Our Instant Pot lemon chicken casserole recipe is great! We love to make this with fresh chicken thighs (not frozen chicken in the Instant Pot) mushrooms, and noodles for this hearty meal your family will love.
Do you love casseroles AND lemon chicken?? Us too! I thought, why not combine everything together and that is what we did. Bonus that it’s a one pot dinner and made in less than 10 minutes. I’m serious, Instant Pot recipes are that easy.
Yes we are a bit obsessed with Instant Pot casseroles. If I can throw everything in all at the same time and come out with a bowl of comfort food, I’m all about it! Makes dinner easier which means we can eat together more often.
Pressure Cooker Lemon Chicken Casserole
You can make this as a Ninja Foodi recipe or Crockpot Express too. The brand doesn’t matter because they all offer the saute and high pressure functions. With the foodi though you do need to remember that to pressure cook you use the lid that is not attached.
The great thing about pressure cookers is that you don’t have to cook the noodles separately. That is a game changer for me. No precooking required means less prep work and a faster meal. That makes family dinner night a lot easier to do regularly.
Ingredient Notes
For the meat we are going to use boneless skinless chicken thighs diced into bite size pieces. If you would rather use white meat that is fine, I think dark is moister though.
The type of Pasta we used here was medium size, we used penne noodles but really any shape works.
The Bell peppers were diced fine, you could use any color but yellow is a bit sweeter. Onions can be added with these too.
The Mushrooms are optional however I love baby bellas if I can find them. As opposed to button or white types these will remain a bit firmer when cooked under high heat.
I literally add minced garlic to all of my dishes. You can chop from fresh cloves or use a jar full which saves me some time.
Our Lemon wes freshly squeezed (best) but from a bottle will work to give it that fresh citrus flavor to the dish.
Chicken broth is the liquid you will need to get the noodles tender. You could use water but that won’t add any flavor so I don’t recommend that alternative.
How do you make this creamy?
If you want this to become creamy you just add some heavy whipping cream. You can leave this out if you want it to be healthier but it is way better with it.
Are chicken breasts or thighs better?
Similar to our pressure cooker chicken and rice dish, you could use chicken breasts or thighs really. If you prefer dark meat that is juicier I would go with that. Typically I will just use what I find on sale at the store really.
Salt and pepper is optional, if using leftover pressure cooker fried chicken there wouldn’t be any additional seasonings needed. If you think the sauce is not thick enough at the end you can create a cornstarch slurry with a bit of cold water and add in to saute for a minute or so.
I haven’t tried this with whole grain or gluten free noodles yet, so I don’t have timing recommendations for those. If you make it and can share how long it took for you to make the noodles tender, please share. This is like our Instant Pot lemon chicken but with your side dishes cooked together.
Do you have to saute the chicken first?
Yes you should saute meat with some olive oil or butter with the saute function diced into bite size pieces. Diced onions and bell peppers small so they can soften together. Minced garlic is great too. Just brown the chicken on the outside, it doesn’t need to cook all the way through. Make sure to then turn pot off after sauteeing.
Tips for Success
Remember to not overcook it, you want it to be tender, juicy and full of flavor when done. I just saute 2-3 minutes until outsides of chicken pieces are no longer pink. Make sure to follow recipe notes carefully when it comes to stirring, when to do so and when not to avoid burn notice.
Lemon Chicken Casserole Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp butter, we used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter
- 1.5 lbs chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, diced
- 1/2 small onion, diced
- 2 small bell peppers, diced
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 whole lemon, juiced
- 1 cup mushrooms, baby bellas, quartered
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 8 oz noodles, we used small penne
- 1 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/8 tsp pepper, optional
Instructions
- Add your butter to the pan, set pressure cooker to saute, then add your diced chicken thighs.
- Once pan is hot add your diced onions and bell peppers and saute until outside of chicken pieces are no longer pink.
- Add minced garlic and stir, turn pot off/cancel.
- Squeeze 1/2 of your lemon into mixture, pour in quartered mushrooms and sprinkle in your garlic salt (and pepper if you’re adding that).
- Pour in your uncooked noodles and pour your broth on top of them, do NOT stir.
- Gently push your noodles down until some are submerged in the liquid (it’s okay if not all of them are).
- Close lid and steam valve and set to pressure high for 4 minutes.
- Do a quick release, turn off/cancel and then hit saute again if you want to thicken your casserole.
- In a bowl whisk together your whipping cream and cornstarch until smooth.
- Pour this into your Instant Pot and gently stir allowing mixture to bubble and thicken. Squeeze in your remaining 1/2 lemon juiced. Turn pot off once achieved so it doesn’t continue to cook.
- Will continue to thicken as it sits. Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese on top if you like.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Other one pot meals you’ll love
And that is our complete Instant Pot dinner done in less than 30 minutes flat people! Looking for more easy Instant Pot chicken recipes? Our Instant Pot crack chicken casserole is probably one of our most popular recipes.
If you want enjoy Instant Pot chicken thighs a lot, we have another idea here for you. Our Instant Pot chicken parmesan casserole and lemon pepper chicken wings air fryer style are great. Want to make Crockpot lemon pepper chicken that’s keto friendly too? Do it!! They’re a bit different from one another but delicious just the same.
What do you eat lemon chicken with?
Well if you’re making our pasta dish it’s kinda’ all encompassing. I don’t serve a side dish with that. If you’re making the other version though without the noodles I would suggest vegetables and rice all the way. Greens are great like some Instant Pot spinach, Swiss chard, or kale
Green beans steamed or cooked with some butter work. Served on top of some roasted or mashed potatoes is my husband’s favorite. My favorite is Instant Pot white rice, purely simple and naturally gluten free
The picture of yours looks like there is corn in it or something yellow.
Those are bits of yellow bell peppers, 2 are needed so I used two different colors
What if you don’t have saute on crackpot?
This is for a pressure cooker, not a crockpot.
@The Typical Mom,
The title of the recipe says slow cooker not pressure cooker.
@The Typical Mom,
My apologies, there is a second recipe that says slow cooker lemon pepper chicken, however, everything below that is for a pressure cooker so I believe that is where the confusion is. I don’t see the recipe for the slow cooker lemon pepper chicken.
https://temeculablogs.com/crockpot-lemon-pepper-chicken/
It came out awesome what a great recipe thank you very much! Made with my ninja foodi Deluxe 8-quart
Yay glad you loved it too!!