Instant Pot Rosemary Cashew Chicken

This satisfyingly creamy Instant Pot Rosemary Cashew Chicken with steamed white rice, crisp broccoli, and gouda cream sauce is a midweek treat made easy in your electric pressure cooker. 

Hey everyone, Jenn here! A while back, Barbara created an amazing Rosemary Cashew Chicken recipe that won first prize in a local recipe contest—an amazing cashew chicken filling served inside classic vol-au-vent pastries.  

While I really love the original recipe, I seldom take the time to make the puff pastries. However, flavors this tasty need to be eaten often, so we’ve simplified the original recipe and converted it to the pressure cooker.

This Instant Pot Cashew Chicken is a weeknight meal, served over fluffy white rice with steamed broccoli and creamy gouda cheese sauce. This quick and easy pressure cooker recipe is sure to be a family favorite! 

How to Make Rosemary Cashew Chicken in the Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker

This Rosemary Cashew Chicken recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.

This Instant Pot recipe might look tricky, but it actually comes together really easily. Just start by sauteing diced chicken and onions in your cooking pot. 

Then add chicken stock as the cooking liquid. Add a trivet so you can cook the chicken below and the rice pot-in-pot on top. (More on that next!)

While the chicken and rice cook in your Instant Pot, you can make the creamy gouda cheese sauce in a sauce pan. 

When the pressure valve drops and you open the lid, remove the rice, then make a quick slurry of cornstarch and water to thicken the liquid surrounding the chicken. 

Serve Instant Pot Rosemary Chicken over white rice topped with creamy gouda sauce and sprinkled with cashews for crunch. 

How to Use the Pot-in-Pot Method to Cook Chicken and Rice at the Same Time

The pot-in-pot method refers to how we cook both chicken and rice at the same time in a single Instant Pot / electric pressure cooker.

🛑 If this is your first time using the pot-in-pot method, I recommend reading our detailed post on how to cook pot in pot. It’s an easy process, with just a few important steps. 

Diced chicken and white rice are the perfect combination for pot-in-pot cooking—they have the same 4-minute cook time at high pressure with a 10 minute natural release!

Here are my recommendations for best results with pot-in-pot cooking:

• A tall trivet. The one I use is just shy of 3-inches, which gives the chicken plenty of room to cook underneath. 
• A 7-inch round cake pan. This size fits perfectly inside your pressure cooking pot and lets the rice cook with just the right amount of liquid.
• A sling. Nothing fancy here—I often use a silicone mat cut into strips, but you can make an easy and sturdy sling out of aluminum foil.

How to Make the Creamy Gouda Sauce

Once you’ve sealed the Instant Pot / pressure cooker to make Rosemary Cashew Chicken, turn to your stovetop to make easy four-ingredient gouda cream sauce. 

This is a decadent and silky sauce that perfectly complements Instant Pot Rosemary Cashew Chicken. Like many cream-based sauces, start with a simple mixture of flour and butter. 

Cook your roux, stirring constantly, until it starts to bubble and becomes smooth. (This ensures that the flour is cooked so your sauce doesn’t taste like raw starch.)

I like to add both the half and half and the gouda cheese a little at a time. Adding too much at once makes it harder to keep the sauce smooth and creamy! Or it can cause your sauce to separate. 

➡️ If your pressure cooker has an adjustable sauté function, you can prepare the sauce in your pressure cooking pot. This sauce needs to cook at a low heat, so you really need to adjust your Saute setting as low as it goes before making the sauce. (I recommend making the sauce before you cook the chicken.)

What Kind of Chicken to Use?

This Instant Pot Rosemary Cashew Chicken recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch cubes. However, cubed boneless, skinless thighs would also work. 

You can use diced frozen chicken, with no change to the cook time.

However, if your chicken breasts are frozen whole, use my favorite quick-thaw tip: 

Pour 1 cup water into the cooking pot. Place a trivet in the bottom and balance the frozen chicken breasts on top. Select High Pressure and 1 minute cook time.

https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/how-to-pressure-cook-frozen-chicken-breasts/

(See more of our best tips on cooking chicken from frozen here.) 

More Creamy Chicken Recipes for your Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker

If you’re a fan of this easy Instant Pot Rosemary Cashew Chicken with Creamy Gouda Sauce, I have more delicious chicken recipes you need to try! 

• Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker Creamy Chicken and Broccoli over Rice uses the pot-in-pot method to steam white rice while you cook chicken breasts before covering them in a cheesy sauce. 
• Pressure Cooker Chicken & Broccoli Rice Casserole is a simple one-pot meal that’s heavy on cheese flavors and ready in just 15 minutes.
• Instant Pot Chicken Wild Rice Soup gets plenty of rich creaminess from cream cheese, milk and half and half simmered into a smooth and flavorful stew. 
• Pressure Cooker Chicken Bacon Penne Pasta in a Garlic Cream Sauce features springy penne pasta packed with chicken, bacon and a delicious Parmesan cream sauce.

Continue to Content

Instant Pot Rosemary Cashew Chicken with Gouda Cream Sauce

Yield: 6 to 8 Servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 4 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 24 minutes

Creamy Instant Pot Rosemary Chicken—served with rice, steamed broccoli, silky Gouda cream sauce, and chopped cashews—is a flavorful but super easy weeknight feast.

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Ingredients

Rosemary Cashew Chicken

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds), diced into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups white rice
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1 cup cashews, coarsely chopped, plus additional for garnish
• 2 cups chopped broccoli, lightly steamed, for serving

Gouda Cream Sauce

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups half and half
• 10 slices gouda cheese
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Select Sauté to preheat the pressure cooking pot. When hot, add the olive oil and onion and sauté for 1 minute. Add the butter and diced chicken, and sauté for 2 minutes more. Add the chicken broth, rosemary, and salt.
2. In a 7-inch round cake pan, stir together the rice and water. Place a trivet above the chicken in the pressure cooking pot. Use a sling to carefully lower the cake pan onto the trivet. Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and 4 minutes cook time.
3. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the Gouda Cream Sauce.* In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly.
4. Gradually add the half and half, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thick and smooth, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add the gouda cheese, a little at a time, until smooth and creamy. Add additional half and half, if necessary, to thin sauce to desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then use a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid.
6. Use the sling to carefully remove the pan of rice from the cooking pot. Cover and set aside.
7. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch and water until smooth. Select Sauté and add the slurry to the pot, stirring constantly until the liquid thickens. Stir in 1/2 cup Gouda Cream Sauce and the cashews.
8. Serve the chicken over rice with steamed broccoli, topped with a dollop of the Gouda Cream Sauce.

Notes

*If your pressure cooker has an adjustable saute setting, you can opt to make this in your pressure cooker if you'd like. Cook the cream sauce prior to making the chicken and cover to keep warm while the chicken and rice cook.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Trivet (2.7" Tall)
• 
  Fat Daddio's Anodized Aluminum Round Cake Pan, 7-Inch x 3-Inch
• 
  Instant Pot Duo Nova 6-Quart Pressure Cooker

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 533Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 119mgSodium: 773mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 30g

Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.

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