Who loves lasagna??? We do! I make lasagna every couple of months and the kids love it! The last time I made it, I made fresh, homemade lasagna noodles and homemade sauce. Let me tell you….it was AMAZING! But, who has time for that?
I don’t, or at least not on a regular basis. A friend of mine was telling me about this amazing lasagna concoction she made in her Ninja Foodi (I didn’t even know what this was until now….and now I WANT one!) and I thought hmmmmm…..maybe I should give that a try in my Instant Pot! So I did! Check out my recipe for Easy Cheesy Instant Pot Lasagna!
I was skeptical…especially since I used no boil noodles and not a lot of liquid. I was convinced that the noodles were going to be dry and disappointing. I don’t know how the Instant Pot did it…but the noodles were fully cooked and the lasagna was so delicious!
Seriously, nobody would know that I cheated and used no boil lasagna and that it only took 24 minutes to cook. 24 minutes!!!! After the success of the lasagna, I have so many ideas on how to change it up and try different variations! I can’t wait to try this again!
Tips for this recipe:
1.Don’t be afraid to break up the noodles so that they make a full layer. I was hesitant to break up them up too small because I thought that the lasagna would crumple when I took the springform off the pan, but it stayed together incredibly well!
2.I used a lot of ground beef in with my sauce and this created the pan to fill up faster than I expected. If you use a meat sauce, be sure to break the meat down into very small pieces so that it spreads out well and does not create an overly thick layer of meat. The more meat you use, the less room you will have for layers of cheese and noodles.
3.Use a sling to put your springform pan in and out of the Instant Pot liner pan. This will make it so much easier! You can either make a sling using foil or you can buy one. I recently bought the OXO Good Grips Sling from Amazon and absolutely love it.
Looking for more recipes for pasta? Check out some of our favorites below!
Instant Pot Shrimp Scampi Linguine
Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta
Instant Pot Crack Chicken Pasta
Instant Pot Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
How to make Instant Pot Lasagna:
Make the meat sauce
1.Brown the meat in a large sauce pan and drain grease.
2.Add sauce and garlic.
3.Simmer for 3 minutes.
Make the ricotta filling
1.Mix ricotta cheese, egg, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning together.
2.Set aside until you build your lasagna.
Build your lasagna-Use a 7 inch springform pan– for a 6 quart Instant Pot
1.Break up no boil lasagna noodles and cover the bottom of the springform pan- try to cover the entire bottom without layering more than 2 or 3 noodles on top of an area.
2.Cover pasta with a layer of meat sauce.
3.Cover meat sauce with a layer of ricotta filling.
4.Sprinkle ½ to ⅓ of mozzarella cheese on top of ricotta filling.
5.Sprinkle ½ to ⅓ of parmesan cheese on top of mozzarella cheese.
6.Repeat steps 1 thru 5. Based on how much meat you used in your sauce, you will be able to create 2 or 3 layers.
Cook your lasagna
1.Cover lasagna with foil and place on sling.
2.Place trivet in Instant Pot.
3.Add 1 cup of water to Instant Pot.
4.Place lasagna, in the sling, onto the trivet.
5.Close the lid and set valve to “seal” position.
6.Cook on high pressure for 24 minutes.
7.When timer beeps, let pressure naturally release for 10 minutes.
8.Remove lid and lasagna from Instant Pot.
If desired, remove foil and place lasagna in the oven and broil for 5 minutes to brown cheese- or use your broiling lid if you have one for 5 minutes.
Easy Cheesy Instant Pot Lasagna Ingredients:
- 8 No boil lasagna noodles
- 1 Cup water
- 2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese
- ½ Cup parmesan Cheese
Meat sauce
- 1 Pound of ground beef
- For a less meaty and more cheese and noodle option- only use ½ pound of ground beef.
- You can substitute the ground beef with ground turkey, ground chicken or Italian sausage.
- 24 Ounces pasta sauce
- 1 Tablespoon garlic- minced
- I always add this extra garlic but you can omit this if you prefer
Ricotta Cheese Filling
- 8 Ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 Egg
- 1 Teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ Teaspoon salt
- ½ Teaspoon pepper
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Easy Cheesy Instant Pot Lasagna!
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Ingredients:
- 8 No boil lasagna noodles
- 1 Cup water
- 2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese
- ½ Cup parmesan Cheese
Meat sauce
- 1 Pound of ground beef-For a less meaty and more cheese and noodle option- only use ½ pound of ground beef. You can substitute the ground beef with ground turkey (ground chicken or Italian sausage)
- 24 Ounces pasta sauce
- 1 Tablespoon garlic- minced-I always add this extra garlic but you can omit this if you prefer
Ricotta Cheese Filling
- 8 Ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 Egg
- 1 Teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ Teaspoon salt
- ½ Teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Make the meat sauce
- Brown the meat in a large sauce pan and drain grease.
- Add sauce and garlic.
- Simmer for 3 minutes.
Make the ricotta filling
- Mix ricotta cheese, egg, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning together.
- Set aside until you build your lasagna.
Build your lasagna-Use a 7 inch springform pan- for a 6 quart Instant Pot
- Break up no boil lasagna noodles and cover the bottom of the springform pan- try to cover the entire bottom without layer more than 2 or 3 noodles on top of an area.
- Cover pasta with a layer of meat sauce.
- Cover meat sauce with a layer of ricotta filling.
- Sprinkle ½ to ⅓ of mozzarella cheese on top of ricotta filling.
- Sprinkle ½ to ⅓ of parmesan cheese on top of mozzarella cheese.
- Repeat steps 1-5. Based on how much meat you used in your sauce, you will be able to create 2 or 3 layers.
Cook your lasagna
- Cover lasagna with foil and place on sling.
- Place trivet in Instant Pot.
- Add 1 cup of water to Instant Pot.
- Closed lid and set valve to “seal” position.
- Cook on high pressure for 24 minutes.
- When the timer beeps, let pressure naturally release for 10 minutes.
- Remove lid and lasagna from Instant Pot.
- If desired, remove foil and place lasagna in the oven and broil for 5 minutes to brown cheese- or use your broiling lid if you have one for 5 minutes.
I can’t find no boil lasagna noodles. Can I boil the noodles first to soften them?
I used barilla brand oven ready pasta. If you boil your noodles first I would recommend under cooking it some so that it doesn’t get soggy.