Cheesy Instant Pot goulash is a creamy bowl of comfort food made with two different cheeses, ground sausage and noodles all cooked in the same pot. It's one of our favorite Instant Pot casseroles our kids ask for all the time.

A bowl of rotini pasta with sausage and creamy tomato sauce, reminiscent of cheesy Instant Pot goulash, garnished with chopped chives.

If your Grandma ever made goulash for you growing up you know how good it is. The Old fashioned way took at least an hour but with our easy Instant Pot recipes take 5 minutes to cook. A game changer for us that allows our family to sit down and eat together more often.

We bet you will add this into your new meal rotation after trying it. You can make it in your Crockpot Express, Mealthy, or as an easy Ninja foodi recipe too. With the latter you will use the lid that is not attached. Doesn't matter what type of pressure cooker you have on your counter, following our step by step directions below you will be successful.

We started the journey of making this one pot meal when we found Jimmy Dean hot ground sausage on sale for.99. It is our favorite way to “spice things up” so we bought a few rolls and made this!! Since then we have used ground beef too and we will tell you both have been a hit with our girls and husband.

If you have made Cheesy Crockpot Goulash you are already familiar with how this is done. You saute the beef, add the noodles and ingredients for the creamy sauce and gently submerge (not stir). Then cook on high for a few minutes to get everything tender, stir and enjoy!

We started our pressure cooker casserole journey with this Instant Pot chicken parmesan casserole. It's a winner when we don't need to heat up our kitchen during the summer months.

Ingredient notes

We used Jimmy Dean in the ground sausage roll but you could add ground beef instead. Spicy sausage brings a tremendous amount of flavor without the need for seasoning and seasoning salt we tell you. Yes you could use regular ground beef if you preferred.

Can you use frozen ground beef?

You can with a few tweaks beforehand. You need it broken into smaller pieces so it needs to at least be partially cooked in order to do that. This is how to cook Instant Pot frozen ground beef in case you forgot to thaw it out the night before.

For the main liquid this will cook in we used a jar of spaghetti saucewe buy whatever is on sale but garlic style is probably our favorite one. Or you can make Instant Pot spaghetti sauce before beginning with a little beef broth or stock.

Dump in a can of diced tomatoeswe like the petite style or you could use Rotel if you wanted to add more heat to the dish as that has diced jalapenos in the mix.

When making any of our Instant Pot pasta recipes you want small/medium sized noodles. We like penne, shells or rotini that are twisted like you see here.

Swaps

We are sure this will become one of our favorite meals and a family favorite for sure. If you need it to be dairy free (like our husband does), ladle out your goulash when the cooking is done for that person. Then add the cream and cheese for everyone else who wants it cheesy. OR use lactose free options, Daiya has great ones. Easy fixes for that.

You can saute about 1/2 cup of diced onions with the meat in the first step if you want to include that. If you want it spicy but using beef add 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or dry Sriracha.

An Instant Pot filled with cheesy instant pot goulash made of pasta, ground meat, and a creamy tomato sauce.

How Long to Cook Goulash in Instant Pot

You will need to saute and cook the ground beef or sausage in the first step which will take about 4 minutes once hot. To pressure cook the sauce, meat and noodles together will take another 5 minutes which means a quick meal for all!

How to Make Goulash Cheesy

Cheddar cheese should be shredded, we like medium or sharp to add a bunch of flavor. You could leave out and make creamy with the heavy cream needed for the sauce but we like both. This is optional but over the top good.

Tips for Success

We repeat, Do NOT pour in your dry macaroni and stir or you'll get the burn notice. Instead gently submerge pasta into the liquid below so it is covered but not pushed down towards the bottom.

You could make this gluten free with alternative noodles but we haven't tested out the timing of this yet. If you do please share with us below so others can take advantage of the info. We hope this ends up on our weekly meal planning schedule!

Instant Pot Goulash Recipe

By Our cheesy Instant Pot goulash is good! Creamy goulash with the same flavors you love with two different cheeses within it too. Total comfort food in your pressure cooker that will be your kid's new favorite dinner for sure. Prep: 15 minutes minsCook: 5 minutes minsTotal: 20 minutes minsServings: 8 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 pound ground sausage, hot Jimmy Dean brand is best or ground beef
1/2 large onion, diced, optional
1 small bell pepper, diced, optional
2.5 cup beef broth
4 cup noodles 4 measuring cups full of uncooked pasta, we used rotini
1 jar spaghetti sauce24 oz.
1 can petite diced tomatoes, 15 oz.

For Creamy Goulash

1 cup heavy cream, optional
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated, optional
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated, optional

Instructions

Turn your pressure cooker to saute and add olive oil, sausage or ground beef, onions and diced bell peppers.
Cook until meat is no longer pink, turn Pot off/cancel button.
Pour in your beef broth, then spaghetti sauce, then diced tomatoes, then your uncooked noodles and DO NOT stir.
Push noodles down so they are submerged in liquid and close lid and steam valve. (if cooking on the stovetop do stir this and boil on low until noodles are soft enough for you and serve)
Set pressure cooker to high pressure for 5 minutes.
Do a quick release.
Stir in heavy cream and cheese, stir until cheese is melted.
Serve immediately or wait 5 minutes or so and allow goulash to thicken as it sits and then serve!

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, Main CourseCuisine: American, german Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

How to save leftovers

We work from home so we like making meals that every one of us enjoys, but there is a bit left over so we have lunch for myself the next day, this was a great one (we would dare say even better the next day!). You do need to store in an airtight container once cooled and keep in the fridge. It will thicken a lot so when reheating we would add 1 tbsp of milk, stir and warm from there to add some moisture.

Other family friendly meals you'll love

Here's a great traditional goulash recipe if you don't have a pressure cooker. Looking for something similar, but vegetarian? Give our slow cooker cheesy cauliflower a whirl.. Instant Pot lasagna casserole is similar to this goodie but tastes like lasagna. Instant Pot dorito casserole is a family fave

It is definitely a favorite Instant Pot dinner recipe your kids will love. Here are a bunch of other Instant Pot sausage recipes to enjoy after you have fallen in love with this one.