Instant Pot 5 Ingredient Italian Chicken is one of my favorite “dump and go” meals! It’s perfect for busy weeknights or for Sunday-night meal prep!
I felt like life was busy when our kids were babes but now that they’re full fledged elementary schoolers, I feel like I never knew what busy was until now. There is always something going on, somewhere to be, and it’s tempting to let our weeknight dinners consist of take out and fast food.
Solving the dinner time dash is one of the reasons I love my Instant Pot so much! To make my 5- Ingredient Italian Chicken simply toss all of the ingredients inside of your Instant Pot and dinner is ready in under 30 minutes.
One of my favorite things to do with this dish is use it for meal prep! Just store it inside a glass container in the fridge to use as a salad topper throughout the week. It pairs marvelously with arugula and fresh tomatoes with a little balsamic vinegar. Or serve it over a piece of toasted gluten-free bread like a little crostini.
Instant Pot 5-Ingredient Italian Chicken has been tested and loved by families all over the world and I’m sure yours will gobble it up too!
Note: Jennifer Jones from our Facebook Community was kind enough to calculate the Weight Watchers Smart Points for this recipe. 64 total smart points. Divide by your number of servings.
(I used 2 lbs of chicken, which gave me 20 points for the chicken. If you use 1 lb chicken, subtract 10 points.)
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Instant Pot 5- Ingredient Italian Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
Instructions
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Pour the olive oil into the bottom of your electric pressure cooker. Place the chicken breasts inside and sprinkle the parmesan, basil, and garlic powder on top.
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Place the lid on the cooker and make sure the pressure knob is in the SEALING position. Using the display panel select the MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK function, high pressure, and use the +/- buttons until the display reads 6 minutes.
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When the cooker beeps to let you know it’s finished, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes. Then switch the pressure knob from the SEALING to the VENTING position, causing a quick pressure release. Use caution while the steam escapes—it’s hot.
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Open the lid and shred the chicken into the juices with a hand mixer or fork. If using a hand mixer, drape a towel over your hand, the mixer, and the pot so you avoid splatter getting onto your wall or counter top. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.
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Let chicken cool slightly before assembling sandwiches or salads. Store leftovers inside of a glass container and use as a salad topping throughout the week.
Recipe Notes
If working with frozen chicken breasts extend the cook time to 12 minutes.
For every additional pound of chicken, add 6 minutes.
If you are trying to watch your fat intake, use 1/4 cup of oil, and 1/4 cup of chicken broth in lieu of 1/2 cup oil.
I made these to put on salads. Delicious!
How is it, that you pressured cooked your chicken without liquid?
The oil and the juices from the chicken are enough moisture to allow the pot to come to pressure. 🙂
Thats awesome! Thank you for the swift reply!
Thank you for asking this almost a year ago. LOL I was super nervous about trying it. I’m glad I saw this! It’s putting my mind at ease!
I need double the amount of chicken. Should I double the other ingredients too?
Yes, you could probably use a little less oil but double everything else. 🙂
Do NOT use less oil …. I doubled the chicken but shorted the oil and instantly went to BURN upon pressure … I added chicken stock and it came up to pressure the second time.
Does the chicken taste oily at all?
There is an oil taste but the oil is infused with the herbs and parmesan so it adopts that flavor.
Did you use dry or fresh basil?
Dried.
Do you cook it on the trivet or no? The flavor of these is good, but I have tried it several times and the pot doesnt come to pressure the first two or three cycles and I end up having to add oil.
I do not cook it on the trivot. Very peculiar about it not coming to pressure. Is your pot an 8qt by any chance? The 8qt requires three cups of liquid to come to pressure.
I have the 8 quart and am VERY new to the instant pot world. What should I change to make this recipe? Thanks so much!
The 8qt typically requires a little more liquid to come to pressure. I have not tried making this in the 8qt though so I can not say exactly how much, if any, you should add. I’m sorry!
Did you ever figure out this recipe with the 8qt? I really wanted to try it, but I’m not sure what/ how much to add. Thanks from a newbie!
Do you by chance have any of the nutritional values to your meals?
