Instant Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken–tender bites of chicken with a creamy garlic parmesan sauce. Perfect served over mashed potatoes, noodles or rice.
Note: SLOW COOKER instructions are in the recipe card below
Instant Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken
With fresh minced garlic and garlic powder this Instant Pot creamy garlic chicken has lots of garlic flavor. It’s not overpowering though and according to Greg this recipe “hit it out of the park.”
What kind of chicken? I used chicken breasts cut into the size of chicken tenders. You can also use chicken tenders or trimmed boneless chicken thighs. If you would like to use frozen chicken you’ll need to increase the pressure cooking time.
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Why only 4 minutes? Because the chicken is thinner and fresh you’ll only need a 4 minute pressure cooking time. The whole time the pot is coming to pressure the chicken will be cooking as well as the few minutes of natural pressure release.
What should I serve with the chicken and sauce? I made mashed potatoes in a separate Instant Pot and served the saucy chicken over the top. It was so good! Other good choices are egg noodles or rice. If you’re trying to eat low carb you could serve it over cauliflower rice and use a low carb thickener in the place of cornstarch.
More Amazing Chicken Instant Pot Recipes…
Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta
Instant Pot Green Enchiladas Chicken Soup
Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings Casserole
Instant Pot Chicken Stroganoff
Instant Pot Chicken Enchiladas Casserole
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Instant Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 24 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Tender bites of chicken with a creamy garlic parmesan sauce. Perfect served over mashed potatoes, noodles or rice.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 2 pounds chicken tenderloins or boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 4 Tbsp cornstarch + 4 Tbsp water
- 1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil, for serving
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté. When display says HOT add in the butter and let it melt. Add in the onions and sauté for 4 minutes. Add in the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Turn off sauté setting.
- If using chicken breasts or thighs slice them into thick strips across the grain so that they are the size of chicken tenders. Add the chicken into the pot.
- Toss in the salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. Stir and coat the chicken in the seasonings.
- Add in the broth and scrape the bottom of the pot so that nothing is sticking.
- 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 the pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Pour in the evaporated milk. Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. In a small bowl stir together 4 Tbsp of cornstarch with 4 Tbsp of water, until smooth. Then pour the mixture into the Instant Pot. The cornstarch mixture will thicken up contents of pot quickly. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Stir in parmesan cheese.
- Serve chicken and sauce over mashed potatoes, noodles or rice with a bit of chopped basil on top.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add in the butter and let it melt. Add in the onions and sauté for 4 minutes. Add in the garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add mixture to slow cooker.
- Add the chicken, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. Stir and coat the chicken in the seasonings. Add in the broth. In a small bowl stir together 4 Tbsp of cornstarch with 4 Tbsp of water. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker. Stir.
- Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 2-3 hours or until chicken reaches internal temperature of 165° F.
- Remove the lid and stir in the evaporated milk and parmesan cheese.
- Serve chicken and sauce over mashed potatoes, noodles or rice with a bit of chopped basil on top.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. Make in the 3 or 8 quart pot with no changes.
- 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.
Holy guacamole!! This is only my second time using my IP this is out of this world AMAZING!!!!
★★★★★
WOO!! So glad to hear you are loving your IP
Made tonight and it was the most tender chicken ever, very flavorful. I did not add in the evaporated milk or Parmesan cheese, and it was thick and super flavorful. So if someone has problems eating dairy and is lactose intolerant, or wants to enjoy a lower fat version, just don’t add in those dairy ingredients, it was delicious without! Thank you for the keeper recipe 🙂
Good to know! Thanks Stacy!
Can I do minced onion instead?
And can I do fat free or low fat evaporated milk? Or should I stick to half and half?
Yes you can on both!
I just made this and it turned out really good.
★★★★★
YAY!
Hi, I am so keen on trying this recipe but I would love to add some veggies like mushrooms, brócoli and capsicum. I have an infant at home so the food needs to be soft for him, but I was wondering if the veggies will go too soft if cooked for the 4 minutes in the pressure cooker? If I add them after the cooking process I’m afraid they will not be soft enough for my boy. Thank you!!
Mushrooms will be fine for 4 minutes. Broccoli and peppers will get way too overdone unfortunately. You may want to steam them separately.
Thanks so much!! I will give it a go
★★★★★
I made this tonight after seeing it in fb. I didn’t have evaporated milk , so I used ordinary milk, it was super easy ,quick and so tasty. Thank you
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Great! So glad to hear it Shelia!
