Because we do not go out to eat at sit-down restaurants often, once I find something I love, I tend to order it every time we go to that restaurant.  Many times I’ll choose the restaurant with thoughts of ordering that particular food, as it has obviously been a while since I’ve had it.  Randy, on the other hand, will inevitably sit down and ask the waiter what they’re known for, what’s popular, or what their personal favorites are, and order that.  I honestly do not know if he’s ever had the same thing at one restaurant.  I am not that adventurous.

Over the years, I’ve learned some go-to’s for certain ethnic foods: Butter Chicken, Teriyaki Chicken, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Blue Cheese Burger, Gyro with extra Feta and Tzatziki, and the basis for this post, Alfredo.  I love Alfredo.  I have made many different recipes for Alfredo over the years, including a copycat from Olive Garden that we love, but when I decided to mix it up, the effect was instantaneous– we were in love.  The copycat recipe has been dethroned as our family favorite.

CHICKEN BROCCOLI BACON FETTUCCINE ALFREDO

I have made this a few times over the past year, each time giddy while storing the leftovers.  A few weeks ago, while willing my microwave to Go Faster, Dang It, Tyson came in as I was pulling it hot and piping and savory from the microwave.  The smell and anticipation made my mouth water, my head light.  “Can I have that?”  I faltered.  I looked at him, at my lunch, then back to him.  Grudgingly I told him to grab a plate, and split the beautiful lunch in half.  Well, if I’m being honest, I got a slightly bigger portion, maybe a mouthful or two more.

I don’t use chicken every time, not because I don’t like consuming too much meat, but because I always forget to thaw my chicken breasts before I begin my meal.  Which is exactly what happened as I was preparing the meal this time.  The pang of sadness felt in my heart when I thought I would have to make it the next day was equal parts agony and ridiculous, making me want to laugh and cry all at the same time– it’s just Alfredo after all.  And then it hit me: I own an Instant Pot!!  So I used that to thaw and cook my chicken while I prepared the rest of the meal.  [Whispering] I made it for lunch while the family was away.  I ate as much as I wanted {Insert maniacal laugh here}, squirreling the other leftovers behind the condiments in the fridge for later, all in less than 30 minutes!

P.S. If you need a way to use up the rest of the bacon from this recipe, you should try my Baked Bacon Chips!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 lb. Chicken Breast, boneless, skinless
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 1/4 tsp. Pepper
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup Heavy Cream
• 2/3 cup Milk
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 Roma Tomato
• 1/3 cup Bacon, precooked (approximately 6-7 strips)
• 8 ounces uncooked Fettuccine, although you could use any pasta.
• *14 ounces Chicken Broth if using the Instant Pot Frozen Chicken method

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place your pot with 4-6 quarts of water on the stove; bring to a boil.  Add a dash of salt to the water to prevent noodles clumping together.

HOW TO COOK FRESH OR THAWED CHICKEN

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat.  Season the chicken breasts with the salt and pepper.  Turning your heat to High, cook each breasts, alternating sides every few minutes, until the internal temperature of each breast is 165 degrees.

Helpful Tip:  In my Baked Parmesan Crusted Chicken recipe, I gave a few tips to help judge whether chicken is fully cooked, including this tip:

Temperature

Temperature is the most objective way to tell whether chicken is cooked.  The USDA recommends cooking all chicken to an internal temperature of 165F.  You want to take the temperature in the largest piece of meat, without hitting the bone.

Chefs also recommend pulling meat a few degrees before the final desired temp to account for carryover cooking – the claim is that the meat will continue to cook for a few minutes and increase in temp after you take it out and let it rest.

However, in all my attempts, I’ve never had the meat do anything but drop in temp when I take it out, so I always cook to the end temperature I want.  Experiment with this.

I love a probe thermometer for chicken – you insert it before cooking, and it alerts you when the meat reaches the temperature you set.

If you don’t have a probe thermometer, any standard meat thermometer works fine – but remember to think about cross contamination – once you’ve taken the temp of undercooked meat, you want to disinfect it before you use it again.  I just give it a quick wipe with an antibacterial wipe.

