With barely any prep work and just 10 minutes of hands-on time required, this cheesy and creamy Instant Pot Pasta Bake is sure to become your favorite meal to cook--and your family's favorite vegan dinner.
I have for you today an ooey, gooey, creamy and cheesy vegan pasta bake that you can pull off in no time at all, without heating up your summer home, and in a single pot---an Instant Pot.
This is also delicious food, and it's incredibly kid-friendly, so you'll have every reason to want to make it. And make it again.
What you'll love about this recipe
- It's hearty comfort food, food that'll fill your belly and put a smile on your face. The flavors are a lot like those of a vegan lasagna.
- It comes together mostly--or entirely--with pantry ingredients.
- It's delicious
- It's immensely kid-friendly.
- It requires hardly any prep---all you need to do is chop garlic and if you have pre-chopped garlic, good for you.
- Most of the cooking happens in the Instant Pot so it's mostly hands-off.
- You can go from gathering your ingredients to the dinner table in about 30-40 minutes.
How to make a cheesy, creamy vegan pasta bake
- This is an easy recipe and quite foolproof. You will need to add in your ingredients in a particular order, but once that's accomplished, all you have to do is wait for your IP to do the magic.
- A marinara sauce forms the base of this recipe, and you'll just actually make it in the Instant Pot, by throwing together the ingredients. If you already have jarred or homemade marinara on hand, you can use it, by all means.
- What makes this marinara creamy is cashew cream stirred into the marinara sauce. If you're nut-free, look at my substitution suggestions below.
- What makes it cheesy are the vegan mozzarella shreds, sprinkled on top. They add the final---scrumptious---finishing touch to an already tasty dish.
- You'll start out your recipe by browning the vegan meat substitute in the Instant Pot, and by browning I don't mean actually browning it, but sauteing it a bit in a smidge of oil with some garlic to get all that amazing flavor going. Don't skip this step!
- My herbs of choice in this recipe are oregano and basil. I also add a touch of sage for depth of flavor. You can use just oregano or just basil, just increase the amounts if using only one herb.
- You can use fresh tomatoes if you have a surplus, but I prefer canned, pureed tomatoes in this recipe just to make things easier.
- Once you've got everything in the Instant Pot, set it to cook on "manual" for 10 minutes.
Substitution ideas:
- I use rigatoni in this recipe because it holds up so well in the Instant Pot and all that cheesy sauce makes its way into those wide tubes. I've also tried it with celentani, which is a pretty, corkscrew pasta. You can use another pasta, like ziti or even macaroni or shells.
- I used Beyond Beef this time, but any meat substitute works. I've used Farmland and Field Roast in the past as well. Make sure you crumble up the meat substitute before adding it to the IP, especially if you're using vegan sausages.
- Use oregano or basil as your primary herb, or a combination of both. I also strongly recommend adding a teaspoon of dry sage (or a tablespoon of fresh), to add more depth of flavor.
- If you have a jar of marinara on hand, you can skip the herbs and garlic, or cut them down to your taste. Add the marinara to the Instant Pot after browning the "meat."
- Before you close the IP lid to pressure cook, make sure your pasta water is salty enough--it should be a little saltier than you want your pasta to be. It's not easy to stir salt into cooked pasta. But keep in mind that the cheese shreds will add some salt too.
- To make this recipe gluten-free, use gluten-free pasta and make sure you're not using a meat substitute that has gluten.
- To make this recipe nut-free, substitute the cashew cream with 1 cup of coconut milk or sub pumpkin seeds for the raw cashews.
More vegan Instant Pot recipes
- Vegan Instant Pot Lasagna
- Instant Pot Moroccan Chickpea Stew, No Oil
- Vegan Butter Chicken with Tofu
- Instant Pot Vegan Beef Stew
- Instant Pot Spaghetti with Meaty Marinara
- Instant Pot Khichdi with Mung Bean Sprouts
Instant Pot Vegan Pasta Bake
With barely any prep work and just 10 minutes of hands-on time required, this cheesy and creamy Instant Pot Pasta Bake is sure to become your favorite meal to cook--and your family's favorite vegan dinner.
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe
Review Recipe
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 503kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 14 to 16 oz vegan sausage (or "beef". Any brand is fine. It should crumble like ground meat)
- 7 cloves garlic (crushed and minced)
- 28 oz tomato puree (canned or fresh is fine. I use canned)
- 2 tablespoon oregano (minced, sub with 2 teaspoon dry. Or use basil)
- 1 tablespoon sage (or 1 teaspoon dry)
- 1 teaspoon paprika (or red pepper flakes, use more or less according to your taste)
- 16 oz rigatoni (or any hardy pasta. See substitution options above)
- ¾ cup raw cashews (see substitution options above if nut-free)
- 4¼ cups water
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 7-8 oz vegan mozzarella shreds (I used a packet of Daiya)
- More herbs for garnish (basil, parsley, oregano are all fine, choose one or more)
Instructions
- Blitz the cashews with a cup of water into a smooth cream. Set aside.
- Turn your Instant Pot to the "saute" function. Heat the oil in the Instant Pot liner. Add the vegan sausage or beef and garlic and "brown" the meat for a couple of minutes, stirring it frequently and scraping up any bits that stick. It won't really brown much but what you want to do is make sure it's broken down into tiny bits and not clumping together.
- Add the tomato puree, oregano (or basil, or both), and sage to the pot. Add salt, pepper and paprika along with a cup of water. Give it all a good stir.
- Add the rigatoni to the pot, the cashew cream, and the remaining 2 ¼ cups water. Give it a quick stir and taste the water. It should be slightly saltier than you would like your pasta to be.
