Instant Pot Chicken Bacon Spaghetti–tender bites of chicken are cooked with spaghetti in your electric pressure cooker. The spaghetti is tossed with crumbled bacon, spinach, tomatoes, garlic and parmesan for a flavorful meal that the whole family will love.
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Bacon Spaghetti
YUM! That’s the word that comes to mind when I think of this recipe for Instant Pot Chicken Bacon Spaghetti. My whole family was saying “yum!” as they ate this last night. We will definitely be making this recipe over and over again.
Luckily I already had all of the ingredients on hand. That’s the best feeling in the world, isn’t it? Looking at a recipe and then looking in your fridge and seeing you have everything you need. I even had thawed chicken in my fridge.
A couple notes about the ingredients:
Bacon: I like to use the crumbled bacon from Costco. I buy it in a big bag and store it in my fridge. Then I can just sprinkle on the bacon when I need it in a salad or a recipe. You can also cook up some bacon on your stove until crispy and crumble it.
Chicken: because the spaghetti only needs 3 minutes of pressure cooking time you need to cut up your chicken breasts or thighs into bite size pieces. That way they will cook at the same rate as the spaghetti. Thighs will definitely taste more tender but breasts work okay too. If you like color on your chicken you can saute it with some garlic before pressure cooking it.
Spaghetti: I used thin whole wheat spaghetti. Whole wheat spaghetti is actually really good and tastes just as good as white spaghetti. Some of the other whole grain pastas get a little thick but spaghetti is not like that. I can find whole wheat spaghetti at every grocery store I shop at.
More recipes you’ll love…
Instant Pot Lemon Garlic Parmesan Shrimp Pasta
Instant Pot Thai Chicken Noodles
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Bacon Spaghetti
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 13 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Tender bites of chicken are cooked with spaghetti in your electric pressure cooker. The spaghetti is tossed with crumbled bacon, spinach, tomatoes, garlic and parmesan for a flavorful meal that the whole family will love.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups chicken broth (or 1 3/4 cups water plus 1 3/4 tsp chicken better than bouillon base)
- 8 oz thin spaghetti (I used whole wheat thin spaghetti)
- 16 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite size pieces
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder or 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes with juices
- 1 cup half and half or 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 (3 oz) package crumbled and cooked bacon (about 3/4 cup)
- 2 large handfuls of fresh spinach
Instructions
- Add ingredients to Instant Pot. Pour broth into Instant Pot. Break the spaghetti in half and place into the pot (use a criss-cross pattern so that it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick together). Add the chicken on top. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken. Sprinkle the paprika, Italian seasoning, garlic, crushed pepper on top of the chicken. Pour the tomatoes over the top of the chicken, don’t stir.
- Pressure cook. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes on high pressure (for thin spaghetti and 4 minutes for regular spaghetti). Make sure valve is set to sealing. When the time is up let the pot sit there for at least 5 minutes before moving the valve to venting. Open the pot.
- Add remaining ingredients. Stir in the half and half (or cream cheese), parmesan cheese, bacon and spinach. Turn the pot to the saute mode to heat up the half and half, melt the cheese and cook the spinach until wilted. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve. Scoop the pasta into serving dishes and enjoy! Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
This recipe can easily be doubled to feed a crowd. Double all ingredients and keep the cooking time the same.
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: pasta, bacon, chicken
*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.
What a delicious, flavorful dish! My family really enjoyed having this for dinner tonight, and it went together without much effort……love dishes like that! I use your IP recipes more than any other. Thank you !
★★★★★
So glad to hear it Vicki! Thank you for the 5 stars!
Hi Karen, several questions for a newbie please. can this be doubled, where do you find your precooked bacon at costco, in the frozen section or on the shelf and finally can you use precooked chicken? Thanks so much, Conni
Yes you can double it. I find the bacon next to the pickles, I think…on the shelf. Yes you can use pre-cooked chicken. Use same cooking time.
Does this recipe freeze well?
★★★★★
I do think it would freeze well
I’ve made this a few times since coming across this recipe a few months ago. I absolutely love it. I got a burn signal the first time I made it. Still came out great. I just put the pasta on top of the chicken and everything else after that, and it cooked without any issues. I’ve added shrimp a couple times, and even made without the chicken too and it’s still really good. One of my fave IP recipes for sure.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you found it and have been enjoying it!
I made this the other night and it was delicious. The only change I made is I used Habenaro Ro-Tel, our family likes heat in most things. It was also my first time cooking spaghetti in the Instant Pot and it came out perfect. I also signed up to get your daily emails and found today’s very helpful on doubling recipes.
Thanks for being here Jill! I love that you were able to make the recipe “your own.” It’s so fun to experiment!
