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Ok, Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken thighs, let’s go! I have been in the kitchen again experimenting with my Instant Pot. I often prepare recipes using chicken breasts with my Instant Pot. I decided to switch it up some and use chicken thighs. Chicken thighs can be a little more juicy, which is a major win!
If you are looking for more Keto Instant Pot recipes, check out my Keto Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Keto Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and Keto Chicken Zoodle Soup.
Do You Use Boneless or Bone-in Thighs
I used bone-in thighs. Both will work for this recipe.
How Long to Cook Chicken Thighs in the Instant Pot
How long does it take to cook chicken thighs in the Instant Pot? I pressure cook for 14 minutes. This produces tender, juicy chicken thighs.
Can You Use Frozen Chicken?
Yes. You can use frozen chicken. Follow the same instructions outlined. Your Instant Pot should take longer to come to pressure. For chicken thighs, you will set the Instant Pot for 14 minutes. It will take longer to come to pressure.
How to Use a Slow Cooker or Crock Pot
I like to cook them for 4 hours on High or 8 hours on Low.
This recipe is loaded with flavor. I love to add reduced-fat cream cheese to dishes that have a cream sauce. The cream cheese yields amazing results. The Better Than Bouillon Chicken flavor used in the recipe goes a really long way, as well. Purchase it here from Amazon.
This dish is great for a quick weeknight dinner or for advanced meal prep. My favorite side dish pairings for this recipe are brown rice or quinoa for carbohydrates.
Any steamed veggies will work well. Broccoli and green beans are my favorite If you are really strapped for time, I am in love with the steamable options at Costco.
Like I mentioned above, chicken thighs are JUICY! This cream sauce is so decadent and filled with flavor because it is prepared using the natural juices produced by the chicken….in addition to a few other amazing ingredients.
I am in love with my Instant Pot. I feel like I rarely use my oven anymore!
You may also enjoy my Keto Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole, Keto Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole and Philly Cheesesteak Casserole recipes.
Pair the chicken thighs with Instant Pot Southern Green Beans, Instant Pot Collard Greens, Instant Pot Cabbage, Air Fryer Garlic Green Beans, or Air Fryer Asparagus. Get more Instant Pot Recipes here.
Instant Pot Apple Pie Steel Cut Oats
Instant Pot Brisket
Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup
Instant Pot Chicken, Seafood, and Sausage Gumbo
Instant Pot Green Bean Casserole
Instant Pot Shrimp Risotto with Vegetables and Parmesan
Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
Instant Pot Chicken and Spanish Rice (Arroz Con Pollo)
Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash
Instant Pot Steak Tacos
Instant Pot Low-Carb Creamy Garlic Tuscan Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 4 bone-in chicken thighs fat trimmed if desired
- 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning divided
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon Chicken Seasoning
- 3/4 cup milk I used unsweetened almond milk.
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
- 1/4 cup parmesan reggiano cheese grated
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 1/2 cups fresh spinach
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or xanthan gum Xanthan gum is keto. Use 1 teaspoon. See notes for instructions.
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Pour the olive oil into the Instant Pot.
- Season the chicken with 1 teaspoon of the Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
- Place the Instant Pot on the Saute function. Brown both sides of the chicken for 2-3 minutes on each side.
- Add the chicken broth, Better Than Bouillon and remaining Italian Seasoning to the pot.
- Close the Instant Pot and Seal. Cook on Manual/High-Pressure Cooking for 14 minutes.
- When the pot indicates it has finished, quick release the steam.
- Open the pot and remove the chicken.
- Add the almond milk, sundried tomatoes, cream cheese, whipping cream, parmesan reggiano, garlic, and spinach to the pot. Place the Instant Pot on the saute function.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes until the cheese has melted and the spinach has wilted.
- Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Stir. Add it to the pot. This will thicken up the cream sauce. If your sauce isn't thick enough add an additional tsp of cornstarch with an additional tsp of water. Allow the sauce to continue to cook until it has reached your desired thickness. Stir repeatedly to ensure the sauce does not burn. It will take about 10 minutes to fully thicken.
- Either add the chicken back to the pot with the cream sauce or place the chicken in a serving dish and drizzle the sauce throughout.
Video
Notes
- If using xanthan gum, use 1/2 teaspoon and place it in small bowl. Grab 1-2 tablespoons of the cream sauce from the Instant Pot and combine it with the xanthan gum in the bowl. Stir until thick. Add it back to the pot and continue to stir until the sauce thickens.
- Cook time noted above includes estimated time for the Instant Pot to come to pressure.