- Turn the Instant Pot off.
- Seal the lid and set the Instant Pot to pressure cook for 10 minutes. Go with eight minutes for smaller pasta shapes.
- Once cooking is done, wait 15 minutes, then release the steam manually and open the IP lid. Scatter on the cheese and close the lid again immediately. Let it sit 5-10 minutes for the cheese to melt.
- Garnish with parsley or basil or oregano and serve.
Recipe notes
Update: I've added a bit more water to this recipe after some readers mentioned concerns about the "burn" function of the IP. Cooking time remains the same, but give 15 minutes after cooking is over before you manually release pressure for the perfect texture and flavor.
Nutrition
Calories: 503kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 289mg | Potassium: 790mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 669IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 67mg | Iron: 4mg
Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment and recipe rating below!
Follow Holy Cow Vegan on Instagram
Jeannie Miller
Can you make this and leave the beef substitute out altogether? I have not made this yet.
Vaishali
You definitely can!
Alocasia
My puree is just 24 oz., but I do have a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes. Would that be a good substitute or should I just add the puree and maybe 4 ounces of veggie broth? Getting everything prepped now. Can't wait.
Vaishali
24 oz of puree and the rest as veggie broth is perfectly acceptable! 🙂
Alocasia
Delicious. Just perfect. I got there in a weird way. I sealed and set the IP for 10 mins. When I went to check it it had begun to count down and was at 6 minutes, but it never reached pressure. The silver button never popped up. I opened the lid and it was cooking away. The pasta was almost done. I set it again manual, 2 mins, but again it didn't reach pressure, but the pasta was done after the 2. It was great. So good. Still not sure why the IP never reached pressure. I've used it since.
Vaishali
I've had the same problem before, although it happens intermittently. That's why I increased the quantity of liquid, and after that it has not been a problem for me--the IP reaches pressure without a problem. I am sorry you had to get there in a roundabout way, and I'll report back if I encounter the problem the next time. I am glad, however, that you enjoyed the pasta. It's a huge favorite for Jay. 🙂
Karen
This is the best comfort food recipe I've come across in a long time. My hubby and I made it twice this week. It's so savory and creamy...yum! We had trouble with our instant pot, but this recipe is still easy enough to throw in the oven. (We followed your advice to another commenter). We've also enjoyed the Butter Tofu and Cabbage Casserole recipes and look forward to exploring more.Thanks for everything you do!
Vaishali
That's so great to hear, Karen! So happy you enjoyed it--I love this pasta bake and Jay frequently asks for it.
Emoly
Great recipe! I did have the burn message come up on my instant pot, so I opted to use the IP’s slow cooker function on high instead! Worked great, cooked it for around an hour, tossing the vegan cheese on top with about 10 minutes left!
JB
What are your thoughts on adding nutritional yeast to the cashew cream and leaving out the vegan cheese? Would 1/4 cup of nooch work?
Vaishali
You can add nutritional yeast. A fourth of a cup might be a lot, try starting out with 2 tbsp and increase if you want more flavor.
Sofia
I don't have an instant pot, can you do this in the oven? It sounds incredibly delicious!
Vaishali
Yes, absolutely. Here's what I would do: at step 3, cook the marinara on the stovetop for about 15 minutes. Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. Drain, stir in the marinara and the cashew cream, then place the pasta with the sauce in a greased, oven-safe casserole dish. Don't add the extra water, as your pasta is already cooked! Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, and sprinkle on the cheese in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking.
Sofia
Thank you so much! I cant't wait to make it
Amrita
Vaishali-
I would have problems with my Instant Pot's "Burn" light coming on, having to open it up, making sure to stir anything stuck to the bottom, then needing to start all over again estimating the remaining cooking time. It's no fun, and not supposed to be so much work.
I need to be very careful, adding ingredients in a certain order, no tomatoes on the bottom and no stirring. This has been very
effective for saucy bean dishes but I don't think it would work for your recipe as written. Have you had this problem, and if so do you have any tips?
Thank you so much.
Vaishali
Hi Amrita, I can't say I've encountered this problem, but here are some ideas:
-Always make sure you have enough liquid in your recipe.
-Tomatoes can sometimes burn because they have sugar in them. If the problem persists, try adding some additional oil at the beginning, and make sure you stir them into the liquid and pasta well and make sure you scrape up any bits of food stuck to the bottom after you finish with your saute function and before you switch to pressure cooking. You can deglaze the pan with some water. In this recipe there's enough water (about 3 1/2 cups, as well as the juices from the tomato puree) so you are covered.
Some people recommend layering on ingredients, but that is not an effective way to make this particular recipe and also it sounds like it wouldn't work for you.
-Also make sure your gasket ring or sealing ring is sealing properly and the float valve is working as these can sometimes lead to problems with the "burn" warning coming on.
Hope that helps a bit!
Amrita
⭐️?Thank you Vaishali !??
Lisa
I'm new to being vegan and am loving reading about all the alternatives to cheese. Using cashews is my favorite, but have learned to switch up and use a pumpkin and walnuts blend to make that cheesey-ness happen. And yes.... Nutritional Yeast, where have you been all my life. Thank you for this fabulous recipe!
Leslie
What good timing! I had a crown replaced today, and the dentist said to only eat something soft tonight. I made the gluten-free version using 365 brand gluten-free penne, and coconut milk instead of the cashews, because I had that. And I used a jar of mushroom pasta sauce because I'm lazy. Eight minutes in the IP. It was delicious! My husband said "This is really good. Definitely put this on the list to make again."
Vaishali
Yay! Awesome to hear.