Chicken Parmesan is a classic Italian dish that everyone loves. This recipe for Chicken Parmesan is easily made in an Instant Pot and it’s light since there is no breading on the chicken. This easy dinner is made in about 20 minutes and all you need is a few simple ingredients.
This chicken dinner can be made with homemade marinara sauce and the sauce can easily be made ahead of time. If you love Chicken Parmesan, then Chicken Parmesan Roll-Ups is another great recipe you can’t miss.
INSTANT POT CHICKEN PARMESAN
Chicken Parmesan is an easy, classic dinner that is a favorite for so many people. It’s definitely one of the top 5 favorite dinners for my family. As a matter of fact, it was one of first recipes I learned how to make.
Traditional Chicken Parmesan is made with crispy, oven baked chicken, and topped with marinara sauce and melted cheese. A few simple ingredients but they come together into one amazing dish.
This Chicken Parmesan recipe has all the same flavors, for the exception of the breading, and made in an Instant Pot. It takes a couple of minutes to saute the chicken, 3 minutes to pressure cook it, and a few minutes to melt the cheese. The whole dish will be done in about 20 minutes.
Without the breading, this dish is light, low carb, and gluten free. I’ve actually been making a “skinny” Chicken Parmesan for myself for years since it’s gluten free and I like it to be light. (I really like the light part.)
TIPS FOR MAKING CHICKEN PARMESAN IN AN INSTANT POT
Make sure to gather and prepare your ingredients before starting to cook. This recipe goes very quickly and if you don’t have your ingredients at hand, it will get frantic.
Sear chicken first, it will add more flavor to the dish.
For best flavors, use homemade marinara sauce (made with fresh tomatoes or canned). If homemade is not available, of course you can use your favorite store-bought sauce.
After adding cheese, do not turn the Instant Pot on. Simply close the lid and let the cheese melt for a few minutes. Pot is very hot so the cheese will melt in no time.
WHAT SIDES TO SERVE WITH CHICKEN PARMESAN
Transitionally, Chicken Parmesan is served over a bed of spaghetti. You can easily serve this chicken over spaghetti or any other pasta as well.
If you want to keep it light, serve it with roasted vegetables like asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower or a mix of vegetables.
Side salad is another great light side for Chicken Parmesan. Italian dressing or Balsamic Vinaigrette will pair perfectly with these chicken flavors.
For a little richer side, try this creamy and cheesy asparagus side dish.
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Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- salt
- cracked black pepper
- 4 garlic cloves pressed
- 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
- 1 tbsp fresh minced basil
- 1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tbsp fresh minced basil
Instructions
- Note: this recipe will work for 2 large chicken breasts sliced in half or 4 small chicken breasts (not cut in half).
- Slice large chicken breasts in half, width-wise, to create 4 thin chicken breast halves.
- Season all sides of the chicken with some salt and pepper.
- Set Instant Pot on "saute" and let it heat through.
- Add some olive oil to the pot and place chicken breast halves in it. Let chicken saute until it starts to brown on one side and flip them over. Let them saute until that side starts to brown and take chicken out.
- Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Add marinara sauce and basil and stir well. Let it heat through and turn off the saute.
- Nestle chicken back into the pot, in the middle of the sauce.
- Close the lid and make sure it's latched. Turn the valve to "seal" and set the Instant Pot to pressure cook on LOW pressure for 3 minutes.
- When it's done, turn it off, and carefully release the pressure on quick release. Add Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and some basil over each chicken half.
- Close the lid but do not turn on the Instant Pot. Just let the cheese melt in closed pot for 4-5 minutes. Take off the lid and serve right away.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Lisa Andrews says
This was delicious! Very easy and perfect for two people, with leftovers. I used chicken tenders cut in two rather than chicken breasts.
LyubaB says
Hi Lisa,
I am so glad you liked it!!!
