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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!
Can you add ground beef? And if so, does anything need to be changed. Thanks, I’m new to the instant pot world and would love to try this.
Hi Lindsay! Yes! Just brown your ground beef first and then add it in with the pasta! No need to change the cook time. If you are planning on browning the ground beef right in the Instant Pot, make sure to deglaze the Instant Pot before adding in the pasta. Deglazing means to pour a thing liquid (like the broth) into the pot and scrape the bottom of the pot until all of the food stuck to the bottom of the pot are removed. This is necessary for the Instant Pot to work correctly. Hope this helps! 🙂
Making this right now!!! It’s the first attempt at using my Instant Pot!! Crossing my fingers that I did everything correctly!!!! ?????
Eeeek! Hope you loved it and that it was a smashing hit with everyone! 🙂
Followed the directions except used grated Parmesan instead of shredded and didn’t sauté after NPR and adding pasta sauce. Turned out tasty but very soupy. Didn’t thicken very much. What did I do wrong?
Hi Nancy- grated Parmesan cheese will not thicken the sauce like shredded Parmesan cheese will. The real shredded Parmesan cheese will melt into the sauce and thicken it. Hope this helps!
My very first instapot meal! I stirred in some browned sausage at the end and extra cheese and OMG it’s amazing. The kids both had THIRDS!
BEST NEWS EVER!!! Happy to hear your Instant Pot’s maiden voyage was a raging success!
I would love to add chicken to this recipe to make it more filling. What do you recommend?
Hi Natalie! You can toss frozen chicken tenders on top of the pasta before cooking and it works great. No need to change cook time. Pull the chicken out and let it rest while adding in the red sauce and cheese, then slice the chicken tenders and add in right before serving!
This was great! I doubled the recipe (in my 6 qt), and sauteed some italian sausage and mushrooms prior to following the rest of the recipe. It was a hit with my book club ladies and my kids (age 11 and 13). Both kids had seconds. Thank you!
Best news ever! Thanks for the comment!
So happy to hear you loved this, Susan! The meatballs would be a great addition! ?
Can you use shells instead of ziti and what would the cooking time be – the same? I have 2yo twins who eat with girls but smaller noodles are easier.
Hi Christa! Yes, you could definitely do this with shells! I cook Medium Shells for 3 min HP with a 3 or 4 minute NPR. Hope this helps!
I made this tonight for an easy dinner while studying for finals. SOOOOO good! I used penne instead of ziti and exchanged the ratios for the cheeses and it was the perfect hot and comforting meal!
Hi Gaby! I’m so glad you enjoyed this comforting meal! Perfect to throw together while studying, extra study time since you don’t need to spend any time in the kitchen! 😉 Good luck on finals!
This was a hit tonight. My other menu plan fell through because I was lacking a key ingredient and I found this instead! I tossed in some shredded chicken for some protein but I added in before the cheese and learned not to add the protein in until the cheese is in and melted. It was still so tasty! You might want to edit your recipe to reflect putting the IP on saute, though. 🙂 .
Happy this recipe saved the day, Kathy! I will go back in and edit that, thanks for the heads up! 🙂