Hi Lynda, I do not include the nutritional information since everyone uses different brand ingredients and I would not want to mislead anyone. There are awesome online calculators, like My Fitness Pal, that can calculate it for you though. 🙂
Going to try this tomorrow, but all I have are chicken thighs. I have about 3lbs (they were on sale) How should I adjust this? Thank you!
I just started following Brittany about 2 weeks ago. I saw this recipe and honestly was a little skeptical. How could chicken with only 5 ingredients be yummy? How wrong I was! These were Incredible! Picky husband and 3 year old approved. Can’t wait to try oh so many more!
Made this recipe a couple of weeks ago and it’s delicious! Make the Crusty French Bread Recipe today, which is amazing. We’ll be using the Crusty Bread with the Italian Chicken recipe tonight. Yum!
Just about the easiest recipe ever and yet so full of flavor. Bonus even my picky eaters love it. Yesterday my youngest asked me when we’re were gonna make this chicken again.
This has become one of my favorite ways to prepare chicken. I double the recipe and use the leftovers on salad or mix with spaghetti squash
I raved about this chicken so much at work that, Brittany, you now have another follower! Sooo yummy!
This super delicious dish, I added to my salad!
Incredible flavor! And so easy. My new “go to” favorite. Thank you.
Does all of the oil cook into the chicken? I’m Counting Calories and Wondering If all the oil needs to be included.
May I ask why so much oil? For just 12-16 oz. of meat that seems to be alot. Can I decrease the oil and add organic chicken broth?
You can do whatever you’re most comfortable with Linda. 🙂 That works too.
Oh no I got burn! What did I do wrong?
Hello!! Love your recipes!! Quick question do you use your manual setting on high pressure or low pressure??🤔🤔
High. 🙂
I just tried this.. it kept saying “burn” 🙁
I have a family of 6 with three teenage boys. So I used 4 chicken breasts and doubled everything. After 8 min the chicken was still raw. Is there something wrong with my pot??
Would avacad oil work in place of olive oil?
I used 2 chicken breasts – one was slightly bigger than the other and after following the directions it was still uncooked. This was the first recipe it tried so I have no idea what to do with this 1/2 cooked chicken. I do have an 8-quart pot and I saw that you weren’t sure how to make the recipe comply – wondering if you have any new information to add here since the last post. Thanks for your help.
Hi Kim! I do, if you’re using an 8qt you need to use 1/2 cup chicken broth in addition to the oil. If your chicken was not cooked through increase the time to 8 minutes. A 6-8oz chicken breast should cook in 6 minutes any bigger than that and you’ll want to increase the time. 🙂
Help—I am still learning— so you didn’t put any liquid in the pot other than oil? I thought it need a cup of water below and a trivet to sit on??? So instead you just sit the chicken in this oil and it wont burn the pot?? So excited if that is true.
That’s correct. 🙂
I’m going to make this today with the crusty French loaf recipe. For those who don’t like to shred chicken by hand or are flat out, the Kitchenaid mixer is awesome and super fast at shredding! Thanks so much for sharing Brittany, you are an inspiration 😊
I have tried this recipe twice exactly as written in the 6 qt instant pot, and both times the instant pot goes to ‘burn’ and doesn’t cook. I’m not sure why but it is quite frustrating.
I followed directions to a tee and got the burn message before it even made it to pressure…what did I do wrong?? I’ve used the IP for lots of things but never had that happen before 😕
That will sometimes happen to me when I am building pressure. I would reset and add a little liquid to it.
Ally-Instant Loss Team
I just wanted to add…
I am following Weight Watchers and with the new freestyle program you really should only count the oil and parmigiana as long as you are using skin free, white meat chicken.
Sceptic here thought my pot was fixin to blow up when I heard the oil bubbling away inside with no liquid. Ran it through twice x6 minutes each time, wasn’t quite cooked first time. Was careful to only put parm on the chicken to avoid chance of burn. Meat was cooked, tender, flavorful and delish. Sliced, served on bed of mixed greens with grape tomato bruschetta. One breast was enough for two. Might cut breasts in half next time to see if they cook in 6 mins.