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Dump and Start Instant Pot Creamy Ziti is saucy, cheesy and delicious. 20 minutes is all you need to make this creamy red sauce pasta dish!
Don’t have an Instant Pot yet? StoveTop Creamy Ziti Recipe is here!! Check it out!
Dump and Start Instant Pot Creamy Ziti is a favorite at my house! I’ll be honest, it totally reminds me of Olive Garden’s Five Cheese Ziti dish. AKA the only thing I ever get while visiting Olive Garden.
Also, every single person in my family enjoys this for dinner. That right there is a miracle, people. If you have kids, were a kid a some point or haven’t been living under a rock you’ll know that is nearly impossible.
I love how this pasta dish pairs nicely with all sorts of sides to make it a meal, you could do a garden salad, garlic bread or even a crisp Fruit and Vegetable Salad. Whatever you serve it up with, your family will love it!
How to Make Creamy Ziti
‘Dump and Start’ are a funny combination of words to be on my favorite word list.. but it’s there alright. This dish is so easy! Dump and Start easy. If you like dump and start recipes as much as I do, check out Top 25 Instant Pot Dump and Start Recipes.
Broth, cream, garlic, s&p and pasta go into the Instant Pot. Make sure that the pasta is covered with liquid.
Pressure cook for 6 minutes, NPR for 6 minutes and then QR the rest of the pressure. The sauce will be very liquidy, totally normal.
Turn the Instant Pot onto sauté, then in goes some red pasta sauce.
Slowly add in the parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. This will thicken the sauce nicely for you. Once the sauce has thickened, turn the Instant Pot off and serve immediately.
See, I told you it was easy.
Don’t have an Instant Pot yet? HAVE NO FEAR!! One Pot Creamy Ziti Recipe is here!! Check it out!
Looking for a lighter version?? Try my SKINNY CREAMY ZITI!
Try out these other Recipes!
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Dump and Start Instant Pot Creamy Ziti
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp minced garlic, dried
- salt and pepper to taste
- 8 oz dry ziti pasta
- 1 cup red pasta sauce
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Add the broth, cream, garlic, salt, pepper and noodles to the instant pot in that order. DO NOT STIR, but make sure all noodles are covered. If you need to move some noodles around, thats okay.
- Set your Instant Pot to Manual for 6 minutes. Let it naturally release its pressure for an additional 6 minutes then quick release.
- Add the red pasta sauce to the Instant Pot and give it a stir.
- SLOWLY add in the cheese while stirring. The cheese will melt and thicken the sauce. The sauce will also thicken as it cools.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Dump and Start Instant Pot Creamy Ziti
Dump and Start Instant Pot Creamy Ziti is saucy, cheesy and delicious. 20 minutes is all you need to make this creamy red sauce pasta dish!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp minced garlic dried
- salt and pepper to taste
- 8 oz dry ziti pasta
- 1 cup red pasta sauce
- 1 cup parmesan cheese shredded
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Add the broth, cream, garlic, salt, pepper and noodles to the instant pot in that order. DO NOT STIR, but make sure all noodles are covered. If you need to move some noodles around, thats okay.
- Set your Instant Pot to Manual for 6 minutes. Let it naturally release its pressure for an additional 6 minutes then quick release.
- Add the red pasta sauce to the Instant Pot and give it a stir.
- SLOWLY add in the cheese while stirring. The cheese will melt and thicken the sauce. The sauce will also thicken as it cools.
- Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
This is a very saucy dish- If you like yours with less sauce, just cut back on the red pasta sauce at the end.
Serve alongside some Oven Roasted Broccoli!
Love this recipe! It’s truly one of the easiest meals you can make. I like to add spicy Italian sausage to it but it’s just as good on its own and I usually have all of the ingredients in my pantry anyway!
Love the addition of the spicy Italian sausage! Glad you love this recipe, Diedra!
Looking forward to trying this…. would like to add some cubed chicken breasts to the recipe. Would the cook time increase or remain the same? Thank you!
No need to increase the cook time if adding cubed chicken breasts. Hope you enjoy!
Do you think coconut milk would work??
I wouldn’t suggest using the coconut milk while cooking under pressure. If you want to use coconut milk, I would follow the method for my Skinny Ziti Recipe.
Fantastic! Doubled the recipe, added a little onion powder and Italian seasoning like some mentioned above. Added a little extra mozzarella bc mozzarella. Lol! Also sauteed some mild Italian sausage links on the stovetop and sliced it up. Added it at the very end. I did have to add a little more sauce bc of that, but my 14 year old daughter is currently piling her 3rd helping on her plate, so I’d say it turned out great! Lol! Thanks for the amazing recipe!
I’m so exited to try this! I have a question though, I noticed that when you first give instructions it says to turn to sauté after the quick release and stir, but when scrolling down further under the recipe amounts it doesn’t mention to use the sauté option. Do I need to sauté for the sauce to thicken?
Hi Jamie- generally you don’t need to put it onto sauté, sometimes if the cheese has a hard time melting into the sauce I will put it on sauté. Most time it doesn’t need it though!
Thank you! And we did try it and both my husband and I LOVED it! Thanks for sharing!
This was fantastic! I added frozen meatballs to mine and kept the cook time the same and it came out great! This is going in my regular rotation. Thank you for the great recipe!
I love adding frozen meatballs into the mix! What a fantastic idea!
I’m planning on making this dish tonight. I have defrosted chicken, when do I put that in to make sure it cooks all the way through?
Hi Edith- you can put frozen chicken tenderloins on top of the pasta and cook everything according to the recipe if you’d like. If you have chicken breasts, I’d cut them into strips and then cook along with the pasta. Hopefully this helps!
Hi 👋🏻
I’m from the uk, what would you suggest as a substitute for the dry ranch mix ? I’m not sure it’s available in the uk. Thanks, Sarah 👍🏻
Hi Sarah, yes, there are a lot of great ranch mix recipes! This looks like a great option. https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/homemade-ranch-seasoning-mix/
For burn notice what went wrong? Never got this ever?
Hi Elizabeth- there shouldn’t have been a burn notice with this recipe, it usually happens when there isn’t enough liquid in the Instant Pot. Did you stir the pasta? That could have done it, too.
Made as directed, although my pasta was Jovial Foods Einkorn whole grain. It cooked up perfectly. I stirred in 8 oz of refrigerated crab meat. Delicious!
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Rita! Love the addition of the crab meat!