Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Chicken Parm Pasta is a quick and easy dinner recipe where all you have to do is simply layer water, chicken thigh, seasoning, herbs, Marinara Sauce, and Pasta in your Instant Pot. Cover the lid and pressure cook for just 4-minutes. And, Voila! After 4-minutes your chicken Parmesan Pasta is absolutely done 🙌 If you don't have an instant pot, you can try this One-Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta in Skillet. Super easy and just takes a few minutes more!

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🥘 Ingredients Needed for this Recipe
- Chicken Thigh - Preferably Boneless Skinless Chicken Thigh cut into 1-inch cubes. You can also use chicken Breasts. But Chicken Thigh is juicier.
- Onions & Garlic - Onions and garlic makes the pasta a little thick
- Penne Pasta - You can replace Penne Pasta with any other pasta.
- Marinara Sauce - I prefer Store-bought Rao's Marinara Sauce. It has the best flavors. You can also use homemade.
- Shredded Parmesan Cheese - Not that green stuff. Shred Fresh Parmesan Cheese at home.
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese - Shred Fresh Mozzarella Cheese.
- Salt and Pepper
- Italian Seasoning
- Fresh Basil (garnish) - For Pure Italian Flavors.
- Red Pepper Flakes (garnish) - To spice it up.
See the recipe card below for quantities. Also, check out the video for a visual 🎥

🔪 How to Make Chicken Parm Pasta In Instant Pot
This is a quick look at the recipe for Chicken Parm Pasta in Instant Pot with Step by Step Photos. Don't Skip this. There are few important tips included here.
Step 1: Add Water to Instant Pot

Since we are cooking our pasta in our Instant Pot, so we will definitely need water to cook our pasta and our chicken.
Step 2: Add Onions and Garlic

Onions and garlic add intense flavors to the dish. Also, I love garlic so much. A little bit of garlic makes the recipe taste all the more amazing.
Step 3: Add Penne Pasta or any other Pasta

I have used Penne Pasta for this recipe since it is pretty classic. But, feel free to substitute this with any other pasta you like. You can use Bow tie pasta or Fettuccine or shells or tortellini to make this recipe.
Step 4: Add Marinara Sauce in the Pot

I have used store-bought Marinara Sauce to make this Instant Pot Chicken Parm Pasta recipe. However, feel free to use leftover homemade Marinara Sauce.
Step 5: Add Salt and Pepper along with Italian Seasoning

Season your Pasta with Salt and Pepper. And, Add some Italian Seasoning so that it doesn't taste bland.
Step 6: Cover and Pressure Cook for 3-4 minutes

Finally, cover your Instant Pot and Pressure cook "manual mode" for 3-4 minutes.
Step 7: "Quick Pressure Release" and add Cheese
Once your Instant Pot beeps, wait for 2-minutes and then take your face away from the instant pot. Turn the knob from Sealing Position to Venting Position and let the steam release completely until the floating valve pushes down.
Make sure you don't have any glass item or any expensive things on top of your Instant. The steam might damage it.
Stir in shredded Parmesan Cheese and top with shredded Mozzarella cheese on top.


Step 8: Garnish and Serve
Finally, just garnish your Instant Pot Chicken parmesan Pasta with freshly chopped Basil. I like basil for that true blue Italian taste. You can use basil that you grow at home. Fortunately, I have fresh basil in my garden and it's so much fun to pluck it fresh from your garden. Or else you can easily find them in any store.

💡 Extra Tips:
- Water: Sure you add Enough Water to Cook pasta
- Marinara Sauce: You can use any store-bought Marinara Sauce that you like. But, I like Rao's Marinara Sauce.
- Push in Pasta in the Sauce: Before you cover the lid, make sure your pasta is coated in the sauce completely.
- Cheese: It is best if you use Fresh Mozzarella Cheese and Fresh parmesan Cheese to make this recipe.
- No Program Buttons: Do not press the Poultry/Meat/Rice function while cooking. Just use the "Pressure Cook" function. and set the time to 4-minutes.
- Reduce time manually: When you set the time to 4-minutes, it will automatically set itself up to a particular time. You will have to manually reduce the time to 4-minutes.
- Cook in High Pressure: Make sure you cook your Pasta in Instant Pot for 4-minutes in High Pressure.
- Double the recipe: You can make it in an 8-QT Instant Pot and double the recipe. Then you should increase the cook time to 6-minutes.
🧊 How do I store and reheat this?
I love meal preps. And, I take this to my office all the time. In fact, so many of my colleagues have asked me for the recipe.
So what I generally do is:
- I make the pasta as instructed.
- Then I take it out in a large bowl. It is better if you take it out in your meal prep containers.
- Cover the lid and refrigerate for 24 hours.
- When ready to eat, just reheat it in the oven (no lid) for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melty. Serve right away.
Less Mess More Fun

