Why Cook Pasta in the Instant Pot
There are three justifications for using an Instant Pot or pressure cooker to cook pasta.
- It’s a true one pot dish. Pasta will absorb all of the water while cooking, so there’s no need to strain it after it’s done.
- Set it and forget it. It’s not necessary to watch the pot to make sure it doesn’t boil over. Just turn the machine on and walk away.
- Preserve the starch: Since the pasta isn’t strained, all of its natural starch remains in the pot and acts as a natural thickener for any sauce that is added, such as creamy cheesy sauce or marinara sauce (like in Instant Pot Mac and Cheese).
Cooking Any Type of Pasta in the Instant Pot
Our goal was to develop a recipe that works with any kind of pasta. We’ve experimented with at least 14 different pasta varieties using this recipe over the course of the last few months of research. With a few exceptions, we’ve had great success with nearly all of them.
Before we begin, let us clarify something: Despite the Instant Pot’s claims to operate universally, we have discovered through years of creating recipes in the pot that this is not the case. Therefore, even though we’ve had great success cooking almost any kind of dried pasta using this method, you might need to modify our recipe slightly depending on the Instant Pot or other pressure cooker brand that you own.
We’ve successfully tested this recipe with three different models and sizes of Instant Pots, but keep in mind that you might need to make a few small adjustments to achieve the precise results you want for the recipe you choose to use. Although there are too many variables, we truly wanted this recipe to be infallible. The variables in this situation are your particular Instant Pot, the type of pasta you’re using, and the altitude at which you live. However, we are certain that this recipe is nearly ideal, having worked for us with a wide variety of pasta shapes and varieties.
But we thought you might find this pasta-making recipe useful as well, so we’re sharing it with you.
In the Instant Pot, regular wheat pasta cooks the most reliably. The contents of gluten-free pasta can vary greatly, ranging from soy or corn flour to brown rice or quinoa flour. The largest problem we discovered when cooking the gluten-free pasta was too much starch escaping through the vent. But fear not—we’ve devised a solution for this, which we go into more detail about below.
Cooking Spaghetti, Fettuccini, or Linguini in the Instant Pot
Cooking long, straight pastas in the Instant Pot, such as linguini, fettuccini, and spaghetti, can be a little tricky. While the cook time is the same, the technique for cooking these is a little different from other shapes.
- To make the pasta easily submerged in water, break the strands in half before adding them to the Instant Pot.
- Add enough water to cover the pasta completely in the Instant Pot (note: this is more water than you add for other shapes of pasta).
- Do not stir before cooking. Resist the urge to stir the pasta. (Stirring it can cause it to stick. ) .
- Pressure cook pasta according to the time on the chart.
- After five minutes of natural release, release any residual pressure from the pasta.
- Stir the pasta thoroughly after cooking to ensure that the strands do not stick together.
- Drain well.