HOW TO COOK FROZEN CHICKEN IN THE INSTANT POT

With the stainless steel bowl inside your Instant Pot pressure cooker, place 1 lb. frozen chicken into the bottom of your bowl.  Pour 14 ounces chicken broth (1 can) over frozen chicken.  Replace the lid on your Instant Pot, making sure to switch your pressure release valve to Sealing.

Press Manual, using your Plus or Minus buttons to adjust the cooking time to 12 minutes.

Helpful Tip:  Once you start to hear pressure building, like the steam is trying to escape, place both hands on either side of the lid and quickly press downward.  Don’t allow your hands to linger, since it may be pretty hot by this point, but the quick downward motion of the lid will help it seal faster.

Once the Instant Pot pressure cooker is complete, allow approximately 10-15 for a Natural Release.

Helpful Tip: Make sure to always shield your skin from the escaping high pressure steam!  To protect your upper cabinets from the steam, position the pressure release valve as the steam escapes away from the wood. 

BACK TO THE GLORIOUS ALFREDO

It does not matter whether you used a skillet or an Instant Pot to cook your chicken, or even used precooked chicken, the next few steps will all be the same.

 

3. Once your water with a dash of salt begins to boil, add your uncooked noodles, stirring occasionally.  Cook for 12 minutes.  The directions say to boil longer for a more tender pasta, but there will be more cook time later on, so only boil for 12 minutes in this step.  Alternately, if you choose to use a different pasta, make sure that you cook that pasta for the least amount of time as well.

4. Heat olive oil and minced garlic in a large skillet over medium heat for about two minutes, browning slightly.

5. Add your heavy cream and milk,

6. Along with your shredded parmesan cheese.

7.  Bringing to a boil, melting cheese completely.

While mixture is coming to a boil on the current medium heat, begin preparing your vegetables and bacon.

Pro Tip:  Click {here} for the best kitchen knife sets, and {here} for the best knife blocks to store your kitchen knives.

8. Cut your broccoli florets to your desired size.  We tend to like ours with as little stem as possible, even going so far as to cut our “tree tops” to a child’s bite-size.  Dice your Roma tomato and cooked bacon, again to your desired size.  I have also used the minced bacon found in the salad condiments section, next to the croutons and tortilla strips.

By this time, your noodles should be close to done.  If you use your Instant Pot, it, as well, should be close to being finished with the cook time, close to your Natural Release time.9. Add your cooked noodles, stirring to coat and incorporate all noodles.

10. Add your vegetables and bacon.  Here’s the thing– this could be totally customizable right here.  You do not have to use the entire 2 cups of broccoli, the entire Roma tomato, you could use more bacon.  It is completely up to you how much of these additional items you choose.

Here is where that extra cook time comes in for the more tender noodles.

11. Cover your skillet, allowing to simmer on the current medium heat for another 5-7 minutes.  *If you prefer to have a more tender broccoli, without any of the crunch of this recipe, you might consider adding your broccoli while boiling your noodles.

This meal came together so well.  I placed the pot to boil and then turned to my Instant Pot.  Once the chicken was started, the water was boiling.  I added my noodles and started the Alfredo.  Once the Alfredo was prepared and the vegetables were cut, the noodles were ready.  Once the Fettuccine Alfredo, and vegetables were done simmering, the Natural Release time for my chicken was complete.  Everything flowed together perfectly, taking this from ingredients to meal in less than 30 minutes.  SCORE!!!

And I didn’t have to share!  So, you know, I was near tears in giddy delight.

OTHER PASTA RECIPES YOU MAY CRAVE

• Baked Macaroni and Cheese
• Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
• Leftover Turkey Pasta
• Chicken Spaghetti Casserole
• One Pan Caprese Pasta

Are there dinner favorites that choose your restaurants for you?  Do you tend to order the same thing, or try something new each time?  Do you enjoy a good Alfredo?!  If so, try this tonight.  It is AMAZING!!!

~Steph