Plain Instant Pot Pasta

Yield: 8 cups cooked pasta

If you've ever wondered: "Can you cook pasta in an Instant Pot?", the answer is YES!! Cooking pasta in the Instant Pot is the quickest and easiest way to perfectly cooked al dente pasta every time... AND this method works with your favorite regular pasta!

Prep Time 1 minute

Cook Time 5 minutes

Additional Time 10 minutes

Total Time 16 minutes

Ingredients

1-lb. dry pasta*
4 cups cold water or chicken broth
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Instructions

Place the insert pot into the Instant Pot base. Add the dry pasta, enough liquid to completely cover the pasta (approximately 4 cups for 1-lb. of pasta), and kosher salt to the insert. If using chicken broth, omit the kosher salt.
Lock the lid on top of the Instant Pot, and make sure the steam release knob is turned to “sealing”.
Press the Manual (Pressure Cook for the new IP-DUO60) button on the front. High pressure should automatically be selected, but if it’s not for some reason, press the Pressure button to toggle it to high.
Use the plus or minus buttons to set the cook time to 5 minutes. Wait a few seconds and you should hear a beep. At this point, the display will read “on”, indicating that the Instant Pot is pressuring up. Once it comes to pressure (about 10 minutes), it will switch to the timer to cook the rice for 5 minutes.
When the timer goes off, perform a quick release (QR) of the pressure. Use a thick towel or a pair of tongs to turn the steam release knob to “venting”. If you’ve never experienced this before, it can be pretty forceful, so pull your hands away quickly, stand back, and allow the steam to escape.*
Once the pressure is released, press the Keep Warm/Cancel button to turn the Instant Pot off. Then remove the lid and stir the pasta.

Notes

Best Pasta Shapes To Use For This Method

This pressure cooker pasta method works best with hearty short pasta varieties, such as penne pasta, bowtie pasta, rigatoni, shells, etc. that are sold in a box or cellophane bag. See the ingredients notes for more details.

How To Prevent Quick Release Foaming

If you experience sputtering or foaming during the quick release of pressure, simply throw a towel over top to contain it. Refer to the tips within the blog post for tips that will help prevent this from occurring in the future.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8 servings

Serving Size:

1/2 cup cooked pasta
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 200Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 580mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 2gSugar: 13gProtein: 7g

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.