- This dish is prepared with additional cream sauce than what is necessary for 4 pieces of chicken. This is my preferred way to prepare the dish, as I use the sauce to compliment side dishes like broccoli and cauliflower mash. It also helps tremendously with reheating leftovers. No dry chicken!
- If you desire less cream sauce, reduce the almond milk to 1/3rd or 1/2 a cup. The serving sizes of the remaining ingredients will stay the same.
Rick C.
I love the idea of using thighs, however, I happen to have 6 chicken breast that I need to cook and would like to use them in this recipe. Do I still pressure cook the breasts for 14 minutes or do I need to adjust the time? Thanks.
staysnatched
I do 10 minutes of pressure cooking followed by 10 minutes of natural release for chicken breasts.
Karen
This looks so good. Can i use arrowroot instead of cornstarch?
staysnatched
I’ve heard great things about it, but I haven’t tried it myself. I’m sure you can.
Katie
I loved this recipe! I had to make some tweaks because I didn’t have almond milk and pressure cooking dairy usually ends up with curdling. So if you’re planning on using traditional dairy in the recipe for the milk (instead of the almond milk listed in the ingredients), here is what I did. Also note this will change the macros.
I opted for using heavy cream instead of milk (just my personal preference), added at the end. So the cooking liquid for the chicken that I used was 1.5 cups of chicken broth. After cooking, when I added the cream cheese, tomatoes, and spinach, I added a half cup of heavy cream. It was honestly so dang good and will absolutely be in our rotation.
Just wanted to drop a comment for the users who said their liquid curdled, as it was likely due to using cow’s milk prior to pressure cooking. I’m excited to make the recipe again when I have almond milk. I just misread the ingredients the first go-around. 🙂
staysnatched
Thanks for providing your tips!
Katie
Absolutely! Thank you so much for posting this awesome recipe!
Kaylee Corrado
I LOVE this recipe. I’ve made it 4 or 5 times and it’s always great! But it’s so hard for me to follow the way you have the ingredients listed. Is it easy to switch those around to be in order of how they are used?
Dawn Hinz
I have made this at least a dozen times! People- this is company worthy. I used boneless and skinless chicken thighs from Costco. I used two pouches (the chicken from Costco come in separate pouches) There is just the right amount of sauce If you want to put it over zucchini or pasta for the kids. Everyone loves this recipe and asks for the recipe! It’s a winner for sure.
staysnatched
I love your Costco tips! So glad you guys enjoy it!
Shirley
Using tenderloins?
Arna
I have made this several times. Absolutely delicious!
Deb
Made this tonight! Used 6 thighs with bone. The sauce is to die for! I am thinking of cooking a little pasta, but we are trying to do low carb. Making green beans to go with it. Yummy!
staysnatched
Green beans will pair wonderfully!
Tricia
For boneless thighs is the cook time still 14
Minutes, that seems like a lot?
staysnatched
The cook time is accurate. If you scroll through the remaining comments you will see others have made the recipe with success.
Rhonda
I want to make this tonight but don’t have the better than bouillon chicken. Can I use something in it’s place?
staysnatched
A bouillon cube or you can omit it, it will likely have less flavor.
Jessica
Holy Yum!
I had to tweak it a bit based on what I had on hand (boneless skinless chicken tenderloins rather than thighs, grassmilk half and half rather than almond milk and heavy cream, and Trader Joes condensed chicken broth packet rather than bullion, and I added a scoop of ancient naturals bone broth protein savory herb flavor powder because I am always trying to get more bone broth into my diet ) It was still delicious!
This recipe is easy (if I can make it, its easy) and delicious. Its also one of few that you can tweak as needed and it still ends up good! I hate to admit it but it is rarely the case that I make a recipe I find online, have to tweak it, and it still ends up as good as I had hoped.
staysnatched
Thanks for sharing all of this. So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Victoria Gutzman
My daughter shared this recipe with me, raving about how good it turn out. So I made it too and let me tell you, it’s fantastic! Thank you for the best recipe I’ve tried in a long time. Btw, I used frozen boneless chicken thighs, 14 minutes. Perfect!
staysnatched
Wonderful news! So glad you enjoyed it.
Jessica
I made this dish last night and it’s by far one of the BEST recipes I have ever made. I used 8 boneless skinless thighs and I followed the recipe exactly except for using 3 chicken bouillon in place of the better than chicken bouillon. There was plenty of sauce as well. I will be making this again very soon.
staysnatched
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! The cream sauce is so good!
Hoping for an InstantPot
Have you made this in a regular slow-cooker? If so, what are the tweaks?
staysnatched
Cook the chicken thighs for 4 hours on High or 8 hours on Low. Still, add the cream sauce at the end.
