Instant Pot Chicken Marinara with Mozzarella
Instant Pot Marinara Chicken is a quick, cheesy dinner recipe smothered in easy, garlicky homemade tomato sauce with tender chicken breasts and melted mozzarella.
My family loves a kid-friendly, easy weeknight recipe. And this one checks all of the boxes: it’s packed with protein from lean chicken breasts. It’s served with comforting pasta.
It has rich flavors from the quick and easy homemade tomato sauce. And, of course, it’s topped with gooey, melted cheese!
If your mouth is watering, then you need to add this Instant Pot Chicken Mozzarella dinner recipe to your menu this week. We make this easy chicken marinara for dinner all year round, and you’ll want to do the same after you give it a try!
Update: This is such a crowd-pleasing Instant Pot dinner recipe, we decided to update our post with new photos and air fryer lid instructions for perfect chicken marinara every time. Enjoy!
How to Make Instant Pot Marinara Chicken
This Instant Pot Marinara Chicken recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.
The great part about this recipe is that you get all the flavor of homemade marinara sauce, without any of the work or long simmering time. The garlicky, herb sauce cooks at the same time as the chicken breasts, and all it takes is a 5 minute cook time at High Pressure.
📏 Tip: The most important thing to ensure that the chicken cooks all the way through is to use evenly sized chicken pieces.
If your chicken breasts that are very thick on one end and thin on the other, gently pound them to a uniform thickness before pressure cooking.
When I’m making this for my family, I cook the pasta on the stove while the chicken cooks in the pressure cooker. That way, I can have more control over portion sizes. (And so I can accommodate different sauce preferences among the little ones.)
Can I Make Marinara Chicken with an Air Fryer Lid?
Yes. If you have an air fryer lid, you can use it to melt and brown the cheese instead of the oven. (Note that the result will be a bit saucier.)
Lock the air fryer lid in place. Select Air Fry and set the temperature to 400ºF and set time to 5 minutes. Select Start to begin. Check halfway through to make sure it’s not browning too quickly.
Big-Batch Marinara Chicken
You can easily add to this recipe to feed more. Add 6 or more chicken breasts (if your Instant Pot is large) without any changes to the cook time. Just make sure not to fill your pot more than two-thirds full.
More Easy Instant Pot Dinner Recipes
Tender, juicy chicken is one of the best proteins to make in a pressure cooker. Here are some of our other favorite fast weeknight Instant Pot chicken recipes to try next:
- Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken is a homemade version of your favorite restaurant order that’s way better than take-out.
- Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo Lasagna is a one-pot chicken and pasta dish loved by all ages.
- Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Over Rice is another well-balanced family dinner to make in the electric pressure cooker.
- Pressure Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken from Taste and Tell is comforting, sweet, and savory.
Do you LOVE this recipe?
Leave us a review below to tell us why!
Instant Pot Marinara Chicken
Instant Pot Marinara Chicken features tender chicken breasts coated in a flavorful homemade tomato sauce and topped with melted mozzarella.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed or pressed
- 1 can (14 ounce) crushed tomatoes in purée
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup grated low-fat mozzarella
- Cooked pasta, for serving, if desired
Instructions
- Salt and pepper chicken breasts. Add oil to the pressure cooking pot, select Sauté. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken breasts in two batches. Transfer to a plate.
- When all the chicken is browned, add more oil if necessary and sauté the garlic for 1 minute. Add the canned tomatoes, water, basil, red pepper flakes, and salt to the pressure cooking pot. Stir to combine. Return the chicken breasts to the pot.
- Lock lid in place. Select High Pressure and 5 minutes cook time. When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker and use a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid. Check to make sure the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the middle (165°F).
- Preheat the broiler and spray a small glass casserole dish with non-stick spray. Place the chicken in the dish. Select Sauté and cook the sauce until it thickens to your desired consistency. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
- Sprinkle the mozzarella over chicken and put the dish under the broiler until the cheese is melted and starting to lightly brown. Watch it closely once it starts to brown it can brown quickly.
Notes
You can use an air fryer lid to melt the cheese. Lock the air fryer lid in place. Select Air Fry and set the temperature to 400ºF and set time to 5 minutes. Select Start to begin. Check halfway through to make sure it’s not browning too quickly.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 321Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 124mgSodium: 401mgCarbohydrates: 3gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 44g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
FOR MORE FROM PRESSURE COOKING TODAY
🥘 Browse our collection of the best pressure cooker / Instant Pot recipes.
💬 Follow Pressure Cooking Today on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates.
👥 Join our Electric Pressure Cooker Facebook Group. Our positive community of pressure cooking fans use all brands of electric pressure cookers, so it’s a great resource if you have questions about your particular brand.
🥧 If you’re interested in more than just Instant Pot recipes, follow us at Barbara Bakes. There we post amazing breakfasts, breads, and the best dessert recipes!
Making this right now, and I’m confused by the “sauce”. It’s been simmering on saute function for 15 minutes….still so watery. It’s supposed to thicken up? What am I missing?
If it’s been simmering for 15 minutes and is still watery, it’s likely that your chicken released more liquids than is usual during the pressure cooking process. I would recommend making a cornstarch slurry to help it thicken up. Combine 2 tablespoons cold water with 2 tablespoons corn starch. Stir until well mixed, then add them into the cooking pot, stirring the whole time. The cornstarch will thicken the sauce nicely once it gets above 200 degrees F. If it’s still thinner than you’d like, add another 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water in the same manner.
Let us know how it turns out!
Thank you for your chicken marinara recipe, I was inspired by it this morning when trying to figure out dinner for tonight. It was a hit! I used four pretty large chicken breasts, so I used my 8 quart Instant Pot and it was fine, for anybody wondering about using a larger IP.
That’s so fun that you made it already and it was a hit. Thanks Dana!
I would like to make this recipe with a pound or two of chicken tenderloins, for smaller serving sizes. Would I need to make any adjustments to the cooking time?
Hi Beverly – I would use a 3 minute cook time, that’s the cook time in my Chicken Lazone recipe which uses chicken tenders. https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/pressure-cooker-chicken-lazone/
Can you could more chicken breasts (6)? How would this change the recipe, if possible?
Hi Mickey – yes, you can add more than 6 breasts without making any changes to the cook time. Just make sure your pot isn’t more than 2/3 full. Enjoy!
I just got an Instant Pot and have been bookmarking your recipes, which look wonderful. I just wanted to bring up a safety issue with this one – glass is not broiler-safe. Last summer my daughter’s friend tested this theory in my kitchen and the glass dish exploded. It’s not always going to happen, but it can, and its really awful and dangerous when it does.
Hi Marcy – so glad you’re liking my recipes. Thanks for the safety tip.
Hey Barbara,
I love making my own sauce and I’m sure it’d be much quicker than the hours it takes on the stove. If I had a regular recipe for sauce how would I change it for the pressure cooker? adding more water perhaps? Thanks for your help…I just use canned tomato sauce and add my own spices…I love your recipes!!!
Can the chicken be frozen?
Hi Jessica – I haven’t tried it with frozen chicken, but it should work just fine. I’d probably add 1 minute if I was using frozen chicken breasts.
¡¡¡Delicioso!!!!!!!
Love the sound of this, and it’s Phase One too!
Oh boy, this will be going on the menu here soon for sure. I like homemade Marinara Sauce too-I have one I go to all the time but I just might try your version with this one.
Now all I need to do is have Bob replace the broiler element in the wall oven! 🙂
I love your recipes, Barbara — they always turn out great! I can’t wait to make this!!! (and I love your advice: if you’re serving pasta, get the water on before you start this recipe — can’t believe how fast this will cook)!