Instant Pot Lasagna
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Instant Pot Lasagna is ruffled noodles in a thick meat sauce, ricotta stirred all the way through, mozzarella melting over the top. It tastes like the lasagna you’d give up a Sunday for. Nobody has to layer anything.
My Instant Pot Lasagna Started With 80 Pounds Of Pasta
I own 80 pounds of campanelle. That’s not a figure of speech.
A few years back I wanted campanelle for a recipe. It’s the little ruffled one that looks like a bell, or a trumpet that got excited. I checked every store near me and came up empty. I checked the Italian place. Nothing. I found it on Walmart online, where it came in exactly 1 size, and that size was a case, and that case was 80 pounds.
I bought the case.
So I’ve made this Instant Pot Lasagna more times than a normal person would, because I have a pasta surplus and a pressure cooker. What started as an inventory problem turned out to be the right call, which is the only time in my life that sentence has been true.
Here’s what you’re getting. Ruffled noodles cooked right in the sauce, ricotta stirred through at the end, mozzarella melted over the top. It tastes like lasagna and it isn’t layered, which is a trade I’ll make on a Tuesday every single time.
Ingredients in Instant Pot Lasagna
- Ground beef (1½ pounds, extra lean): Extra lean matters because you don’t drain this. Whatever renders out stays in the sauce, so you want it lean going in.
- Onion (1 small, chopped): In with the beef. It softens while the meat browns and you save a step.
- Garlic (3 cloves, minced): Goes in near the end of browning. It only needs about 30 seconds before the liquid hits it.
- Italian seasoning (1 tablespoon): The whole herb situation in 1 spoon. I use my own Italian Seasoning blend because I always have a jar of it going.
- Salt (¾ teaspoon, plus more at the end): Your marinara is salted, your broth is salted, and Parmesan is very salted. So this is a small amount up front and then you taste at the end.
- Marinara sauce (24 ounces, 1 jar): Use a jar you’d be happy eating on its own. This is most of your flavor and 4 minutes under pressure won’t fix a sauce you don’t like.
- Campanelle pasta (1 pound): The little ruffled bells. They hold their shape under pressure and the frills catch sauce on the way to your mouth. Mafalda or broken up lasagna noodles work too.
- Beef broth (2 cups low sodium, plus up to ½ cup more): Low sodium so you control the salt. Keep the extra ½ cup within reach.
- Ricotta (½ cup): Stirred in after the lid comes off, never before. Under pressure it splits.
- Parmesan (½ cup, shredded): Goes in with the ricotta. It melts into the sauce and makes the whole thing taste like it simmered longer than it did.
- Mozzarella (1 cup, shredded): Over the top at the end. Lid back on, residual heat does it.
- Fresh basil (1 tablespoon, chopped): At the table. Dried basil here tastes like dried basil.
How To Make Instant Pot Lasagna
Brown the beef: Set the Instant Pot to sauté. Add the 1½ pounds of ground beef with the chopped onion and cook about 3 minutes, breaking the meat up as it goes. Add the 3 minced garlic cloves, the 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, the ¾ teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook about 2 minutes more, until the onion has gone soft and the garlic smells like something.
Add the sauce and pasta: Pour in the 24 ounces of marinara and the 2 cups of beef broth, then scrape the bottom of the pot well. This part matters. Anything stuck to the base will trigger a burn notice later. Add the 1 pound of campanelle or pasta of your choice and press it down into the liquid so it’s covered. If the pasta on top is still sitting dry, add the extra ½ cup of broth.
Pressure cook: Lock the lid and set the valve to sealing. Cook on Manual or High Pressure for 4 minutes. The pot takes around 15 minutes to come to pressure before that timer starts, so don’t panic at the silence.
Release and stir: Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then move the valve to venting to let out whatever’s left. Open the lid and give everything a good stir. The sauce will look thin for a second and then pull together.
Add the cheese: Stir in the ½ cup of ricotta and the ½ cup of Parmesan until the sauce turns creamy. Scatter the 1 cup of mozzarella over the top, put the lid back on without sealing it, and leave it 5 minutes. Finish with the chopped basil at the table.
