This post may contain affiliate links.
This irresistibly Creamy Instant Pot Pasta recipe is the easiest dinner to whip in under 30 minutes and with minimal effort. Add a few simple ingredients to the pot and walk away. Stir in cream, parmesan cheese and spinach after cooking and dinner is served! Such a quick and easy to get dinner on the table!
The Instant Pot instantly became one of my favorite appliances. And simple dump and go dinners like this Instant Pot Pasta are another reason it just doesn’t get any better.
This easy pasta recipe is a perfect dinner for a busy weeknight. Serve it with a simple salad and some dinner rolls or garlic bread and you are set! The whole family will love it!
Aside from Instant Pot mac and cheese, this delicious meal is the one of our favorite instant pot recipes in our house.
Love simple Instant pot recipes too? Try these other favorites: Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Tacos, Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Instant Pot Creamy Parmesan Chicken or my personal favorite, these Quick Crispy Instant Pot Carnitas.
Why You Will Love This Creamy Instant Pot Pasta:
- It’s so simple to make. Here is the deal: add the pasta, broth, tomatoes, butter and seasoning. Stir, set, and walk away. Come back to stir in spinach, cheese and cream. Doesn’t get any easier! Instant pot recipes with pasta are actually such a great option!
- Cheesy and comforting. Comfort food with a perfect Italian twist. We prefer ours with a few pieces of fresh mozzarella melted on top. Love a delicious pasta recipe!
- It’s a vegetarian meal but can also be easily paired with a variety of meats. If you choose a vegetarian parmesan, you have a meatless dinner recipe. But for the meat eaters at home, you can slice up some zucchini beef meatballs or Italian sausage, or even grilled chicken and stir it in.
- Kid friendly. Since this Instant Pot pasta is a lot like a big bowl of spaghetti, the kids are eager to dive in. They just don’t have to know that it was that easy to whip up! Hoping this will be a hit with your picky eaters!
Recipe Ingredients:
- pasta: any short pasta like rotini, medium shells, penne, etc. should work. We like to switch it up here and there just to vary the pasta recipe. Another type of pasta we like in this recipe is rotini or penne pasta.
- butter: salted or unsalted butter will work great, if you use salted, you may want to lessen the amount of salt in the recipe. You can adjust to taste when serving.
- diced tomatoes: canned tomatoes, you can use fire roasted tomatoes for an added layer of flavor. Crushed tomatoes are also an option for a bit more sauciness to your dish.
- chicken broth: you could use chicken or vegetable broth in this recipe. I prefer the chicken for the flavor, but if wanting to keep this Instant pot pasta vegetarian, use the veggie broth. Chicken stock or veggies stock could also work!
- garlic: freshly minced garlic cloves for optimal flavor. Garlic powder is fine if you don’t have fresh on hand. Start with about 1/2 teaspoon and add more to taste.
- Italian seasoning: if you don’t have this on hand, a combination of marjoram, basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, savory, sage–consider making your own with a bit of each. You can add in some red pepper flakes to add a touch of heat if desired.
- salt and pepper: you can add this at the end if you prefer to taste.
- spinach: I prefer fresh baby spinach as it is easy to toss in as is. You can use frozen spinach if preferred.
- parmesan cheese: freshly grated for the best texture that melts into the sauce.
- heavy cream: heavy whipping cream is necessary for the richness and creaminess you want in this pasta dish. It makes it somewhat rich and saucy. You can add a bit of marinara as well for a more saucy dish.
- basil: stir in and top your pasta with chopped fresh basil leaves. This is optional but I highly recommend adding the basil as it adds extra flavor.
Step-By-Step Instructions:
- Add pasta, butter, garlic, seasoning, salt and pepper to the bottom of the pot.
- Add the tomatoes–don’t drain them!– and broth.
- Stir it all up and cover Instant Pot setting to pressure cook for 5 minutes. Close the lid and make sure the vent is set to sealing position. The cooking time will be longer than 5 minutes because it will take about 10 minutes or so to build up pressure.
- Once the timer is up, do a quick release to let the pressure out.
- Add the spinach and allow it to wilt.
