Instant Pot Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken with a garlic sauce you will want to drink. Restaurant quality meal that will impress. Keto and Low Carb too.
Instant Pot Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken
Delicious and tender chicken cooks up quickly in a creamy and garlicky sauce. Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken is so easy to make and is naturally a low carb meal. Perfect for company and any night of the week.
Cast of Ingredients for Instant Pot Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken
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Ingredients for Instant Pot Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken
- Chicken Breasts
- Italian Herbs and Spices
- Fresh Garlic
- Sun Dried Tomatoes
- High Quality Olive Oil
- Heavy Cream
- Chicken Stock/Broth
- Spinach
- Parmesan or Asiago Cheese
Using the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker for cooking chicken can be tricky, but if you use the proper method, your chicken will be super juicy and tender.
Slice the chicken lengthwise
Tenderizing the Chicken
- Slice through the thick part of each chicken breast to make two pieces. Cut each piece in half.
- Pound the chicken so that each piece of chicken is about the same thickness. I recommend this Meat Tenderizer to easily pound the chicken.
Pro Tip: As the recipe moves quickly, it is a good idea to have all your ingredients, chopped, diced, mixed and ready to go.
Marinating Chicken
To Marinate or Not to Marinate Chicken
- While it is not necessary to marinated the chicken prior to cooking, note that doing so will help to plump the chicken, rendering it even more juicy.
- The marinade will also give the chicken more of the Italian flavors.
- After adding the marinade ingredients, place the chicken in the refrigerator overnight or for a few hours.
Pro Tip: For a recipe such as this, consider grabbing chicken when it is on sale. Use your FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing System and prepare several bags with the chicken and marinade ingredients and pop into the freezer for future meals. The chicken will marinate right in the bag while defrosting.
Cream and Seasoned Salt
Making a cream sauce is super easy and only takes a few ingredients. Whisk a little This Old Gal Seasoned Salt into the Cream and set aside. My Homemade Seasoning boosts the flavor to a whole other level!
If you don’t have this Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk, think about getting it. It’s my most used Kitchen Tool.
This Old Gal’s Seasoned Salt
My This Old Gal Seasoned Salt makes a great every day multi-purpose seasoning. It can be used on so many recipes. I LOVE to use it when eating my super easy and unique Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs recipe. It is fantastic on Air Fryer Seasoned French Fries, NY Style Coffee Shop Home Fries too!
Display on Instant Pot will say Hot
Make Stainless Steel Pot Non-Stick
- Whichever brand of pressure cooker you own, it is important to heat the cooking pot fully before adding any fat.
- For Instant Pot, Mealthy, GoWise and other multi-cooker pressure cookers, push the “Sauté” button and wait for the control panel on the pot to say “Hot.”
- For stand alone pressure cookers (non multi-cookers), push whichever button gives the hottest temperature. Some pressure cookers use a knob, rather than a button. Whichever brand you have, do what is needed to heat the pot so that you can use it to sauté, just as you would a fry pan on the stove top.
Pro Tip: Using a good quality olive oil is key to starting with good flavors.
Getting a Quick Sear
If you do not have Homemade Chicken Broth, grab yourself a jar of Better than Bouillon Chicken Base. It’s very economical and will work very well. 1.5 teaspoons per cup of Fresh Water is a good ratio.
Mushroom lovers, try my Instant Pot Creamy Parmesan Garlic Mushrooms Chicken recipe.
Pro Tip: To better control the salt, use UNSALTED Chicken Bone Broth/Stock .
Add the Cream
The chicken may still be slightly pink inside, but will quickly finish cooking to perfection while simmering.
For a thicker sauce, whisk and simmer for about five minutes or until the sauce has reduced.
Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
Grating Your Own Cheese
- Companies usually put a flour dusting on packaged grated cheese, so that it doesn’t stick. That also causes the cheese to dry out.
- As the blocks are whole, they have not been subjected to air and bacteria and therefore fresher.
- Blocks of cheese are cheaper than pre-shredded. Try buying blocks of cheese and use a Microplane Grater for perfectly shredded cheese.
Asiago cheese can be used in place of Parmesan cheese. The flavor is a bit creamier and the texture is usually softer.
Experiment with both to see which you prefer.
Add Parmesan Cheese to the Pot
The sauce is a thinner and dreamy sauce. It is perfect for adding pasta and turning this into Tuscan Chicken Pasta! Directions are in the notes below.
Add as much Spinach as you like
Can Kale be used in Place of Spinach?
- Yes, it can. Kale works very well in this recipe too.