Laura
Hi! Can I use 1% milk? No dietary restrictions here, just what I have in the fridge!
staysnatched
I’ve never tried that but I assume it would work fine.
Vanessa
Made this tonight for dinner. It was awesome. Hubby has no salt diet so I tweaked it to fit his diet. It is a great recipe. If you haven’t made this, do so. It totally is worth it,
staysnatched
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it and were able to tweak it to fit your needs.
Neal G
First go at this one and it turned out fantastic! Didn’t have the spinach or sun dried, so it just turned into a nice thick garlic parm sauce. I subbed half water/half heavy cream for the milk, and it didn’t curdle despite pressure. Also I made the chicken stock with better than bullion (so used that twice). and 2 tsp xanthum gum and 2 tsp water at the end. lots of heat via saute mode and steady whisking after chicken is out and final stuff is in, and voila! thick heavenly sauce. oh, i also went close to double the parmesan! 👏👍🧡
staysnatched
I love your subsitutions!
Tammy howard
Does the parmesan need to be fresh or can it be the dry shaker kind?
staysnatched
I don’t buy the dry shaker kind. It’s processed. It’s up to you if you would like to use that.
william
Hello. Looks delicious! Is there a difference in cooking time for frozen boneless thighs (Costco). It’s so convenient to not have to thaw things out, especially since we don’t need to, with the Instant Pot.
staysnatched
I don’t cook frozen meat. I’ve read that some people use the same cook time and it takes longer to come to pressure.
Keri
Made these tonight! SO GOOD! I used skinless and boneless and the cook time was perfect (from frozen) I have tons of sauce left which I love because it’s delicious and it’ll be going on whatever vegetable we make tomorrow for dinner. Thank you!
staysnatched
You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed it!
Ken
A fellow Kansas Citian here…GO CHIEFS!!!!! Anyway, I do the cooking in my house since my wife is disabled. Made this tonight, and this was awesome! I followed one of the other suggestions in here, and used 1/2 cup of cream, added at the end, instead of milk. Also, I forgot to get chicken broth while I was shopping, so I improvised and used 1 1/2 cups water and doubled the Better than Buillon. This worked out pretty well, although it turned out just a little saltier than I would have liked. I’ll make sure to get the low sodium broth next time. Also, I opted for whole boneless chicken breast (fresh) instead of thighs, and cooked it at high pressure for 10 minutes followed by 10 minutes of natural release before doing quick release. Anyway, aside from those few changes (and adding a little extra spinach, because we love spinach), I followed everything else in the recipe. The chicken was nice and juicy, and the sauce was just awesome. This is definitely going into regular rotation for my family!!! Thank you!!
staysnatched
Thanks for sharing your changes. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Beth
This is one of the best recipes I have even gotten off the internet. I make exactly as instructed, but add 8 oz of sliced mushrooms when cooking the chicken. Sort of defeats the keto but so good with gnocchi.
staysnatched
Yum! So glad you enjoyed it.
Sheila
This was absolutely delicious! I will be making this on a regular basis.
staysnatched
Yay! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Jessica
Oh. My. Gosh. This was so good, The flavors were perfect and I loved the sauce. Thank you for making a recipe with extra sauce… nothing is worse than reheating leftovers and they are dry because there was NOT ENOUGH SAUCE!
staysnatched
You’re welcome! That’s exactly why I make it this way.
Lisa
Made this tonight but used chicken meatballs and put it over low carb (carba-nada) pasta. It was soooooooo delicious! I didn’t have heavy cream so I just omitted it and it came out great.
staysnatched
YUM! That sounds amazing.
Cass Hernandez
I assume I will love Tuscan themed anything and this was no exception. However, my husband is not usually a fan. But THIS. Mr. Picky tried it and immediately said it was BOMB and halfway through said I need to make it again. He loved it so much he woke up and asked if he could pack the leftovers for lunch. And that’s when the fight started. Just kidding… but we did have to split it.
staysnatched
haha! Now this has me laughing.
Lisa
Amazing recipe!! I had to cook everything in a pan and didn’t change anything at all. So good with potatoes or garlic bread!!! Thank you for this recipe! My husband loved it too! Xoxo
staysnatched
I love that pairing! Sounds so good!
Mom of Four Grown Son and Wife
Once again. The room was silent. Smacking is all I heard. Served with broccoli and rice.This was quick and very flavorful. I will get a picture one day. Thanks for feeding my family well.
staysnatched
haha! I love to hear that!
