Instant Pot Rigatoni with Meat Sauce

5 from 2 votes

A hearty, delicious and healthy pasta dinner that cooks quickly in the InstantPot and doesn't require multiple pots and pans. Is there anything more satisfying?

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Pressurize:5

Total Time40

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: instant pot pasta, pasta with meat sauce, rigatoni and meat sauce

Servings:

Author: Peter | Simple Nourished Living

Equipment

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil (I used garlic infused olive oil)
1 medium onion, chopped (or about 1 cup frozen chopped onion)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
12 ounces lean ground turkey
1 teaspoon crushed fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1-1/2 cups marinara sauce
8 ounces rigatoni
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 package (8 ounces) sliced mushrooms
2 medium red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Sliced basil or chopped parsley (optional) for garnish

Instructions

Press the saute function on the pressure cooker and add the olive oil and onion to the inner pot. Cook until onion softens and becomes translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes, stirring as needed to prevent onion from burning.
Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute more.
Add the ground turkey, breaking up the meat into crumbles with a wooden spoon, and cook until almost cooked through, about 5 minutes.
Turn off instant pot and stir in the fennel seed, black pepper, marinara sauce and 3/4 cup water until thoroughly combined.
Add the rigatoni, then layer with tomatoes, mushrooms and bell peppers making sure the pasta is completely covered. Do not stir the ingredients.
Place the lid on the pot in the lock position and move the steam release handle to Sealing position. Press manual button and cook on HIGH pressure for 6 minutes.
Once the cooking cycle is complete, move the steam release handle to Venting position to quickly release the steam, being careful not to get burned. (I like to cover the steam release valve with a dish towel before releasing the steam.)
Once the pressure has been released, unlock and remove the lid. Stir the ingredients with a wooden spoon and allow to sit, uncovered for 2 minutes before stirring in the grated cheese.
Divide evenly among 6 pasta bowls and serve with additional grated cheese and sliced basil or chopped parsley, if desired.

Notes

Serving size: about 1-1/2 cups

WW Points: 5

Check the WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app.
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)

8 PointsPlus (Old plan)

I like this pasta with ground turkey, but feel free to substitute lean ground beef or even pork. Although I haven't tried this yet, I think it would also work with meatless crumbles if you wanted to keep this vegetarian friendly.

Here in the U.S., many ground meats come pre-packed in 16 ounce containers. If you elect to use all 16 ounces (instead of the 12 ounces called for in the recipe), you'll probably want to add a little more marinara and water. I added 16 ounces of ground turkey and kept the remaining ingredient quantities the same and my Instant Pot wouldn't come up to pressure.

Apparently, the machine is smart enough to know if there is not enough liquid—so I added a bit more marinara and water and then it pressurized and cooked as expected.

When making any ingredient changes, be sure to add them to WW Recipe Builder to get the correct Points for your recipe.

Your cooker should come up to pressure rather quickly since it's all warmed up after sautéing the onions, garlic and meat.

Nutrition