This Mushroom-Packed Chicken Alfredo Is an Instant Favorite
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People often express skepticism at the idea of cooking pasta in an Instant Pot, and I understand the concern. Putting pasta in an Instant Pot sounds like a quick shortcut to mushy pasta, but I’ve tried it several times and have been pleasantly surprised. So when I saw that blogger Eating Instantly had added a mushroom-packed lighter version of classic chicken Alfredo, I knew I needed to make it immediately.
Cream sauces can raise issues with the Instant Pot, because milk and cream don’t work well in the pressure cooker, but this lighter take on chicken Alfredo pasta gets around that by cooking the pasta and chicken in broth, then adding the cream at the end of the process. This recipe also contains half the cream of a regular Alfredo sauce, and it’s loaded with mushrooms for extra vegetables, so it could be a good option for a weeknight dinner.
Start by adding a bit of olive oil to the Instant Pot and piling sliced mushrooms, garlic, and diced raw chicken breasts on top of it. Layer a pound of dry penne on top of that and cover everything with chicken broth. Without stirring, cook the whole thing under high pressure for four minutes and quick-release the pressure when the timer goes off. Then just mix in heavy cream and a lot of freshly grated Parmesan, and put the lid back on for a few minutes to let the sauce set. When it’s done, it will be as thick and creamy as you’d expect a stovetop sauce to be, and the pasta will have soaked up all that great savory flavor from cooking with the chicken, broth, and garlic.
You can also play around with mix-ins at the end. If you want more vegetables, try stirring in some baby spinach and letting it wilt into the sauce. Or add some chopped red bell peppers to give the dish some more vegetables and a bright pop of color.
Get the recipe: Lighter Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo from Eating Instantly
