Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Risotto–creamy no fuss and no stir pesto risotto with tender bites of chicken made quickly in your electric pressure cooker.
Get the SLOW COOKER version of the recipe here
Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Risotto
Risotto is so delicious. But when made in the traditional way on the stove it is annoying. Stir stir stir stir stir. Enter into the picture the Instant Pot…it transforms the process of making risotto into an easy hands-off process. The rice comes out creamy and perfectly cooked. I loved the addition of pesto to this risotto! Pesto is just so flavorful and it gives this rice a wonderful flavor. I chose to add chicken into my risotto to make it more of a meal…it worked perfectly. I used chicken breasts but you could also use boneless chicken thighs. I chose to cut up my chicken into pieces after it was cooked and stir it all in but you can also just serve the chicken in whole pieces.
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What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Risotto I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
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Instant Pot Pesto Chicken Risotto
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Creamy no fuss and no stir pesto risotto with tender bites of chicken made quickly in your electric pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
- 4 cups chicken broth, divided
- 1/3 cup pesto
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, cut in half lenghtwise
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to saute. When the display says HOT add in the butter. Once butter is melted add in the onions and saute for 3 minutes. Add in the garlic and the rice. Stir for 1 minute. Then add in 1 cup of the broth and stir for 2 more minutes. Then add in the rest of the broth, the pesto and the chicken.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to “sealing.” Set the manual/pressure cook button to 10 minutes. When the time is up let the pot sit there for another 10 minutes. Move the valve to venting. Open the pot and stir the rice. Use a spoon to break up the chicken.
- Salt and pepper the risotto and chicken to taste and then serve.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of recipe
- Calories: 306
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 535 mg
- Fat: 11 g
- Carbohydrates: 42 g
- Protein: 22 g
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*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.
I just know this is a keeper. We love pesto and chicken. In your photo of finished dish looks like the chicken was shredded. Should it be shredded or was that just for looks. Can I use chicken tenderloins. Love your recipes. You are the only site I go for instant recipe. Have a great evening.
★★★★★
Hi Gail, you can shred if you’d like. Mine kind of just fell apart like that. I like the idea of the tenderloins!
Do I double all the ingredients including the pesto? I’m making this for a potluck next week and need to make a larger dish but am nervous about changing the recipe.
Yes I would double all ingredients and keep the cooking time the same.
Excellent recipe!!!! Husband said “worth it!” Made it New Year’s Eve since our dinner plans fell though. I substituted shrimp for chicken and prepared shrimp on stovetop to add after risotto cooked. Had our own pesto from the garden and I was thrilled to have used it!! It was great not to have to stand there to keep adding water and stirring. Thank you!!!
★★★★★
Shrimp sounds soooo good!
Would this recipe freeze ok?
I haven’t tried freezing yet. I *think* that it would work okay.
Fantastic! I used boneless chicken thighs, substituted some white wine for broth, added some roasted hatch chilies for some heat and followed all timing and liquid amounts. After the 10 minute slow release, stirred it up and I was so surprised to see how creamy it was!!! It was so creamy and flavorful!
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Love those ideas!
Found your recipe and made it tonight. Wow! It was so fast, easy and tasted amazing! It also made a lot for my family of three, so, yay leftovers! I only had Uncle Bens rice and it still came out creamy and delicious.
★★★★★
Awesome Lisa! I’m glad you had success with Uncle Bens! good to know 🙂
Could I use orzo instead? I don’t have any of that rice. Would I change the recipe at all?
Orzo cooks so fast in the Instant Pot. So you’d have to make some changes to the recipe. You’d probably want to cut up the chicken into bite size pieces and saute them for 5 minutes. Then add in orzo and liquid. Then pressure cook for 1 minute. With a 5 minute natural pressure release. Hope this helps! I bet it will taste yummy 🙂
This was so good! The only thing I did differently was I added more pesto to get more of that flavor, but, other than that, I followed the recipe exactly, and it turned out fantastic! The is the second recipe of yours that I have tried (the first was your King Ranch Chicken), and I will definitely be back for more!
★★★★★
So glad you liked it Logan! And I’m always up for more pesto! It’s my favorite. 🙂
Did you pressure cool on normal or high?
That should say pressure cook…
high
does this call for bone in or boneless chicken breasts?
boneless
This is amazing! Risotto is so cumbersome to make! I have homemade peste from the garden that I used ( regular, avocado, and jalapeno pesto). I added white wine. And when finished topped with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden. So good!
★★★★★
I love this too! your garden sounds amazing.
Can I use whole bone in chicken thighs. If yes directions please
With this type of rice I am not sure that this would work. Bone in thighs take longer than 10 minutes and 10 minutes is how much the rice needs.
Love the idea of this recipe just checking is says brown rice? Is this normal brown rice or risotto brown rice?
Cooking isn’t my strongest point so not 100% of the difference if there is
I used white arborio rice for this recipe.
Soooo good and easy!
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Glad you liked it!
This was my first attempt ever at risotto and I followed the recipe exactly except I added mushrooms because why not… absolutely delicious!! Can’t wait to make it again!!
★★★★★
Mushrooms are a GREAT idea!
looking forward to giving this a trry. Thank-you.
Hey Karen! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’ve made risotto twice now (this time with your recipe) but both times my instant pot would beep and display ‘burn’ before the time is up. Any idea why this would happen? The only thing I did differently was substituted chicken broth with vegetable broth and doubled the pesto. It still came out delicious though, just a lot of scrubbing to do after. Thanks!
Bummer! I am not sure why that would make a difference.
Thank you for all the hard work that goes into making your amazing meals!
