TheWildWaynes
a family of four cooking & creating our way through tiny living
Pesto Pasta with Easy Cheesy Chicken
Pantry Pesto Pasta with Easy Cheesy Chicken
An incredibly delicious pesto pasta and and easy cheesy chicken using what was in our pantry and refrigerator.
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Cost: $10
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Chicken Breasts hammered out to an even thickness about 3/4 inch thick
- 16 oz Spaghetti
- 1/8 tsp Salt, Pepper, & Garlic Powder to season the chicken breasts
- 3 Tbsp Olive Oil to brown chicken breast
- 1/4 cup Parmesan fine shredded
- 1/2 cup Mozzarella fine shredded
- 2 cups Frozen Broccoli thawed (optional)
- 1/4 cup Bread Crumbs plain or italian
- 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning If using plain bread crumbs
- Broth Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups Water or chicken broth
- 5 tsp Chicken Bouillon if no using chicken broth
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Dried Basil
- 1 tsp Dried Thyme
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil
Instructions
- If using broccoli, run the frozen broccoli under cool water to rinse ice off and let sit in a strainer to thaw
- Hammer chicken breasts into an even thickness of about 3/4 inch thick
- Season both sides of chicken breast with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (1/8 tsp each)
- Press Saute on the instant pot, when the pot is "HOT", add 3 Tbsp olive oil
- Place the seasoned chicken breasts into the hot pot and brown for 3 minutes
- Flip the chicken breasts and brown for another 3 minutes
- Move chicken breasts to a plate and add a little bit of your water to the instant pot and using a flat wooden spatula, scrape the bottom clean
- Add the rest of the water and the rest of the broth ingredients
- Break pasta in half and layer in different directions so the pasta will cook evenly
- Push the pasta under the fluid level with a spatula and then set the browned chicken breasts on top of the spaghetti
- Put the instant pot lid on, seal the pressure release valve, and pressure cook for 6 minutes or 7 minutes for large chicken breasts
- Fine shred 1/4 cup parmesan and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
- After 6 minutes, release the pressure, and remove the lid
- Move the chicken breasts to a plate, dump the thawed broccoli onto the spaghetti and stir the broccoli into the spaghetti
- Put the chicken breasts on top of the spaghetti, add the parmesan cheese in a layer over the chicken, evenly add the breadcrumbs over the top of the parmesan cheese, and then add the mozzarella cheese
- Put the lid back on and press Saute
- Let the pot heat up for about 2-3 minutes and cancel saute and press "KEEP WARM"
- Let sit for 8 minutes and then remove the lid
- Remove the cheesy chicken, stir the pasta and then plate the pasta
- Slice your cheesy chicken and serve with the pasta
- Enjoy your dinner!
Video
Notes
I don’t usually have leftover marinara sauce but if you do, you can add a couple spoons full over the top of your chicken before adding the cheeses and breadcrumbs to make an easy parmesan chicken. You can pretty much do whatever you want with this recipe and it turns out great. If you end up with a burn at the end, just cancel the saute and press keep warm. To clean up the instant pot easily after removing all the pesto pasta, add water, lid, seal, and pressure cook for 5 or 10 minutes. After a natural release the pot should be pretty easy to clean.