- Stir in the parmesan and cream, adding more as desired. Stir in the fresh basil. Your Instant Pot Pasta dinner is served!
Recipe Tips:
- To help keep spinach and parmesan from clumping, you can chop the spinach. You can add it in right at the very end if you prefer to keep from any extra stirring as well.
- You can use any short pasta easily in this recipe: penne, shells, rotini, fusilli, etc. I don’t suggest using any long or thin pastas as they may turn to mush.
- If your sauce seems to thick, add some extra broth to thin it out. Or thicken it up with some extra cream.
- For a saucier pasta dish, add some marinara sauce. This creamy pasta dish is not super saucy. It is more of a light, creamy coating. But if you stir in some of your favorite marinara along with the cream, you will have much more of a sauce.
Storage:
Store any leftover pasta in an airtight container for about 4-5 days. When reheating, you can add an extra splash or two of heavy cream.
Freezing pasta is not my favorite thing for a variety of reasons, however, it is still possible to freeze this delicious pasta dish. I froze some for my parents and they said they still enjoyed it!
Allow the pasta to cool completely before transferring to a freezer safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Possible Add-Ins:
Feel free to add to your pasta dish in a variety of ways! It’s a great recipe as is, but we like to change it up for sure!
- slice or cube chicken like this white wine chicken and stir in before serving.
- slice Italian sausages to add in
- add some browned ground beef or turkey
- add some lemon juice
- sauté some mushrooms in butter and add before searing
- more cheese! You can vary this for sure. Top with some fresh mozzarella cheese, use a mixture of parmesan cheese, asiago, etc.
- when adding the heavy cream, stir in an ounce or two of cream cheese as well
- add a cup of marinara for a saucier pasta
Other recipes to try:
- Instant Pot Creamy Potato Leek Soup
- Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
- Creamy One Pot Pasta
- One Pot Chicken Alfredo
- Instant Pot Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken
- Instant Pot Butter Herb Salmon
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for all the latest!
Creamy Parmesan Instant Pot Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb pasta, uncooked
- 3 T butter
- 2 cans diced tomatoes (approx. 14.5 oz.), or crushed
- 4 c broth
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp cracked pepper
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2-3 large handfuls baby spinach
- ¾ c parmesan cheese, grated
- 1- 1½ c heavy cream
- 1/3 c freshly chopped basil leaves
Instructions
- Add the pasta, butter cut in small chunks, broth, tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to your Instant Pot. Stir to combine. You may want to make sure the butter is submerged as sometimes butter can splatter when doing a quick release.
- Close the Instant Pot and make sure pressure valve is set to "sealing." Set to pressure cook on high for 5 minutes. (It will wake 10-15 minutes for pressure to build up depending on your pressure cooker.)
- When timer is up and cycle is complete, do a quick release. Stir in the spinach to allow to wilt. Stir in the cream and parmesan and allow the cheese to melt. Add the basil and give it a stir to combine. Serve with extra cheese on top.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- To help keep spinach and parmesan from clumping, you can chop the spinach. You can add it in right at the very end if you prefer to keep from any extra stirring as well.
- You can use any short pasta easily in this recipe: penne, shells, rotini, fusilli, etc. I don’t suggest using any long or thin pastas as they may turn to mush.
- If your sauce seems to thick, add some extra broth to thin it out. Or thicken it up with some extra cream.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Shop this post
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
We were having a simple sausage sizzle for family night but my 3 year old granddaughter wanted pasta for dinner! I searched for a quick instant pot recipe and found yours. I had all ingredients except the heavy cream so followed recipe exactly as listed and just used cream cheese in place of cream.
This recipe is lovely! and went down a treat with grandies. In fact all my adult children wanted it instead!! Thank you Lorie for sharing this recipe!!
Thank you so much for sharing Adele! Love to hear it!
Delicious, Lorie!
Yay!!! So happy to hear you loved it!
Reading the instructions, it seems u left out when to add the pasta? I’m assuming u add when u add the broth, before closing the instapot?
Hi! It’s the very first thing listed in the instructions. Yes goes right in with the other ingredients. Enjoy!