Tasty Penne with Sausage in Tomato Cream Sauce is quick and easy. This Instant Pot Pasta can be ready in 30 minutes with just 10 minutes hands-on time.
Can you cook pasta in an Instant Pot? The answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ This penne with sausage in tomato cream sauce is a recipe I’ve been making for many years, but I’d never tried it in the Instant Pot before. Instant Pot pasta can be touch-and-go if you’re adapting your own recipe for the first time. The hardest thing to know is how long to cook pasta in an Instant Pot.
Thankfully pressure cooker bloggers like Barbara from Pressure Cooking Today and Laura from Hip Pressure Cooking have paved the path for us to learn from them and use their techniques to create our own Instant Pot pasta recipes. In this case I used Barbara’s Bow-tie Pasta recipe as a guide to convert my own penne with sausage recipe into an Instant Pot pasta recipe.
I keep reading about how we Instant Pot users have become sort of cult-like, enthusiastically promoting the Instant Pot
Instant Pot Pasta | Penne with Sausage Ingredients
Instant Pot Pasta | Penne with Sausage Step-by-Step Instructions
- Press ‘Saute’
- Add oil to inner pot of Instant Pot
- Add sausage and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. (If the sausage browns too quickly, press ‘Cancel’ until the Instant Pot cools down a bit and press the ‘Saute’ button again.)
- Add onions and garlic. Stir until onion is translucent.
- Deglaze pot with white wine, stirring until liquid has nearly evaporated.
- Press ‘Cancel’ to turn Instant Pot off.
- Add in bell peppers, sugar, dried basil, oregano, salt, black pepper, tomatoes, water and pasta. Stir to combine.
- Close Instant Pot Lid, and make sure steam release handle is in the ‘Sealing’ position.
- Press ‘Manual’ (or ‘Pressure Cook’) and ‘+’ or ‘-‘ until display reads ‘5’ (5 minutes).
- Instant Pot display will change to ‘On’.
- Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
- The display will count down from 5 to 0; it will switch to ‘Keep Warm’ mode and display ‘L0;00’.
- To open the Instant Pot, first move the steam release handle to ‘Venting’. I like to place a folded towel over the steam release handle and move it to the venting position.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.
- There might seem to be more liquid than you’d like, but don’t worry, the liquid will get absorbed by the pasta.
- Stir in cream.
- Press ‘Saute’ and simmer the pasta and sauce for a couple of minutes until heated through.
- Let the pasta rest for a few minutes and it will thicken up.
- Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan and parsley and red pepper flakes, if using.
Instant Pot Pasta | Penne with Sausage in Tomato Cream Sauce
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 6
Tasty Penne with Sausage in Tomato Cream Sauce is quick and easy. This Instant Pot Pasta can be ready in 30 minutes with just 10 minutes hands-on time.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casing removed, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup cubed (1 inch) bell peppers
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 lb dry penne pasta
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- Shredded parmesan
- Chopped parsley to garnish
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste, optional)
Instructions
- Press 'Saute' and add oil to inner pot of Instant Pot.
- Add sausage, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Break up the sausage if the pieces are too large. (If the sausage browns too quickly, press 'Cancel' until the Instant Pot cools down a bit and press the 'Saute' button again.)
- Add onions and garlic. Stir until onion is translucent.
- Deglaze pot with white wine, stirring until liquid has nearly evaporated.
- Turn off Instant Pot.
- Add in bell peppers, sugar, dried basil, oregano, salt, black pepper, tomatoes, water and pasta. Stir to combine.
- Close Instant Pot Lid, and make sure steam release handle is in the 'Sealing' position.
- Cook on 'Manual' (or 'Pressure Cook') mode for 5 minutes.
- Do a Quick Release of steam, and open the Instant Pot.
- Press 'Saute'.
- Stir in cream and simmer the pasta for a couple of minutes until heated through.
- Turn off Instant Pot and if desired, let the pasta rest for a few minutes to absorb any remaining liquid.
- Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan and parsley, and red pepper flakes, if using.
Notes
- To lighten the dish, you could substitute half-and-half for the heavy cream.
- The sugar adds a nice balance to the flavor of the tomatoes, but feel free to leave it out.
