Instant Pot Turkey and Noodles
Classic creamy turkey and noodles are comfort food at it’s best, but take less than 30 minutes to cook in the instant pot.
I love the look on people’s faces when they ask me about what I made for Thanksgiving. Even though I have this website and I obviously love to bake and cook, I don’t get asked to make much for this particular holiday! The grandmas rule supreme. I have 2 signature dishes that I make for Thanksgiving dinner: cranberry sauce and sweet potato souffle. That’s it.
I do, however, cook turkey pretty often through the winter months, because my family requests turkey and noodles on a regular basis. This recipe is one of my tried and true repeat favorites that I’ve converted for the Instant Pot. The kids love it because it has creamy, tender noodles and juicy bites of turkey. I love it because I can throw it together and have a dinner that tastes like it took all day to cook, but it’s done in under 30 minutes.
This is my favorite instant pot recipe and the first one you’ll find here on AHB. I am ashamed to admit I got my Instant Pot last year for Christmas and then I let it sit in the box for months until we got completely moved and settled into our new house. I’m not going to wax poetic for paragraphs on this thing. I’ll simply tell you the hype is real. If you are a busy mom who often forgets to plan ahead for meals, an instant pot will be your new best friend. Have an instant pot, but unsure where to start? Here’s a great guide for beginners.
The beauty of this recipe is just how quick and easy it is to make homestyle creamy turkey and noodles.
To make instant pot turkey and noodles:
Step 1: Take a package of turkey cutlets and put them in the bottom of your instant pot along with a ½ a stick of butter. Spread a can of cream of chicken soup over the top of the turkey cutlets. Dump a package of frozen noodles in. Toss in the seasonings and top it all off with a quart of chicken broth. Then the top goes on and it cooks on the manual setting for 20 minutes.
Step 2: Do a quick steam release. Remove the turkey cutlets to a plate and shred them. Stir the shredded turkey into your noodles and you’re good to go!
I love serving up these Turkey and Noodles with some mashed potatoes or my sweet potato and sage scones on the side.
Can I use leftover turkey in this recipe?
Yes! If you have leftover Thanksgiving turkey it will work great in this recipe. Here’s what you’ll do instead:
Step 1: Add all the ingredients except the leftover turkey to the Instant Pot and cook as directed.
Step 2. Do a quick steam release. Then stir in about 3 cups shredded leftover turkey. Place the lid back on the Instant Pot and let it sit about 5 minutes or until the turkey is completely heated through. Serve!
Here’s why the instructions change for leftover turkey. If you added your leftover turkey at the beginning of the recipe and cook it again at such high temps, it will become tough and rubbery. It just needs a gentle reheating to retain it’s flavor and texture.
Instant Pot Turkey and Noodles
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds turkey breast cutlets * See notes to adjust if using leftover turkey*
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 1 24 ounce bag frozen egg noodles (such as Reames)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Add the turkey cutlets to the instant pot. Spread the soup over the top of the cutlets. Add the remaining ingredients to the instant pot.
- Place the lid on the instant pot, making sure the valve is closed. Cook for 20 minutes on the Manual setting.
- Do a quick steam release. Remove the turkey cutlets and shred. Stir the shredded turkey into the noodles and serve.
Notes
Can I use leftover turkey in this recipe?
Yes! If you have leftover Thanksgiving turkey it will work great in this recipe. Here's what you'll do instead:- Step 1: Add all the ingredients except the leftover turkey to the Instant Pot and cook as directed.
- Step 2. Do a quick steam release. Then stir in about 3 cups shredded leftover turkey. Place the lid back on the Instant Pot and let it sit about 5 minutes or until the turkey is completely reheated throughout. Serve!
I made this tonight and it was terrific. I had a frozen turkey tenderloin that I cut in half and used. I didn’t have cream of chicken but I had cream of mushroom and used that instead. I also didn’t have frozen noodles per the recipe so I added regular egg noodles for three min on high at the end. Otherwise I followed the recipe as written. Very flavorful, not too ‘soupy’ and will become a fall and winter staple in our house! Thank you!
Does it matter if we use salted or unsalted butter?
It doesn’t really. I think I usually use salted butter, but you can adjust to taste after cooking.
I’m trying this tomorrow with leftover turkey! Do you think I could add some fresh carrot and or celery?
Hi there Anna! I know it’s probably too late to help now, but yes, I think it would be fine to add the veggies to this. I would add the veggies with the noodles before cooking and then stir in the leftover turkey after cooking so that it doesn’t become tough.
Amy D.
@Amy D,
If I’m gonna add in leftover turkey from thanksgiving at the end, would the cook time need to be adjusted for just the noodles to cook? Thanks so much for this recipe, my family is very excited to try it!
Nope nope nope. Leave the cook time the same and then stir in your leftover turkey at the end! Your instincts there were spot on. But those noodles still need the same amount of cook time. Hope you enjoy them Lindsey!
(Hope I didn’t get back to you too late!)
Amy D.
I noticed Walmart has a small package of turkey cutlets, raw. Do I need to cook them prior to adding them to the instant pot? This reminds me so much of a dish we had in school years ago. I can’t wait to try it!
Hi Jess,
Those should work great for this recipe. No, you won’t need to cook them prior to adding them to the instant pot. Just follow the directions in the recipe as it’s written.
Amy D.
I used this recipe as a guide but used leftover thanksgiving turkey. I bought a smoked turkey and of course had a bunch leftover. I didn’t add poultry seasoning, salt or pepper since the turkey was well-seasoned before. I layer as the recipe said and cooked for 9 minutes. It turned out great! I’d never heard of these noodles and I LOVE them!
Could you double this recipe?
Hi Susanna! I have had lots of people tell me that they’ve had good luck doubling this recipe and the beef and noodles recipe here on my site, but my instant pot isn’t big enough to accommodate those changes so I’ve never done it myself. If you are doubling, you’re going to want to have at least an 8 quart instant pot.
Instead of Turkey, could I use frozen chicken breasts?
Can’t wait to try this noodles with turkey, looks yummy and great for snowy days!!
Have you ever used leftover turkey from a holiday? It’s already cooked, so would you add it in after cooking the noodles?
Hi Anne,
I haven’t used leftover turkey in this recipe yet, but I would add it after cooking the noodles otherwise I would be afraid it would get tough and chewy as poultry often does. My suggestion would be to stir in the cooked shredded turkey after the pressure cooking is done and cook just until the turkey is heated through.
Hope this helps!
Amy
Can you use noodles that aren’t frozen?
Hi Laura,
No, you really can’t. Frozen noodles take so much longer to cook than most dry noodles and way less time than fresh noodles. If you used another kind of noodles in this recipe in place of the frozen noodles they would just cook into mush by the time that the turkey was completely cooked through.
Hope that helps answer your question!
This is a great idea I have never used the Instant Pot to cook pasta I guess I need to start doing this your turkey noodles look so good and easy to prepare.
So far I’ve only used my Instant Pot to cook the really chunky frozen noodles like these that usually take a while to cook. Other kinds of pasta it kind of seems redundant to use the IP because they cook so quickly anyway.
Love how easy this is, and it just looks so hearty and comforting, I want a bowl right now! 🙂
This dish is definitely going to be a favorite of my family. It looks so delicious and welcoming.
Yes! I’ve been meaning to try making a pasta dish in my IP, and this recipe looks so hearty and comforting!!! I can’t wait to try it!