Instant Pot Southern Chicken Spaghetti–cheesy chicken spaghetti with a kick! This stuff is creamy and addictive.
Instant Pot Southern Chicken Spaghetti
I kept sneaking bites of this chicken spaghetti! It’s flavored with Rotel tomatoes and queso cheese (the kind you dip tortilla chips in). You’ll love this the night of and it tastes great as leftovers if you’re lucky enough to have any.
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon chicken base
- Spaghetti–whole wheat, angel hair, it all works
- Chicken breasts or thighs–you’ll want to use fresh or thawed because you’ll be cutting them into bite size cubes
- Cumin
- Rotel–I used mild Rotel. If you love spice then use regular or hot variety. If you can’t find Rotel try using a can of petite diced tomatoes and green chiles.
- Tostitos Salsa con Queso–I find this in the aisle next to the tortilla chips. You can also use 4 ounces of Velveeta cheese or 4 ounces of cream cheese.
- Tomato juice or V8–to thin out the sauce…it adds that acidity to cut through the creaminess
- Shredded cheddar cheese–I shred mine off the block for best results. You can also use pepper jack cheese, mozzarella, colby, etc.
Steps
- Layer the ingredients into Instant Pot: Pour broth into Instant Pot. Break spaghetti into thirds and add it into the pot in a criss-cross pattern.
Add the chicken on top of spaghetti. Sprinkle chicken with cumin. Dump the Rotel and queso on top.
- Pressure cook: 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 pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Finish it up: Stir in the tomato juice and the cheddar cheese.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips
- You can also use cooked, rotisserie chicken. Add a couple cups of chicken in at the same time you would add in raw chicken. I like buying the $4.99 cooked rotisserie chickens from Costco and using the meat in recipes like this one.
- Try using a different type of pasta like penne, cavatappi, bowties, macaroni noodles, etc.
- If you like heat try adding in a tablespoon of sriracha.
- Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container* for up to 5 days or freezer for up to 3 months.
- You can double this recipe by doubling all the ingredients but keeping the cooking time the same.
- I used a 6 quart Instant Pot* but you can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
More Instant Pot Pasta Recipes…
- Instant Pot Simple Chicken Slop
- Instant Pot “Stole My Boyfriend” Tetrazzini
- Instant Pot Amish Chicken Noodle Casserole
- Instant Pot Christmas Soup
- Instant Pot Easy Does It Spaghetti
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.
Want More Tried And True Instant Pot Recipes?
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Instant Pot Southern Chicken Spaghetti
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes (plus 5-10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 24 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Cheesy chicken spaghetti with a kick! This stuff is creamy and addictive.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 1/4 cups chicken broth
- 8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
- 12 ounces chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite size cubes
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 (10 oz) can Rotel
- 1 cup Tostitos Salsa con Queso
- 1/2 cup tomato juice or V8
- 4 ounces (1 cup) shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Pour broth into Instant Pot. Break spaghetti into thirds (or in half) and add it into the pot in a criss-cross pattern. Add the chicken on top of spaghetti. Sprinkle chicken with cumin. Dump the Rotel and queso on top. Don’t stir.
- 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 pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the tomato juice and the cheese.
- Serve and enjoy!
- 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.
Could I add diced cooked chicken when it is done cooking? I have a bunch of leftover plain chicken tenders that are already cooked. I assume I would need to change the time then? Thanks!
Sure you can do that. Keep the same cooking time and add 1/4 cup extra liquid
Turned out great for me. Think next time I will substitute shrimp for chicken in here with a bit of cilantro.
★★★★★
I love shrimp! I bet that will taste awesome!
Can I make the full recipe in a 3 qt IP?
Yes I believe it would work just fine!
Mine also turned out pretty soupy but SO GOOD! I’ll just play around with it a bit, but it is a keeper as it is so simple to make and tastes wonderful. My family loved it!
Glad to hear you liked it! Thanks Jo!
If I use frozen diced chicken how long would I cook?
same cooking time 🙂
I’ve made many of your recipes and I’ve given 5 stars to 99% of them. This one didn’t reach your typical 5 star level for me because it was very soupy. I reviewed the ingredients to make sure I didn’t make a mistake and I followed it exactly as it is written.
★★★★
I use Velveeta block cheese cut into blocks to make it not so soupy.
Good idea. I think I’ll cut back on the broth, too.
★★★★★
I use Velveeta Big box Block cheeses cut into small cubes instead of the Queso . It seems to make it thicker to me.
Thanks for your suggestion. Must be a good idea since Denise said the same thing.
★★★★★
Hello,
How much velveeta cheese did you use? Thank you.
Interesting! Mine wasn’t soupy at all. Did you weigh the pasta?
No, but I had a new box of pasta (12 oz) and used 2/3 of the box. The sauce tightened up as it got cooler.
★★★★
Will you have a slow cooker version of this recipe?
No, i’m sorry. It’s because pasta doesn’t do well in the slow cooker.
This looks delicious. Definitely going to make! Thank you!
You’re welcome Liz!
Can you just add whole chicken breast & cut it up in chunks later? If you can, what would be the cooking time? The reason I ask is that I find that the chicken cooks better when left whole.
I do agree with that. The only issue is the spaghetti only needs a short cooking time. You could cook the chicken ahead of time and then add cooked chicken in with the raw spaghetti instead.
Use a rotisserie chicken from the deli that’s already cooked, all you have to do then is removed skin and shred the chicken meat up.