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We constantly hear from readers who feel intimidated by their Instant Pot pressure cooker. We’re excited to share this insanely simple Instant Pot pasta with plant-based meatballs—it’s the perfect intro to vegan pressure cooking!
This easy Instant Pot pasta was designed for beginners. Here’s why we love it so much:
You can make it with just a few pantry ingredients you may already have on hand!
It’s vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free friendly!
It can easily be made gluten-free by using gluten-free pasta
It’s versatile and you can change it up with whatever veggies you have on hand, leave out the veggie meatballs if you don’t have any, or pop in vegan sausage slices or ground vegan meat instead!
It’s delicious! Serve it up to your family, friends, and the omnivores in your life—this recipe is widely loved by all.
How to Serve Up This Instant Pot Pasta
I’m sure you’re no stranger to serving pasta, but here are a few suggestions for ingredients you can add or tweaks you can make. As always, make it your own or use our ideas to inspire your own creative concoctions!
Go for Leafy Greens – Add a large, fresh green salad with a lovely, light vinaigrette––the perfect companion to this Simple Instant Pot Pasta recipe.
Pick a New Pasta – Switch out your usual pasta shape for something new and exciting like wagon wheels (rotelle), bow ties (farfalle), corkscrews (cavapatti), or sweet flowery twists (campanelle).
Bring on the Beans – Instead of using vegan meatballs, you can easily substitute a cup or two of cooked beans or lentils for an added punch of plant-based protein, fiber, and iron.
Make a Mexican-Inspired Meal – Use black beans instead of meatballs, plain tomato sauce instead of pasta sauce, add 1-2 tablespoons of a fajita or taco seasoning, corn kernels, chopped red onion, and (when done) top with vegan sour cream and sliced avocado.
How to Store Your Leftover Pasta
Any of your Instant Pot pasta leftovers can be placed in a covered container and placed in the refrigerator. They should last for up to 3 days. When re-heating, add a tablespoon of water (or, better yet, more pasta sauce) to the mix, stir well, and cook until heated through. Either 1-2 minutes in the microwave or about 5 minutes over medium/low on the stovetop would work.
You could even place any leftover pasta into an oven-safe container and cover it with a thin layer of baby spinach and vegan shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, checking frequently to make sure the cheese doesn’t burn.
Leftovers can also be frozen for up to 2 weeks if placed in an airtight, freezer-safe container. You can store them in glass containers or you can even use a Stasher bag for this––the mega bag size is so handy and you can reheat right in the bag itself!
A Great Beginner Instant Pot Recipe for Newbies
Have you been putting off preparing food in your Instant Pot? How long has it been sadly sitting on your kitchen counter—or even still in the box collecting dust? We’re hoping to help you to be brave today and finally break open the box and make this delicious super-easy vegan Instant Pot pasta for dinner. It’s the perfect Instant Pot meal for beginners.
A good friend of mine bought me an Instant Pot for Christmas a few years ago. For the first five or six months, it just sat there, in the kitchen, staring at me with its diabolical, digital doodads and gruesome gadgetry. I don’t know what it is about new appliances, but I was actually scared of using this one.
Maybe it was flashbacks of Audrey Hepburn’s exploding saffron rice (from my favorite movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s), or perhaps the Dalek-like shape of the machine had me in fear for my life? I’m not exactly sure why I was so intimidated, but the solution was to just make something. Anything! And I did. This is how I did it.
Take the Instant Pot Plunge
Now that you know I can totally sympathize with your situation, let’s get cooking! The best way to tackle the terrifying transition between Instant Pot in a box and Instant Pot full of pasta, here’s what we’re going to do:
Get the box. Open the box. Take out your Instant Pot. Take a deep breath.
Look over the instructions quickly or as thoroughly as you wish. Put aside for later or bedtime reading.
Take the stainless steel insert out of the base and wash with warm soapy water. Rinse well. Do the same with the cover. Dry both with a clean cloth.
Find a good spot for your pot, preferably close to an electrical outlet. This doesn’t have to be its final destination. You only have to use it for about 30 minutes and then it can be washed and put away until you need it again.
Assemble your ingredients and we’re ready to rock!
You can also get a quick ‘how and why’ tutorial on using your Instant Pot (or other pressure cooker) HERE.
More Inspiring Instant Pot Recipes:
You’ve got this! We believe in you! If you’re still feeling pumped up and passionate about using your Instant Pot, check out these simple and enticing recipes for more one-pot meals.
