I wouldn’t exactly say that I caught the instapot craze, but I dabbled in it. I do not cook every meal in my instapot. I don’t even have a real instapot. Steve and I bought the pressure cooker that we have on sale at Sam’s… that’s the kind of craze that I can get down with, the cheap kind.
It is really nice to be able to cook a whole chicken in 30 minutes. It is moist and flavorful; I do like that. More often than not Steve uses it to cook rice, 3 minutes (not instant rice) and it comes out perfectly cooked.
Lately, I have been making Korean beef, with rice made in the instapot and microwave in the bag snap peas and carrots. Which is a pressure cooker recipe, but I never cook it that way (other than the rice)
But really the reason for this particular post is Creamy Chicken Pesto Pasta! It was soooo good! I honestly didn’t expect much other than a quick meal. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, it could be modified, it would just take a lot longer to cook
I found the recipe on my Mealthy App. I don’t have a Mealthy appliance but they don’t care.
Without further ado… here is the recipe: Pressure Cooker Creamy Chicken Pesto Pasta!
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 pound penne pasta
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon kosher salt, divided
3 cups packed fresh spinach leaves
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup prepared basil pesto
1/4 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground black pepper to tast
freshly chopped basil (optional)
freshly grated Parmesan chees (optional)
Directions:
Pour water into inner steel pot of pressure cooker; add chicken, penne, butter, and 2 teaspoons salt. Stir to combine, pressing pasta into water to submerge.
Lock pressure cooker lid in plance an set team vent handle to Sealing, Select Pressure Cook (Manual) and cook on High Pressure for 2 minutes. Set steam vent handle to Venting and quick-release pressure.
Press Cancel, unlock and remove lid, then remove and discard 1/4 cup water from pot
Set pressure cooker to Saute. Stir spinach, tomatoes, pesto, cream cheese, garlic, remaining 1 teaspoon of salt, and black pepper into pot. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce is creamy and combined. 1 to 2 minutes
I’m telling you it was sooooo good! It was even better the next day.
