Creamy pasta tetrazzini is such a crowd pleaser, and adding pesto only makes it more delicious! Put the two together and you end up with a seriously comforting and flavorful dish. Tender chunks of chicken and carrots make it a one-pot meal, with protein, veggies, and pasta all in one pot.
Video: Pressure Cooker Pesto Chicken Tetrazzini
Real Milk in the Pressure Cooker
Pressure cooker dishes with dairy do take some special technique to cook well. If you’ve ever gotten a “burn” error on your electric pressure cooker’s front display, this might be why! Dairy cooked under pressure has a tendency to scorch, curdle, and otherwise misbehave, but you can absolutely use it in pressure cooker recipes. Just be sure to add the dairy ingredients after the dish has finished pressure cooking. You’ll want to use this method when making any creamy, dairy-filled dish that’s cooked directly in the pressure cooker’s inner pot, such as rice pudding, macaroni and cheese, and of course this pasta dish. Here, since the pesto cream sauce contains lots of dairy, you’ll add them in along with the diced carrots after the pasta and chicken are cooked under pressure, allowing the carrots to simmer in the sauce ‘til they’re just cooked through.
Tender Pressure-Cooked Pasta
Pasta is another ingredient that takes a little special care when pressure cooking. You’ll find that short, compact shapes tend to work the best. For this recipe, we broke the linguine into 3-inch pieces before we cooked it. That way, it’s much easier to break up any clumps and stir it all together at the end.
Completing the Meal!
Serve the tetrazzini on its own, or with a dinner salad and some garlic bread for an easy and satisfying weeknight dinner. We hope you have fun making this creamy, crave-worthy pasta dish, with real milk to bring it all together! Add the chicken and sauté for about 3 more minutes, until the chicken is mostly opaque on the outside — it does not have to be fully cooked through. Pour in the chicken broth and wine, and use a spoon to nudge the noodles under the liquid as much as you can — it’s ok if they’re not completely submerged. Cover the pot with a glass lid and let the mixture simmer until the carrots are fork tender, about 5 minutes. If carrots are still not tender, stir well and continue cooking for 1 to 2 additional minutes. Cancel the Sauté program to turn off the pot.
