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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!
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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!
No ziti pasta so I used rigatoni. Also started with Italian sausage then followed the recipe. Added more mozzarella. BEST dish I’ve made in the instant pot. Definitely restaurant quality.
I love reading this! Thank you so much, Jenni! I am happy you found and tried out my recipe.
You know a recipe is great when u can make substitutions and still tastes amazing. Well I had to just that. Didn’t have cream used a substitute of 3/4 cup 1% milk and 1/4 cup of melted margarine. No dry minced garlic used garlic power and of course no shredded parmesan cheese so i used grated. I even changed the pasta to skubby doo and the family loved it.
Can wait to try your original version. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Linda, I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. I’m glad your substitutions worked out well.
We love your recipe. Curious if you’ve ever tried adding ground beef? Wondering if it could be added in and cooked all together or would it need to be cooked separately and then added to the pasta when it’s finished?
Hi Paige, I would brown it first and then add it at the end when the pasta is finished.
You had me at “saucy dish.” We will tweak a bit to make this beauty vegan, but we will definitely be consuming large quantities. I see a food coma in the very near future! Thanks for another awesome recipe.
Haha! I am so glad you enjoyed this dish, Melinda! Thanks for the comment. 🙂
This is such a yummy recipe. I found myself craving some Olive Garden penne pasta. As the author of this recipe said, her recipe is SO MUCH better! Lol. When we find a recipe that our family really, really loves, we add it to our family faves list on Pinterest. I can guarantee you, that this is being added to that list. It was also very easy! I didn’t have to wait, my sauce thickened in no time. I added 2 teaspoons or oregano and 2 teaspoons of basil at the end. Thanks for a terrific and easy recipe!!!
Wow Gigi, great job! I’m so happy you enjoy this recipe. Thank you for the comment.
Made this and loved it!! We added chicken to ours because my husband has to have some type of meat and it was really yummy! We just threw some thin chicken strips on top of the noodles and used the same cooking time! Everything was done perfect and it was so yummy!
I’m so glad Kaycee! My husband is the same way… If there isn’t any meat, it isn’t a meal. 🙂
I love this recipe and make it all the time at home! We are out of town without a pressure cooker, any advice to cook this traditionally?
Hey Kristine I’m so glad that you enjoy the recipe. I do have a baked creamy ziti on my website that you can make without a pressure cooker. Here is the link: https://cookingwithkarli.com/one-pot-creamy-ziti-pasta/
So good!!! So easy!!
In the video, you measure out 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream but the recipe says 1 cup. Which is the correct amount? Thank you.
I like mine extra saucy. 😉 Both will work, it just depends on how saucy you like your pasta!
This is one of my favorite recipes of all time! I’ve made it for multiple people and events, and everyone always loves it. I love how easy it is and how few ingredients it takes. My husband and I make it about every other week. Thanks for the great recipe!