- Spinach wilts quickly and kale takes just about a minute longer.
- Use as much greens as you like.
Another idea is to add mushrooms to increase volume and add some vegetable nutrients.
Pressure Cooker Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken, yum!
This makes a beautiful and colorful presentation!
Tips and Tricks for Instant Pot Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken.
- Allow the Chicken to marinate for 10 minutes.
- Make sure your cooking pot is screaming hot. Only sear for a couple of seconds on each side.
- Use heavy cream, as anything with less fat, will break during cooking.
- Fresh spinach is best.
Instant Pot Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken
We did noodles and I think next time, Pressure Cooker Garlic Whipped Potatoes or Pressure Cooker Mashed Cauliflower are in order!
For a Mexican themed meal, try this Pressure Cooker Salsa Lime Chicken with Cilantro Lime Rice for an all in one pot meal! Happy cooking.
More Instant Pot Italian Recipes to Make:
- Pressure Cooker Lemon Piccata
- Pressure Cooker Zuppa Toscana Italian Soup
- Instant Pot Italian Chicken Marsala
- Pressure Cooker Bruschetta Chicken with Zoodles
For another creamy and yummy recipe, try my Pressure Cooker Pork Chops in Homemade Mushroom Gravy, which is a one pot meal!
Kitchen Equipment and Essentials
- Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker.
- J.A. Henckels Classic 7-inch Hollow Edge Santoku Knife
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Simply Gourmet (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk– a MUST have, probably my most used utensil
- Rachael Ray Stoneware EVOO Oil Dispensing Bottle
- Porcelain & Bamboo Salt Box with Spoon
- Gravity Electric Salt and Pepper Grinder
- My FANTASTIC Teak Cutting & Charcuterie Board & Compartments
- Microplane Artisan Ribbon Grater
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Here is the handy printable recipe:
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Chicken Breasts Boneless/Skinless halved and pounded thin
- 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Butter (optional)
- 4 cloves Fresh Garlic minced
- 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning Blend
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1 teaspoon TOG House Seasoning
- 1/4 cup Chicken Stock/Broth (or 1/4 cup water + 1/2 tsp Better than Bouillon Chicken Base)
- 3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 3/4 cup Asiago or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 2 cups Fresh Spinach
- ½ cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
Recommended Products
Instructions
- Slice the chicken breasts in half and pound so they are even.
- Add the chicken, Italian seasoning, salt and garlic to a mixing bowl. Massage marinade into the chicken. (see note)
- Select Sauté or Browning on your pressure cooker and allow to heat.
- When hot, add oil and butter and place the chicken into pressure cooker cooking pot. Brown the pieces of chicken for 10 seconds on each side. (See notes section for a thick sauce option, rather than a cream sauce.)
- Pour in chicken broth, cream and seasoned salt. Quickly deglaze the cooking pot, making sure nothing is stuck on the bottom of the pot.
- Lock on Lid and close Pressure Valve. Cook at High Pressure for 1 minute.
- When Beep sounds, wait 2 minutes and then carefully release the rest of the pressure.
- Select Sauté/Browning on your pressure cooker and bring to slow simmer. Mix in cheese and sun dried tomatoes.
- Simmer to thicken sauce, if desired. Stir in spinach right before serving.
- Enjoy over zoodles or pasta. (See notes on how to cook pasta at the same time.)
Notes
Tuscan Garlic Chicken Pasta
- Double all seasonings, add two cups of chicken broth and 8 ounces of pasta to the cooking pot after browning the chicken breast.
Low Carb Tips
Use a Spiralizer to Make the Zoodles
- Heavy cream is used, which gives it a nice and healthy fat content.
- White meat chicken is a very nice protein.
- Butter, rather than flour, helps to thicken the sauce.
Thickening Sauce for Low Carbers/Keto
- Add 2 Tablespoons of cream cheese after pressure release and mix in to thicken the sauce.
Side Dish Ideas
- Spaghetti Squash is always a nice side dish for low carbers.
- I prefer to use DeCecco Farfelle (Butterfly) Pasta as I love the presentation and DeCecco holds up so well!!
- To keep this recipe, Low Carb and Keto, these Low Carb Miracle Noodles are a great choice.
- A side of my Pressure Cooker Mashed Turmeric Cauliflower is perfect, as it will sop up all the yummy Sauce.
- Pressure Cooker Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken pairs nicely with my Pressure Cooker Cauliflower Soufflé.
