This Instant Pot recipe for Chicken, Spinach, and Mushrooms in a Creamy Tomato Sauce makes an excellent, everyday dinner.
Chicken, Spinach, and Mushrooms in a Creamy Tomato Sauce
Course: Dinner6
servings8
minutes1
hour21
minutesIngredients
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup white wine
2 lbs. chicken breasts
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
⅛-¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1½ tsp coarse salt
½ tsp pepper (a 10-second grind)
1 lb. button mushrooms, sliced
1 large can (28-oz.) diced tomatoes
9 oz. fresh spinach
½ cup heavy cream
Directions
- Set the Instant Pot to SAUTÉ, normal (15 minutes). When you get the “hot” indication, add butter and oil. Periodically lift and swirl the inner pot to coat the bottom and to prevent the butter from burning. Sauté the onion and garlic. After 1 minute, add the herbs, salt, and pepper. Continue to sauté until the onion has softened. Add mushrooms and continue to cook until they have softened. Deglaze with wine. CANCEL the sauté and immediately stir in the tomatoes.
- Dump the spinach into the pot and level it out, compressing it as you do, but without trying to fully submerge it in the sauce. Lay the chicken breasts on top of the spinach.
- Set the pot to POULTRY, normal (10 minutes), high (pressure); Natural Release for 15 minutes. (If you get a “burn” indication, depressurize, assiduously scrape the bottom of the pot with a sturdy, flexible spatula, and resume pressure-cooking.)
- Remove the chicken from the pot. Set the pot to SAUTÉ, more (10 minutes). Let it boil, stirring on occasion. Check at the 5-minute mark to see if it’s become saucy (less soupy) enough for your tastes. I like the full 10 minutes. CANCEL the sauté, screw on the cover and set the pot to KEEP WARM, more, and accept the default settings.
- Serve with plain pasta, pasta tossed with pesto, or serve it over mashed potatoes. Perhaps accompany with a dinner roll.
Notes
- Substitutions: cream cheese for the cream
- I developed this recipe for a six-quart Instant Pot. If using a different size or type of pot, you may need to make modifications.
This creamy tomato chicken is homey and comforting. Is it dish spicy? I’d call it “zesty.” The greater amount of red pepper flakes will register a 2.75 (just under “that’s a good wing”) on the Jennifer Lawrence scale. Scale back or omit the red pepper if you don’t think you’d like that.
Social Learning
Alternatives:
You could brown the chicken. In that case, once you’ve melted the butter, brown the chicken on both sides. Remove from pot and proceed with the onions and garlic. Having done this, you should now probably halve the pressure cooking time. I haven’t tried this, but think it might add a nice flavor element.
Want a thicker, creamier sauce? If you go with the 10-minute timer in Step 4, you’ll wind up with a lightly creamy sauce. Increasing to 15 minutes might give you something more obviously luxurious.
You could turn this into a soup. If you’re thinking at the end of Step 3 that you have a beautiful soup on your hands, I agree. Maybe you should just stop right there and serve it up!
Cooking Tips:
In using the KEEP WARM function, my intention is only is to heat the cream, heat the chicken through, and keep the sauce warm while I tidy up the kitchen and get ready to serve. And then I might continue to keep it warm in case anyone wants seconds. This is going to give us about 1½ hours of keeping warm time. Six hours is the absolute maximum you can keep the finished sauce warm, according to something that came to me once in a dream. How many times have I told you not to take food safety advice from me?
If your chicken breasts are obscenely large – for instance, if your two-pound package consists of only two breast halves – increase the pressure cooking timing to 12 minutes.
Chicken, Spinach, and Mushrooms in a Creamy Tomato Sauce
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