Quick and easy Instant Pot Pesto Pasta tossed with cherry tomatoes, spinach, Parmesan, and delicious basil pesto.
Pesto Pasta is delicious either hot or cold and is a great idea for lunch or for potlucks. This pasta comes together in under 30 minutes and makes at least 8 portions!
Quick and Tasty Pasta
This Pasta Pesto is so quick to make and it's a great dish to bring along to a potluck or to put in lunches for the next day.
This pasta salad is tasty whether it's hot or cold making it versatile for hot or cold lunches.
The rotini pasta can be swapped out for any pasta you have on hand. Spiral pasta is great for thin sauces but penne works well with this dish as well. The pressure cooking time is a very simple formula.
To determine pressure cooking time for pasta, divide the time in half that it says on the package and then subtract 1 minute.
Once the pasta is pressure cooked, there usually isn't any need drain the liquid and in fact a little bit of liquid from the pasta is great to help sauces and other add in's stick to the pasta.
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Ingredients in Instant Pot Pesto Pasta
The ingredients used for this Instant Pot pesto pasta are easy to find and easy to put together to create this flavorful dish. For a full list of the ingredients with their measurements, check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Rotini Pasta (Penne pasta works great for this dish as well) - I prefer rotini pasta or other spiral pasta because the pesto gets into all the nooks and crannies and covers the pasta well.
- Butter
- Salt & pepper
- Spinach - rinsed, patted dry, and chopped
- Cherry tomatoes (grape tomatoes are a good substitution)
- Basil pesto - homemade or jarred, whichever you prefer!
- Cream cheese - softened cream cheese will melt into the pasta easier than using cream cheese right out of the fridge. Either way if fine but softened cream cheese saves a little bit of time.
- Parmesean - Shredded or grated works well.
- Chicken broth (you can substitute chicken broth for vegetable broth or for water if you wish)
If you want to use homemade pesto instead of jarred pesto, try my Homemade Basil Pesto Recipe. It takes about 10 minutes and adds a fresh basil flavor to this dish.
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How to Make Instant Pot Pesto Pasta
There are simple steps to make pasta in the Instant Pot and it starts by making sure that the dry pasta is completely submerged so that the pasta cooks evenly.
Rotini pasta is added to the inner liner and the chicken broth (or liquid of choice) is added on top. If needed, gently press the pasta down into the broth to submerge the pasta completely.
Once the pasta is submerged, the butter, salt and pepper are added to the pot. The ingredients are not stirred and the lid is closed as well as the vent.
The pressure cooker is then set to 4 minutes and once the pressure cook time is up, the pressure is slowly and intermittently released from the pot. Please refer to your pressure cooker manual for how to safely proceed with this step.
The lid is then removed and the cream cheese is stirred into the pasta. If there is a small amount of liquid left in the pot with the pasta, that is okay!
This will actually help the cream cheese and the basil pesto cling to the pasta noodles. The chopped spinach, cherry tomatoes, pesto, and Parmesan are then stirred into the pasta mixture.
When serving, serve with sprinkled Parmesan if desired. This Instant Pot Pesto Pasta can be served hot or cold.
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Pesto Pasta
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb box rotini pasta
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup basil pesto
- ¼ cup cream cheese
- 3 cups spinach - chopped
- 3 cups chicken broth - or liquid of choice
- ½ cup Parmesan Cheese
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
Instructions
- Add the rotini pasta to the inner liner of the Instant Pot.
- Add the broth and gently press the pasta to submerge the pasta in the liquid.
- Add the butter, salt, and pepper.
- Close the lid and the vent.
- Set to 4 minutes on MANUAL/HIGH PRESSURE.
- Once the pot has done pressure cooking, carefully and intermittently "quick release" the pressure away from the face.*
- Open the lid and add the cream cheese and stir.
- Mix in the basil pesto, spinach, cherry tomatoes, and Parmesan.
- Serve hot or cold. Serve with Parmesan cheese if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on third-party calculations. Actual values may vary due to ingredients, measurements, and serving sizes.
© Mama Needs Cake
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Dana is an experienced recipe creator who crafts easy and delicious recipes for all levels of home cooks.
Her recipes range from classic comfort foods to healthy and nutritious meals, and she is always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to bring flavor and variety to the table.
