My Instant Pot has made our lives easier in so many ways, not the least of which is by helping me make this regular family meal in a fraction of the time it used to previously take.
Both my sons LOVE pasta.
Basically like any other North American child. As somewhat health-conscious parents, my husband and I try to make sure that our kids are consuming enough proteins and fats along with the carbs that we all love so much. We try and make their favorite meal and mix it with ground beef while camouflaging it with the sauce and the pasta so they don’t really notice it. This dish literally takes 25 minutes from the time you start to the time the meal is on the table. It’s simple, delicious and fast. It's the trifecta that moms love. Ever since I started eating healthy, I use either brown rice pasta from Trader Joe's or whole wheat pasta to substitute for plain white pasta but the kids really do prefer it with the traditional pasta.
Pressure Cooker Pasta?
The Instant Pot is amazing for making pasta because it somehow cooks it so perfectly. However, it's just as easy to get it wrong and have your pasta turn into mush. You want to make sure that you're using more substantial pasta like farfalle, rigatoni or macaroni and avoid using angel hair pasta or spaghettini. The trick that always works for us is to cook the pasta for half the time written on the box plus one minute. For example, if the box says, perfect al dente in 8-10 minutes, then cook for 4+1, meaning 5 minutes. That's the timing we used to make this Instant Pot Pasta with Ground Beef. I find that this gets us the perfect consistency every time. Having said that, different people like their pasta at different levels of done-ness so play around with the pasta until you find your sweet spot.
Thank you for checking out this recipe. If you loved it, you might also like my Instant Pot Egyptian Koshari recipe which is SO delicious.
Have a wonderful day!
Instant Pot Pasta with Ground Beef
Ingredients
- 1 box Pasta (rigatoni, farfalle, penne preferred)
- 1 lb Lean ground beef
- 1.5 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black pepper
- 1/2 tsp Cumin
- 1/4 tsp Red chili powder
- 1 Jar Pasta sauce we love Ragu Old World Traditional
- 24 oz Stock/water
- Fresh parsley, chilli flakes and shaved parmesan for garnish
Instructions
- Set your pot on Sauté so it heats up while you’re preparing your ingredients. If you’re in a rush, put your pasta sauce in a little saucepan on the stove to warm up while you’re cooking the ground beef.
- Once the display reads HOT, add your ground beef to the pot and sauté until it’s well browned. Add the seasoning about halfway through the browning process.
- Once the beef has browned and you don’t see any pink, add the pasta and mix it up with the beef. Add the pasta sauce, the stock and any salt/pepper you’d want to add if you season your sauce at all. Mix it all up so the pasta is well mixed with the sauce.
- Place the lid and lock it. Turn the knob to Sealing. Turn the pot OFF and then press Manual and use the +/- buttons to adjust the time to 5 minutes. Let NPR for at least 5 minutes and then QR.
- Stir and serve. Top with some fresh parsley, shaved parmesan and chilli flakes if you like a little spice.
