This Caprese Chicken is amazing in both the Instant Pot and the Crock Pot, making it a perfect warm weather dinner when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen! This post contains affiliate links for products I’m obsessed with. 
Confession #93 – I’m not the only one who is unwilling to admit summer is over. Despite the fact that Halloween and Pumpkin everything is taking over the planet, my summer garden is still hanging around…totally in denial of the impending change of seasons. Yay, right? 
My tomato plants, especially, will not quit, and I am always looking for yummy ways to use them before they get too ripe. And with the Back to School craziness, I am also always on the hunt for a good crock pot or instant pot recipe to make sure that dinner actually makes it way to the table. 
Enter this easy Caprese Chicken! I’m so in love with this dish. For those of you who have made my 21 Day Fix Balsamic Chicken with Zoodles, this meal is very similar. I wanted to see, though, what would happen if I used some of my fresh tomatoes in place of the canned stuff. Oh my word. Delish! And so easy. The most time consuming part is halving the tomatoes, so this can be easily assembled quickly on food prep day, before bed the night before, or early in the morning before work. 
When your busy day is over, you will come home to the amazing smell of effortless cooking, which is always the best kind for a weeknight, right? Throw some shredded mozzarella and basil on top and dig in!
What should I serve with Instant Pot Caprese Chicken?
We served ours over seasoned brown rice, but it could be eaten alone, with pasta, zoodles or whatever your heart desires. A perfectly yummy, let light end of Summer meal!
WHAT IF MY CHICKEN IS FROZEN?
For this Instant Pot Caprese Chicken recipe, you can definitely use frozen chicken. It is not recommended to cook from frozen in your crock pot because the meat will stay at unsafe temperatures for too long and you could become sick from eating it.
If your chicken is just slightly frozen, follow the same cook time but be sure to do a full natural release.
If your chicken is a frozen solid block, add an additional 5-10 minutes, depending on the thickness. Thicker chicken, add 10 minutes. Thinner chicken or tenderloins, you should be good just adding 5 minutes.
Caprese Chicken [Crock Pot or Instant Pot]
Ingredients
- 1/2 large yellow or red onion sliced
- 3-4 cloves fresh garlic minced or pressed
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 3 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes halved
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 3 tbsp. for the IP
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper optional
- Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil chopped
- 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- Cooking oil spray
Instructions
Slow cooker:
- Spray your slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray - I used my EVO. Add sliced onions and garlic to the bowl and then cover with chicken breasts.
- Add chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, crushed red pepper (if using), salt and pepper.
- Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.
- Add basil and top with grated mozzarella cheese. Turn slow cooker on high and cover until the cheese has melted.
- Serve with brown rice, quinoa, whole grain or gf pasta, or zoodles! Yum!
Instant Pot:
- Spray your Pressure Cooker with cooking oil spray and hit the saute function. Saute your onions until they begin to caramelize.
- Turn off saute and add in garlic and chicken, then top with chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, crushed red pepper (if using), salt and pepper.
- Cover and set to manual for 15 minutes. After cook time, carefully switch to quick release and open the top of your pressure cooker when all the steam has released. (If your chicken is frozen you can cook for 20 minutes with a full natural release - more details in the post)
- Switch to saute and add in the mozzarella cheese and basil. Cook on saute until the cheese melts (2-3 minutes).
- Serve with brown rice, quinoa, whole grain or gf pasta, or zoodles! Yum!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Keely says
I made this recipe on low in the crockpot for the 8 hours, flavor was amazing but the chicken breasts were quite dry 🙁 do you have any suggestions of how to fix that so i can definitely make this recipe again?
Nancylynn says
Hi Keely! So glad you liked the flavor! You can try reducing the cook time to 7 hours. Let us know how it goes!
Holly says
This is so good! I’ve made it many times!
Nancylynn says
Thanks Holly! Such a good summer meal!
Cassie says
Used Meal Plan Vol. 3 this week- and this recipe was absolutely delicious- along with the entire week!! Cant wait to start another meal plan next week!
Nancylynn says
SOO glad the full plans are helping you, Cassie! Thank you for taking the time to comment and rate the recipe – it is so helpful!!
Vicki says
Could you use canned diced tomatoes for this?
Nancylynn says
That should work just fine!
Beth says
This is a wonderful dish – an absolute favorite. Question: if I cut the chicken into about 1” pieces before cooking, would I reduce the 15 minutes to about 5-7 or so, given the size of the pieces? After all it will no longer be two big hunks of chicken. : ) Thanks! (I’m going to cook this for someone who enjoys chicken only when it’s small pieces mixed into a dish.)
Nancylynn says
Yes, 7 minutes for diced chicken!
Thank you for your rating on the dish too – it’s so helpful!
Charissa says
Everyone in my house LOVED this recipe. It was simple to follow and tasted fantastic! I might use a little less red pepper flakes next time as Grandma found it a little spicy…but they really do add a lot of delicious flavour!
Nancylynn says
Oh that is so great to hear! Thank you!