Easy Vegan Instant Pot Pasta With Plant-Based Meatballs
Author: Gina House
5 from 12 votes
This easy vegan instant pot pasta with plant-based meatballs takes just 5 minutes of active prep to pull together. The Instant Pot does the rest! Just dump in a box of pasta, a jar of pasta sauce, a package of vegan meatballs, water, and your favorite veggies and you'll soon have a perfectly cooked delicious plant based dinner to serve your whole family. This is the easiest Instant Pot recipe ever!
1 16-ounce boxpasta, we used medium shell pasta, but it also works well with rice and bean pastas like brown rice, chickpea, red lentil, and black bean pasta
1 25-ounce jarpasta sauce, or 24-ounce jar
24ounceswater
1packagefrozen vegan meatballs, about 8-12, depending on size
2cupsfrozen sliced bell peppers, or your favorite frozen veggies
¼cupfinely chopped parsley, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Add dry pasta to your Instant Pot or other pressure cooker.
Add the entire jar of pasta sauce.
Fill the pasta sauce jar with water and add to the mixture.
Add in your veggie meatballs and frozen veggies and stir well.
Place the lid on the Instant Pot, making sure that the lever is in the sealed position, and lock in place.
Press MANUAL and adjust time (using the down-arrow) to 4 minutes. When the Instant Pot is starting to cook, you will hear a “beep.” You can now let the Instant Pot do its thing for the next 25 minutes or so.
When you hear the “beeping” indicator that the Instant Pot is done cooking, allow the pot to sit for 5 minutes or wait until the screen reads “L005.”
Move the lever to release and allow the remaining steam to exit the Instant Pot.
Press the “Keep Warm/Cancel” button and carefully remove the lid. The food inside will be hot and still steaming.
Stir your pasta and serve!
*Works best with all pasta except linguine and spaghetti shapes.
Love this Recipe? Leave a Rating!And follow @Vegan on Instagram for more.
This easy vegan Instant Pot pasta recipe was developed and written by Gina House and edited by Amanda Meth. Content copyright World of Vegan, all rights reserved. Photos by Michelle Cehn. This simple vegan one pot dinner recipe includes affiliate links when available and shopping through these links supports World of Vegan.
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This was really good for such a simple recipe. I did add some roasted garlic seasoning but otherwise followed the recipe. I will try with cayenne next time. Thank-you! I’m all about easy delicious recipes!
Hi Heather! Absolutely! This recipe is really versatile, you can toss in any veggies (fresh or frozen) and spices you’d like as long as the veggies don’t take too long to cook 🙂
I am so happy to share my recipe! I’ve been making this for a couple of years now and it’s always a hit with my family. I love how quick and easy it is to make. Gather your ingredients and just throw everything into the pot! It comes out perfectly every time and I only have to clean out the one pot! What can be better than that? Delicious, too!
This recipe blew me away. I was skeptical that something so easy could come out as good as the meatball marinara pasta I’ve always made, but it many ways this was even better! I’ll be making it often in my home. Thanks for sharing the recipe, Gina!
Leave a Comment
This was really good for such a simple recipe. I did add some roasted garlic seasoning but otherwise followed the recipe. I will try with cayenne next time. Thank-you! I’m all about easy delicious recipes!
So happy to hear this! Roasted garlic sounds delicious!
Brought back our pasta dinners ever since I found this! This is easy to make, vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free for guilt-free dinners!
Such a great Instant Pot recipe…this came out perfectly for me!
I followed the written instructions to the T and got Food Burn.
This looks so good! Can’t wait to try it.
Yay! Looking forward to hearing what you think and make sure to share your own take on it! Thanks so much, Jackie!
Can I use fresh vegetables?
Hi Heather! Absolutely! This recipe is really versatile, you can toss in any veggies (fresh or frozen) and spices you’d like as long as the veggies don’t take too long to cook 🙂
Looks so so good! I love pasta so I love trying new takes on different variations
This recipe has been a total revelation and it opened my eyes to the wonders of Instant Pot life! Thanks, Gina!
This is ridiculously easy and delicious. I just threw in the veggies and pasta I had on hand, got a bit creative, and voila dinner! We loved it.
I am so happy to share my recipe! I’ve been making this for a couple of years now and it’s always a hit with my family. I love how quick and easy it is to make. Gather your ingredients and just throw everything into the pot! It comes out perfectly every time and I only have to clean out the one pot! What can be better than that? Delicious, too!
This recipe blew me away. I was skeptical that something so easy could come out as good as the meatball marinara pasta I’ve always made, but it many ways this was even better! I’ll be making it often in my home. Thanks for sharing the recipe, Gina!
We just got an instant pot so I’m definitely going to try this out!! Love it!
I love me some vegan meatballs and pasta and cooking it in the Instant Pot makes things so much easier! This is a staple, for sure!
All the recipes are wonderful
Thank you for all the inspiration!!!
Thanks so much for your support!!