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.
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Every time I make this Instant Pot bolognese, the aroma of the mushrooms and herbs fills my kitchen, and I’m instantly reminded of why I love this recipe.
My family (who sometimes act like they’re are allergic to vegetables!) clean their plates every time. It’s become our go-to for Meatless Mondays and those evenings when we’re craving comfort food without the guilt.
I cook the pasta and sauce together for this healthy Instant Pot bolognese recipe. The bolognese-style vegetarian sauce is made with many vegetables – onion, celery, carrots, bell peppers, and mushrooms – giving it a thick, meaty texture.
The leftovers make a perfect vegetarian lunch the next day. You can make this vegetarian bolognese for a crowd by doubling the recipe.
If you’re in the mood for a tasty Instant Pot pasta recipe with meat, check out my Instant Pot Penne with Sausage and Tomato Cream Sauce or Instant Pot spaghetti and meat sauce from scratch. Both are one-pot pressure cooker pasta dishes that are quick and easy. Or try a quick and easy San Marzano Tomato Sauce!
📍Why Choose Vegetarian Rigatoni Bolognese?
- It’s packed with vegetables, and high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It’s lower in saturated fat than meat-based sauces, making it heart-friendly.
- Vegetables are less expensive than meat, making this a budget-friendly option without sacrificing flavor.
- Perfect for entertaining, this dish caters to vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. It’s so hearty and flavorful that even carnivores won’t miss the meat.
- Unlike traditional bolognese, which often requires hours of simmering, this Instant Pot version is ready in under 30 minutes.
Ingredients and Tips
🧂 Instant Pot Vegetarian Pasta Ingredients List
More details in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post
💡 Ingredient and Recipe Tips
Here are some tips that will help you make a perfect Instant Pot vegetarian rigatoni recipe:
🍄 Mushrooms: Use dried porcini for earthy, meaty texture. Skip soaking; add directly to pasta because they will rehydrate in the Instant Pot. Substitute with dried shiitake or mixed mushrooms if porcini are pricey.
🧀 Mascarpone: It’s an Italian cream cheese, softer than the regular kind. Alternatives: heavy cream, cream cheese, creamy goat cheese, or boursin.
🌿 Seasonings: Swap oregano and basil for 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning. You can also garnish with fresh basil at the end before serving.
🔥 Avoiding the Burn Notice:
- Deglaze thoroughly after sauteing.
- Cool the Instant Pot briefly after sauteing.
- Layer the ingredients: Add liquid first, then the rest. Add tomatoes and pasta last; submerge the pasta but don’t stir.
- If needed, add up to ½ cup extra water.
❓ FAQs
Double all ingredients but keep the cooking time.
Yes, broth can be substituted for wine, although wine does add flavor to bolognese sauce.
If you can find a ‘meaty’ mushroom, like portobello, shiitake, or baby bella, use those. Otherwise, use regular button mushrooms.
12 ounces is about ¾ of a 16 oz. box of pasta.
You can substitute an equal quantity of jar sauce. Just make sure you adjust the seasonings, especially salt, since jar sauce already has a lot of sodium.
✏️ Important Tips for Making Pasta in the Instant Pot
- To avoid the Instant Pot food burn message, add the dry pasta at the end right before pressure cooking, and don’t stir it. Just push down on it with a spatula until the pasta is submerged in the liquid.
- Any type of pasta shape (shells, spiral, penne, farfalle, ziti, rigatoni) will work for this recipe, but you may need to change the cooking time. I use the Barilla brand of pasta.
- The general rule of thumb for cooking pasta in the Instant Pot is to take the time that the pasta box says, divide by 2 and add 1. e.g. if the stovetop cooking time on the pasta box is listed as 8 minutes, you would pressure cook for 5 minutes (8 divided by 2 = 4; 4 + 1 = 5).
- For al dente pasta, pressure cook for half the time recommended on the box.
- The longer the pasta sits in the Instant Pot, the more it cooks. So, it’s important to release pressure as soon as cooking is complete. To avoid a mess, release the pressure in bursts, as detailed in how to natural release Instant Pot.
