Ah, the Instant Pot and its many uses. When I first got the Instant Pot I thought I was going to do crazy recipes, things I had never tried and turn it into an amazing culinary experience. While I do crazy stuff with it, and try new culinary recipes, I also use it for the laziest of reasons: Dump (and forget about it) Recipes. What is a dump recipe, you might be wondering, well, my friend, a dump recipe is a recipe where you literally dump everything in the instant pot (sometimes you just sauté it a bit) and then you forget about it. Once the timer is off, you remember it and realize you just prepared an amazing dinner in less than 20 minutes. Today, my latest Dump Recipe tried at home: 20 minute Dump Pasta Instant Pot Recipe.
That was a mouthful, but it works. And as per usual, 🇫🇷 et comme d’habitude, la recette est disponible en français pour tous qui souhaitent la lire comme ça!

Ingredients
- Pasta: Any type is fine, I prefer macaronni and coquillette type of pasta when doing this.
- Liquid: the trick to cook with the Instant Pot is to use a lot of liquid. Cover all the pasta and veggies with enough liquid to avoid getting the BURN message. I used around 6 cups of veggie broth + an extra cup of tomato sauce. Add more liquid if you think you need more to cover your pasta. We will be using milk but at the end, so it doesn’t count.
- Vegetables: I used peas, carrots, onion, broccoli and spinach cause it is what I had in hand. Use whatever veggies you feel like!
- Spices: Mix of fines herbes, garlic powder & basil.

How to prepare this One Pot Pasta in the Instant Pot?
Very easy. As the concept of Dump & Go is quite literally about just dumping all the ingredients inside and closing the lid, that’s almost everything we will do. You will sauté a bit all the veggies to bring up the heat of the instant pot, but then you will just seal and cook for 2 minutes (I did 2 minutes cause I was using fast cooking pasta) and then enjoy the meal.

If you like one pot recipes like this one but you don’t have an instant pot, be sure to check my one pot pasta recipe or even, my latest gnocchi spinach casserole. Also, a couple of weeks ago I explained all the Instant Pot basics, if you are confused about all I just said, go there to check it out.
📣 What is your one-pot dump and go favorite recipe in the Instant Pot? Have you ever used the Instant Pot like so? Tell me all in the comments!
20 minute Vegetarian Instant Pot Pasta
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 500 grams pasta I used macaronni
- 6 cups of veggie broth You want your pasta to be covered in liquid
- 1 cup tomato sauce of your choice
- 1 cup of peas
- 2 cups of carrots
- 1 red onion
- 1/2 cup broccoli finely chopped
- A handful of spinach
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1 tbsp fines herbes
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp basil dry
- Optional: grated cheese fried egg, …
Instructions
- Prep all the ingredients: Dice the onion, carrots and the broccoli and have it all prepared.
- Choose sauté in the Instant Pot and add a bit of olive oil. When hot, add the onion and cook it for about 2 minutes.
- Add the peas, broccoli and carrots and mix well.
- Add in the spices and continue to cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the pasta and mix well.
- Add all the liquid except for teh milk and mix well.
- Turn off the sauté function.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and close it. Check that the valve is in sealing position.
- Press the manual button / Pressure Cook button and then adjust the time to 2 minutes. The Instant Pot will start to build up the pressure now. It took around 10 minutes for my Instant Pot to reach pressure. The countdown will then start. Once complete, do a quick release carefully and open the lid when the pressure valve is down.
- Stir in the milk and the spinach now. Do it very carefully cause there will be A LOT of steam. The steam and the residual heat will cook the spinach through.
- Serve in a bowl, top it with either cheese or nutritional yeast or even vegan cheese and enjoy! I wanted a bit more of protein, so I topped both our bowls with a fried egg on top.
🇫🇷 20 minutes One Pot Pasta avec l’Instant Pot – Version en français
Ingredients
- 500g pâtes (J’ai utilisé de coquillettes)
- 1.5l de bouillon végétarien (Il faut que les pâtes soient complètement couvertes par le liquide)
- 250ml de sauce tomate
- 150g de petits-pois
- 100g de carottes
- 1 oignon rouge
- 50g de brocoli
- Une grosse poignée d’épinards
- 1 cuillère de fines herbes
- 1 cuillère de poudre d’ail
- 1 cuillère de basilic (sec)
- Du fromage râpé (optionnel)
- Un œuf frit au-dessus (optionnel)
Instructions
1: Préparer tous les ingrédients: Couper l’oignon, les carottes et le brocoli. Avoir tous les ingrédients prêts avant utiliser l’Instant Pot est primordial.
2: Sélectionner “Sauté” dans l’Instant Pot et ajouter un peu d’huile d’olive. Quand ça commence à chauffer, ajouter l’oignon et cuisiner pendant 2 minutes.
3: Ajouter le reste des légumes (sauf les épinards!), et les épices. Bien mélanger et cuisiner pendant 3 minutes.
4: Ajouter les pâtes et tous les liquides sauf le lait. Mélanger bien.
5: Appuyer sur “Off” pour éteindre la fonction “Sauté” et fermer l’Instant Pot avec le couvercle. Vérifier que la poignée de libération de la vapeur (sealing valve) est bien sur “Sealing”.
6: Sélectionner le mode “Manual/Pressure Cooker” et ajuster le timer à 4 minutes.
7: Quand le timer est terminé, vous pouvez faire une “Quick Release” de la vapeur, c’est à dire, positionner la poignée de libération de la vapeur à la position “évacuation” (venting) pour laisser sortir la vapeur jusqu’au moment où la valve de flottaison retombe en bas.
8: Ajouter les épinards et le lait et mélanger bien. Les épinards vont se cuire avec la chaleur restante et la vapeur.
9: Servir dans un bol avec du fromage (Emmental, vegan ou de la levure de bière). Nous avons dégusté ce plat avec un œuf frit au-dessus.
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