Museum of Appalachia Casserole–chicken and elbow macaroni in a creamy sauce with a cracker crumb topping. Made easy with your Instant Pot!
Museum of Appalachia Casserole
Today’s recipe is good old fashioned southern comfort food. With cream, cream cheese and sour cream the sauce surrounding the pasta is creamy and decadent. The green chiles were something I threw in last minute but really helped to cut through the creaminess and add a bit of acidity and kick. The bites of chicken are moist and tender. Try this as a side dish or a main dish and enjoy!
This recipe is adapted from a dish served at the museum that’s called Chicken on the Ritz.
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon chicken base
- Elbow macaroni–or penne, cavatappi
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs–I used these because they stay moist and tender but you can also use breasts
- Cream cheese
- Sour cream
- Heavy cream–or evaporated milk
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Poultry seasoning
- Smoked paprika
- Mild diced green chiles
- Ritz crackers
- Butter
Steps
Pour broth into Instant Pot. Sprinkle in the macaroni. Place the chicken on top of the pasta.
Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Stir in the cream cheese, sour cream, cream, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, smoked paprika and green chiles.
You can serve as is or you can finish it off with a crispy Ritz topping in oven.
To make the Ritz topping crush up the crackers into crumbs and then stir the melted butter into the crumbs. Sprinkle on top of the pasta and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I transferred my pasta to a square baking dish but you can also do this part straight in the stainless steel liner. It is oven safe.
Notes/Tips
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.
Museum of Appalachia Casserole
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Chicken and elbow macaroni in a creamy sauce with a cracker crumb topping. Made easy with your Instant Pot!
Ingredients
Scale
Instructions
- Pour broth into Instant Pot. Sprinkle in the macaroni. Place the chicken on top of the pasta.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the cream cheese, sour cream, cream, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, smoked paprika and green chiles.
- You can serve as is or you can finish it off with a crispy Ritz topping in oven. To make the Ritz topping crush up the crackers into crumbs and then stir the melted butter into the crumbs. Sprinkle on top of the pasta and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I transferred my pasta to a square baking dish but you can also do this part straight in the stainless steel liner. It is oven safe.
Notes
Try adding some vegetables into the dish. Saute a half cup of diced celery and onion in 2 tablespoons of butter using the saute setting. Do this before step 1. Alternately, you can stir in some cooked peas, broccoli or cauliflower after the dish has pressure cooked.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
More Instant Pot recipes with Ritz crackers…
Air Fryer Heavenly Chicken
Sour cream coated chicken rolled in Ritz cracker crumbs and then cooked and crisped in an air fryer.
Amish Cheat Casserole
An easy Instant Pot recipe for chicken gravy with rice topped with a bit of cheddar and a Ritz cracker topping.
Instant Pot Ritz Chicken
Creamy sauce and chicken with a buttery, crumbly Ritz cracker topping. This chicken tastes great served over rice and is fast and easy to make for any day of the week.
Instant Pot Million Dollar Potato Casserole
The fastest potato casserole ever! No peeling or chopping! And with cream cheese, cheddar and a Ritz cracker topping it tastes like a million bucks.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
