Instant Pot Cheesecake Factory Louisiana Chicken–a healthier at-home version of cajun chicken bowtie pasta with a creamy sauce.
Instant Pot Cheesecake Factory Louisiana Chicken
This pasta with vegetables and chicken is an easy one pot meal that gives you the tastes of the Cheesecake factory without having to leave your house. My version is a little healthier than the restaurant because the chicken is not fried. Plus you can control what goes into the pot so if you need to cut down on sodium or fat you can do so. You’re going to love this flavorful creamy chicken pasta!
Ingredients Needed
- 2 Tbsp olive oil–you can also use vegetable oil, canola oil or butter
- 1 red bell pepper and 1 yellow bell pepper–cored and sliced into strips
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms—optional
- 1/2 cup diced red onion–or yellow or white onion
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 3/4 cups chicken broth–or 1 ¾ cups water and 2 teaspoons of Better than Bouillon Chicken Base
- 2 Tbsp white or red vinegar–for a splash of tanginess
- 8 oz uncooked bowtie pasta–you can also use another type of short cut pasta like penne, shells, macaroni etc.
- 20 oz boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins—about 8 chicken tenders. You can also use boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into the size of chicken tenderloins
- 1 tsp onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano, dried thyme and smoked paprika
- 2 tsp cajun seasoning–I used the Smith’s brand and it isn’t too spicy…just lots of flavor
- 1/3 cup heavy cream–or you can use half and half or milk
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Saute the vegetables: Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Add in the olive oil, the peppers, mushrooms (if using), and red onions. Saute for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Move the vegetables to a plate. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Add in ingredients: Pour in the broth and vinegar and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Add in the pasta and then place the chicken evenly on top of the pasta. Sprinkle the chicken with onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, paprika and cajun seasoning.
- Pressure cook: Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes. Move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Finish up: Stir in the cream and parmesan cheese and the vegetables from earlier.
- Serve: Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve and enjoy!
Equipment Used
- I used a 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in the 3 or 8 quart pot with no changes.
- Saute paddle*
- My favorite knives* for slicing the onions and peppers
More Chicken Pasta Recipes for the Instant Pot…
Instant Pot Italian Chicken Casserole
Instant Pot Regis Philbin’s Pasta
Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Primavera
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc. Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.
Instant Pot Cheesecake Factory Louisiana Chicken
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 24 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
A healthier at-home version of cajun chicken bowtie pasta with a creamy sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil or butter
- 1 red bell pepper, cored and sliced into strips
- 1 yellow bell pepper, cored and sliced into strips
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms (optional)
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp white or red vinegar
- 8 oz uncooked bowtie pasta
- 20 oz boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins (about 8 chicken tenders)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp cajun seasoning
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Add in the olive oil, the peppers, mushrooms (if using), and red onions. Saute for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Move the vegetables to a plate. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Pour in the broth and vinegar and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Add in the pasta and then place the chicken evenly on top of the pasta. Sprinkle the chicken with onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, paprika and cajun seasoning.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes. Move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the cream and parmesan cheese and the vegetables from earlier.
- Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve and enjoy!
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
Want More Tried And True Instant Pot Recipes?
- Sign up to receive daily Instant Pot recipes (it’s FREE)
- Join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group
- Subscribe to my YouTube channel
- Buy the 365 Days of Pressure Cooking Cookbook
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Another great recipe, Karen! I only made two minor changes. I had Creole seasoning so I used that. The red/yellow/orange peppers were so expensive so I decided to go with a yellow and regular green. Next time I’ll use yellow and red for the added color. I mistakenly used grated Parm instead of shredded. I added shredded when I reheated leftovers. I didn’t have as much of the creamy sauce as I wanted so I added more cream. I reheated the leftovers in the IP on slow cook for about 90 minutes and that worked well.
★★★★★
Sounds like a great version! Thanks for the 5 stars!
This recipe is amazing! Restaurant quality and easy! I did not have louisianna spices, so left it out! Served for Valentines dinner with Cheesecake factory red velvet cake and olive garden dmsalad. Great copycats!!
Sounds like a winning dinner!!
Got the dreaded burn notice on this one, so maybe not fair to review. Stirred in the reserved vegetables and added more broth and it turned out ok. (If you dont scrape up the burned stuff on the bottom of the pot, dinner can usually be rescued. Soak the pot afterwards). I didn’t have cream or mushrooms– I’d add mushrooms next time, but not sure i would bother with cream.
★★★★
Darn! I’m sorry about the burn notice. That is discouraging.
Great recipe! Full of flavor and ingredients. My kitchen is currently under complete remodel. Only device I have to cook with is the instapot at the moment. Your recipes are great. Keep them coming!
★★★★★
Oh good! I am glad that you are finding a way to get dinner made without your kitchen. I am excited for the remodel. I love a good before and after!
Flavour is decent but the pasta was totally overcooked. I used macaroni (suggested alternative), and pressure cooked for 4 minutes with a 10 minute lapsed time. If I make this again I’ll try a 5 minute lapsed time.
★★★
Good to know! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Made this for dinner tonight and it turned out great! My bowtie pasta was a 12 oz. box, so I just used it all and increased the water by maybe a quarter cup. It came out perfect. I used a a little over a tsp. of the cajun seasoning as mine seems spicy and the kids are big on spicy. Mmmm, just right.
Thanks for sharing your experience Tina!
To piggyback on that comment-
If I wanted to use the entire 16 oz box of pasta, could you suggest how much the liquids ( I assume the broth) should be increased? Thank you so much!
I would use 3 3/4 cups of broth
Add caned diced tomato, remove the mushroom.
Then mix all the spices with a little flour toss the chicken in that. Then oil in, then peppers and onions, then chicken in the center then.the rest when browned. Swirl to combine then add over the cooked pasta.
I guess because of the pasta, there’s no way to use frozen chicken breasts for this recipe?
Sorry! You’ll have to cut them into pieces or else they won’t be done at the same rate. OR you could throw them in the pot by themselves first and then shred up and use in the recipe.