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
Caring is sharing! If you would like to support This Old Gal, please share this recipe on Social Media, so that I can continue to bring you more wonderful recipes!
If you share a picture of something you make from our blog, tag it with #thisoldgalcooks so we can see it. We might feature it on Instagram! It makes my day when I see you’ve made one of our recipes!
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
Sounds great except for the spinach! Any ideas for a sub for that?
Jill: Reading the comments, it sounds like I should have taken the chicken out before adding the cream and simmering. I did that as I went because on “saute” in my IP, the whole thing was boiling and not simmering. How do I just simmer the sauce?
I barely cooked it with the cream out of fear of overcooking and then added back the chicken and put on “keep warm”. It was delicious in spite of my concerns.
Will try the pot in pot rice with it next time –just learning. Your website with detailed instructions and photos is really amazing for all of us new to the IP!
OMG JILL,
YUM.
I added mushrooms at the end just cause I had some to use up.
Next time I think I’ll add more than a cup of spinach.
I don’t eat much chicken but I’ve been eyeing this recipe for a while and had to do it.
I didn’t have an official meat tenderizer gadget so pounded with a small cast iron Skillet.
This sounds great. I am adding to my “to try” list.
I made this tonight and it was a hit! This was the first time I’ve made chicken breasts in the IP without them overcooking. I swapped the sun-dried tomatoes for diced roma tomatoes that I added when I added the cream. I doubled the sauce and used a pre-shredded Italian cheese blend. Two thumbs up!
Have you ever made this dairy free? It looks soooo yummy but I cannot have dairy.
Thanks!
Hi Mary~
What about Coconut Milk?
Jill
I don’t have a pressure cooker, could I do this in the crockpot? What would the times be and could I throw it all in and come back to it finished?
I already have chicken cubed up, so I’ll be using that instead of whole breasts. Plan on serving this over cheese ravioli–oh, mama!
Hi,
Love your recipes… Was wondering if I could use chicken tenders instead of the breasts??? Also I have about 1 1/2 lbs. Do I need to adjust cooking time???
Hi Paula~
Thank you so much. Chicken tenders are perfect. They are breasts, just cut into pieces. Cook time is the same.
Jill
Are the sun dried tomatoes the ones in oil or plain?
Hi Renaekh~
I used the plain dried ones.
Jill
OMG!!! This was so incredible and delicious! I can’t get ove how fast and easy it was to prepare! Served mine with some bowtie pasta and the family went nuts! No leftovers at all!
Hi Mary~
I am glad it was a hit. This is so nice to hear. Thank you.
Jill
I’m a novice. Could you use frozen breasts and how would you adjust?
Hi Amy~
You can use frozen breasts. Are they whole or cut into pieces? If they are whole, add 2 minutes cook time.
Jill
For frozen breasts would you skip the browning step?
Hi Laura~
I wouldn’t use frozen breasts. I just don’t like how they come out in the pressure cooker.
Jill
Hi Jill! Looking forward to making this tonight or tomorrow 🙂 Do you think thighs would be good, or should I stick to breasts? ty
Hi Crystal~
Thighs will work great too, but add one minute to the cook time.
Jill
thanks! I didn’t see your response, so I went with breasts just to be safe. Thanks for letting me know, I may try thighs next time 🙂 Also, just joined your FB group, your recipes are fantastic!
Hi Crystal~
Thank you so much for the compliment. Pretty much any recipe can be substituted with a different part of the chicken. Cook time or size of piece needs to be adjusted.
Jill
About how many breasts is equal to 2#? Could I double it safely in the pressure cooker?
Hi Luanne~
The weight depends on the size of the chickens. You can safely double the recipe without a problem.
Jill
I made this with mushrooms and 3/4 cup asiago cheese. It is great with Pasta or Rice. Thank You for This Recipe.
Hi Judy~
Mushrooms are a wonderful idea. I am so glad you liked this recipe. 🙂
Jill
I made this but had to make a few substitutions. It was tasty but next time I will stick to the recipe as written. I didn’t have sundried tomatoes so I used cherry tomatoes. Not enough oomph in the flavor. And because I added pasta, I upped the pressure cooking time to 4 minutes with a 5 minute NR and this resulted in slightly overcooked chicken. I should have listened to the expert! I did add some Aleppo pepper flakes to give it a little kick and this was a good addition!
Just made this without the sun dried tomatoes and added the cream cheese like suggested. Soooo good! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Kasey~
I am happy you enjoyed the Tuscan Chicken. 🙂 Thank you for your lovely comment.
Jill
Looks delicious! Is there a way to make the pasta in the recipe, cooking it in the post with the chicken?
Hi DD~
You sure can cook the pasta with the chicken. Just make sure the pasta you want to cook is a hearty pasta, so that it can withstand the natural release time and then the simmering time.
Thank you for visiting.
Jill
I only see to do a quick release, how long would you recommend to let it natural release first? Thanks!
Hi Kristy~
You could do a 5 minute natural release if you like, but, after opening up the pressure cooker, remove the chicken before continuing with the rest of the instructions, so that the chicken does not over cook and then add it back in.
Jill
if I add a whole lb of pasta, do I need more liquid? And I assume by hearty pasta, you mean a penne/cavatappi/gemelli type? And if I stick with the QR per instructions, do you think I need an extra minute for the pasta?
Hi Lisa~
If you add a pound of pasta, you will need 3 cups of liquid. I would stick with the time, as the pasta will finish cooking after you have opened the pot and continue with the rest of the steps. Keep an eye on the sauce though, as you may need more liquid.
Jill
Made this tonight and totally delish! Highly recommend to anyone on the fence. I added mushrooms and used less tomates (personal preference) but good flavour all around. Thickened sauce with cornstarch slurry, served over pasta. Excellent dish!
Hi Ciaara~
Thanks for your lovely comments. Mushrooms are a wonderful addition to this recipe. So glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Jill
You know we did 🙂
Took a serving over to my neighbour and she was amazed by it and her husband was upset I didn’t bring enough for him after she gave him a bite
Because I use the pressure cooker XL, DO I JUST COOK THE CHICKEN UNDER PRESSURE FOR 3 minutes or use the meat setting for its amount of time? Also, any suggestions since I don’t have a simmer button? This sounds delicious just not sure how to make those couple of changes. I sure appreciate the help that you give me, thank you,
Tami
Hi Tami~
This recipe can be done in any pressure cooker. Just use whatever button you usually use to sauté or brown something and that is fine. The meat button is fine. All you have to do is adjust the time down. To simmer, it is fine to use the meat button with the top off.
Thank you so much for visiting.
Jill
So you really only cooks it for 3 minutes? Would I increase the time if I double the recipe or not? Thanks again for your help.
Hi Tami~
No increase in time.
Jill