Beth says
Using the IP, if not planning to eat after cooking until much later, so keeping the IP on Keep Warm, would you simply wait until just before eating before adding the cheese and basil? The cheese melts so quickly even on Keep Warm instead of Sauté, I hope that will work.
Ginger Knowles says
This was awesome! We are not huge balsamic vinegar fans, so I only use 1 tbsp of the vinegar and added 2 tbsp of water (for the additional liquid). It was perfect! Thank you for sharing this recipe!! And for it being ‘Fix Approved’! a win-win!
Julie says
Any thoughts on making this in the oven? Maybe sear the chicken on a cast iron skillet and bake with the tomatoes?
Nancylynn says
YES! I think it would be delish!
Megan says
Can I use a different liquid than the balsamic vinaigrette?
Nancylynn says
Sure, but it won’t have the caprese taste!
Megan says
Do you have any other suggestions for the type of liquid that may work best?
Nancylynn says
A dry white wine?
Beth says
Delicious! Using an IP I added a little oil to sauté the onions (though realize you were being careful with oil), doubled the basil and vinegar, and used 1.5 pounds of chicken cut to make 5 servings.
After the onions begins caramelizing it’s important to scrape the bottom of the IP to get any bits up, or a burn error can happen – which is generally mentioned in IP recipes. I added 1/4 cup of water at that point to make scraping the bottom easy. It evaporated within a minute so didn’t really add liquid to the recipe. Prep time was more like 20-30 minutes. Cutting that many cherry tomatoes alone took some time, plus measuring everything else out and slicing basil. But for some reason most recipes everywhere say 10 minutes, and I know to triple it. Maybe I’m just slow – but at least the IP is fast! Thank you – will make this again – with even more basil!
Kelly says
Can I use diced tomatoes instead? We are not big fans of tomatoes but this looks yummy!
Amy McMartin says
Made this tonight..yum!!
Nancylynn says
YAY! I have been food prepping this one a lot!
Martin says
This is one of the easiest and tastiest things I’ve made in the IP. Doubled the recipe and cooked it for 17 min.
Nancylynn says
That’s GREAT to hear!
Cathy Cook says
Made this tonight. Outstanding!
Nancylynn says
I’m SO glad!!
Maggie says
I’m using an 8 quart instant pot that requires a cup of liquid to come to pressure. How did you get it to not burn?
Nancylynn says
The tomatoes are so juicy, it makes a ton of liquid! I would try it first to see if the burn message comes on before adding in extra liquid. Let me know how it goes!
Chris says
Hello. This recipe is delicious. Unfortunately I have cooked it twice now in the instant pot and it comes out too liquidy. Is the sauce supposed to be very liquidy? Thanks.
Kara S says
I just got an Instant Pot for Christmas and this was my third recipe. I followed the cooking instructions but the chicken came out dry, I used defrosted boneless skinless chicken breast. Any recommendations? Should I cut the cook time down by a minute or two? Thank you!!
Nancylynn says
That is a bummer! Yes – try a minute or two less next time!
Barbara Miller says
Definitely made this tonight!! Flavors come together so nicely. Perfect for a new IP user…. just incredible
Thank you!
Nancylynn says
YAY!!!! I am so happy to hear this!!! <3 <3
Sanna says
Please do, & let me know what you think!
Sanna says
“The most time consuming part is halving the tomatoes.” Try this hack: Put whole tomatoes on a plate. Invert another plate on top of the tomatoes. Insert sharp knife between the edges of the two plates, & halve ALL the tomatoes at once!
Nancylynn says
I have always wanted to try this!!!
Katie says
Do you have a calorie count on this recipe?
Shannon says
How much is in a serving for your container count?
Nancylynn says
It’s 1/4 of the pot!
Betsy says
I am wanting to make this crock pot caprese recipe and wanted to double check on the balsamic vinegar- that it is only 2 tablespoons and no other liquids (chicken broth) are added to recipe. Just concerned it might be dry!
Happy to have found all your healthy recipes! Thank you.
Nancylynn says
Hi! Yes – you are correct! The tomatoes make so much extra juice, so it won’t be dry! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Hannah says
I see that a serving is 1 breast, but how many servings are in the whole recipe? Idk how many are in 1 lb. Thanks!
Nancylynn says
Sorry – four!
Monica says
Let’s pretend my chicken breast is still frozen…how would you cook it in the Instant Pot?
Nancylynn says
I would do the same thing as directed, but add some time. I’d say 5-10 minutes or so.
Erica Schmit says
Thank you so much for already asking this question! Forgot to defrost!!
Kim says
What about in the crockpot? Can I use frozen chicken breast? Thanks for the recipes and meal plans, they are helping me so much!
Nancylynn says
Hi Kim! So glad you’re here! In the crockpot you’ll need to use thawed chicken breast. From a food safety standpoint, they will sit at an unsafe temp for too long if you try to cook from frozen. Hope that helps!
Nicole Cook says
Your recipes are amazing!! Thank you so much for blogging and sharing. I’m a tired mamma so easy, healthy and delicious are essential!!
Nancylynn says
You just made this (also tired) mamma’s day! Thank you and I am so very happy my blog is helping!