I am being completely honest with you. Cleaning Mess is not fun. Especially when there is a lot to clean. I have this habit of skirting around an issue or procrastinating it.
But then rather than blaming myself and forcing myself to change, I rather use my Instant Pot which makes everything in one single pot. And I store the leftovers in my Meal Prep containers. My Meal Prep containers are dishwasher safe so cleaning them is a breeze.
Chicken Parm Pasta in Slow Cooker
You can cook this Chicken Parm Pasta in the slow cooker. Just dump the Chicken with Pasta sauce and pasta in the slow cooker. Add some water and cook for 4- 5 hours on low.
After that, stir in some Parmesan cheese and top with Mozzarella Cheese. Cover with lid and serve hot when the cheese on top has melted.
📖 Other Variations of this recipe
Chicken breasts - If you don't like dark meat you can use chicken thighs instead. They might be a bit drier but they'll still be delicious.
Bow Tie pasta - Instead of penne you can also use Bow tie or any other Pasta that you like.
Shredded Chicken - If you have precooked Shredded chicken at home, you can add it to your recipe. But, add it after the Pressure cycle so that they don't turn soggy.
Spinach - You can add chopped fresh baby spinach or Spinach puree after the pressure cycle. Then add Parmesan and Mozzarella and close the lid for 2-3 minutes.
Chicken Broth - If you want you can swap water with low sodium chicken broth for flavorful pasta.
🥗 Other Recipes you might like:
- Chicken Parmesan Meatballs stuffed with Mozzarella
- Crispiest Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan (ZERO OIL)
- Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings
- Lemon Parmesan Chicken Alfredo
- Instant Pot Crack Chicken Pasta
- Instant Pot Stuffed Shells
If you are making this recipe please leave a rating below. Also, take a snap and share it on Instagram with #recipemagik. Tag me @recipemagik so that I can see how this turned out.
Instant Pot Chicken Parm Pasta
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs cut into 1-inch pieces (can also use Chicken breasts)
- 1 cup Water can be replaced with Low Sodium Chicken broth
- 1 medium Onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 8 Oz Penne Pasta
- 3 cups Marinara Sauce I like rao's store bought marinara sauce
- 1 Tsp. Salt
- 1 Tsp. Ground Black Pepper
- ½ Tsp. Italian Seasoning
- Fresh basil and Red Pepper Flakes (OPTIONAL) for garnish
Instructions
- Place your Instant Pot on your counter. Plug it in. Pour water into it.
- Add finely chopped Onions and minced garlic into it.
- Now add Chicken. Stir well to combine.
- Add Pasta into it. Use a spatula to push in your pasta. Make sure it is covered evenly with the sauce.
- Now Pour Marinara Sauce over your Pasta. Do not stir. Just spread it out on your Pasta.
- Pressure cook "manually" on High Pressure for 4-minutes. After 4-minutes, do a "Quick Pressure Release" by turning the valve from sealing position to venting position.
- Add Shredded Parmesan Cheese and stir well to combine. Now add Shredded Mozzarella Cheese and Cover the lid for 2-3 minutes.
- Once done, garnish and serve with fresh chopped basil and red pepper flakes.
Video
Notes
- Water: Sure you add Enough Water to Cook pasta
- Marinara Sauce: You can use any store-bought Marinara Sauce that you like. But, I like Rao's Marinara Sauce.
- Push in Pasta in the Sauce: Before you cover the lid, make sure your pasta is coated in the sauce completely.
- Cheese: It is best if you use Fresh Mozzarella Cheese and Fresh parmesan Cheese to make this recipe.
- No Program Buttons: Do not press the Poultry/Meat/Rice function while cooking. Just use the "Pressure Cook" function. and set the time to 4-minutes.
- Reduce time manually: When you set the time to 4-minutes, it will automatically set itself up to a particular time. You will have to manually reduce the time to 4-minutes.
- Cook in High Pressure: Make sure you cook your Pasta in Instant Pot for 4-minutes in High Pressure.
- Double the recipe: You can make it in an 8-QT Instant Pot and double the recipe. Then you should increase the cook time to 6-minutes.
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