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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!
This has become a dinner staple since first trying it months ago. I use vegetarian chicken stock, to keep it vegetarian friendly. Amazing!
Can I use Milk or does it have to be heavy cream ?
Milk doesn’t have a high enough fat content to cook under pressure without curdling. That is why heavy cream is used, it won’t curdle. If you would like to use something other than heavy cream, I suggest following this method and recipe (it’s the same, just adapted so you can use something besides heavy cream.) https://cookingwithkarli.com/instant-pot-skinny-creamy-ziti/
My family loves this recipe! We make this all the time with sausage in the ziti pasta. 🙂 My little sister said it tasted just like an Olive Garden pasta! Great meal we can just come home and dump in real quick!
Yes Yes Yes! I’m glad you like this recipe, quick and easy is the best especially when you are busy.
OMG!!! I made this last night and it was so, so easy and fantastic! I have an 8 qt Instant Pot and with 5 people in our family, I doubled the recipe and it came out perfect! Everyone absolutely loved it and there wasn’t one noodle left! The only thing I did differently was used bowtie pasta instead of ziti, but otherwise, I didn’t change a thing. Definitely will be making this again! Thanks for a great recipe.
I am so glad it was a winner at your house, Alana! Not a noodle left is a pretty good review. 😉
This was delicious. I broiled it with some extra cheese on top for a couple of minutes. Yum!
That sounds like a great addition! Delish!
Wow, this was so incredibly easy and yet so yummy! My husband didn’t even miss meat with this one. Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed this recipe! You are so welcome. 🙂
I’m in the process of making this, but there is a discrepancy between the video and the written recipe regarding the heavy cream. On the video you say 1.5 cups of cream and the recipe says 1 cup. Which is correct? Thanks in advance!
Either will work. 😉 My family just likes it extra saucy so I tend to add in a little bit extra cream when I make it at home. 🙂
I routinely make this and love it! I do not find it to be saucy. I actually double the amount of sauce and half the cheese. Super yummy
Thanks Helena, I’m glad you like it. Keep on cooking!
I’m so excited to try this recipe! Do you think I could make with tortellini??
You could, frozen tortellini only needs a minute or two of a cook time, though. 🙂
Hi Karli,
Loved this recipe! Was super easy to make, although adding cream early into pot made it curdle a little. Added some spinach and herbs at the end for bit of green. Delicious.. thank you for sharing. Will make again. 😊
I am glad you enjoyed the recipe- did you use full fat, heavy whipping cream? That shouldn’t curdle. 🙂