This Instant Pot spaghetti cooks the noodles and sauce together in one pot, no boiling water required! Here’s my tested method for perfect pasta every time.
Are you looking for a fast and easy dinner recipe, where all you have to do is “set it and forget it”? I created this Instant Pot spaghetti recipe for busy weeknights, and times when you just don’t want to have to think about dinner. All it takes is just throwing all the ingredients in the pressure cooker!
Side bonus: it’s plant-based, too (but you can add meat if that’s your thing). No matter the way you eat, it’s sure to become a favorite in your household like it is in mine!
5 Star Reader Review
“This pasta is a staple in my food rotation. I absolutely love it and recommend this recipe to everyone with an Instant Pot! It’s so easy to put together, lasts in the fridge for days, and gets better with time. It is pomodoro perfection!” -Aviana
Key Ingredients You’ll Need
The ingredient list is short here:
- Fire roasted crushed tomatoes: This is the most important ingredient! Fire roasted tomatoes give a smoky sweetness to the flavor of this sauce, instead of a bitter finish like some tomatoes. If you can’t find fire roasted, use the best quality of crushed tomatoes you can find. If you can find fire roasted tomatoes diced but not crushed, you could also whiz them up a few times in the blender.
- Garlic powder, not fresh garlic: I use fresh garlic all the time, but here the powder distributes evenly through the liquid and you don’t even need to chop.
- Whole fresh basil leaves: This recipe uses fresh basil to bring big flavor to the sauce. Of course you can omit if you can’t find it, but we highly recommend it if at all possible. We grow our own basil, which makes it easy to have on hand in the warm months: here’s How to Grow Basil.
- Baby spinach: The spinach wilts down to almost nothing and disappears into the sauce.
How To Cook Spaghetti In An Instant Pot
This Instant Pot spaghetti recipe couldn’t be much easier: it’s a matter of throwing a few ingredients into the Instant Pot and waiting for the 6 minute cook time and a quick release! I love how easy it is to simply place ingredients in the Instant Pot and not have to worry about boiling water for pasta! Here are the basic steps (scroll down to the recipe below for quantities):
- Stir the sauce together in a bowl first. Mixing the tomatoes with water helps to keep from triggering a Burn warning on the Instant Pot.
- Ladle a thin layer of sauce into the pot — just enough to coat the bottom.
- Break and fan the spaghetti. Noodles that are directly next to each other in the Instant Pot stick together when they’re cooked. So for this recipe, you’ll need to break the noodles in half and fan them out so they’re going different directions: this helps them to cook evenly! See the photo below.
- Pour the remaining sauce over the top. Don’t stir.
- Pressure cook on high for 6 minutes, then quick release. Cover the valve with a towel and keep your hands and face away from the steam.
- Stir, then rest 3 to 5 minutes. The sauce looks thin when you open the lid and thickens as it sits.
Variations And Substitutions
- Doubling: If you have hungry eaters or want leftovers, this recipe works doubled as well. It’s a tight fit in a 6 quart Instant Pot, but it works!
- Add ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken. Brown a half pound on Sauté mode and drain the fat. Then wipe the pot clean: anything stuck to the bottom can result in a Burn notice.
- Make it heartier without meat. Stir in my vegetarian meatballs or easy vegan meatballs after cooking.
- Gluten-free pasta. Gluten-free spaghetti breaks down faster, so reduce the cook time by 1 minute.
- Finish with cheese: Goat cheese crumbles are my favorite because it melts in to make a creamy sauce. Parmesan, Pecorino, or a spoonful of ricotta also delicious.