The Best Noodles For Instant Pot Lasagna
3 shapes work here, and they’re all a little different.
- Campanelle is what I use, because of the 80 pounds. It’s a short cone with a ruffled rim, and it’s the sturdiest of the 3. The rolled shape doesn’t go limp under pressure the way flat pasta can, the hollow middle fills with sauce, and the frilly edge catches more on the outside. If you want the version least likely to overcook, this is it.
- Mafalda is the most lasagna looking of the bunch. It’s a flat ribbon with ruffled edges, basically a lasagna sheet shrunk down to bite size. Your mouth recognizes it immediately. It’s a little more delicate than campanelle, so check it right at 4 minutes rather than walking away.
- Broken up lasagna noodles are the most obvious here, and yes, they work. Snap regular lasagna sheets into pieces about 2 inches across before they go in. Don’t use whole sheets. They glue themselves together and you’ll open the lid to a brick.
What doesn’t work as well: penne goes soft and the sauce runs straight through the tube, and bow tie cooks unevenly because the pinched middle is twice as thick as the wings. Both will feed you. Neither will taste like lasagna.
Instant Pot Lazy Lasagna Versus Layered Lasagna
You’ll see this dish called Instant Pot Lazy Lasagna, and that’s the proper name for it. Mine isn’t layered. There’s no ricotta layer, no sheet of noodles, no cross section.
The other way to make lasagna in a pressure cooker is to build a real one in a 7 inch springform pan, wrap it in foil, lower it onto a trivet with a sling, and cook it for 24 minutes. It works. It’s also a lot of equipment and a lot of fuss for a pan that feeds 4 people, and at that point my oven is right there.
So no, you don’t need a springform pan for this. You need an instant pot and a noodle with good edges.
What you give up is the slice. What you get is all of it in one pot in under an hour, with no noodles to boil and no pan to wash. If you want the version with proper layers and a crisp top, that’s my Easy Beef Lasagna and it’s worth the Sunday.
How To Get The Liquid Right In Pressure Cooker Lasagna
Pasta in a pressure cooker is a liquid problem. Too little and you get a burn notice. Too much and you get soup.
This recipe runs 2 cups of broth plus a 24 ounce jar of marinara for 1 pound of pasta. That’s deliberately on the drier side, because you want a sauce that clings at the end, not a bowl you need a spoon for. The extra ½ cup is there for the times your marinara is thicker than usual or your pasta is cut a little heavier.
The test is simple. After you add the pasta and press it down, look at the top. If noodles are poking out dry, add the extra broth. If everything’s wet, don’t.
The other half of this is the scrape. Browning beef leaves fond on the bottom of the pot, and fond plus a sealed lid is how you get the burn message. Deglaze with the broth and drag a wooden spoon across the base until nothing’s stuck. 15 seconds of scraping saves you a ruined dinner.
Instant Pot Lasagna Variations
- Instant Pot ravioli lasagna: Swap the campanelle for 25 ounces of frozen cheese ravioli and drop the pressure time to 3 minutes. You can skip the ricotta at the end since it’s already inside the pasta.
- Italian sausage: Use 1½ pounds of mild Italian sausage instead of the beef, or go half and half. The sausage brings its own fennel and heat, so pull the Italian seasoning back to 2 teaspoons.
- Gluten free: Gluten free short pasta works but it’s less forgiving. Cut the pressure time to 3 minutes and expect to add the extra broth, since those noodles drink more.
- A different pasta: Rotini, cavatappi and gigli all have the texture for it. I can’t personally use them, for reasons involving 80 pounds of commitment.
Tips For The Best Instant Pot Lasagna
- Don’t drain the beef, but do use lean. There’s no draining step in a pressure cooker and a fatty grind leaves you with a slick on top.
- Ricotta goes in last, off the heat. If you add it before pressure it breaks and goes grainy and there’s no coming back from that.
- If you’ve ever had a burn notice on a tomato based pasta, try leaving the sauce sitting on top instead of stirring it in. Press the pasta into the broth, then pour the marinara over and don’t mix. The sauce stays off the base where the heat is. I haven’t needed to do this in my pot, so test it before you trust it on a night when people are waiting.
