Creamy Tomato Pasta

5 from 4 votes

Creamy Tomato Pasta is a delicious one-pot main dish recipe and is ideal for all the pasta lovers that can be prepared under 20 minutes!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword creamy tomato pasta, instant pot tomato pasta, pasta recipes, pressure cooker recipe

Diet Vegetarian

Method Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker, Stovetop

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

Total Time 15

Servings

Calories 445kcal

Author Bhavana Patil

Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add olive oil and once it’s hot, add minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds or aromatic.
Then add dry pasta, green peas, water or broth, red chili flakes, herbs, and salt to the instant pot. Spread tomato sauce on the top.
Gently push all pasta under the liquid. Please do not mix it. Most of the pasta should be covered in sauce and water. If it is not, add some more water.
*Burnt Alert? If your instant pot has shown BURN in the past, add ½ cup of extra water. In newer versions of Instant Pot, many people have faced burn issues. So that's why we are just spreading sauce on top of the pasta.
Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 4 minutes.
Note: Generally The time to cook pasta in an instant pot is usually half of the suggested time on the pasta box and minus one for al dente pasta.
Using penne pasta in this recipe has 10 minutes for cooking on the stovetop. So to cook on Instant Pot - Divide the cooking time by half and minus one for al dente pasta. So it's 4 minutes. For softer pasta, do 5 minutes.
When the instant pot beeps, Wait 2-3 minutes and Quick Release the remaining pressure manually.
Stir in the heavy cream and cheese, mix everything well. Add more cream and cheese if you want a more creamy texture.
Creamy Tomato Penne Pasta is ready to be served.

This recipe was created in 6qt Instant Pot DUO60 Multi-use Pressure Cooker.

If you don’t have olive oil, you can use butter or regular cooking oil as well.
If you don’t have cream at home you can replace with same amount of mayonnaise or full fat milk OR cashew or almond cream if vegan.
You can also add sweet corn and some chopped spinach or kale after the pressure cooking cycle.
Can use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic.
You can use any kind of pasta’s. Try using whole wheat, lentils or veggie pasta for kids.

Pasta sauce should not be too thick else after mixing pasta they become dry when eaten later.
The time to cook pasta in instant pot is usually half of the suggested time on the pasta box and minus one for al dente pasta.
BURN ALERT ? If your instant pot has shown BURN in the past, add ½ cup of extra water while making this pasta. Tomato based sauces easily stick to the bottom of the pot during sauteing. So thats the reason we are just spreading sauce on top of the pasta.
Make sure you have enough water to cover most of the pasta under water. Depending on the shape and size of pasta you may need more or less liquids.
Always stir in cream, cheese etc after the pressure cooking cycle.

Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.