Allyson
This was SO good, after finishing (and wishing we had leftovers) my husband threw down his fork and declared “10 out of 10” and asked to make sure I save this. Prep was so quick and easy and yet there was SO much flavor. The sauce is amazing. Can’t wait to make this again.
staysnatched
haha! I love that response!
Danita
Made this last night with 4 chicken thighs. I used an entire 6 oz package of organic spinach from Trader Joes as we love spinach and it really cooks down. It makes a lot of sauce so I would increase the number of chicken thighs next time for leftovers. Very good recipe, perfect for company. . I served with mashed cauliflower.
staysnatched
Yes! The leftover sauce is the best part.
Coby
Well there’s a reason this has so many rave reviews- ’cause it’s delicious! That sauce!!! I served it over your garlic cauliflower mash and it was the perfect pairing! Great recipe!
staysnatched
Yes! I love this with cauliflower mash!
Shauna
Quick, easy, and delicious. I did half breasts and half thighs in the IP for the stated cooking time and it all turned out great!
staysnatched
Gotta love a quick recipe. I’m glad both thighs and breasts worked well.
Derek Lemler
My fiancé says she would drink the sauce with a straw for dinner. We both loved this recipe! I used the entire 8oz block of the cream cheese, doubled the parmesan cheese and added the entire pint of heavy cream and it turned out awesome. Its super good to use the leftover sauce and put it over meatballs like swedish meatballs.
staysnatched
The sauce is very drinkable! Definitely the best part.
Janis Booker
Made This last night for dinner and it was delicious. I skipped the better than bouillon and used low sodium chicken broth because I’m watching my sodium intake and it was still really flavorful. I had one extra chicken thigh and there was still more than enough sauce leftover. I’m looking for it to using this extra sauce on top of pasta chicken breast and even fish. This is my first state snatch recipe and it will definitely be in my rotation
staysnatched
I can’t wait for you to try more recipes!
Cassie
I really wanted to make this recipe so bad, but I do not have an insta pot! So I followed the recipe but just baked the chicken in the broth covered with foil. Made the sauce in the same pan. The sauce is very yummy, perfect over pasta if you’re not on Keto. The recipe is a win all around, Don’t let not having a pressure cooker deter you!
staysnatched
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Anonymous
Made this last night. Sooo easy and so delicious!! Will definitely be making this again. Thanks Brandi!
staysnatched
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Anonymous
This was amazing! I accidentally added a little too much thickener but it made the sauce thick like gravy. Was perfect to go on top of my mashed potatoes. Will definitely be making this again!
staysnatched
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it!
Goldie
Two words…phenomenal and easy! This was so flavorful. And since I love Parmesan cheese this was definitely a winner! You gotta love Instant Pot meals. That sauté function is a game changer. I roasted broccoli to have as a side and the flavors complemented each other very well. Next time I need to try Brandi’s air fryer broccoli recipe. I will be making this again for sure!
staysnatched
Those are two great words! So glad you enjoyed it!
Shannon
I normally don’t eat chicken thighs, but this is definitely gives me a reason to get them in my butcher box. This recipe is so good!!! I forgot the garlic, I can’t believe I did because I love it, but it was still tasty!!
staysnatched
haha! You would be surprised. So good!
CC
Brandi another bangin recipe THANK YOU! So honestly I’m not a newbie with the air fryer because air fry ALL the things! But this was my FIRST Instant Pot recipe besides pressure cooking water to test 🤣 lol. So I will say those waiting to bust out the Instant Pot DO IT! I read and re-read the directions then watched the video, checked the tips and the notes, and boom amazing recipe. Even an IP newbie like me could pull this meal off! Now truth be told I had boneless skinless chicken thighs and they didn’t look as pretty as her elegant pictures but they were still fire! I also had to use milk because I thought my almond milk was plain nope it was vanilla. Still had no issues with curdling or any of that craziness that I read in comments. Maybe beginners luck but I think its more the thought and detail that Brandi puts in her recipes, thank you again.
staysnatched
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Laura Montgomery
Made this tonight and it was AMAZING. Simple and delicious!!
staysnatched
Simple it is! Glad you enjoyed it.
Karen
Made this for dinner tonight (along with the air fryer green beans) and it was delicious! I made it in the crockpot and used tenderloins because that is what I had on hand. On top of tasting so good, it looks so appealing! I love how pretty the sauce is 🙂
staysnatched
Wonderful! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Chastidy Burns
This is delicious, I wanted to bathe in this sauce!! Two notes – bring your cream cheese to room temp first to make the melting process easier, and consider popping the chicken thighs under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp after removing them from the instant pot. 5 stars!
staysnatched
I’m with you! That’s the best part!