Instant Pot Marry Me Chicken–chicken cutlets in a flavorful creamy sauce with bacon, garlic and roasted red bell pepper strips. This chicken and sauce is so good that whoever you serve it to will want to marry you!
Note: the SLOW COOKER instructions are listed in the recipe card below
Instant Pot Marry Me Chicken
Greg kept commenting on how darn good this chicken was! If we weren’t married already I’m pretty sure he would have proposed to me after this dinner. It has tons of flavor and it’s quite easy to make. Chicken breasts have never tasted so good!
How to make Instant Pot Marry Me Chicken
This recipe starts with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. We will be cutting the chicken in half so that it is thinner, smaller pieces. To do this place a boneless, skinless chicken breast on a cutting board, and hold it flat with the palm of your non-knife hand. Using a sharp chef’s, boning, or fillet knife, slice the chicken breast horizontally into two even pieces. It helps if you do this close to the edge of the cutting board.
After your chicken is cut into cutlets you can then season it with salt and pepper and brown it in a bit of butter using the sauté setting of the Instant Pot. This will add flavor to your chicken. Then you’ll sauté a bit of garlic and deglaze the pot before adding in the rest of the ingredients.
You’ll only need to pressure cook for 3 minutes because the chicken is thin and it has been browned. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes so that the chicken can remain tender. The pot does come to pressure very quickly because it is already heated up from using the sauté setting.
Roasted red bell pepper strips are then stirred in for lots of flavor. The peppers have a lightly sweet, charred flavor. You can find a jar of Mezzetta roasted red bell peppers by the pickles and pickled vegetables. Another option would be to add in chopped sundried tomatoes.
Next comes in the heavy cream. Remember it’s called marry me chicken for a reason! It’s creamy and full of flavor. Stir the cream together with the cornstarch and pour it into the pot on the sauté setting so that the sauce can thicken up quickly.
Finally you’ll add in the parmesan cheese and the bacon crumbles. I buy both of these items at Costco and keep them in my freezer. A huge bag of shredded parmesan cheese comes in handy for all sorts of recipe like Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup or Garlic Parmesan Chicken. Bacon crumbles are nice for when you want to add some bacon in a recipe but don’t want to fry up bacon on the stove top. It’s very convenient.
What To Serve with Instant Pot Marry Me Chicken
- My favorite way to serve Marry Me Chicken is over rice. I like making brown rice in my Instant Pot because it’s a hands off method.
- You can also serve the chicken and sauce over mashed potatoes, noodles or toast.
- For a low-carb meal, serve it with zucchini noodles or cauliflower rice (or plain).
More Instant Pot Chicken Recipes…
Instant Pot Mexican Queso Chicken and Rice
Instant Pot Garlic Butter Chicken
Instant Pot Chicken and Biscuits
Instant Pot Southern Sunday Chicken
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Instant Pot Marry Me Chicken
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Chicken cutlets in a flavorful creamy sauce with bacon, garlic and roasted red bell pepper strips. This chicken and sauce is so good that whoever you serve it to will want to marry you!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders
- Salt and pepper
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 cup Mezzetta roasted red bell pepper strips
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup bacon crumbles
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- If using chicken breasts cut them into cutlets by slicing them in half so they are thinner. Pat dry. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. Once display says HOT add in the butter and swirl around to melt. Add in the chicken and brown the chicken for about 3 minutes on each side. Move the chicken to a plate. You may need to work in batches.
- Add in the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Add in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Add chicken back into the pot and sprinkle with cayenned, oregano, thyme, paprika and basil.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes (yes just 3 minutes!). When time is up let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the red bell pepper strips. Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. Stir the cornstarch in with the heavy cream. Stir the mixture into the Instant Pot to thicken up the sauce. Stir in parmesan cheese and bacon. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve chicken with sauce over rice, noodles or potatoes.
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- If using chicken breasts cut them into cutlets by slicing them in half so they are thinner. Pat dry. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.
- Add broth, chicken, garlic, cayenne, oregano, thyme, paprika and basil into slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours.
- Stir in the red bell pepper strips. Turn slow cooker to high. Stir the cornstarch in with the heavy cream. Stir the mixture into the slow cooker. Let sauce thicken for about 15 minutes. Stir in parmesan cheese and bacon. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve chicken with sauce over rice, noodles or potatoes.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. Make in the 8 or 3 quart pot with no changes.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
*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.
Delicious! My husband loves this! I didn’t have peppers so used julienne roasted tomatoes. Thanks so much!!
★★★★★
I love those things! Sounds great!
Delish!!!!! Easy and the entire family enjoyed it.
★★★★★
Thanks for the 5 stars Beth!