I am going to try it
Loved it! Didn’t have spinach so I put some lettuce on the plates before scooping in the pasta. Quick, easy and tasty 😋
Glad you liked it! 😊
My picky eaters loved this! I pureed the tomatoes (since they don’t eat them) in the ninja blender and it worked great. This will be on the menu often. Love my instant pot! Thanks for all your awesome recipes!
★★★★★
Glad you all liked it! Even the picky eaters!
this recipe was simply excellent as written. not to mention EASY and FAST. i usually don’t comment on recipes but this was just tooooo good not to say something. i used costco microwave bacon, cream cheese and ronzoni high fiber spaghetti. it was the first time i tried better than bouillon base. anyway, it all came together wonderfully.
★★★★★
Thanks Sandy! I’m so glad you liked it!
Question: would I change the liquid ratio if I have the 8 quart IP? Or leave as is? Thanks!!
I’d leave it as is 😊
If I decide to saute the chicken with garlic first, do I then just pour in the broth & add the pasta OR do I need to take out the chicken & do the broth/pasta thing & put the chicken on top & go from there?
I’m worried that the pasta is gonna give me the “BURN” signal if it’s sitting on the bottom of the pot & I hate to do this & mess it all up & waste expensive ingredients. Thanks.
P.S. I’m also very jealous, don’t live anywhere near a Costco. Not fair.
Leaving the chicken on the bottom will be just fine! And yes Costco is the best.
How would the time vary for gluten free pasta?
I’ve heard you cut the time down by 1-2 minutes. I personally haven’t tried it myself. Good luck!! 😊
Thanks Karen! I am wondering since I have never seen it in any of your recipes, do you wait for the pin to drop before opening the lid? I have read this in a lot of instant pot recipes and tips.
Thanks again!
Hi Holly, the pot will not let you open the pot until the pin drops. It’s a safety feature. 🙂
How would I adjust this for a 3 qrts? Would I half the ingredient measurements and would it be the same cook time?
You could halve the recipe if you wanted.
But I bet it would fit in the 3 quart with no problem!
Can you use tomato sauce or paste instead of diced tomatoes? Don’t like tomatoes.
I’d try tomato sauce.
How does one measure out 8 oz of spaghetti? With a food scale?
Yes, that’s what I always do.
This was very good. Only changes I made were to use 1/2 parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese instead of all parmesan, and I used less bacon bits than indicated.
★★★★★
Sounds good with the mozzarella! Thanks for sharing.
This was super yummy and such comfort food. I am an instapot novice and this was easy to make, tonight was my second night using the pot. I will be making it again!
★★★★★
Glad to hear this Diana! Good job!
Super delicious. I used swiss chard instead of spinach because I had it. Also just black pepper instead of pepper flakes. Very rich and flavorful.
★★★★★
Perfect!
I Make this tonight and the Family LOVED IT even the kids!!!! Thanks
★★★★★
I’m so glad Donna!
Cooked as directed but my IP wouldn’t complete the cycle – just said “BURN” and the spaghetti was burnt to the bottom – chicken was cut in small chunks and uncooked. Idk what I did wrong.
Oh no! Sad day. You didn’t stir did you?
When do you add the Italian seasoning? Or did I miss that in the recipe?
Oops I accidentally forgot that in the instructions. I just fixed the recipe.
I tried it and the chicken wasn’t cooked… what can I do now?
Was the chicken cut into bite size pieces? Was the chicken frozen or thawed? You can always turn on the saute function if some of the food is uncooked and cook it quickly.
Hey Karen. Excited to try this one. I prefer spaghettini thou. Could you recommend what changes would need to be made?? Thanks a ton!
What is spaghettini?
The spaghettini is the thinner speghetti.
I would use a 3 minute pressure cook time. Should work just fine.
can I use this recipe in my crockpot.
Not that I have tried. Pasta gets gloopy in the slow cooker. Perhaps you could try it on the stovetop?
Could you use fat free half and half? And is the crumbled and cooked pkg of bacon found in the store near the regular uncooked bacon? I’m not aware of this item but then, I’ve never looked for it before!
Thanks.
Hi Karen, you could use fat free if you’d like. It won’t be as flavorful but that’s okay. The bacon can be found in the aisle with the salad dressings and croutons.
Do you think one could use evaporated milk instead of half and half? Would I have to make any other adjustments?
Yes, totally. Keep everything else the same.
What if I didn’t want to use the spaghetti, how long would I cook this? And would I use less liquid? Thanks recipe sounds wonderful.
Cut the liquid to 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Same cooking time. Let the pressure release naturally for best results on the chicken.