- Let it sit the 5 minutes with the lid on after the mozzarella goes on. The sauce thickens in that window and the cheese actually melts instead of just warming.
- The leftovers are better than the first night. I have never once been upset about that.
Storing And Reheating Instant Pot Lasagna
Fridge: 4 days in an airtight container. The pasta keeps absorbing sauce, so by day 2 it’s thicker and honestly better.
Freezer: 3 months. Cool it completely first, then portion it so you’re not thawing the whole batch for 1 lunch.
Reheating: A splash of broth or water in the pan, medium low heat, lid on, stirring now and then. The microwave works for a single portion if you cover it and add a spoonful of water. Without the liquid it goes dense and chewy.
Try These Recipes Next
- Zucchini Lasagna
- Lasagna Soup
- Taco Lasagna
- Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna)
- Lasagna Dip
- Carbonara Mac And Cheese Soufflé
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Instant Pot Lasagna
Video
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds ground beef (extra lean)
- 1 small onion (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- 24 ounces marinara sauce (1 jar)
- 1 pound pasta (such as bow time, mafalda or penne, uncooked)
- 2 cups beef broth (low sodium or no sodium added, up to 2.5 cups if needed)
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese (shredded)
- 1 cup Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil (chopped)
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Instructions
- Prep Instant Pot: Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté setting. (See your manufacturer’s guide for detailed instructions on how to use your instant pot.)
- Cook The Beef: Add the ground beef, onion and garlic to the Instant Pot and break up the beef with a wooden spoon. Cook for about 3 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink. Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and stir. Cook for 2 more minutes until the onion begins to soften.
- Add Ingredients: Add the marinara sauce, pasta and beef broth to the IP. Stir well, scraping the bottom to remove any stuck bits. Close the lid. Seal the valve and set the Instant Pot to Manual/High Pressure for 4 minutes.
- Finish and Serve: Once the Instant Pot cycle is complete, allow for natural pressure release for 10 minutes, after which you can carefully release the pressure. Open the lid and stir well.
- Top with Cheese: Stir in the ricotta cheese and Parmesan cheese then top with mozzarella cheese. Close the lid for a few minutes to melt the cheese.
- Garnish and Serve. Garnish with basil and serve.
Equipment
Notes
- The total time includes about 15 minutes for the pot to come to pressure and 5 minutes of resting with the lid on while the mozzarella melts. Check the come to pressure time against your own pot, since it varies with size and model.
- Campanelle is what I use and it holds its shape best under pressure. Mafalda works and looks the most like lasagna. Lasagna noodles broken into 2 inch pieces also work. Avoid penne, which goes soft, and bow tie, which cooks unevenly.
- Scrape the bottom of the pot thoroughly after adding the broth. Fond left on the base is the most common cause of a burn notice with tomato sauce.
- Add the ricotta only after the lid comes off. Under pressure it splits and turns grainy.
- Start with 2 cups of broth and add the extra ½ cup only if pasta is sitting dry on top after you press it down.
- Don’t double this recipe in a 6 quart pot. 1 pound of pasta plus the liquid is already near the max fill line.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you make lasagna in an Instant Pot?
Yes, 2 ways. Stirred like this one, or layered in a springform pan on a trivet. This is the stirred one and it’s the one I make on a weeknight.
Can you cook lasagna noodles in an Instant Pot?
Broken into pieces, yes, and they’re good here. Snap them into roughly 2 inch pieces first and they cook like any short pasta. Whole sheets, no. They stick to each other and come out as 1 solid slab.
Can you cook frozen lasagna in an Instant Pot?
A store bought frozen lasagna, not well. The pan won’t fit most pots and the cook is uneven. Use your oven for that one.
Do I need a springform pan?
Not for this. Everything happens in the inner pot.
Why is my sauce thin when I open the lid?
Because it is, for about 90 seconds. Stir it, add the cheese, give it the 5 minutes with the lid on. It tightens up.
Can I double it?
No. 1 pound of pasta is already most of a 6 quart pot, and doubling the liquid pushes you past the max fill line. Make it twice or make something else.
