Instant Pot Pasta

You’ll love this Instant Pot Pasta because:

• Quick & Easy to make – family dinner on the table in less than 30 mins!
• Super flavorful with every al-dente pasta bite – a balance of savory, umami, sweet, tart…yummy flavors~
• Simple & accessible ingredients from your pantry
• Budget-friendly
• Family-friendly (kid-approved) – a dish even your picky kids will enjoy

Cooking Tips for Cooking Pasta in Instant Pot

1. Evenly Cooked Instant Pot Pasta: It’s critical to ensure all the Penne Pasta are completely submerged in the sauce before pressure cooking.

2. Dump-and-Go Instant Pot Pasta: If you want a fast & super easy one pot meal, you can simply dump all the ingredients into the pot (skip the browning steps). Ensure to add the Penne pasta and tomato paste last, then start the pressure cooking cycle immediately.

3. Extra Pinch of Salt: Sometimes you’re just a pinch of salt away from awesomeness! Salt won’t reduce the sourness, but will bring out other flavors to balance the dish. Try it for yourself! 🙂

4. Scorching Instant Pot: Mixing 156 ml tomato paste with 3 cups of liquid should be completely safe. But if you’re afraid of scorching, avoid mixing the tomato paste, just place it on top of the pasta.

5. Vegetarian/Vegan Version: Instant Pot Penne Rigate Pasta

Ingredients for Cooking Pasta in Instant Pot

• Unsalted Chicken Stock – Different brands or even different boxes of the same brand of salted chicken stock can differ in levels of sodium, so we prefer to develop recipes using unsalted chicken stock for more control & consistency on the dish’s flavor profile. Best if you can make your own chicken stock! 🙂

Our Secret Umami Ingredients:

Here are our own little flavor-boosting, umami-bombing, non-traditional twist to this ultra-simple pasta bolognese.

• Regular Soy Sauce (not low sodium soy sauce or sweet/dark soy sauce) + Fish Sauce (Amy + Jacky’s favorite) – Thse add a magical delicious touch of savory-umami depth of flavors to cooking pasta in Instant Pot.

Wait! Fish Sauce? Soy Sauce? Worcestershire Sauce in Pasta Sauce?

If you’ve been following our recipes, you can probably smell our obsession for Umami. hehe~ Give it a try! 😉

How to Make Instant Pot Pasta Step-by-Step Guide

Tools for Instant Pot Pasta

• Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker
• Wooden Spoon
• Pyrex Measuring Cups
• Mixing Bowl

Brown Ground Beef in Instant Pot

Heat up your pressure cooker (Instant Pot: press “Sauté” button, then “Adjust” button to go to “Sauté More” function). Make sure your pot is as hot as it can be before placing any ingredient in the pot (Instant Pot: wait until indicator says HOT).

Add 1 tbsp olive oil in Instant Pot. Ensure to coat the oil over the whole bottom of the pot.

Add in ½ lb ground beef, then season with kosher salt and ground black pepper.

*Pro Tip: Meat juice begins to come out of the ground beef. Let the moisture evaporate. Browning begins due to maillard reaction.

Remove & set aside.

Sauté Onion, Garlic, Celery, Mushrooms

Add 1 tbsp olive oil in Instant Pot. Add sliced onion, sauté. Add a pinch of kosher salt and ground black pepper to season. Stir occasionally until slightly browned.

Then, add minced garlic and stir for roughly 30 seconds until fragrant.

Add sliced mushrooms, chopped celery, a pinch of dried oregano, and dried basil. Cook for another minute.

Taste seasoning and adjust with more kosher salt and ground black pepper if necessary.

Deglaze & Make Pasta Sauce

Pour in a dash of sherry wine and deglaze the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.

Add browned ground beef, 1 cup unsalted chicken stock, 2 cups water, 2 tbsp regular soy sauce, 1 tbsp fish sauce, and 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce. Mix everything together.

Pressure Cook Pasta

Pour 450g Penne pasta in Instant Pot (into the pasta sauce).

Place 156ml tomato paste on top of the pasta.

*Pro Tip: Mixing 156ml tomato paste with 3 cups of liquid should be completely safe. However, avoid mixing the tomato paste if you are afraid of scorching.

Taste and adjust with more kosher salt and ground black pepper if necessary, as it is harder to adjust the seasoning after.

*Pro Tip: It’s critical to ensure all the Penne pasta are completely submerged into the pasta sauce in order to evenly cook pasta in Instant Pot.

With Venting Knob in Venting Position, close the lid, then turn Venting Knob to Sealing Position.

• Pressure Cooking Method: Pressure Cook at High Pressure for 4 minutes, wait 5 minutes before doing a Quick Release.

*Pro Tip: After 5 minutes, release the remaining pressure by turning Venting Knob to Venting Position.

Open the lid carefully.

Serve Yummy Pasta

Give it a quick stir and everything should blend together.

*Pro Tip: Taste one of the Penne pasta in Instant Pot. If you find the texture too hard (ours came out al dente), close the lid and let the leftover heat in Instant Pot cook the pasta until desired doneness.

Sprinkle some freshly grated Parmesan cheese to kick it up a notch.

Serve immediately. Enjoy your simple yet delicious Instant Pot Pasta Bolognese! 😀

Watch: How To Make Instant Pot Pasta Recipe Video

Can’t see the cooking video? Watch it here.

Time to Cook Pasta in Instant Pot!

More Instant Pot Pasta Recipes You’ll Love

Instant Pot Spaghetti

Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta