Instant Pot Creamy Tomato Pasta
Our favorite Creamy Tomato Pasta prepared in a pressure cooker in less than 20 minutes. A simple weeknight dinner that’s sure to please the whole family!
Is it Monday already? The weekends come and go way too fast. Oh well, time to get back to the grind, so to speak.
Fortunately, Kim and I are sharing a recipe that should make this week a little easier. Our Instant Pot creamy tomato pasta is a quick, delicious dinner that can be made in less time than it takes to deliver a pizza.
Best of all, you don’t have to stand on your feet in kitchen after a long day at work. Using only a handful of ingredients, it’s the perfect answer to the question, “What’s for dinner?”
Just to make things even easier, I added a few tips to the bottom of the post, in case you need them. Well, shall we get started?
Oh, and if you want to try this dish in a crock pot, try our slow cooker creamy chicken pasta! It’s the same dish and you can make it with our without chicken.
Creamy Tomato Pasta Instructions:
Alright, so this recipe is super simple. With that being said, I cannot emphasize how important it is to follow the directions for the tomato pasta.
Otherwise, the noodles may stick and the sauce may break.
To begin, place the liner into the pressure cooker and add the noodles. After that, pour in the chicken broth and heavy cream.
Do your best to ensure that the noodles are below the liquid. Use our photos as a reference.
Then, pour in the pasta sauce and add the garlic powder, onion powder, Italian spices, and red pepper flakes. Simply, dump them in right in top of the sauce.
Afterward, put the lid on the machine and set the valve to, “sealed.” Press the manual/high pressure cook button and set it to cook for five minutes.
Last, once the timer goes off, carefully open the valve to complete a, “quick release.” Stir the noodles and serve them with your favorite garnishments like grated Parmesan cheese, garlic bread, or fresh basil.
Instant Pot Creamy Tomato Pasta Tips:
- The dish will thicken a lot as it cools, especially after it’s been in the refrigerator. Reheat it over low heat to retain as much moisture as possible. It will not be as “saucy” as the when it was first cooked. The noodles soak up a considerable amount of sauce. If you want, you can add a little broth or cream to the pasta as it reheats; however, this will affect the flavor.
- Please be sure to follow the directions properly for your first attempt. The recipe was written so that the noodles would completely cook while still maintaining the integrity of the delicate cream. In other words, if you change things up, the heavy cream may break…badly.
- Believe it or not, we prefer to use gluten-free noodles in our pressure cooker. For some reason, they have a better texture and turn out less, “gummy,” when pressure cooked than when made on the stove.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces short pasta, (penne, rotini, ziti, etc.)
- 1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- **Please layer the ingredients in the order listed below.**
- Place the pasta noodles into the stainless steel liner of the Instant Pot. Pour the chicken broth and heavy cream over the noodles. Press the noodles down so they’re mostly covered by liquid.8 ounces short pasta1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- Next pour in the pasta sauce and top it with the garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes. Don’t stir!1 cup marinara sauce1/2 teaspoon garlic powder1/2 teaspoon onion powder1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Close the lid, and make sure the valve is set to "Sealing."
- Use the manual (pressure cook) button to adjust the time to 5 minutes. After the time is up, open the valve to release the pressure (quick release).
- Stir the noodles and sauce. Top with your favorite cheese, fresh basil, or parsley. Serve hot.
Can you double this recipe? If so, does cook time change?
Good Morning Brooke, yes, you can double the recipe and the cook time does not change. Have a great day 🙂
Can we use tomato pasta?
Good Morning, Johnna. I’m not sure what you’re asking. Can you please elaborate?
Can I make this with red lentil pasta instead of regular pasta?
Good Morning Taylor, that’s a good question. Now, we’ve never used lentil pasta, but it appears to have a shorter cook time. So, we feel it might work, provided you reduce the pressure cook time from 5 minutes to 2-3 minutes. I hope this information helps. Have a great day 🙂
This recipe has quickly become one of my favorites! So easy, so good, and with ingredients I always have on hand!
This is so simple and DELICIOUS! After my second time making it I started to quadruple the recipe because there’s never enough for my boys and husband also likes some leftover for the next day.And it still turns out great! This is my 10th-ith time making it so I wanted to let you know how much we love it. Thank you!
Thank you Danielle! We’re thrilled that your household enjoys the pasta. Thank you again for coming back to comment on the recipe. Have a lovely day 🙂
Hello! We loved this recipe! However, towards the end of the coming process my instapot read “food burning” and started acting weird. The noodles on the bottom were starting to scorch. First time that’s ever happened in our instapot. Any tips? I wanted to make again soon – whole family loved it!
Good Morning Kelsey, oh no! We’re sorry to hear that happened. I chatted with Kim and she has two options for you. First, you could always add a little extra broth (an extra 1/4-1/2 cup). Second, you could try the recipe using a pot-in-pot accessory. The pot-in-pot accessory has a lot of uses; however, unless your going to use it for other recipes (chocolate sauces, hollandaise, etc.) then it may not be worth the cost. Personally, I would try adding more liquid before buying an accessory that’s intended for apprentice level cooking. I hope this information helps. Thank you for coming back to let us know what happened. Have a lovely day 🙂
Hi I want to make this and was wandering can I add shrimp to it that has been defrost or should the shrimp be frozen
Good Morning Paula, that’s a wonderful question. Kim and I have never tried that before. However, if we tried add seafood, then we would use thawed, deveined, and peeled shrimp. The smaller the better. Once the pasta is done, turn the cooker on to the saute function and stir in the shrimp. Keep stirring the pasta to keep it from burning while the shrimp cooks. Once the shellfish is cooked through, then turn off the machine and serve. I hope this information helps. Have a lovely day 🙂
I followed the directions but it was like soup 🙁 it didn’t thicken at all. Still ate it anyway and it was so good just don’t know why it was soupy
Good Morning Demy, I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s tough to know exactly what happened because there are so many little variables in the kitchen that can make a huge impact. For example, different pasta sauces can have more liquid than others (marinara versus spaghetti sauce). Regardless, I’m sorry that happened. Thank you for coming back to comment on and rate the recipe card, we appreciate it.
If you do decide to try it again, Kim and I talked and we came up with a few suggestions:
Try cooking it for 1 minute longer.
Try using a thick pasta sauce (like chunky garden variety or even meat sauce).
Gluten-free noodles work really well in pressure cookers because they can soak up a lot of sauce.
Thank you,
John
Can you cook meat in the pot with it? If so what changes should be made?
Good Morning Kelli, that’s a good question. Unfortunately, no you cannot cook meat in the pot with the creamy tomato pasta. The cook time would have to be increased and the noodles would overcook and fall apart. I have a included a few links to some Instant Pot pasta and meat recipes that might work for you. Thank you for asking and we wish you a lovely day 🙂
https://www.berlyskitchen.com/instant-pot-pesto-chicken-pasta/
https://www.berlyskitchen.com/instant-pot-chicken-spaghetti-recipe/
https://www.berlyskitchen.com/instant-pot-creamy-shells-beef/
This is truly a fantastic recipe and it was so easy. This dish seems like you spent a lot of time preparing and it is just 5 minutes in a pressure cooker. No special trips to the store! The only thing we added was salt. We had it with meatloaf and it was a perfect side. Can’t wait to try some variations like adding some chicken or maybe little meatballs. This one is a keeper.
Thank you Tim, that’s awesome to hear! Kim and I are glad the pasta was a great side dish. Thank you again for coming back to comment on and rate the recipe card. Have a great day 🙂
Excited to try this! What if I want to double the recipe…how would the time in the IP work? 10 min?
Good Morning Nelita, the time would change even if you doubled the recipe. The cook time stays the same. I hope this information helps, have a lovely day 🙂
@John, just to verify- the cook time would NOT change if you doubled the recipe??
Thanks!
Good Morning Julie, that’s correct, the cook time would not change. I checked that original message and noticed I left out the “not.” Thanks, have a great day 🙂
I don’t have an instant pot. Can this be made in a crockpot? I already read above that you can’t make it in a regular pot. Thanks!
Good Morning Terri, that’s a good question. Unfortunately, this recipe cannot be made in a crockpot. It can only be made in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. I just checked our site and we don’t have any crockpot pasta recipes. It’s something we’ll put on our list to develop. Thank you for dropping by to ask the question. Have a lovely day 🙂
can you cook this in a regular pot?
Good Morning Michelle, unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend making this recipe in a regular pot. I suspect it might burn and stick. However, we have another recipe that might work for you. Try this instead, just leave out the vodka 🙂
https://www.berlyskitchen.com/penne-alla-vodka/
I hope this info helps, have a lovely day 🙂
Are the noodles cooked or not When putting in the instant pot.
Amazing recipe
We loved it
We are thinking about making this tonight as we are having family over
Thank you, Kevin! Kim and I are glad everyone enjoyed the pasta. We hope you guests enjoy it too! Have a great weekend 🙂
It is a hit
Had to send them the recipe
Kevin, awesome, thank you for sharing the recipe. We appreciate it!
This was so delicious. I added meatballs to this n my husband n daughter luved it as well. I will definitely b making this again. Thank u for some great recipes
Thank you Lisa! Kim and I are happy you and your family enjoyed the pasta. Thank you for coming back to comment on and rate the recipe card. Have a lovely day 🙂
This was so good! I added some chicken that was seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning. Definitely a make again! The gluten free noodles turned out perfectly. Thank you!
Thank you, Candice! I bet the chicken was a tasty addition, great idea! Thanks again for coming back to comment on and rate the recipe card. Have a lovely day 🙂