Instant Pot pesto chicken pasta in under 30 minutes! It has seasoned chicken, short pasta, broth, and your favorite jarred pesto. A true dump-and-go dinner with almost no cleanup.

The pesto pasta in a bowl surrounded by cherry tomatoes.

This is one of those recipes that sounds too simple to be worth writing about. That’s until you realize how many people end up with watery, bland pasta because of a couple of easy-to-miss steps. I’ve been there.

It’s a genuine dump-and-go dish: seasoned chicken, uncooked short pasta, broth, and pesto. There’s no sautéing and no separate pots.

If you want something richer and saucier, our stovetop chicken pesto pasta may be a better fit. But for a fast weeknight dinner that is mostly hands off, this is my pick!

Use short pasta, and season your chicken

If you’ve made any of my other recipes, you know that I try to make them flexible. I’m usually not a stickler about ingredients. That being said, there are a couple of things I do everytime I make this recipe.

One is use short pasta. Something like penne, rigatoni, rotini, or ziti cooks evenly under pressure and holds the pesto well. Long noodles clump and cook unevenly in the Instant Pot, so skip them for this recipe.

Another is season the chicken before it goes in: use Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. The broth adds some flavor and the pesto adds more, but neither rescues under-seasoned chicken, and that’s exactly where a flat-tasting dish comes from.

Oh, and one more thing! Taste your pesto before adding it. Some jarred sauces are saltier than others, and between the pesto and the broth, it’s easy to overdo it. I always give it a quick taste first. If you’d rather skip the jar, our homemade pesto sauce works beautifully.

The Instant Pot pesto chicken pasta served in a bowl.

How to make it (and one step you can’t skip)

Before you start adding the ingredients to the Instant Pot, cut the chicken into 1-inch chunks (or smaller), and place them into a medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Raw chicken, noodles, and broth in the pressure cooker liner. — Add the uncooked pasta to the Instant Pot liner, pour in the broth, and give it a quick stir so nothing’s stuck together. Lay the seasoned chicken on top in an even layer. Don’t stir it in.

Cooked chicken and noodles in the Instant Pot. — Seal the lid, set the valve to sealing, and pressure cook on Manual or High Pressure for 5 minutes, and do quick release when it’s done.

The meat and noodles have cooked and pesto has been added. — Here’s the step people skip: drain any excess liquid before adding the pesto. Pouring pesto into a pot of noodles and liquid will make it soupy fast. Drain the liquid, then add the pesto.

Everything have been stirred and the pasta can be served. — Stir until everything is well coated, and serve!

Toppings if you want something extra

Parmesan, fresh basil, halved cherry tomatoes, or pine nuts all work well as toppings.

If you want something slightly more indulgent, a little shredded mozzarella stirred in right before serving is always a good option. I do that more often than not.

For a no-effort vegetable, toss a handful of baby spinach in right after draining. The residual heat will wilt it just enough.

For sides, cheesy garlic bread is the obvious call, and a simple fruit salad is light if you want to balance out the richness.

If your chicken was frozen

A reader in the comments made this with frozen chicken breasts. She mixed the seasoning into the broth instead and cooked for 12 minutes with a 10-minute natural release. Good to know if you forgot to thaw the chicken ahead of time.

How to store leftovers

Store leftovers up to 3 days in the fridge. The pasta soaks up the pesto as it sits, so add a splash of broth or water when reheating. The stovetop or microwave both work fine.

Chicken thighs instead of breasts?

Yes, absolutely! Use same cook time. They’re slightly more forgiving, and they stay juicy.

Can I double it?

Yes, as long as you’re under the max fill line. The cook time stays the same.

No Instant Pot?

My crockpot chicken pesto pasta version is a similar recipe with a different cooking method, or browse our other Instant Pot dinner recipes if you want to keep putting your pressure cooker to work.