Courses Main Dish
Cuisine Italian
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/6 of quantity
Amount Per Serving | ||
|---|---|---|
Calories 364 | ||
% Daily Value | ||
Total Fat 13 g | 20% | |
Saturated Fat 7 g | 35% | |
Unsaturated Fat 6 g | ||
Sodium 742 mg | 31% | |
Total Carbohydrates 44 g | 15% | |
Dietary Fiber 8 g | 32% | |
Sugars 11 g | ||
Protein 17 g | 34% | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.
Lindsay
I am all about delicious, fast, and easy. Thanks for this awesome family-friendly recipe.
Paint the Kitchen Red
I hope you get to try it!
Michelle
Thank you for sharing Neena!!! I just got my IP yesterday and this is the first recipe I tried. I had to make a few substitutions bc I didn’t have some ingredients (I used linguini and red wine) but it worked out great and it’s delicious! I set the timer to 3 minutes for linguini and it was perfect.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Michelle, I get paid in comments so your comment was like gold! I am really glad it worked out for you. And thanks for mentioning your timings for linguine – that’s going to help someone else. I think you’re going to love your new Instapot as much as I love mine!
Laurie
This recipe is fantastic! This was the first time using my Instant Pot and I am hooked!! Can’t wait for more of your posts 🙂
Paint the Kitchen Red
Laurie, comments like your’s make my day! Thank you for the feedback. Do sign up for my newsletter (at top of page) if you’d like to be notified of new recipes. And let me know any requests. Enjoy your new Instapot!
romain | glebekitchen
I still don’t have an instant pot but thanks to you it’s looking more and more like I’m going to have to get one. I imagine the manual mode cooking part drives some of the aromatic flavour into the pasta but I think this recipe would work nicely adapting it to “old fashioned” cooking techniques. I’m going to try it anyway.
Paint the Kitchen Red
This recipe combines the pasta sauce and dish into one recipe. To do it the regular way, you can make your favorite pasta sauce (or use my recipe on this site) and cook the pasta separately before putting it all together.
Tammy Rolison
I’m so happy I found this recipe. Thank you! It was absolutely the bomb! First time cooking pasta in my new IP!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Tammy – thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Hopefully it will be the first of many successes!
Stacia R
I want to make this with leftovers – do you think I could double it? And then would I need to adjust cooking time since the pot would be full?
Paint the Kitchen Red
You can increase the recipe, but I’m not sure you can double it. You shouldn’t go past the half fill mark to leave room for expansion. You increase the quantity of liquid by the same ratio as the pasta. So if you’re doubling the pasta, double the quantity of liquid. Cooking time stays the same. Hope that helps, feel free to contact me if you have further questions.
Kim
This worked awesome with 12oz. Gluten free pasta for 4 minutes as well as adding a 1/2 cup of water.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks for sharing that, Kim. That’s really helpful for others who might want to use gluten free pasta.
Delinda
Thank you Kim. I am gluten free and really appreciate when others share how they adapt recipes to gluten free.
Tom
My favorite IP dish so far!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks Tom! It’s so nice to get comments like your’s – they are why I love working on this blog and creating recipes!
Hayley
Sorry really new at this. Does the uncooked pasta not get added in step 6? I would have thought it needed more cooking than just a quick simmer at the end? Please help I already started cooking! Thanks 😊
Paint the Kitchen Red
Yes Hayley, your instinct is right; it does get added in step 6. It cooks under pressure with the tomatoes and other ingredients. It’s listed at the end of the ingredients list. Enjoy!
Melissa
I am brand new to the instant pot world, but purchased the mini (3 quart) size. I’m guessing I would cut this in half? Thank you!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Melissa, thanks for your question. So, there are a couple of considerations for adjusting quantities: only fill pot to halfway mark for pasta, rice, beans, anything that can expand – for safety reasons. Also, make sure you have enough liquid to reach pressure. Normally when you’re reducing the recipe, cook time doesn’t change. However, because the mini is smaller and different wattage, I’m not sure if you’ll need to adjust the cooking time. I would try it with the stated recipe cook time and then you’ll know what you need to do for next time. Let me know how it goes!