Instant Pot Marry Me Pasta–tortellini pasta with bacon, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese. DEE-licious!

Instant Pot Marry Me Pasta
If you want to seal the deal and get a marriage proposal you may want to make this delicious pasta dish! Lol! Even if you don’t want a marriage proposal you can make this for yourself and family members that you love.
It’s got tortellini, parmesan cheese and to put it over the top–crispy bacon! Tortellini is just the most fun pasta out there. With its cheesy middle and pillowy texture it’s just a winner. I like to use fresh, refrigerated tortellini pasta for this particular recipe. It was actually the same cost as the frozen tortellini at my grocery store.
I decided to fry up the bacon instead of using the more convenient package of bacon crumbles. I think it was definitely worth the extra effort. Sometimes I like to fry my bacon in my air fryer instead of on the stove, oven or Instant Pot (and then just use some of the grease from the bottom of the air fryer to saute the shallot and garlic in the Instant Pot).
Fresh parmesan cheese grated off the block is best for flavor but you can also use pre-shredded cheese if you’d like. I do like actual parmesan cheese for this particular recipe instead of the powdered stuff in the green can.
I’m a huge fan of sun-dried tomatoes for their intense sweet-tart flavor. They’re stronger than than fresh tomatoes. But if you can’t find sun-dried you can use fresh or canned diced tomatoes (drained) instead.
Related: Marry Me Chicken
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Bacon–you can also use a package of bacon crumbles
- Shallot
- Minced garlic
- Water
- Better than Bouillon Chicken Base
- Buitoni Tortellini–refrigerated tortellini. You can also use frozen tortellini but only use a 1 minute pressure cooking time.
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Italian seasoning
- Chopped, cooked chicken–I use rotisserie
- Sundried tomatoes–in a pinch you can use a can of diced tomatoes instead
- Shredded parmesan cheese
- Heavy cream–or 4 ounces cream cheese
Steps
- Fry the bacon: Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the bacon and fry until crisp. Use a slotted spoon to move the bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Discard all but 1 Tbsp of the bacon grease.
- Saute: Add in the shallot and saute for 3 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
- Deglaze the pot: Pour water into pot and scrape bottom of pot so nothing is sticking.
- Add ingredients: Add in chicken base, tortellini, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and chicken.
- Pressure cook: Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 2 minutes. When time is up move valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Add final ingredients: Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan and cream. Finally stir in the bacon.
- Serve: Scoop onto plates and enjoy!
Notes/Tips
- Serve with roasted broccoli or brussels sprouts.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Other recipes you can make with sundried tomatoes are Instant Pot Olive Garden Chicken Pasta and Instant Pot Chicken And Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce.

More Instant Pot Pasta Dishes You’ll Love…
Instant Pot Shrimp Scampi Pasta
Spaghetti, lemon juice, garlic buttery sauce and tender bites of shrimp all tossed together to create a flavorful dinner that will impress your friends. The secret is that it doesn’t take hardly any effort at all!
Instant Pot Chicken Supreme Pasta
An easy dump and go recipe for pasta with chicken, vegetables, pepperoni cheese and a creamy yogurt sauce.
Instant Pot Chilis Copycat Cajun Chicken Pasta
An easy way to make a copycat version of Chili’s cajun chicken and penne. It tastes soooo good and costs a fraction of the price you’d pay at a restaurant.
Instant Pot Fireman’s Pasta
Penne pasta with chicken, bruschetta, spinach, garlic and parmesan cheese. A simple recipe with amazing flavor!
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 Marry Me Pasta
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 minutes
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
Description
Tortellini pasta with bacon, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese. DEE-licious!
Ingredients
- 4 slices of bacon, chopped
- 1 shallot, diced
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 2 cups water
- 1 Tbsp Better than Bouillon Chicken Base
- 1 (20 oz) package Buitoni Tortellini (refrigerated)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2–3 cups chopped, cooked chicken (I use rotisserie)
- 1 (6.7 oz) jar sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream or 4 ounces cream cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the bacon and fry until crisp. Use a slotted spoon to move the bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Discard all but 1 Tbsp of the bacon grease.
- Add in the shallot and saute for 3 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
- Pour water into pot and scrape bottom of pot so nothing is sticking.
- Add in chicken base, tortellini, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and chicken.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 2 minutes. When time is up move valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan and cream. Finally stir in the bacon.
- Scoop onto plates and enjoy!
- Category: Pasta
- 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.
pressure cooker seems unnecessary for this recipe.
You could choose to only use the saute setting for this recipe if you’d like. Either way works fine!
Wow, this really was dee-licious! The bold flavored ingredients came together perfectly here. I made this one as written using the same ingredients in my 3 qt. IP Mini, save for using frozen tortellini and low-sodium chicken broth. Even though it seemed counterintuitive to me to pressure cook the frozen pasta for half the time of refrigerated pasta, it was just the right amount of time of course. This is one of the best and tastiest pasta recipes I’ve made here, and that’s sayin’ something. Thank you once again, Karen.
★★★★★
Thank you so much John! I love hearing this!
If I only have sun-dried tomatoes that are not in oil, how do I use them?
★★★★★
Hi Karen! This sounds great, but how would I adjust the time if I used frozen tortellini instead of fresh?
She had post to do 1 minute for frozen. It’s in the section before she actually posted the recipe and directions. It’s in the section that says you can use diced tomatoes in a pinch if you didn’t have sun dried tomatoes. Hope this helps you. Enjoy your meal! It sure looks delicious!
Thanks, Debbie — I really must learn to read better! 😉
😂 I ado the same thing!