A one-pot meal made in the Instant Pot with simple and nutritious ingredients from Costco and Trader Joes! Baby kale, onion, ground beef, dried pasta and pasta sauce are all that you need!
The Instant Pot electric pressure cooker makes it possible to cook all these ingredients together, and the pasta still turns out al dente! The trick to cooking al dente pasta in the Instant Pot is explained here by hippressurecooking.com. You look at the package of the pasta for the total time normally needed to cook the pasta. The Instant Pot cook time will be half that amount of time for al dente pasta!
This recipe was made with a bag of Farfalle pasta (Trader Joes), a red onion, a bag of organic baby kale (Costco), frozen grass-fed ground beef (defrosted, Trader Joes), and a jar of pasta sauce (Trader Joes).
I browned the diced onions on "Saute" (1), followed by sauting the ground beef so that it was in pieces (2). The entire bag of dried pasta was poured on top (3), followed by the entire jar of pasta sauce (4).
The empty pasta sauce jar was filled with water, then poured into the pot. I made sure to add water so that it covered all the dried pasta (5). Lastly, I added the raw baby kale to the top, not stiring it, as the baby kale will cook quickly and can be left at the top of all the ingredients (6).
A very important step is to wipe the rim of the inner pot after all the ingredients are put in (7). This ensures a good seal when the lid is put on. After the lid is in the locked position, I pressed "Manual", then decreased the time to 8 minutes (8).
Before making this recipe, I highly recommend reading these tips that help with ensuring a good pressure seal and opening the lid safely. Once the cooking time was up, I put a cloth on the side of the lid with the steam release handle, then used a long utensil to flip open the handle.
Completed pasta dish in 30 minutes from start to finish! Give it a good stir!
One Pot Pressure Cooker Kale Beef Pasta
4-6 servings.
1 red onion, diced
1 lb ground beef, fresh or defrosted (16oz, 452g)
1 lb dried pasta, Farfalle (17.6oz, 500g)
1 jar pasta sauce (25.5oz, 723g)
2-3 large handfuls of baby kale (or as much as you can put under the "max" line)
Optional: salt to taste, toppings of olive oil and/or cheese
1) **Keep lid on the side of the pot or away from the Instant Pot to avoid any splatter from contacting the silicone ring or lid. Never use the pressure cooker lid to prevent splatter while sauting (
see tips for how to reliably build up pressure)
2) Press Instant pot setting "Saute". Add some oil. Saute onions until browned.
3) Add ground beef and saute until it is crumbled and partially cooked.
4) Add the entire package of dried pasta, then the whole jar of pasta sauce.
5) Fill the emptied pasta sauce jar with one jar full of water. Pour into pot. Stir all the ingredients together so that the beef is well mixed with the pasta. Make sure all the pasta is covered with liquid. If there is not enough liquid to cover the pasta, add enough water accordingly.
6) Add as much baby kale to the top of the ingredients as possible. Leave the baby kale siting on top of the ingredients and do not mix into the pasta, as the baby kale cooks faster than the other ingredients.
4) Stop the saute function by pressing the "Keep warm/ Cancel" button. Wipe the rim of the inner pot well (**any liquid or sauce on the rim of the inner pot will prevent the lid from sealing properly)
5) Lock on the lid. Make sure the steam release handle is on "Sealing".
6) Press "Manual", then adjust the time to half of the time on the package of pasta with the -/+ buttons. This will give you al dente pasta. Add an extra 1-2 minutes if you want it softer than al dente. For example, I set my pressure cooking time to 8 minutes for this particular pasta to make it slightly softer.
5) When the cooking time is up, press the "Keep warm/cancel" button as soon as possible to stop the warming function. I like to put a kitchen towel over the vent before using a long kitchen utensil to flip the handle, in case any liquid spews out. Immediately quick release the steam by flipping the steam release handle to "Venting".
6) After the pressure float valve drops down, indicating the pressure in the pot has gone down to normal, twist open the lid. Be careful of any steam.
7) Give the pasta a good stir to mix the sauce and the pasta together.
