Instant Pot Mostaccioli

Oh….My….Goodness…..!!  Instant Pot mostaccioli is a cheesy, beefy, noodlie (pretty sure that’s not a word!) delicious goodness!  This is a super easy, super quick dinner recipe that your whole family will enjoy!  Did I mention that it is super cheesy!  I am so impressed with how evenly the pasta cooks in the Instant Pot!

Tips for this recipe:

1.It’s tempting to want to stir this recipe before starting to cook under pressure.  Don’t do it!  Resist the temptation!  If you stir this recipe after you have added the pasta, you will end up with a burn or error message.

2.Buy lean ground beef when cooking under pressure in the Instant Pot!   If you buy a higher fat content, you will need to drain the grease if you don’t want to end up with a greasy finished product.  That’s a lot of extra work in my book, so I buy 93% lean ground beef and skip the grease draining step.  Saves time and is much easier.

3.To make this a quick meal, use jarred sauce and frozen onions.  If you have more time, you can make the sauce from scratch and use fresh onions.  But, if you are looking for a quick weeknight meal, jarred sauce and frozen onions work great!

How to make Instant Pot Mostaccioli:

1.Turn Instant Pot on Saute- Hi and add Olive Oil

2.Add onions, ground beef, and garlic.  Continue to sauté until beef is evenly browned. If you use lean ground beef, you do NOT need to drain the grease from the pot.  If you use a high-fat content ground beef you will need to drain the grease.  You can do so by either using a ladle to scoop the grease out or you can CAREFULLY remove the inner pot and pour the grease out.  I HIGHLY recommend using low-fat ground beef to avoid this step altogether.

3.Turn off the Instant Pot.   You no longer need to sauté anything in the pot.

4.Add sugar, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes and then pour in pasta sauce

5.Pour 1 cup of water into pasta sauce jar- shake- pour the water mixture into Instant pot.  This will help you get all of the sauce goodness out of the jar!  No waste!

6.Pour 2 cans of beef broth into Instant Pot. Stir beef and liquid until well combined.

7.Pour in mostaccioli pasta. DO NOT STIR!  If you stir, you are likely to get a burn or error message. Make sure that all pasta is covered by the liquid (or as much as possible).  I just pushed down on the noodles with a spatula until they were covered with liquid.

8.Close the lid, turn the Instant Pot back on, and cook on high for 3 minutes.  Once the timer goes off, natural release pressure for 3 minutes.  Quick-release remaining pressure. Turn off Instant Pot.

9.Open the lid and stir pasta together.  Be sure to stir well and ensure no pasta is clumped together.

10.Add in 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and stir. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese on top.

11.Close lid and let sit for 5 minutes- this will help the cheese melt into gooey gooey goodness on top!  If you prefer, you can remove mostaccioli from Instant Pot and put in a baking dish, and place under the broiler for 5 minutes.  If you choose this method, wait to add the last cup of cheese until you have all of the mostaccioli in the baking dish. 

12.***If you have a broiling lid for your Instant Pot, just sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of mostaccioli and close the broiling lid.  Broil on high for 5 minutes or just until cheese is golden brown. 

Instant Pot Mostaccioli Ingredients:

• 1 Teaspoon olive oil
• ½ Cup diced onions
• 1 Pound lean 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
• 1 Tablespoon garlic- minced
• 1 Teaspoon sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
• ½ Teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • If you prefer, you can omit the red pepper flakes.  It gives a nice little kick to the dish though!
• 2 Cans beef broth- 29 ounces total
• 1 Cup water
• 1 24 ounce jar of your favorite pasta sauce
• 1 Pound dried mostaccioli noodles-sometimes called penne pasta
• 2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese

Instant Pot Mostaccioli

4.60 from 25 votes

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Servings: 8 Servings

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 Teaspoon olive oil
• ▢ ½ Cup diced onions
• ▢ 1 Pound lean 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)
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon garlic- minced
• ▢ 1 Teaspoon sugar
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
• ▢ ½ Teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ▢ If you prefer (you can omit the red pepper flakes.  It gives a nice little kick to the dish though!)
• ▢ 2 Cans beef broth- 29 ounces total
• ▢ 1 Cup water
• ▢ 1 24 ounce jar of your favorite pasta sauce
• ▢ 1 Pound dried mostaccioli noodles
• ▢ 2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese

Instructions

• Turn Instant Pot on Saute- Hi
• Add Olive Oil
• Add onions, ground beef and garlic.  Continue to sauté until beef is evenly browned.
• If you use lean ground beef, you do NOT need to drain the grease from the pot.  If you use a high fat content ground beef you will need to drain the grease.  You can do so by either using a ladle to scoop the grease out or you can CAREFULLY remove the inner pot and pour the grease out.  I HIGHLY recommend using a low fat ground beef to avoid this step all together.
• Turn off the Instant Pot.   You no longer need to sauté anything in the pot.
• Add sugar, Italian seasoning an red pepper flakes
• Pour in pasta sauce
• Pour 1 cup of water into pasta sauce jar- shake- pour water mixture into Ninja Foodi pot.  This will help you get all of the sauce goodness out of the jar!  No waste!
• Pour 2 cans of beef broth into Instant Pot.
• Stir beef and liquid until well combined
• Pour in mostaccioli pasta
• DO NOT STIR!  If you stir, you are likely to get a burn or error message.
• Make sure that all pasta is covered by liquid (or as much as possible).  I just pushed down on the noodles with a spatula until they were covered with liquid.
• Close the lid, turn the Instant Pot back on and cook on high for 3 minutes.
• Once the timer goes off, natural release pressure for 3 minutes.  Quick release remaining pressure. Turn off Instant Pot. 
• Open the lid and stir pasta together.  Be sure to stir well and ensure no pasta is clumped together.
• Add in 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and stir.
• Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese on top.
• Close lid and let sit for 5 minutes- this will help the cheese melt into gooey gooey goodness on top!  If you prefer, you can remove mostaccioli from Instant Pot and put in baking dish and place under the broiler for 5 minutes.  If you choose this method, wait to add the last cup of cheese until you have all of the mostaccioli in the baking dish.  

Nutrition

Serving: 1.5g

Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only.

Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how it turned out in a comment below!