Carolyn says
Hello, and thank you for sharing this FABULOUS, and EASY recipe! I am all about one-pot dishes, and making this chicken parm meal in the IP certainly meets this goal. I used 2 chicken breasts (cut in half) and followed the steps in the recipe, except I had dried (not fresh) basil. So good, quick and flavorful. Will definitely keep in our meal rotation. God bless you!
LyubaB says
Hi Carolyn,
I am so glad you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to stop by. 🙂
Tina says
Experienced burn notice too towards the end. Chicken was instant pot tender. I’ll pass on this recipe.
LyubaB says
Just because you got the burn notice doesn’t mean it was burning there is several reasons this could happen here is a link of possibilities and also make sure to read your owners manual so you avoid that next time. https://instantpot.com/instant-pots-overheat-burn-protection/
Rachel says
Can you add chicken broth or water to avoid the burn notice?
Sheila Brown says
I know this is a late reply but yes I add about a quarter cup of broth to deglaze the pot. Scrape all the brown bits up and then add my sauce. Works perfectly. 👍
Sonja says
Easy and delicious!
LyubaB says
So glad you liked it, Sonja!
Marc Antinori says
I also got a burn notice…..I will check out that thread from a previous comment as I am new to Instapot.
When you start up the pressure should the sauce be hot or cooled to room temp maybe?
I will continue to try this recipe until it comes out perfect, challenge accepted, thanks for the recipe!
Kelsey says
Planning on making this. How long with frozen chicken if that is a possible?
Kristian says
How could I add pasta this instead of cooking it in a separate pot?
LyubaB says
hmm…. you can cook the chicken first and then take it out and cook the pasta in the sauce that’s left usually with an instant pot it takes about half the time as usual so if your box of pasta says 8 minutes it would be about 4 minutes but you would need to look at your manual for the recommended time to make sure.
Joe says
I made this recipe for my family. It was my first time cooking for my wife and girls in years, other then spaghetti pasta.
They absolutely loved it! I followed the recipe to the T. Except I replaced the marinara sauce with store bought pasta sauce. For a side I went with a Asparagus dish I found online and some Garlic bread. Everyone was full and satisfied.
I would recommend this as a simple yet delicious meal. I feed 4 people with my dish.
LyubaB says
Thank you, Joe! I am so glad you and your family liked it!
Josh L says
great dinner!!
we hacked it a bit … browned the chicken in a pan and used the broiler for the cheese
didn’t miss the breading at all, will make again!
LyubaB says
I am so glad you liked it!
Linsey Rosenthal says
How many minutes do you saute on each side? thanks!
Cindy says
CAn you use more than 4 ckn breasts? We cook for our Car Ministry Team (sometimes 12 ppl) at a time… I don’t want to make 3 or 4 separate batches of the meal. I’d rather cook all at one time in the InstaPot. Thank you
LyubaB says
What you can do is use a large pan to sear them or sear them in batches in the instant pot and then lay them on top of each other, or if you have a larger instant pot you could use that.
Colleen says
Making this for our family dinner today for the next couple of nights. The recipe is so easy to follow and smells so good when it’s cooking. I’m sure it will be fantastic and it will be a big hit with my family. Thank you for making this so easy to prepare.
LyubaB says
Thanks, Collen! So glad you liked it!
Suzanne Sfugaras says
This is the first time I’ve made anything in tomato sauce because I’ve always heard you get a burn notice. So, I added about 1/2 cup of stock (i have an 8 qt IP) to marinara sauce. I don’t think I’ll do that next time as it came out a bit soupy. However, I still got raves from the family. This will be on our list of things to have again. I must admit it was a bit of a job b cleaning the pot afterwards with the cheese though.
Jessica Castleberry says
Very tasty! I had to add a couple of minutes to the pressure cooking time. After 3 minutes, one of the breasts was still pink inside. I also think the preparation time is a lot more than 5 minutes. I spent almost an hour in the kitchen preparing this meal. It was quite delicious though.
StephG2017 says
I just made this for dinner, I used IQF boneless, skinless chicken breasts, n it turned out great, & it was very easy to make!!!