Our easy Instant Pot creamy chicken with cream of chicken recipe can be made with fresh or frozen chicken breasts. is a meal your family will love. So tender the meat can be shredded with 2 forks, smothered in sauce and served over noodles for dinner.
We made this creamy chicken in Instant Pot dish after our Crockpot creamy chicken dish was so very popular. Not everyone has all of the countertop appliances so I wanted to cover all my basis. We all love dishes with cream of chicken and this will be another one of our Instant Pot recipes you’ll add to your rotation.
You don’t have to own an IP either. Yes I know and own the other machines that work just the same. For Crockpot Express you will use the same steps. For a Ninja Foodi recipe choose the lid that is not attached and the pressure cook button. If you have rotisserie or precooked meat you can skip the first step.
In that case you will only use the saute or brown button to melt and warm the condensed soup and cream cheese. The pasta would be cooked separately, ideally. OR you can use our pressure cooker butter noodles directions before, after, or in another pot. On the stovetop works as well of course, take your pick, but just do it apart from one another for the ideal outcome.
This is similar to our pressure cooker chicken and rice dish. That one includes white rice into the mix all cooked together until tender whereas this boils noodles separate. The reason this one isn’t one pot is because I wanted the sauce with meat to be super thick. If you added the pasta in there too you’d need to increase the liquid broth which would thin it out.
Ingredient Notes
You are going to want to add about 2 lbs of chicken breasts (fresh or frozen – boneless skinless), chicken thighs or make as a leftover chicken breast recipe. If you prefer dark meat that is fine too but use the same weight.
You are going to want the base of this to be a can cream of chicken soup or mushroom, either one works really as long as it is that thick condensed type from Campbells or store brand is fine.
Then you are going to add a block of cream cheese cut into cubes, softened so it melts easily.
For the liquid needed to steam the meat to shred I think Chicken broth is best for the flavor vs water which offers nothing
Add a dry packet of Italian dressing mix, seasoning can be found near the actual dressings in the bottle
Butter or dairy free alternative works too
How Long to Cook Creamy Chicken in Instant Pot
I like cooking on high pressure for 15 minutes so the meat gets super tender and literally falls apart. At 12 minutes it is cooked but not as easy to shred so I set for a few more minutes and it was better.
How Long to Cook Creamy Chicken with Frozen Chicken
You could actually make this with frozen chicken in Instant Pot (separated from one another) if that is all you have on hand. With the cook time, fresh or frozen will work and still come out tender enough to shred with 2 forks. I’d highly suggest boneless skinless frozen chicken breasts, small sizes to get tender.
Can you add vegetables?
As for adding vegetables into the mix I would only do so with diced frozen vegetables like peas or mixed with green beans and carrots. 3/4 of a cup would work, added before sealing the lid. 15 minutes for fresh produce would break them down too much, other than maybe carrot dials (those would be fine).
Substitutions and Variations
You could use low fat cream cheese if you wanted but I will say that the taste is definitely different if you do. If you wanted to omit that ingredient all together you could instead use 2 cans of soup to keep it nice and thick as a sauce when done. In this case I would use 1 can of cream of chicken and use mushroom for the other for the best flavors.
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Recipe
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breasts, fresh or frozen, boneless skinless
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 packet Italian dressing mix
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 can cream of chicken soup, or cream of mushroom soup
- 1 block cream cheese, cut into cubes, softened
Instructions
- Add chicken and broth to the instant pot. Sprinkle dressing mix on top of the chicken. Add butter. Set to poultry (or manual) high pressure for 15 minutes. When cooking is complete, let steam naturally release for 10 minutes.
- Release pressure valve and carefully open the pot. Using two forks, shred the chicken. Stir in cream of chicken soup and cream cheese until completely melted. If necessary, set the instant pot to saute to create some heat while stirring and help the cheese melt.
- Serve immediately on top of egg noodles cooked separately.
Notes
Made With Frozen Chicken Breasts
If starting from frozen make sure they are small sized, boneless and skinless. They need to be separated or this will not be successful. If not run under cool water to pull apart from one another and lay inside pot overlapping the least amount possible. Timing will not change unless they are larger pieces, in that case change to 20 minutes cook time.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
FAQ
As long as you pressure cook chicken in a sauce or broth to stay moist it will in fact fall apart more and more over time. You only need 12-15 minutes for boneless breasts and about 1 hour for a whole bird to get it to perfectly tender. If you forgot about it for a few more minutes though you would be okay. Allowing for a natural release of steam will tenderize it too.
You can using the saute function with a bit of oil inside but it is not necessary. If you do want a bit of browning and texture on the outsides (with skin on this is nicer) just sear for 2 minutes on each side, then pressure cook. You can skip this step too though and still have a successful meal.
Can I freeze leftovers?
You can but I would recommend that you freeze it without the noodles inside as those don’t freeze and thaw out well. Better yet is to just keep the soup, tender chicken sealed in a container once cooled in the fridge. It will stay well for up to 3 days. When reheating creamy chicken transfer to a microwave safe dish. Heat for 45 seconds, stir and heat for another 45 seconds or until warmed all the way thru to the middle.