Another winner, Karen! I changed nothing except for using shredded mozzarella instead of part since that’s what I had. My tenders package was only 1.7# but that was a good thing. It gave me more of the wonderful sauce! A perfectly named recipe!
★★★★★
so glad you liked it! Thanks for the 5 stars.
Awwwww! Greg is a blessed man. And I’m sure that door swings both ways. Congrats & many more!
Thanks so much Kim!
That was so sweet and I wish you both a Happy Anniversary!
★★★★★
Thank you so much!
You left out when to add the broth to the Instant Pot.
Oops. Found it.
Since I didn’t have any heavy cream, I used cream cheese (about 6 oz.) in its place. After everything was cooked, I removed the chicken before adding the peppers and cream cheese mixture to thicken everything. It was good served over mashed potatoes, but will try spaghetti or linguine next time. Hubs liked it too.
★★★★★
Cream cheese is a good idea!
Do you drain the liquid off of the red pepper strips?
Yes I did!
Thank you! Can’t wait to try this!
This recipe was so good, my husband gave it a 5 star plus rating, we made it again for company and they all loved it. This will be done again and again. For those in Canada I found Flame Roasted Peppers in a jar at Walmart the Brand is Regina Molisana and I highly recommend it was so good and not vinegar based. I also used real bacon cut in pieces. I used my 6 qt IP and made it with chicken breast exactly as written. Thank you Karen, I make so many of your recipes and love them.
★★★★★
Thank you so much Helene!
My husband isn’t crazy about chicken(He’ll eat it, but its not his fav), but he loved this! He’s been eating leftovers today. I was telling a workmate today that every recipe that I have tried from your site has been amazing! This and your four ingredient pot roast are the BEST!
★★★★★
Oh that’s a nice compliment! Thank you so much Amber!!!
Would these freeze & thaw well. We’re only 2 people so most recipes are too much for us.
Thaks.
Yes I believe they would!
Fantastic! This is so darn good.. I used 1 lb chicken and kept the rest of the quantities as written… well, except for the heavy cream. A half pint container is a cup. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup. I just used the whole thing instead of letting 1/4 cup sit in the fridge until it expired.
I will definitely make this again.
★★★★★
more cream is always a good idea!
Another hit in our home. Just enough sauce to make us happy, enough flavor to satisfy, and so easy to prepare. Don’t make the mistake I did, cutting chicken into too-small pieces – it gets VERY tender even with that 3 minute cook time.
★★★★★
So glad you liked it Debbie! Thanks for the 5 stars!
I made this last night and it was incredible! The flavor was so good! My husband said it was definitely a keeper! Thanks for ANOTHER great recipe!
★★★★★
Woo HOO!!! Thanks for the 5 stars Barb!
Amazing! We all loved it! The only thing is the name. Just saying it scares me… lol! You will not regret trying this one.
★★★★★
Lol Billy! Thanks of the 5 star review!
This was an instant hit with my family. I will only interject that we are on a low fat, low cholesterol diet and a good sub for the heavy cream is fat free cream cheese, slightly melted in the microwave(about 30 seconds) and omitting the cornstarch. Other than that, absolutely 💯
★★★★★
Good tip for those looking to eat low fat. Thanks Donna!
This recipe is fabulous.
I made this on Monday night and forgot to take a picture. But then my husbands aunt came into town and we made it again on Thursday. It’s so delicious and I highly recommend people try it
★★★★★
WOO HOOOOOO!!!
This looks delicious! One question regarding the slow cooker version – do you omit the butter? I’m assuming so since it’s used to brown the chicken in the instant pot version, but wanted to double check. Thanks!
you are right Amanda!
This was incredibly delicious! I doubled the sauce ingredients, and I’m glad I did – it was so good over rice!
★★★★★
Rice is definitely the best because it sops up all the delicious sauce!
Sounds delicious. Just curious if I can sub pork chops if sliced thin
Thank you
I would use pork chops but not slice them thin. They cook really quick and if you are browning them they will definitely cook in 3 minutes.
Can u just imagine all the nooks & crannies of chicken thighs being slathered with that sauce! Heavenly! My hubby prefers breasts but I prefer thighs so I’m gonna do both! Over rice & steamed carrots with butter…tomorrow!
I was thinking the same think about the thighs. They are my favorite but I was all out!
Cook time the same with thighs?
yes if you slice thin 🙂
Before i ask my question i need to preface it by saying your prep is easy (i’ve done it a million times) and your presentation looks absolutely delicious and i will definitely will make it.
My question is just a matter taste: can i substitute chicken Thighs? i prefer their flavor and don’t mind if they are are not as lean as breasts.
I agree! This recipe looks delicious but I also prefer boneless thighs to breasts.
Yes you can and I think they will be amazing. I would slice in half horizontally and then pressure cook for 5 minutes.