Gluten Free Pasta with Vegan Bolognese in the Instant Pot

One pot pasta is probably one of the best inventions of modern times.  The Instant Pot has made it better, even for gluten free pasta which as a reputation for being notoriously not the best.  This recipe uses simple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.

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gluten free vegan pantry pasta

This Gluten Free Pasta with Vegan Bolognese in the Instant Pot is quick and easy to make, with whatever ingredients you have on hand.

The best part of the recipe is how adaptable it is to suit your family’s tastes.  

This gluten free vegan one pot pasta meal works great with fresh or frozen vegetables, whatever you happen to have on hand.

family instant pot pantry pasta gluten free

You can also add additional spices to it once in a while to mix things up – add some chili powder to make it more of a Instant Pot Chili Mac

How to Make Gluten Free Pasta in the Instant Pot

When it comes to making gluten free pasta in the Instant Pot there are a couple of things to remember.

Layering is key.

Don’t follow the cooking instructions!

First, let’s talk about layering.  The trick to making gluten free pasta in the Instant Pot is to NEVER let it touch the bottom of the pot directly.  If you do you may end up with a clumpy burnt mess and that dreaded over heat message.

The trick is to layer all of those beautiful vegetables evenly across the bottom of your Instant Pot, add a little water, then add your pasta, tomatoes, and more water.  DO.  NOT.  STIR. 

Not stirring your pasta until it has finished cooking is probably the most important part of this whole thing.

vegan gluten free pasta bolognese family pantry meal

The next important thing is to not follow your cooking instructions on the package.

Cook the pasta for half of the time on the package.  If you open you Instant Pot up, and it needs a bit more time, close the pot back and cook it for 1 more minute.

Needless to say, you want to stop it from cooking, so you will need to quick release your pot.  Stir your pasta, and serve!

Make sure you also turn off the keep warm function when your pasta is done.  Better yet, remove it all from the pot so it doesn’t keep cooking.  If you can’t remove it, turning off the keep warm function will go a long way.

Now, let’s take a look at how to make this easy family pantry meal in the Instant Pot.

Gluten Free Pasta in Instant Pot with Vegan Bolognese {Family Pantry Meal, Gluten Free, Vegan}

gluten free family pantry meal instant pot vegan pasta

This is an easy vegan one pot family sized pasta meal that can be made in minutes in the InstantPot.

I used carrot as the base of my vegan bolognese, because we always have carrots in our pantry, and they are full of nutrients.

Other good choices are potatoes, and any vegetables you have around.

You can also substitute your favorite crumbled meat alternative.

The real key is that you need a layer of something on the bottom of your Instant Pot to make a layer to prevent the pasta from burning.

Instead of jarred pasta sauce, we just use simple canned tomatoes. You can purchase puree, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, or even whole tomatoes.

If you use whole tomatoes, make sure you pulse them in the blender first. If you can only find diced or crushed tomatoes but prefer a smoother sauce, just pulse those in a blender or food processor too!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 23 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 carrots chopped small, and/or other vegetables of your choosing (we added 3 leaves of kale)
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 16 oz package Tinkyada (or other gluten free pasta)
  • 1 28 oz can of your favorite Tomatoes
  • 14 oz water

Instructions

  1. Dice carrots and other vegetables small. I like to pulse them in the vitamix, or you could also pulse them in a food processor.
  2. Turn Instant Pot to saute. Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil, and saute vegetables.
  3. Once vegetables have been sauted to desired doneness, add 1 cup of water to Instant Pot.
  4. Add pasta to Instant Pot but DO NOT STIR.
    pantry pasta in instant pot
  5. Add canned tomatoes to Instant Pot. DO NOT STIR.
    pasta in instant pot gluten free vegan
  6. Add 14 oz or half of a can of water to the Instant Pot. DO NOT STIR.
    gluten free vegan instant pot pasta pantry
  7. Turn Instant Pot off and close.
  8. Switch to High Pressure, and set for half the cooking time of the pasta according to the pacakge.
  9. Once Instnat Pot has finished, quick release the Instant Pot.
  10. Now you can stir your pasta and serve it!

Notes

This recipe is fantastic becase you can put just about any vegetable you would like in there.

Once you understand the mechanics of cooking pasta in the Instant Pot, the layering technique specificailly, you can adapt this recipe to use anything you have on hand.

I like to throw things like chopped kale or spinach in there too. Both fresh and frozen work well.

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