Optional Step for a Thicker Sauce
- In Step 4, before searing the chicken, lightly dredge the chicken with Potato Starch and shake off and excess Then add the chicken pieces to the pot and continue with the directions.
- My Potato Starch trick will not only keep the chicken tender and juicy while under pressure, it will eliminate a slurry (assuming you want a thick sauce and not a cream sauce) altogether and the raw taste that sometimes is detected.
Nutrition
PIN this Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken!
Pressure Cooker Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken
This is now a family favorite ! Sauce is amazing.
Would this recipe work using unsweetened coconut cream in place of the heavy cream?
LOVE this!! I’m making this for my extended family of 9. Can i easily double everything? Do i need to add extra cooking time? Thank you
This recipe is fabulous! I do add more garlic, lots of mushrooms and a bag of spinach! My kids love it and always ask me to make it! Thankyou
Thank you so much, Shelvie. I am happy you enjoy my recipe. Mushrooms sounds great. There is a similar recipe on the blog with mushrooms, which I bet you will love. Jill
Great blend of flavors! I added a little more chix broth and 2 Tbs of cream cheese
Hi Michelle. Thanks so much. Jill
Not as good as I had hoped. Directions were not very clear when to add / remove ingredients to instant pot. Tasted bland as if it was missing something.
Sounds like you never even looked at the recipe card as directions and ingredient amounts are super duper clear. 😉 Jill
I made this recipe quite some time ago and we LOVED it!!! I use the Paprika recipe app and just noticed that there is a slight variation in the directions once it pulls into the app, so I need clarification…the recipe on TOG website says to add the broth AND cream mixture BEFORE pressure cooking. My app says to add the cream AFTER pressure cooking, simmer for 5 min, then add cheese and spinach. Can someone help steer me in the right direction? I can’t remember what I did the first time I made it. I just now noticed the discrepancy.
This is why I do not suggest recipe apps. You’ll never see updates to recipes unless you go to the blog post. Jill
Ahh, thank you for explaining that!
I think I may have commented before I just want to say DO NOT double the salt. We did that this time because it clearly says DOUBLE THE SEASONING! We salvaged it by adding more cream but honestly, it was still pretty salty!! VERY GOOD recipe though!
The recipe suggests doubling ONLY if you are going to add dry pasta and extra water. Jill
This is the MOST amazing thing I’ve ever made in my instant pot
Wow, thanks so much, Allison. Jill
My kids routinely request this recipe.
Thank you, Teri. Jill
Hi, I would really like to try this recipe. Is the pressure cooking time only 1 min? And then summer for a few minutes to thicken up the sauce?
We have made this three times now but we have always forgotten whether we doubled things or not. THIS time we kept notes and the thing I want to say it we doubled the liquids which I absolutely think you should do but we did NOT double ANY of the seasonings. I mean that would have been TWO teaspoons of salt and TWO teaspoons of seasoning salt which is way too much. It was still pretty salty as is so just know you don’t need to double the salt !! This is absolutely delicious !!! Thanks so much for sharing it!!
So good!!! I did the optional pasta cooked with the chicken and used 8 oz. Of penne pasta. Very filling and delicious!
Thanks, Carol. I am thrilled you enjoyed my recipe. Jill
Couldn’t find how to cook pasta at the same time. Can I do it in the pot with the chicken?
All the info is on the recipe card.
When do you add the cheese
Hi! I made your Greek Lemon Butter Fettuccine last night and it was a huge hit! Can’t wait to have the leftovers tonight. Question on this recipe…if I’m adding pasta do I increase the cook time?
Thanks!
This was delicious! I made it exactly as written and used spaghetti for the pasta. Turned out great. Next time I’ll add mushrooms.
I am wondering it it would be possible to use frozen chicken? Obviously the marinade wouldn’t work as well, but what would the cook time be for frozen chicken? Is it possible? Would be awesome if this could be made from frozen.
You could use frozen and cook time is the same. Jill
Easy recipe and great taste. I suggest 5 minutes instead of 1 if adding pasta.
You could do 5 if you like. I think most people like al dente, so 1 is perfect. Jill
I am going to cook this during the week but have a couple of questions I don’t see answers for in the comments. Does it cook for 3 minutes total or 2 minutes total once it as reached pressure? Someone below said they cooked it for like 6 minutes?! Also, you say if you add the pasta to reduce the cooking time to 2 minutes. So just confirming, once I’ve added all the liquids, I add the extra broth and pasta and then only cook it for 2 minutes when it reaches pressure? Including the chicken? I thought adding stuff might require more time. Thanks!