Instant Pot Vegetarian Pasta – Rigatoni Bolognese – is a healthy, filling pasta dish that’s worthy to be in your regular meal rotation, and you won’t miss the meat! All the vegetables in this hearty vegetarian pasta recipe give the dish a meaty texture. The pasta and sauce are cooked together making it a delicious one-pot meal.
** New Readers: Please read an important message about this recipe right before the recipe card! **
Although I love traditional spaghetti bolognese with meat, a few years ago I found a Giada De Laurentiis recipe for a vegetarian rigatoni bolognese and adapted it to make a pasta dish that’s perfect for vegetarian meals and meatless Mondays.
Tips and Substitutions
Dried porcini can be pricey, so you can substitute dried shiitake mushrooms or mixed mushrooms.
This vegetarian pasta is finished with mascarpone cheese and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Mascarpone is an Italian cream cheese that’s softer and creamier in texture than regular cream cheese and is used to make Italian desserts like tiramisu. If you can’t find mascarpone, you can try and substitute heavy cream or cream cheese.
If you’re new to the Instant Pot and aren’t familiar with how to use it, please read the Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Quick Start Guide or the Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Quick Start Guide first and then come back here to learn how to make Instant Pot Vegetarian Pasta.
Instant Pot Vegetarian Pasta Ingredients
Instant Pot Vegetarian Pasta Step-by-Step Instructions
- Press ‘Saute’
- Add olive oil to inner pot of Instant Pot
- Add onions, celery, carrots, bell peppers and garlic and saute for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes.
- Turn off Instant Pot by pressing ‘Cancel’.
- If there’s food stuck to the bottom, deglaze inner pot with 2 tablespoons of water.
- Add in dried porcini mushrooms, crushed tomatoes, black pepper, salt, thyme, oregano, basil, sugar, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, crushed red pepper, pasta, milk, wine and water.
- 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 ‘7’ (7 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 7 to 0; it will switch to ‘Keep Warm’ mode and display ‘L0:00’.
- Do a Quick Release: 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. Remove the towel after turning the knob.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- It’s now safe to open the Instant Pot. (Press ‘Cancel’ to turn off 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 mascarpone cheese.
- Let the pasta rest for a few minutes and it will thicken up.
- Sprinkle each serving with parmesan and fresh parsley.
January 2018: If you’ve made this recipe before, carry on! If you’re new to this recipe, please note that some new Instant Pot owners are getting the dreaded ‘burn’ message. Here are some things you can do to try and avoid a burn notice:
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After sauteing onions and garlic, deglaze really well
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Turn off the Instant Pot and let it cool down for a minute or two
-
Add water first, then remaining ingredients
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Depending on your Instant Pot, you may need to add an extra 1/2 to 1 cup of water
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Add tomatoes and pasta last and don’t stir, just submerge in the liquid
[Read: Everything you need to know about Instant Pot burn message]
Instant Pot Vegetarian Pasta | Rigatoni Bolognese
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion chopped fine
- 1/2 cup celery chopped fine
- 1/2 cup carrots chopped fine
- 1/2 cup bell peppers chopped fine
- 1 Tbsp garlic minced
- 2 cups fresh mushrooms chopped
- 1 cup water
- 1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms chopped
- 28 oz. crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper or to taste
- 12 oz. rigatoni pasta
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup red wine
- 4 oz. mascarpone cheese
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese finely grated
- 3 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Press ‘Saute’ and add olive oil to inner pot of Instant Pot.
- Add onions, celery, carrots, bell peppers and garlic and saute for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add fresh mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes.
- Turn off Instant Pot by pressing ‘Cancel’.
- If there’s food stuck to the bottom, deglaze pot with 2 tablespoons of water.
- Add in dried porcini mushrooms, crushed tomatoes, black pepper, salt, thyme, oregano, basil, sugar, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, crushed red pepper, pasta, milk, wine and water.
- 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 7 minutes.
- Do a quick release of pressure.
- 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 mascarpone cheese.
- Let the pasta rest for a few minutes and it will thicken up.
- Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan and fresh parsley.
Notes
- Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. chopped onions, minced garlic, diced chicken, etc.
- See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips
Nutrition
Thank you for visiting Paint the Kitchen Red. All photos and content are copyright protected. Please don’t use any content without prior written permission. If you’ve made this recipe and would like to share it with your friends, please link back to this recipe. Thank you!
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.
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Alyce
I like this dish!
Based on my past experience trying to cook dishes containing wine in the Instant Pot, I added the wine (and vinegar) on the 2nd ‘saute’ step, maybe for 5 – 7 minutes, to let the alcohol evaporate before starting the pressure cook cycle.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Alyce, I’m glad you liked the recipe and were able to make modifications successfully.
Jacob Zelten
Re. the Burn message: I am convinced that there is a significant variation between individual IPs. (Personally I get Burn on *any* recipe with tomato unless I add water). Maybe it’s the thermostats, maybe its the flatness of the bottom of the pot creating hotspots… In any case, get to know your own pot and adjust accordingly.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks, Jacob. I do have to agree with you that every Instant Pot model and individual unit can perform differently. Regarding tomatoes, have you tried layering and not stirring (water on the bottom, tomato on top) – it helps A LOT!
EmilyOJ
Made several times and always turns out delicious! Company enjoyed it and asked for recipe.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks Emily! I’m thrilled to hear that you and your guests loved the recipe 🙂
Bethan
My son who hates pasta dishes ate it, my daughter who loves pasta dishes hated it! Typical contrary teenagers!! I thought it was ok and my husband loved it. The wine didn’t cook down enough for my taste, maybe I’ll try again and replace half the wine with stock.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks for your comment – well, at least someone liked it 🙂 If they are used to meat, that could be a reason 🙂 Yes, you can definitely use broth instead of wine.