This easy Instant Pot Pasta Primavera basically makes itself! It’s an easy, gluten free meatless dinner that kids or adults will love. Great for meal prep!
PIN Instant Pot Pasta Primavera
Should I be embarrassed about the amount of Instant Pot recipes that I’ve been making for you? Do I need to seek help for the addiction?
I know I told you in the paleo salmon cakes that the Instant pot should move over because the air fryer is in town but, ummmm, I MIGHT have to retract that statement.
Honestly, I was just intimidated by the Instant Pot because it had so many buttons and functions and I just did not know how to use it. You know what I mean? But then I made that Instant Pot turmeric chicken like 8 times and I got the HANG OF IT.
Which lead to Instant Pot spaghetti squash, Instant pot chicken and rice casserole, instant pot BREAKFAST casserole and NOW Instant Pot penne PASTA.
It’s like when you first learn to ride a bike. You want to do it all the time and you never forget how to do it. Or something like that.
Are you like me where you have zero judgement skills in the area of figuring out a. how much pasta to make (so you make enough to feed an army when you wanted it for two people) and b. what size pot to use to make pasta, so you always end up with it boiling over and making a mess?
You’d think 7 years into this blog I’d know how to do this simple task, yet here we are.
The beauty of making INSTANT POT pasta recipes is that you don’t need to worry about the water boiling over-age because of the whole lid situation. You also don’t need as much water so cooking pasta in the Instant Pot is basically idiot proof. Which is the same thing as Taylor proof apparently.
How Much Water to Cook Pasta in the Pressure Cooker?
While it does depend on how much pasta you’re cooking, I have found that around 4 cups work best when cooking an 8oz box. The most important thing is to make sure that the pasta is entirely covered with water before cooking!
How Long to Cook Pasta In a Pressure Cooker?
I played around with cooking times when making Instant Pot Pasta and found that about ½ the time recommended on the box is the best, when cooking the pasta on manual high pressure.
Once it’s all cooked up and tender you just must drain the water and do as you normally do with cooked pasta! For the primavera version I cooked the veggies separate so they wouldn’t get all mushy under the pressure of the Instant Pot. Don’t try to cook everything at once because I can promise you from real-life, first-hand experience that it is no good and you will not like it.
I can promise you that you will like the chewy, tender noodle action swirling around your tongue with tender-crisp, herby veggies with zippy bursts of tangy lemon and melty, creamy Parmesan cheese. Of course, if you’re more of a “low carb person” you could also try Spaghetti Squash Primavera!
Instant Pot Pasta – who would have thunk it?
We might just be starting a new trend?
Other Recipes You Might Like:
Pizza Crock Pot Pasta
Whole30 Keto Chili in the Instant Pot
Cilantro Lime Instant Pot Rice
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp Olive oil
- 2 Cups Broccoli, cut into medium sized florets
- 1 Cup Carrot, peeled and sliced
- 3/4 Cup Onion roughly chopped
- 1/2 Large zucchini, sliced into half moons
- 1/2 Large red pepper, roughly chopped
- 2 tsp Garlic, minced
- 4 tsp Italian seasoning
- 8 Oz Chickpea Penne pasta (I used Banza)
- 4 Cups Water
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- 1/2 - 1 Lemon, juiced (to taste) *
- 2/3 Cup Parmesan cheese, grated and tightly packed (2oz)
- 2/3 Cup Cherry tomatoes, halved
- Sliced fresh basil, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil on saute mode in your Instant Pot. Add all the vegetables and cook, covering with the lid (just slightly, you dont want to get the lid warning on your Instant Pot!) and stirring occasionally, until they just begin to tenderize - about 10-12 minutes. Add in the garlic and Italian seasoning and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the garlic is golden. Transfer the veggies to a plate and cover to keep warm.
- Add the pasta into the Instant Pot and cover with the water. Cover (make sure the lid is set to sealing) and cook on manual high pressure for 3 minutes. Let steam release naturally.
- Pour 1/2 cup of the pasta water into a measuring cup and drain the rest, rinsing the pasta with cold water and draining. Stir in the reserved water, salt and lemon juice and stir until mixed.
- Add in the cooked vegetables, the cheese and cherry tomatoes and stir until the cheesy is melted.
- Garnish with fresh basil and DEVOUR!
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
FOR THIS RECIPE, I RECOMMEND:
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS PER SERVING: POINTS+: 7. OLD POINTS: 8
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This recipe didn’t have enough flavor. I also followed the recipe down to the letter, even the same brand of Instant Pot AND the same brand of pasta, and it miserably overcooked my noodles. I had to throw them all away and it made a huge mess. I would not ever make this again!
I am sorry it didn’t work for you! As you can see by other comments, other readers liked it, so I am wondering what went wrong for you.
Are you using fresh or dried garlic?
Hi Cheryl – Fresh garlic, minced!