Instant Pot penne pasta with jar sauce and ground beef recipe is an easy one pot meal everyone loves. A little like our Ninja Foodi spaghetti using the pressure cooker function but with different noodles.

If you want to make plain butter or amped up with spaghetti sauce and meat we've go the dish for you. Use one as a complete one pot meal and the other as a cheap side dish. After that try our other Instant Pot recipes and enjoy.

This works great if you have leftover beef or sausage left over that you don't want to throw away. We do that a lot when making Instant Pot spaghetti. No sauteeing necessary in that case since they're precooked, throw that in. You could make it meatless too. It's basically a 3 ingredient penne pasta as the base, not counting water.

You don't have to have this brand of pressure cooker either y'all. If you swear by your Ninja Foodi We got you. It will work the same way, same cook time, with the high pressure function using the lid that is not attached in this case.

Whip up a quick 10-minute Instant Pot Penne Pasta dinner with ground meat, parsley, minced onions, and your favorite sauce for a good meal in no time.

Yes we have a lot of Instant Pot ground beef recipes on our site. That is because it is the one meat all 5 of us enjoy. Yes we eat a lot of chicken too but it isn't as popular. We like having dishes where we can add meat at times to serve right out of the pot, and still make it as a vegetarian option too.

Ingredient notes

We typically use Ground beef or half beef and half Jimmy Dean spicy ground sausage is great too. If it's already cooked (like you're using leftover taco meat to make this) you could skip step one below

Penne pasta noodles, small in size is best but the shape is up to you. It doesn't matter whether you prefer shells or spiral really.

Water or broth will give you even more flavor. realize that it will alter the flavor and if you don't use low sodium it may be too salty with the sauce in there too.

Jar sauce or make homemade Instant Pot spaghetti sauce first and then continue on with steps here if you like. From scratch is always better but will take more time of course, either way works.

When it comes to what shape you use it doesn't matter but should be about the same size. Squiggly shapes, medium size shells or penne are all about the same cook time. Using macaroni noodles we wouldn't adjust the timing either though. We like those in more tomato based recipes like Instant Pot chili mac or something like that.

Can you add meatballs?

Yes, instead of fresh ground meat you could use frozen meatballs instead, that makes things even easier. You can skip the saute at the beginning part and throw these in at the bottom, thawed or right out of the freezer.

Parmesan can be added at the end on the top. If you want the more basic recipe you'd need water, noodles and butter.

This is one of those. You can omit the protein and have a vegetarian spaghetti recipe of sorts. Sprinkle on parmesan cheese or leave dairy free (like our husband needs) when done. Serve with veggies as an easy side dish and you're ready to serve. Here's what we used

Once we got the hang of how much liquid we needed we was able to cook all the things together. If you wanted a sort of version of this using grains instead, give our Instant Pot ground beef and rice too.

Uncooked instant pot penne pasta, ground meat, and tomato sauce are combined in the Instant Pot, ready to be cooked for a quick and good meal.

What is the ratio of penne pasta to water?

It is about double if that is all you add. If you add a jar of spaghetti sauce that has liquid in it as well so you would add about the same amount of water as pasta but with the 24 oz. jar of sauce together. We like to use broth instead because it adds more flavor but that is up to you.

How Long to Cook Penne Pasta in Sauce Instant Pot

You will need 6 minutes to cook the bite size noodles right in the spaghetti sauce to get them tender, but not too soft. If you want to keep them a bit al dente we would change to 5 minutes with a quick release at the end either way.

Cooking Directions Without Sauce

In this case you will start with 3 cups smaller types of pasta like shells or small penne. Egg noodles work too but remember they will become much softer than others when pressure cooking them in 5 cups of water or broth. Add a splash of olive oil so the cooked pasta doesn't stick together when cooking, and some salt and pepper to season.

We add butter to these but after done you could add your jar of pasta sauce if you didn't want to cook it together like we share here. You cook for 2 minutes on high pressure with a quick release, super simple.

Instant Pot penne pasta with savory meat sauce, served piping hot and topped with "Penne Pasta" text above.

Tips

If you are making the heartier version listed below with meat, remember that it will continue to thicken as it sits. Also, when you are done cooking anything remember to unplug your pot. It will remain on warm if you don't and will likely make your food stick to the bottom if it sits there inside.

In between servings set the lid on again and let the contents sit and soak in the sauce. It will thicken as it sits.

Instant Pot Penne Pasta Recipe

By How to make Instant Pot penne pasta spaghetti with ground beef or plain with butter, either way it is an easy one pot meal you can make in a Ninja Foodi with jar sauce too that everyone loves. Prep: 10 minutes minsCook: 6 minutes minsServings: 6 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

1 lb ground beefor ground sausage
1 tbsp olive oil, or avocado oil
24 oz spaghetti saucejarred used
1 3/4 cup water, or broth
2 cup pasta penne used
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, diced

Instructions

Set pressure cooker to saute and add olive oil. Add ground beef and break up, include diced onions + garlic and cook until meat is no longer pink on the outside. Then turn pot off. Use wood spatula to scrape any stuck on meat off bottom.
Pour in sauce and water, then pour pasta on the top and gently submerge into the liquid below. Do NOT stir.
Seal lid and steam valve and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Then do a quick release, lift lid and stir. Serve with shredded parmesan on top.

Nutrition

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

Additional Info

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

To make butter noodles in pressure cooker without meat or cheese follow our Instant Pot butter noodles follow the directions in the recipe card in this post. For that you will need.

For more heat try our Instant Pot Mexican casserole with the same sort of noodles if you like, bow tie is fun too.

Ninja Foodi Butter Noodles can be made this way too if you use this pot with the air fryer function too you could melt another layer of cheese on top and brown it nicely. Either way a quick and easy meal everyone loves.