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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!
So easy and yet sooo good. Doubled the recipe for leftovers. This will be in our rotation now.
How did you double the recipe with the instant pot? Did you just double all ingredients and time?
Double all the ingredients, the time stays the same though.
Made this tonight for the first time. I sauteed spicy italian sausage first, then added the ingredients in order and kale on top . Got the burn notice 😳 and it never came to pressure but luckily, it came out perfect! So, so good! Everyone loved it so we will definitely be adding this into our regular rotation!!! Thanks Karli!
Hey Kandace- did you brown the sausage in the Instant Pot? If so, that’s why you got the burn notice. If you brown something in the Instant Pot, you’ll need to deglaze the pot before pressure cooking. This just means pouring some liquid in (like the broth that the recipe calls for) and scraping the bottom of the pot really well so nothing is stuck onto the bottom of the pot prior to pressure cooking. Glad you still enjoyed the dish!
The video says 1 1/2 cups of cream yet the written recipe says 1 cup of cream. Which should it be? Also, I don’t have minced dried garlic, what would you suggest using instead? Thanks in advance!
Hi Amanda- I like mine extra saucy, so I use 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream generally but it works great with 1 cup. You can either substitute for garlic powder or fresh minced garlic. Hope you enjoy!
Thank you so much! I actually made this before you replied. I used 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and no garlic. It was excellent. Definitely a recipes I will be keeping and making often! 😁
I’m so glad that it worked out for you. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, thanks Amanda!
YUM! Made the recipe exactly as written….delicious. Then made it again tonight substituting red sauce with half a can of San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand, on top all the other ingredients so the tomatoes would cook some. At the end I used cottage cheese instead of mozzarella (trust me, it melts like a dream if you take the time to stir) and a big handful of chopped fresh basil. It’s hard finding dump and go recipes for the Instant Pot that actually taste delicious but this one is a winner!!!
I accidentally added the pasta sauce, and I started cooking the chicken without thinking on sauté. I stopped it once I read the instructions again, but I may have some burn notices soon. I have made this before without chicken, and it’s a huge hit. I maaaaay have ruined this batch. We shall see!
Beat instapot pasta!
Thank you Ann!!
This is my all time favourite instant pot recipe!!!
So I would love to double it, can I just double all the ingredients?
Yes, double all ingredients. Cook time stays the same.
I made this the other evening for my husband and myself. We both loved it! If I want to make a bigger batch to feed more people, could I just double all the ingredients and increase the cook time? I’m new to pressure cooking, so I’m not sure how it all works yet! Thank you!
Hi Erin! I am so glad you and your husband both loved this so much! You can double the recipe by simply doubling all of the ingredients. No need to change the cook time. 🙂
Is there a way to double the amount of pasta to use a full box? Would you just double everything else as well because that starts to seem like a lot of liquid! Thanks!!
Yes, just double everything! Cook time will stay the same.
Absolutely delicious!!!