This was so good!!!
★★★★★
Glad you liked it Brittany!
Easy to make and super delicious!
★★★★★
So happy you liked it Vanessa!
Love this easy recipe. I searched for a recipe that used ingredients I had on hand, which were limited because I hadn’t been grocery shopping in a couple of weeks. I served it with mashed potatoes the first day. Leftovers were put into a casserole dish with bow tie pasta, topped with mozzarella and baked. So good!
★★★★★
So cool that you were able to repurpose the leftovers!
Very delicious. I cut the chicken to 1 lb and then wished I had made the whole recipe! Thank you for such easy recipes. It does make preparing meals so much easier. Next time I will try the suggested idea of steaming potato cubes at the same time.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Kmaree! 😊
Hi Karen!
I LOVE your recipes and will be trying this one out. Just wondering if I could put my potatoes into a steamer basket and layer it on top of the chicken? If so, would I increase the cook time? Still exploring the instant pot and really enjoy the one pot meals wherever possible.
Thank you for always sharing,
Michelle
Yes I think you could do that with great results. I would cut into cubes and cook the same amount of time as listed in the recipe.
Thank you! I made it tonight with the potatoes in a steamer basket on top of a trivet and it all turned out perfectly!!!
And better yet, we have dinner for tomorrow so I can take a break from cooking.
Oh this is great to know that it worked well! Next time I will do that instead of having two pots going.
Another single senior checking in. If you would consider doing something like this for much smaller proportions I would greatly appreciated as well I’m not keen on eating leftovers over and over. So my freezer is full
You can halve the recipe! https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-halve-instant-pot-recipes/
Hi Karen..I made your creamy garlic chicken today, and it is out the roof delish..I used my IP and went exactly by the recipe..will be making it again and again..thanks for sharing..we really loved it..love your blog!
★★★★★
So happy to hear it Judith! We really loved it at our house too. I could drink the sauce! 😂
If I substitute half & half or heavy cream do I still use 12 oz? If I use cream cheese how much?
I’d use 12 oz half and half or 8 oz of cream. I would use 4 oz of cream cheese.
Delicious. I subbed out the evaporative milk for coconut milk and also added some fresh spinach and sun dried tomatoes at the end with the Parmesan and it worked well
★★★★★
Sounds so great!
If I do this in crockpot do i have to thaw the chicken first?
No, it can be frozen. You will probably need to add 1 hour to cooking time.
Is there an alternative to the evaporated milk? I typically don’t have that readily available in my pantry.
Sure heavy cream or half and half will work. Even cream cheese would be good.
Why evaporated milk?
Could you use regular milk??
You can use heavy cream or half and half instead if you prefer.
Reply to e-mail from Maggie: I would serve everything separately (except w/noodles) and the ‘sauce’ as a ‘gravy’, so diners could put as much or as little as they like on their potatoes or rice or even biscuits. I’ve been living with a man who doesn’t want any of the food on his plate to TOUCH each other for 50 years……so have learned not to put stuff on top of other stuff! LOL
Besides it looks messy!
Great recipe, awesome flavour. However, I do not understand this trend to serve sloppy food on top of other food….ie: mashed potato or rice. I can see it with noodles because they are so dry, but not otherwise. For those of you who need a reduced amount – why not just make it as the recipe calls for, eat what you want, make TV dinners out of the rest and freeze them for a later meal? I do that all the time……..If you have a microwave it will thaw them out if you forget to get them out in the morning, and/or reheat them just fine when you are ready to eat……very time saving & provides a variety of easy meals for you on days when you don’t feel like cooking.
★★★★
Not sure if it’s a trend as I’m pretty sure serving “sloppy” food on top of something else has always been happening. Now, maybe not good mashed potatoes but rice and pasta are more bland and putting the sauce on top gives it flavor and they serve as a vehicle to get said sauce into your mouth. Sort of like how you dip your fries in ketchup and don’t just squirt the ketchup into your mouth. Well, unless you’re my 5 yo. What do you do instead?
I love your recipes. Really. My only issue is I’m a single senior and cook for myself. I’ve tried to cut some recipes in half but they didn’t come out as well. Maybe you could add some tips for those of us that find ourselves eating the same dish for 2-3 days?
Keep up the good work!
Hi, I will keep this in mind. I do have a 3 quart pot now so that helps me consider smaller recipe sizes.
I am also a senior and have cut the recipes as well….sans problems. What are the problems that you are having? Maybe telling Karen that, she can give you some detailed advice.