

To start, you can obviously serve it up with your favorite sauce. Serve as desired, or cool and use for meal prep or other recipes.īefore I let you go, let’s have a little chat about the various ways you can use these cooked plain carbs. Open the lid, and stir well to incorporate any remaining liquid – there should be very little left.

Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes before manually releasing any remaining pressure. Cook on High pressure for the amount of time you calculated in the previous step. Step 2 – Pressure CookĪdd the pasta, water, and salt to the pressure cooker insert.Ĭover and set to Manual.

And a range of 9 to 11 minutes on the box equals 3 on the timer. The final result is your total that you should use when setting the timer.įor example, an 8-minute cook time on the packaging would translate to a 2-minute cook time in the pressure cooker. If you need to divide an odd number in half, round up to the nearest number. Divide that in half, and subtract two minutes. Take the total number of minutes, or the lesser number if a range is suggested. To determine the cook time for your selected variety, check the cooking instructions on the packaging. 1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted stock).2 cups water (or low-sodium vegetable or chicken stock).8 ounces short pasta (penne, farfalle, cavatappi, etc.).To start, gather and measure your ingredients. You’ve been warned… Step 1 – Measure Ingredients and Determine Cook Time Once you learn the simple formula for cooking plain pasta in your favorite appliance, you may never go back to the stovetop method again.
#Instant pot plain pasta how to#
How to Cook Plain Pasta in the Electric Pressure Cooker That way, your broth-enriched rotini or bowties won’t come out too salty when they’re done. Otherwise, omit the salt in the ingredients list below. The only recommendation I have here is to use a low-sodium option if you buy it from the store, or homemade stock. It adds extra flavor to the noodles, which I think is really nice when you are using them in another recipe, or adding a light sauce.

If there’s a recommended range, select the lowest number. You start by taking the total cook time listed on the packaging. Okay, maybe it’s not really magic, but it does involve some simple math. Now, let’s talk about the magic formula to cook this one-pot wonder. There’s no need to worry about the pot boiling over! There’s no straining involved, and no colander to wash, since the liquid is absorbed as it cooks.Īnd just as important, you can simply add your ingredients, set the timer, and walk away. There are a couple of reasons to turn to this appliance for cooking your favorite starchy sides.įirst of all, this is truly a one-pot dish. You’ll find all kinds of pasta tutorials in our pillar article, How to Cook Pasta in the Pressure Cooker.īut you’ll find bite-sized options in my pressure cooker at home more often than not, especially penne, my current favorite to use in pasta salads and casseroles. That’s not to say it’s impossible to make longer or larger shapes in your Instant Pot, and we’ll cover some of these in other how-to guides, like spaghetti and rice noodles. These tend to be simpler to prepare because you don’t have to worry about breaking longer noodles into smaller pieces so they fit in the insert, and they cook more evenly as well. When it comes to preparing plain macaroni in the electric pressure cooker, the easiest shape to work with is something that’s shorter, like penne, elbows, or small shells. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to not have to worry about accidentally overcooking or undercooking it ever again? But really, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to avoid hovering over the stove, waiting for water to boil, and stirring so it doesn’t stick? It might seem silly to bust out your electric pressure cooker for this task. Okay, so cooking pasta isn’t the hardest thing in the world to do.
