Instant Pot Chicken a la King–a rich, creamy sauce with chicken and vegetables. It tastes great served over rice, biscuits, mashed potatoes or noodles. Make it fast and easy with fresh, frozen or cooked chicken in your Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Chicken a la King
The name Chicken à la King might sound fancy, but in reality, it is one of the easiest dinners to make and a perfect fall weeknight dinner!
What is Chicken a la King? It is a rich, creamy sauce with chicken and vegetables. It tastes great served over rice, biscuits, mashed potatoes or noodles. Read more about where the dish came from and how it got its name.
My version is made in the Instant Pot, of course. It was so tasty and my family kept giving me compliments. We served ours over rice but next time I think biscuits would be even better!
- My version uses uncooked chicken (I prefer boneless thighs). However, this recipe is a great way to use up cooked chicken or turkey. You won’t need to pressure cook as long since the chicken is already cooked. I would just pressure cook for 2 minutes for cooked chicken. Save this recipe for the day after Thanksgiving!
- You can use frozen chicken if you’d like. Pressure cook for 15 minutes instead of 12.
- In order to hide the mushrooms from my son I chopped them up* well. You can also just slice or quarter the mushrooms. I prefer chopped so they are more evenly distributed.
- Traditional chicken a la king has pimientos. I always have a hard time finding these at the grocery store so I just used what I had on hand, a red bell pepper. It worked perfectly and I loved the taste.
- For a more colorful dish, you can add in differently colored bell peppers, green peppers, and instead of frozen peas, add mixed vegetables.
- For ultra creaminess use cream or half and half in the place of milk.
- I used a 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in the 3 or 8 quart pot with no changes.
More Chicken Recipes You’ll Love…
Instant Pot Bacon Cheddar Chicken Pot Pie
Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Instant Pot Easy Chicken Pot Pie
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Instant Pot Chicken a la King
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
A rich, creamy sauce with chicken and vegetables. It tastes great served over rice, biscuits, mashed potatoes or noodles.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 8 oz chopped mushrooms
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp poultry seasoning
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup diced red bell peppers or chopped, drained pimientos
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says hot add in the butter and let it melt. Add in the mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes. Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking.
- Add chicken, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, poultry seasoning and paprika into the Instant Pot.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 12 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- In a glass measuring cup add the milk. Slowly whisk in flour a tablespoon at a time until smooth. Ladle a cup of hot broth into the milk to temper it. Then pour the mixture into the Instant Pot. Turn on the saute setting. Let the sauce thicken (about 5 minutes).
- While sauce is thickening add in the peppers and peas. Shred the chicken.
- Salt and pepper to taste. Serve chicken and sauce over rice, biscuits, mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
*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.
Solid homey recipe. Very easy to make, and directions are clear. Served over spaetzle.
★★★★★
Thanks for the 5 stars!
This is one of my favorites. I like to make it hotter with freshly diced jalapeños and I use a diced onion instead of mushrooms. I usually lay it on a bed of Jasmine rice or combine with a pasta like Cavitappi.
★★★★★
I love those ideas Scott!
This recipe is in our favorites!!!! It was very good..served it over chicken rice a roni.
★★★★★
Sounds like a perfect dinner!
I have a question for you, Karen. The chicken, is it raw or do you cook it first. I’ve only made chicken a la king on the stovetop.
It is raw
Made this tonite and all I can say is like all of your recipes, this was amazing!!!
Will definitely be making again.
Thanks Karen for your daily recipes we love them.
★★★★★
Thanks so much for the 5 stars Lynn!
Really really good! We’re having it again tonight. I served it on Puff Pastry Shells … Yum!!
★★★★★
I love that idea!
I have lots of chicken tenders I need to use. About how long would I need to cook if I used fresh or frozen tenders? Thanks
I would do 4 minutes for fresh and 5 minutes for frozen. SHould work GREAT with this recipe.
My Mom used to make something very similar to this. I don’t think she had a recipe for it though! She baked Pepperidge Farm Frozen Puff Pastry Shells and filled them with her chicken recipe. They were wonderful!
Will be giving this a try — haven’t had it in years.
I really love the idea of the puff pastry. Sounds wonderful.
They were really good! I’m glad to have this recipe. Look forward to making it. And I thank you for all the time and effort you put into creating these instant pot recipes for all of us.
I discovered your website for Instant Pot recipes before I even had an Instant Pot. You’re the reason I went out and bought one! And I have never regretted it — I use it all the time.
Thank you!
Oh I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This sounds/reads so comforting! Would you clarify that if I use red peppers, should they be raw or roasted? You did offer up pimientos as an option, and they are cooked/soft.
I am not Karen, but I think she meant raw red peppers. That is what I am going to use when I make this, which will be soon!
★★★★★
Nice to have read your comment! I’ll still be interested should Karen respond, but of course you are on the money….whether raw and crunchy small bits, or cooked and soft, this recipe calls to me. Enjoy when you make it.
I used raw red peppers. However roasted would be amazing as well!!
I’m on it! I’ll bet served over biscuits it’ll be like chicken pot pie! Be back with stars.
That’s what Greg said!