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Perfect Instant Pot Pasta

Three bowls of pasta on a red mat
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4.9 from 65 reviews

Cook your pasta to perfection without stirring, watching, or spilling starchy water all over your stove top!  Pressure Cooker to the rescue!

Ingredients

Scale
  • pasta
  • water – 1 1/2 cups for every 4 oz of pasta
  • kosher salt – 1/2 teaspoon for every 1 1/2 cups of water and 4 oz of pasta
  • 1/2 tablespoon oil or butter for every 4 oz of pasta

Instructions

  1. Add pasta, water, kosher salt and oil or butter to the pressure cooker pot (see ratios in the ingredient list).
  2. Note: Pasta should be just barely covered by water.  If there is pasta above the water, add extra to cover.
  3. Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position.  Cook at high pressure for half of the pasta package cooking time minus 2 minutes (see notes for examples of this).
  4. When pressure cooking is complete, use a quick release.  If liquid sprays from the knob, close knob, wait 30 seconds then release pressure again.  Repeat until foam stops coming through valve. May also turn knob half way so only a small amount of steam is being released.
  5. Use pasta immediately or rinse with cool water to stop the cooking.

Notes

  • When I published this recipe in 2017 the directions were to use 2 cups liquid to 4 ounces of pasta.  I’ve decreased that to 1 1/2 cups liquid now because it cuts down on foaming and still cooks the pasta perfectly without sticking.  I also originally wrote to divide the box cook time in half and subtract by 1 minute.  I now subtract by 2 minutes for perfect al dente pasta.  Feel free to use this original method if it works for you or give this new method a try and let me know how it compares for you!
  • Nutritional Facts are for 1 cup of dry whole wheat pasta.  Facts will vary depending on what kind of pasta is used
  • Cook time Examples from above for easy reference:
    • The Whole Wheat Spiral Pasta here says to cook for 7-9 minutes.  Take the lowest time (7 minutes), decrease it to 6 to get an even number, divide in half (3 minutes) and subtract 2 minutes = 1 minute cooking time.
    • The Brown Rice Macaroni Pasta here calls for 15-16 minutes.  Take the lowest time (15 minutes), decrease it to 14 to get an even number, divide in half (7 minutes) and subtract 2 minutes = 5 minutes cooking time
    • The Whole Grain Penne pasta here has a cook time of 10-12 minutes.  Take the lowest time (10 minutes), divide in half (5 minutes) and subtract 2 minutes = 3 minutes cooking time

Find it online: https://instafreshmeals.com/perfect-pressure-cooker-pasta/