One of our favorite things to order out at Italian restaurants or to make at home is Caprese.  What is Caprese?  Caprese is a salad made up of simple, fresh ingredients; fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil and it’s topped off with Olive oil, salt and pepper and sometimes a balsamic reduction.  The colors of the dish resemble the colors of the Italian flag, red, white and green.

The fresh mozzarella gives this combination a creamy texture that can’t be beat.  It’s chewy yet soft and pairs incredibly well with the crispness of the fresh tomatoes and the sweetness that comes from the fresh basil. 

Caprese is incredibly easy to make at home and the ingredients pair well with chicken and pasta!  This recipe is our take on combining one of our favorite salads with a few extra ingredients to make it into an entire meal that everyone will love.  We hope that you enjoy it as much as we do!  🙂 

Tips for making Chicken Caprese Pasta-Instant Pot Recipe:

1.Use fresh ingredients!  Dried basil and canned tomatoes will not achieve the same result.  

2.Make sure that you purchase fresh mozzarella and not prepackaged sliced or shredded mozzarella.  Fresh mozzarella is usually found in the deli section of your grocery story.  Most often, it is sold in water to keep it moist.  You can purchase fresh mozzarella prepackaged or from your deli counter.  For this recipe, we used the small mozzarella balls to save time on slicing or cutting the mozzarella. 

3.If you want your tomatoes and basil to be crisp, wait to add them to the pasta until after pressure cooking.  The recipe as is produces a final product with cooked tomatoes and basil.  I added them in before pressure cooking to add flavor to the pasta but you can wait to add them until the end or add additional tomatoes and basil at the end.  

4.Fresh mozzarella does not stay melted and gooey very long.  If you are preparing this dish in advance, wait to add the fresh mozzarella until you are ready to heat and serve.  Otherwise, the mozzarella will cool off and become much more dense and less stringy. 

 

Looking for more Instant Pot Pasta Recipes?  Check out some of our favorites!

• Instant Pot Mostaccioli
• Instant Pot Shrimp Scampi Linguine
• Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta 
• Instant Pot Crack Chicken Pasta
• Instant Pot Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Ingredients for making Chicken Caprese Pasta-Instant Pot Recipe:

1 Pound boneless skinless chicken breasts- cut into 1 inch cubes
16 ounces of uncooked rotini pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
Balsamic glaze-1 teaspoon to drizzle on top per serving
6-8 ounces fresh mozzarella pearls
2 cups chicken broth
10 small basil leaves- chiffonade (cut into thin slices)
1.5-2 cups cherry tomatoes-cut in half
1 tablespoon garlic-minced
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions for making Chicken Caprese Pasta-Instant Pot Recipe:

1.Turn Instant Pot on Saute-hi.  Once hot, add in olive oil.

2.Add in minced garlic and stir.

3.Add in cubed chicken and stir.  Saute on hi for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  You want to lightly brown the chicken but you do not want to fully cook the chicken.

4.Season chicken with a little salt and pepper as you are browning it.

5.Once chicken is lightly browned, turn off saute function and add in cherry tomatoes that you have cut in half. 

6.Add in sliced basil and stir all ingredients together until well combined.

7.Pour in rotini pasta.  Do not stir once you have added the pasta.  If you stir, you may end up getting a noodle or two stuck to the bottom and this will cause the meal not to cook properly and may end up burning.

8.Pour in chicken broth.  Do not stir!  You can lightly press down on the pasta to make sure that most of it is submerged in the broth, but do not stir.

9.Close the pressure cooking lid and set function to “pressure cook,” change time to 2 minutes on high pressure.  Make sure that the valve is set to seal.  Once timer has beeped at the end of the 2 minutes, natural release pressure for about 2 minutes and then quick release remaining pressure.

10.Add in the mozzarella cheese and stir pasta.  If you would like, you can add additional basil and tomatoes to add a crisp texture to the dish. 

11.Plate and serve with fresh basil and a drizzle of balsamic glaze!  Enjoy!

Recipe