What To Serve With Instant Pot Spaghetti
Let’s say that you’re rushing to get dinner on the table: what to make as a side dish while this pressure cooker spaghetti cooks? We’d recommend serving with a green salad: whether it’s a salad from a recipe or just a throw together salad. Here are a few of our favorite salads or salad dressings:
- Grab some greens and add our healthy ranch dressing, balsamic vinaigrette, or honey mustard dressing
- Make our Incredible Chopped Salad or Radish Chopped Salad Recipe
- Or, try this Best Tossed Salad Recipe
Another option: sauté some broccoli with minced garlic while the Instant Pot cooks! Let us know what you’d serve it with in the comments below.
Storage And Reheating
Leftovers of this recipe store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. The noodles do absorb sauce over time, so you can reheat with a splash of water to loosen everything if necessary.
I don’t recommend freezing cooked spaghetti: it becomes very soggy when thawed.
Dietary Notes
This Instant Pot spaghetti recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Six minutes on high pressure with a quick release, plus about 10 minutes for the pot to come to pressure. The general formula for any pasta shape is this: half the box’s al dente time, minus one minute.
Yes. Full-length spaghetti won’t stay submerged, and any noodle above the liquid cooks unevenly.
Fan the noodles out in crossing layers rather than laying them parallel, and stir immediately after opening the lid to break up anything that clumped.
No, thick sauces can scorch before the pot reaches pressure. That’s why this recipe has 2 cups of water before anything goes in.
Yes. A doubled batch fits a 6-quart Instant Pot at the same timing: it’s a tight fit, so fan the noodles carefully.
Almost always because thick tomato sauce settled against the bottom of the pot. Keep the liquid layer on the bottom thin and well-diluted, and don’t stir after adding the noodles.
Instant Pot Spaghetti
Pin RecipeThis Instant Pot spaghetti cooks the noodles and sauce together in one pot, no boiling water required! Here’s my tested method for perfect pasta every time.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 minutes
- Total Time: 21 minutes
- Yield: 3 to 4 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 28 ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes (or best quality crushed tomatoes)*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves, tightly packed (or chopped spinach)
- 8 fresh basil leaves
- 8 ounces spaghetti (regular, not whole wheat)
- Goat cheese crumbles, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir together the water, tomatoes and their juices, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, oregano, kosher salt, spinach, and whole basil leaves.
- Ladle just enough of the tomato mixture into the Instant Pot to cover the bottom.
- Break the spaghetti noodles in half. Working in batches, add the noodles to the Instant Pot in a fan shape so that they stack on each other, making as much space between the noodles as possible (if the noodles are directly next to each other they clump up — it doesn’t have to be perfect, just try to fan them out to make space).
- Pour remaining sauce over the spaghetti.
- Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes: Press the Pressure Cook button, making sure the “High Pressure” setting is selected, and set the time. Note that it takes about 10 minutes for the pot to “preheat” and come up to pressure before it starts cooking. (During cooking, avoid touching the metal part of the lid.)
- Quick release: Vent the remaining steam from the Instant Pot by moving the pressure release handle to “Venting”, covering your hand with a towel or hot pad. Never put your hands or face near the vent when releasing steam. Open the pressure cooker lid.
- Open the lid and stir, removing any clumps. Then remove the pot from the Instant Pot and allow to cool for 3 to 5 minutes for the sauce to thicken slightly. The sauce will thicken even more as it cools. Ladle into bowls and serve.
Notes
- Doubling: If you have hungry eaters or want leftovers, this recipe works doubled as well. It’s a tight fit in a 6 quart Instant Pot, but it works!
- Add ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken. Brown a half pound on Sauté mode and drain the fat. Then wipe the pot clean: anything stuck to the bottom can result in a Burn notice.
- Make it heartier without meat. Stir in my vegetarian meatballs or easy vegan meatballs after cooking.
- Gluten-free pasta. Gluten-free spaghetti breaks down faster, so reduce the cook time by 1 minute.
- Finish with cheese: Goat cheese crumbles are my favorite because it melts in to make a creamy sauce. Parmesan, Pecorino, or a spoonful of ricotta also delicious.
from A Couple Cooks https://ift.tt/z58EoAQ
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