Instant Pot Rigatoni and Sausage—a dump and go recipe that takes just a few minutes to cook. Tubular pasta is cooked with sausage and a luscious tomato-cream sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese for the kids and goat cheese for the adults…yum!
Instant Pot Rigatoni and Sausage
Anytime I can suck a delicious tomato-cream sauce through a pasta straw it’s a good meal. I loved this rigatoni for its taste but also because it was so super fast and easy to make. I love cooking pasta in my Instant Pot because there is no worrying about the pasta water boiling over. Just dump some broth, pasta, sliced smoked sausage, crushed tomatoes into your Instant Pot and set the timer for 3 minutes. Walk away and come back in a few minutes to a hot and delicious dinner.
I topped my serving with goat cheese and it just brought the dinner to a whole new level! If you’re a goat cheese fan you really need to try it with this dish. It’s amazing. My kids don’t like goat cheese so they topped their servings with a little grated mozzarella. Meanwhile Greg was busy digging out all the slices of sausage that he could find and popping them into his mouth.
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Instant Pot Million Dollar Spaghetti–spaghetti but a whole lot better. A ground beef sauce is served with spaghetti noodles and then cream cheese is stirred in for an ultimate creamy dinner.
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Rigatoni and Sausage I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
Instant Pot Rigatoni and Sausage
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
A dump and go recipe that takes just a few minutes to cook. Tubular pasta is cooked with sausage and a luscious tomato-cream sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese for the kids and goat cheese for the adults…yum!
Ingredients
- 1 (12 oz) package of Italian-style smoked sausage (see note)
- 1 (16 oz) box of rigatoni or ziti
- 3 3/4 cups beef broth
- 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup frozen peas (optional)
- Grated mozzarella or goat cheese crumbles, for serving
Instructions
- Slice the sausage into quarter inch rounds. Add the sausage in an even layer in the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Dump in the pasta in an even layer on the top of the sausage. Pour beef broth into the Instant Pot.
- Dump in the tomatoes, garlic, tomato paste, basil and red pepper flakes. Don’t stir.
- Cover the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit for 5 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid. Stir.
- Temper the cream by adding a spoonful of sauce into it and stirring. Then stir the cream into the Instant Pot. If adding in peas, do it now. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Scoop onto serving plates and top with mozzarella or goat cheese.
Notes
I used a pre-cooked Italian style chicken smoked sausage product. Use whatever you like best! If you want you can also use ground uncooked Italian sausage. Just make sure to brown it using the saute setting before adding in the broth and pasta.
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Italian
Want more tried and true Instant Pot recipes?
The 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking website has 3-4 new Instant Pot recipes a week! If you sign up for my emails (fill out the form below) you’ll receive an email each time something new is on the site. You can also join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group which is run by my husband Greg and myself. If you’re a visual learner consider subscribing to my YouTube channel where I share Instant Pot stuff with you weekly.
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
As usual I didn’t read the recipe all the way through. I didn’t realize I had to sauté the meat first. I crumbled the raw sausage in and just dumped everything in. I thought that was weird. It was so easy and perfect. Who buys an instant to create work for yourself?! I’ll definitely repeat this recipe!
★★★★★
Well I’m glad it worked and tasted good!!
Do you vent all the way, or just a few minutes and then carefully release the cover? Mine seemed to take quite a while to fully vent. Thanks!
I let it sit for 5 minutes and then moved the valve to venting and then removed the lid.
Karen, would like to make this tonight for supper…Was wondering if sour cream or blend would work in place of cream?
Thank you for all these wonderful recipes!
Oh hmmm. Yes I bet it would. It will give it a tangy taste.
Used whole grain penne pasta and local smoked sausage and added cajun spice mix we make at home. (Less salt and hot pepper than commercial!) Chopped an onion and used Ham flavored stock. It was just delicious with the cream and goat cheese on top. Gave it an extra minute before venting to fully cook the whole grain pasta. Our A/C is out and didn’t want to heat up the kitchen!
Will Definitely make this again!
★★★★★
Your version sounds so great Judy!
Just got my IP 2 months ago. Love it. Have tried a lot of your recipes and loved them all. This one is next on the list. It’s nice to get a hot meal on the table after work in 30 min with no fuss. Keep them coming.
Will do Linda!!
Is the best way to do any of these recipes in a 3 quart instant pot is to cut the ingredients in half?
Yep most of the time! Here is a great article: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-halve-instant-pot-recipes/
I don’t have heavy cream. Will plain milk be ok? Can I add some sour cream to the milk to thicken it up and make it richer?
Sure I think that would be great.
Loved this recipe. Used homemade pasta and all natural sausage links. Delicious!
★★★★★
Homemade noodles?! Giving you a virtual high five!!
Hi Karen!
What can I substitute the red pepper flakes with? I don’t have any at home and we don’t care for hot/spicy foods.
Thank you!!
You can just leave them out! No biggie!
Part of directions say drop pasta in pot in the beginning then later it says the end?
The pasta goes in after you sauteed the sausage and added the broth . The pasta is stirred once you remove the lid.
Sorry if it was confusing. What I meant was to add pasta at the beginning and then after is is pressure cooked you will stir it.