Creamy, meaty and hearty this Instant Pot Taco Pasta is full of corn, tomatoes, beef, green chiles and cheese. Making this recipe a quick and easy weeknight favorite.
Have you noticed that the instant pot has literally blown up all over the place? Everyone wants an instant pot. And there is good reason behind that. It’s a great fast cooking method that literally takes minutes from start to finish on certain meals.
It also greatly reduces the cooking time on many of your other favorite dishes that would either take hours in the crockpot or oven. Overall the instant pot is seriously a great purchase and I’m so happy that we decided to get one.
So let’s talk about this Instant Pot Taco Pasta? Seriously one of the most simple dinner recipes ever. Around my house, simple is good. With 4 kids, getting supper cooked and on the table in a timely fashion is appreciated.
My kids love anything taco. I mean who doesn’t love anything taco? This Instant Pot Tago Pasta is really mild and great for little ones because it won’t be too spicy for them. You can add more spice as needed but this was the perfect amount of heat for my kids.
This pasta recipe is so versatile, add in all the things that you want. I would add in black beans next time as I love them whereas my kids don’t and unfortunately I didn’t have any. Don’t like beef? Maybe switch it to shredded chicken instead.
If you like a little more kick you can always swap out the diced tomatoes with some salsa. Mmmm. I love recipes like this Instant Pot Taco Pasta recipe because it really gives you the basis of a basic recipe that you can build off of and make it your own.
Summer is fast approaching. Well technically we are in Minnesota and we just had a blizzard this last weekend so we might just buzz on over spring and go straight to summer the way it’s looking. But summer means sports and sports means a busy mama.
So what does a busy mama like more than anything else? Low prep and quick meals. So in the summertime we rely on our instant pot to get dinner on the table in a short amount of time. This Taco Pasta is just one of our many favorites.
If you like this recipe you might also like this Instant Pot Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken, Instant Pot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches and this Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice.
Instant Pot Taco Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 lb rotini pasta
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 15 oz can corn, drained
- 1 small can diced green chiles
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 3-3 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2-2 cups Taco Blend shredded cheese
- Salt and pepper
- Green onions to garnish
Instructions
- In instant pot set to saute mode and add in you onions and ground beef and brown until beef is no longer pick and onions are tender.
- Add in pasta, diced tomatoes, corn, green chiles, taco seasoning and water.
- Stir to combine.
- Seal lid and cook on manual pressure for 5 minutes.
- Once done do a quick release of steam.
- Remove lid and stir.
- Add in your cheese and salt and pepper and stir until melted.
Katie
The flavors on this recipe are spot on. I use 2 cups beef broth and 1 cup water, add 1/3-1/2 on extra ground beef to make it a bit meatier, and use 2 TBSP of my homemade taco seasoning mix rather than the packaged stuff.
With pasta and tomatoes in the IP, sometimes it can cause a burn notice, so I mix in everything except the pasta, tomatoes, and green chilies. Then I pour the pasta on and press (but don’t stir) it down so it’s into the liquid. Then I layer the diced tomatoes and green chilis on top and again don’t stir. Once it’s done and you release the pressure, you can stir it all together then stir in the cheese. It does take me quite a bit of salt, too—prob close to 1 tsp. Well-loved in our house, though. Thank you!
Lisa Smith
Love this one pot recipe!
Lindsay
really tasty! I found it a little watery, so I will try only 3 cups of water next time. other than that its so good!!
Ron
Yeah, this is fantastic. I made very small changes for my own taste but this is a really good dish. I’m still new to the IP and this is the first pasta dish I cooked. As a lover of casseroles and pasta bakes I was a little skeptical but it was really on point. Thanks for the great recipe!
Kim
This has become one of my Go To recipes on weeknights! We love it! I’ve added black beans, and I’ve substituted chicken for the beef. It’s such a versatile recipe!! Thanks so much!!!
Kate
We made this last night and it was a success! Came together so quickly. I LOVE one-pot instant pot meals and this was the perfect intro to showing my husband how to use the instant pot.
I added 3.5 cups of water and didn’t drain the grease from the beef. Next time I’ll add 3 cups of water OR drain the beef as it didn’t set up QUITE as beautifully as yours, but still turned out great. I also pressure cooked for 6 minutes, which was perfect for the pasta. I always seem to need to add minutes to recipes, though, so this is probably just my pressure cooker. Thanks for the recipe!
Megan Boulanger
I made this tonight, and it was delicious! I had ground turkey on hand and used that but otherwise followed the recipe exactly! It’s like the better, adult version of my favorite hamburger helper! It was quick and easy and after an 11 hour work day it was the perfect recipe to come home and make because I could easily just dump everything in the IP and enjoy!
Maureen
Has anyone tried prepare ahead as a freezer meal or freeze leftovers?
Shay
Do you cook the noodles before you place them in the insta pot?
Tornadough Alli
The pasta is uncooked when you add it into the instant pot.
Sharon Jacob
Nope. Thats why you add the water. 🙂 hope this helps. Enjoy
Denise
Has anyone tried this with gluten-free pasta? Wondered if it would hold up. Or the cooking time would have to change?
Chrystal
Cooked for 4 minutes with gluten free pasta and it was perfect.
Vicky DeBerry
Yes. I used full box of gluten free Barilla Penne and also added a can of drained black beans and corn. Changed cook time to 7 minutes, QR.
I use 7 minutes almost always for GF pasta in IP.
Julie
Would this recipe fit in the 6 quart instant pot?
Tornadough Alli
Yes it should, I have a 6qt and that is what I use.
Lara
What kind of taco seasoning did you use? You’re recipe says one packet. I’m thinking of using my own taco seasoning blend and I’m wondering how much you used.
Tornadough Alli
We used Walmart brand great value taco seasoning which is 1 oz pkg sized so roughly around 2 Tbs, you can use more or less to your liking.
Melissa O’Brien
My kids LOVE this recipe! It’s so easy and delish! We add salsa and sour cream. We also add cream cheese
Anne Melvin
The whole family loved this! Had to make a couple of tweaks because of what was available (diced my own green chilis because they didn’t have the canned ones at the store), and used beef broth instead of water. Otherwise was pretty much the same. Will definitely be making this again. Thanks!
Jessica
Do you have to drain the meat?
Tornadough Alli
It’s more a matter of personal preference. You dont have to drain, but you certainly can.
Hallie Webster
This was a big hit at our house. I used 3 1/2 cups of water which was too much for me, and made it soupy, but the cheese helped to pull it together. I will definitely make it again! Thanks for the recipe!
Wendra Burks
Is it really 3 – 31/2 cups of water? Or 3 1/2 cups of water?
Tornadough Alli
It’s 3 to 3 1/2 cups water, but you can use 3 1/2 to be safe.
Judy S
Made it exactly as written, and it was very good, but the pasta disn’t seem to absorb any of the flavor. I think next time I’ll replace some of the water with a can of rotel for just that little bit extra flavor. Very quick and easy, I’ll definitely make it again. Thank you!
Lisa
If you were to add black beans to the recipe, would they be canned, or dry? If dry, would you have to IP cook those first?
Tornadough Alli
I would used canned. Using dried beans in the IP Wild really change the recipe and measurements so canned would be the easiest.
Kbbenay
Loved this, was really delicious. We had the granddaughters overnight and it was so easy and fast and everyone had seconds After experimenting with the IP for a while now, I made a few changes. I used 2 pounds of hamburger, a bag of sweet frozen corn, a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes, and 2 teaspoons of salt. The pasta cooked perfectly, it was nice and saucey, and perfectly seasoned.