⏲️ How to Make Vegetarian Pasta in Instant Pot
- Saute onions and other vegetables
- Saute mushrooms
- Add liquids, spices, pasta and tomatoes
- Add remaining ingredients
- Pressure cook and release pressure
- Add cheese and heat through
- Select Saute function and add olive oil to Instant Pot. Add onions, celery, carrots, bell peppers and fresh 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 the inner pot with two tablespoons of water.
- Stir in balsamic vinegar, milk, wine, water or vegetable broth, dried porcini mushrooms, black pepper, salt, thyme, oregano, basil, sugar, and red pepper flakes.
- Add tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and pasta on top. Don’t stir, but push down gently with a spatula until pasta is submerged in the liquid.
Program the Instant Pot and release pressure
- Close the lid.
- Select Pressure Cook mode and cook on high pressure for 7 minutes.
- The display will go from On to 07:00. The float valve will go up after a few minutes. The display will count down to 00:00.
- Do a quick release of pressure. Release the pressure in bursts, to avoid a mess. Once the float valve goes down, the lid can be opened.
- There might seem to be more liquid than you’d like, but don’t worry; the pasta will absorb the liquid.
- Stir in mascarpone cheese. Let the creamy pasta rest for a few minutes, and it will thicken up. Sprinkle each serving with parmesan and fresh parsley.
Instant Pot Vegetarian Pasta | Rigatoni Bolognese
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup onion chopped fine
- ½ cup celery chopped fine
- ½ cup carrots chopped fine
- ½ cup bell peppers chopped fine
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 2 cups fresh mushrooms chopped
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 cup water
- 1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms chopped
- ½ teaspoon black pepper powder
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper or to taste
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 28 oz. crushed tomatoes (794 grams)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 12 oz. rigatoni pasta (340 grams)
- 4 oz. mascarpone cheese (113 grams)
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese finely grated
- 3 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Select 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.
- Stir in milk, wine, water, dried porcini mushrooms, black pepper, salt, thyme, oregano, basil, crushed red pepper, sugar and balsamic vinegar. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, pasta, but don't stir. Just push down with a spatula so the pasta is submerged.
- Stir to combine.
- Close Instant Pot lid and pressure cook on High Pressure for 7 minutes.
- Do a quick release of pressure. [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods]
- 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.
Nutrition
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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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More Instant Pot Pasta Recipes
Shannon says
This sounds delicious! I am going to make it but I need to make a couple substitutions. I am a vegan so I will use vegan cream cheese and almond milk. I also was wondering how to sub fresh mushrooms? Do i saute them with the other veggies? I can’t wait to make this!!!
Neena Panicker says
Hi Shannon, I think the vegan cream cheese and almond milk will work, however I have never made this with those ingredients. The recipe already contains fresh button mushrooms, so add whatever type of fresh mushrooms at the same time. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to share back how it went!
Karen says
So delicious…but, once it was under pressure the ‘add water’ sign came on. I took the lid off to add some water then realised the bottom was burnt! Salvaged it by decanting it to a pan to finish cooking.
Possible mistakes: did I stir it too much after adding all the ingredients, should I have let the pan cool after the sauté stage, or add more liquid…
I’d appreciate any tips as it was lovely – I’m sure I made a basic error at some point! (I’m using a Ninja 9 in 1). Thanks!
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Karen, next time, add the pasta into the liquid and don’t stir. Add the tomatoes and don’t stir. This is detailed in the section “avoiding the burn notice” on the blog post. If you want to add an extra 1/4 cup broth or water, you could also try that out. Thank you for your comment.
Alyce says
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 says
Alyce, I’m glad you liked the recipe and were able to make modifications successfully.
Jacob Zelten says
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 says
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 says
Made several times and always turns out delicious! Company enjoyed it and asked for recipe.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Thanks Emily! I’m thrilled to hear that you and your guests loved the recipe 🙂
Bethan says
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 says
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.