Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan
Why This Is A Great Light Chicken Recipe
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 sauté 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 The Best Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan
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 spaghetti 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.
Serving Suggestions
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, roasted 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 Recipe
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.
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30 Minute Meals, Chicken Dinner Recipes, Dinner Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Instant Pot Main Dishes, Instant Pot Recipes, Most Popular Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
We love this recipe. It’s easy, healthy, and very yummy. I do add extra sauce to make the dish go farther. And I extra garlic to all of my dishes that call for garlic.
I’m so happy to hear you love the Chicken Parmesan! 😊 Adding more garlic sounds delicious—I’m all for extra garlic too! 🧄 Thank you for sharing your tweaks; it’s always fun to see how others make recipes their own.
Can you make this in the crockpot?
Can you make this from frozen chicken?
I would defrost the chicken first before cooking so it’s not watery.
Is the 700 calories for the entire recipe or just 1 piece of chicken? It seems high for 1 serving
Hi Sue,
That is per serving. It’s all the cheese! 😉
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.
I just made this for dinner, I used IQF boneless, skinless chicken breasts, n it turned out great, & it was very easy to make!!!
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.
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.
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.
Thanks, Collen! So glad you liked it!
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
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.
How many minutes do you saute on each side? thanks!
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.
Thank you, Joe! I am so glad you and your family liked it!
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!
I am so glad you liked it!
How could I add pasta this instead of cooking it in a separate pot?
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.
Planning on making this. How long with frozen chicken if that is a possible?
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!
Easy and delicious!
So glad you liked it, Sonja!
Experienced burn notice too towards the end. Chicken was instant pot tender. I’ll pass on this recipe.
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/
Can you add chicken broth or water to avoid the burn notice?
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. 👍
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!
Hi Carolyn,
I am so glad you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to stop by. 🙂
This was delicious! Very easy and perfect for two people, with leftovers. I used chicken tenders cut in two rather than chicken breasts.
Hi Lisa,
I am so glad you liked it!!!
I had a little left over spaghetti sauce and decided to try this recipe. It worked.perfectly. Thank you.
Hi Michelle ,
To double the recipe you can sear the chicken in batches and then lay the chicken overlapping. You won’t need to increase the time unless the chicken breasts are very thick, in which case you can cut them in half length wise.
hello, if i want to double this do I have to add more time?
Is 3 minutes low pressure sufficient to cook the chicken through? Most IP recipes call for 15 minutes at high pressure.
Hi Ravi,
Yes, three minutes will be enough time. First you are sauteing the chicken till browned, then after the 3 minutes you are putting the cheese on and closing the lid and even though you are not turning it back on it will continue to cook.
What amount of time would you recommend for 4 breasts about an 1” thick chicken breasts?
Hi Theresa,
I did respond to you sooner but I am not sure what happened to my reply. You will cook them for the time posted in the recipe plus one minute.
So yummy! I was skeptical because I’m not a huge Chicken Parmigiano fan, but it was so good! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Sam,
I am so happy you liked it! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Can you double the recipe for cooking (use 4 large breasts cut in half)?
Yes, you can if your instant pot is big enough to sear it. If not you can sear it in batches but you would still have to stack it to cook it.
Very tasty and so easy to make.
Is one serving considered an entire chicken breast (two halves) or is a serving considered one half of a breast?
Hi Taylor,
For this recipe the serving is one whole chicken breast. I hope you enjoy it!
Not fond of chicken breasts. How do thighs do? Looks easy and delicious!
Hi Ruth,
Yes you can definitely substitute chicken thighs for this recipe. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Are the Nutrition Facts that are listed for the entire recipe, or for 1 (of 2) servings? This will be on our dinner menu this week!
Hi, Susan it’s per serving!
The IP 8 qt. Says there must be at least 2 cups liquid and the marinara can’t count for all of it.
Can I use frozen chicken? Does that change the times?
This is a great recipe! To the people who are worried about the chicken not cooking in 3 minutes, at least for me, the chicken was basically cooked already during the browning process since they are sliced in half. The only changes I made were to deglaze with maybe 1/2 cup of chicken broth after the browning so nothing burns, and to throw it in the broiler at the end for a second to get the cheese all bubbily 🙂 My kids said that this is the BEST chicken I’ve ever made–we call it ‘chicken pizza’ and it’s already on regular rotation! Thanks!
Hi, Ann! Glad you liked it! 🙂
Instant pot for Christmas this year so tried this recipe first. Might be user error but when I removed chicken and added garlic on saute function, hot oil splattered out of the pot. Any suggestions …. or normal?? End result was delicious though!!!
Did you not put water in the ip first?
I mistakenly fried the garlic first and then the chicken so I had a little too much oil but it still turned our great. Thank you
Thank you!
Delicious! I was leery of the cooking instructions (3 minutes on low seemed insufficient) so I went by the official Instant Pot instructions (7-9 min on high per pound). Fifteen minutes for 2 lbs worked great—juicy and tender. Will definitely keep this recipe bookmarked.
Thanks, Sarah! 🙂
Absolutely scrumptious, but it’s the sauce that makes it. I made my own sauce from my own home-grown tomatoes. It was sooooo good and my husband also loved it and he doesn’t really like chicken breasts!Ju
Thanks you, Judy! So glad you liked it! 🙂
Do you think the cheese would still melt well.. if I used a low-fat version of the shredded cheese?
Hi, Chelsea! Low fat cheese can have hardness, gumminess, and chewiness when melted so I don’t use it when melting.