Instant Pot Creamy Cajun Pasta with chicken and smoked sausage in a creamy, spicy sauce makes an easy and flavorful family meal. It can be made start to finish in under 30 minutes.
Since I got an Instant Pot in January, I have tried making lots of different things in it and I have been impressed with every single one. This is the second pasta dish I have made. Creamy Shells and Beef was my first. I especially like making pasta dishes in the Instant Pot. The pasta turns out so flavorful, but not overcooked.
Instant Pot Creamy Cajun Pasta Recipe
This Instant Pot Creamy Cajun Pasta is full of onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, Cajun seasoning, paprika, and Italian seasoning. It also has chopped pieces of chicken, and diced tomatoes. At the end, Parmesan cheese, a little heavy cream, and some cream cheese are mixed in and they make the pasta so creamy.
How To Serve
This is a rich pasta dish that will serve 6 people. I like to serve it with steamed broccoli or a garden salad with Creamy Italian dressing. Some yeast rolls are a great addition.
How To Store
Leftovers can be kept for 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat in a microwave.
Recipe Tips
- This instant pot cajun pasta dish will be a little bit soupy. As it cools, it gets thicker. Leftovers reheat really well.
- For the smoked sausage, you can use either andouille sausage or kielbasa sausage.
- Instead of penne pasta, you can use rotini pasta.
- To reduce the sodium some, use an reduced-sodium chicken broth.
- Chicken thighs can be used instead of chicken breast.
- Leave the cayenne pepper out if you want it less spicy.
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Swiss Chicken
- Instant Pot Jambalaya
- Instant Pot Mississippi Roast
- Instant Pot Caesar Chicken
- Instant Pot Creamy Shells and Beef
- Instant Pot Creamy Lemon Chicken
Watch the short video below to see how easy this recipe is.
Instant Pot Creamy Cajun Pasta
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium sweet or yellow onion,, diced
- 1 green bell pepper,, diced
- 6 white mushrooms,, sliced
- 1 (14-ounce) package smoked sausage,, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves,, minced
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 (14-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 tablespoon Cajun or Creole seasoning, I use Tony Chachere’s
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 12 ounces uncooked penne pasta
- 4 ounces cream cheese,, softened and cut into pieces
- 1 cup freshly grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot on “Saute” mode. Add oil and butter.
- Add onion and green pepper and cook until starting to get soft, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add mushroons, sausage and garlic and cook another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add chicken, paprika, Italian seasoning, chicken broth, tomatoes, Cajun seasoning, and cayenne pepper.
- Add pasta and use a wooden spoon to push it all down into the liquid.
- Place lid on Instant Pot. Make sure the valve is in “sealing” position. Cancel the “Saute” mode and set to Pressure Cook on HIGH for 5 minutes.
- Manually release the pressure. Remove lid and stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, and heavy cream until the cheese is melted.
- Sprinkle parsley on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Originally posted July 5, 2018.
Recipe adapted from: Simply Happy Foodie
Awesome recipe! I used canned evaporated milk and also mozzarella cheese as replacements. My penne pasta was not quite cooked enough, will go several minutes longer next time!
This was excellent, even converted to dairy free! I omitted the cream cheese and cream and used a cup of cashew cream. Yum 😋
I I’m trying to come up with dairy free meals for my son, he’s autistic and supposedly dairy and gluten make symptoms worse, I’ll will be trying your version soon, thanks for sharing 🙂
My husband usually doesn’t like pasta or smoked sausage but went back for seconds as did my picky 3 year old! So good!
Absolutely AMAZING! I used andouille sausage instead of smoked sausage, a white onion instead of yellow, rotini instead of penne, and skipped the cayenne. Fannnnntastic!! Lol! Thanks for the great recipe!
Easy and absolutely delicious! Our favorite Instant Pot recipe. Thank you so much!
Easy to make and so good!
Can you use just regular parmesan cheese if you dont have freshly grated ?
This was a hit with my eldest daughter, an infinitely picky teenager. She never goes back for seconds, but last night she loved it so much that she went back for thirds. She even took leftovers to school for lunch. This is top notch.
Very tasty! Wouldn’t change a thing. Easy to make. My husband loved it!
Very easy recipe to follow, perfect amount of heat. We used beef sausage and omitted the mushrooms. Even my 4 year old likes it! Definitely a big hit and will make it again.