My husband and I loved this recipe!
I have used your helpful tips and clear directions to learn how to make amazing meals in my new Instapot!
You’re welcome!!! Happy to help!
This was such an easy recipe. I raised the amount of pesto to 1/2 and added fresh Parmesan cheese at the end. Delicious!!!
★★★★★
I did the same & it was delicious!
Just made this – SO GOOD. I used about a pound and a third of thighs, not breasts, and an entire 7 oz container of pesto. The third thing I’ve made in my new instant pot and the absolute best so far, thank you!
★★★★★
So glad to hear this Pamela!
This was delicious and so easy to make! I doubled the ingredients, but I think I’d add extra pesto next time. So yummy!
★★★★★
Just received our instant pot 8qt. Making this now! Smells amazing so far!
Hope you enjoy!!
Do you have information on saturated fat for this recipe please?
I plugged it into a recipe calculator and it said 5 grams per serving.
This will be my first ever pressure cooked instant pot dish, only received it this week and did a slow cooked bolognese which was delicious. We love risotto but I have only ever made it with a glass a white wine along with the broth – would it be ok just to add it in with the broth and use a little less liquid? Cant wait to see how it turns out and I’ve subscribed so will look forward to trying more of your dishes.
I bet that would be okay. I haven’t tried it so I’m not exactly sure!
It worked fine! Thank you for a great recipe – the perfect consistency risotto with tender chicken, a real family winner.
So glad to hear!
Can this be doubled while still using the 6 quart Instant Pot?
Yep totally.
LOVED this and so easy. I also almost doubled the pesto just because I had so much. So simple and absolutely impressed our neighbor who has spent hours trying to perfect risotto. This is perfect; thank you so much for sharing!
★★★★★
I love pesto and doubling it means double the flavor!
This recipe is a great starting point to be sure. I followed it to a “T.” There was quite a bit of liquid left after cooking. I’m currently cooking on saute and stiring the rice to have it give up some starch. Coming from making risotto the traditional way for so long the recipe needs to be tweaked to get the desired result, but this is so much better than making it the traditional way.
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Yes SO much better!
My daughter doesn’t eat pesto. I was wondering if omitting it will cause it to lose its taste significantly?
Yes, it would. I would make this one instead and add chicken to it: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-parmesan-risotto/
I have a friend coming to visit who is allergic to nuts so thank you for the link to the Parmesan risotto without pesto. I will make it & add chicken.
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Great plan!
This looks really good. I have some precooked cubed chicken. Do I put it in when recipe indicates or wait until the end since it is already cooked?
I would just stir it in after the rice is cooked.
This dish was fantastic! I did use Thai Jasmine Rice because I couldn’t find Arborio Rice is Walmart and it was still very creamy. I used a 7oz. container of fresh pesto I bought because I didn’t want just a little bit of unused pesto in the fridge. I served it with steamed broccoli and it was a hit. I’ll definitely be trying more of your recipes. Thank you so much!
So glad it worked with the thai jasmine rice!
So I found brown arborio rice (though now I am wondering if I just overpaid greatly for short grain brown rice) and am wondering how the cooking time would change for this recipe. Thanks, Rebecca
I’d say 22 minutes.
I make risotto without an instant pot regularly and I was impressed how close this comes to the traditional method! The only thing I did differently is I cooked the garlic a bit then deglazed before I added the aborio with a white wine! I will definitely be making this several times over!
This is so great to hear. I love making it this way. It is soooo easy!
Can this be done with frozen chicken?
If the frozen chicken is not too thick or in a big chunk it should work okay. If they are frozen chicken tenders or normal size chicken breasts I think it would work great.
This sounds delicious. Can I omit the chicken without changing the cooking time?
yes you can.
Looks great! Can I double this recipe?
yes! double ingredients same cooking time
Really great! Used boneless chicken thighs because that is what I had on hand. Will increase pesto to 1/2 cup next time
More pesto = more happiness!
Made this tonight. Delicious and ridiculously easy. Thanks, Karen!
Glad you liked it!!!
Just saw this recipe yesterday and had to give a try today. Delicious! So easy, too. Used boneless chicken thighs (what I had handy). Started at a little after 3:00 pm making a cheesecake in the IP and as soon as that finished, in went the Pesto Chicken. Eating dinner at 5:30 – this never happens at this house! Thanks for the great recipe!
★★★★★
Nice! So glad you enjoyed it!
Could I use a white rice like jasmine? Or even a wild rice (not blend).
Risotto is best with the arborio rice since that is what makes it creamy and delicious.
I made this recipe earlier this week. I had exactly 1/3 cup of pesto in the fridge begging to be made into something when I found this recipe in my in box. This recipe was delicious. I could have taken a spoon, sat down and eaten the whole thing. I will definitely be making this again, and again, and again.
Hi Karen! This was so fun for me to read. I’m glad you liked it so much! I love the creaminess of the rice. I could eat it all day too.
I had 1/3 cup to use up, too. I only use stock, now. So much richer. Subbed 2/3 with white wine…not sure if it made a difference. Delicious! We have leftovers!
★★★★★
Made this last night. Your recipe was both easy to make and really yummy. It fed 3 adults with leftovers and we’ll definitely be making it again. Thank you so much!
Nice Chas!! I’m glad you liked it 🙂
When I saw this recipe I knew that my family and I would love it. And I was right. It was a great meal to make in my instant pot. It made more than I expected, but we will all be happy to eat the leftovers. I think next time I will add celery with the onions.
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yay for pesto! I’m glad you liked it and yes the onions and celery would be awesome 🙂