cut the chicken in bite-sized pieces and season it with salt and pepper. Don’t be afraid of salt – it’s the secret ingredient that really brings the flavors out in every recipe. 

Add olive oil to the Instant Pot. Turn the Instant Pot on the saute setting. Add the chicken and cook in the olive oil until it is no longer pink. Turn the Instant Pot off.

Add one cup of the chicken broth to the electric pressure cooker. With a wooden spoon use the broth to deglaze the bottom of the pot. This will make sure there is no food stuck to the bottom, which might cause a food burn error on an electric pressure cooker.

Add the garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika and stir to blend.

Add the dried pasta to the Instant Pot along with the remaining chicken broth. Stir the pasta into the broth so that it is submerged in the liquid. This will ensure the pasta cooks and doesn’t dry out when cooking. A

dd the white beans on top. The white beans don’t need to be submerged in the liquid and will cook on top just fine. 

Close the Instant Pot and seal the lid. Cook for three minutes on the pressure cook function. When the time is up, use an oven mitt or a kitchen towel to manually release the pressure. Carefully open the lid and lift it away from the face.

Add the parmesan cheese and heavy cream and stir it until melted and warm. Serve topped with grated parmesan cheese or a sprinkle of crushed red pepper for color and spice. 

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