Easy Instant Pot Taco Pasta
Easy Instant Pot taco pasta turns taco Tuesday into a one pot wonder! Jam packed with lean protein, corn, black beans, this is a weeknight meal that is your next family favorite.
One pot dinners are life. Actual life saving recipes.
Getting home from work and dumping everything into an Instant Pot is literally what my dreams are made of.
Easy Instant Pot taco pasta has all of your food groups covered, too.
Tender shells, corn, black beans, peppers, tomatoes, cheese and lean ground turkey make this a hearty one pot meal.
Instant Pot pastas are my ultimate favorite go to meal when I just don’t know what to put on my meal plan.
Instant Pot lazy lasagna, Instant Pot Chicken Parm Pasta, and Instant Pot bruschetta pasta have been the biggest contenders for one pot pasta favorites at my house.
But, when Easy Instant Pot taco pasta combines pasta and tacos, I think I have a new favorite.
Here is the step by step run down on Easy Instant Pot Taco Pasta!
First things first, use the saute function and saute the turkey and onion.
Expert Tip – make sure the bottom of the pot has nothing stuck to it after the meat has cooked. If there are bits stuck on, you are at high risk to get the burn signal.
Next, load up the remaining ingredients into your Instant Pot, except the pasta shells and water!
Time to mix all these ingredients up.
Next, put the pasta shells on top of your mixture.
Next. The water. You want your pasta just covered with water. Then press the dry shells down under the water.
DO NOT MIX – I repeat. DO NOT MIX
Lid goes on, and pressure time is set to THREE MINUTES.
Now, Instant Pot cook times can be a bit deceiving.
Yes, 3 minutes. BUT, there is the time to come to pressure, and the time to release pressure, so you are really looking at about a 20 minute round trip here.
But, once it is done, you have taco pasta bliss.
You now mix in the cheese, and ta da, dinner is ready and a new kid friendly, family favorite dinner is created!
Are you ready for a new one pot family favorite?
Easy Instant Pot Taco Pasta
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced approx 1 cup
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 28 fl.oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 12 oz can corn, drained.
- 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed.
- 1 cup red pepper, diced
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups pasta shells
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Press saute on your instant pot and add the oil to the instant pot.
- When the oil is hot, add the ground turkey.
- When the turkey is about half done, add the onion.
- Continue to saute until the turkey is cooked and no longer pink.
- Press cancel and make sure there are no brown bits left on the pot. If there are bits left, you could get the burn signal.
- Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, red pepper, and spices to the pot.
- Stir to combine.
- Add the pasta shells on top.
- Add the water and lightly press the pasta down below the surface. Do not stir.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot, and set to sealed.
- Set the Instant Pot to 3 minutes on high pressure.
- When the time is up, quick release the pressure.
- Stir in the cheese.
- As the pasta cools it will tighten up so don't worry!
- Add your toppings of choice to your dish! Cilantro, and sour cream are great options!
So easy to put together! Delicious one pot meal that even the fussy 3 yr old will eat. I’ll definitely be adding this recipe to our regular meal rotation.
Thanks Kaitlin!
Great flavours! Used rice pasta shells and it was perfect. Thanks!
Rice pasta shells?! awesome. Did you adjust the cook time for those?
Could you substitute crushed tomatoes for the diced ones? My husband will NOT each chunks of tomatoes.
I would worry about the burn signal. IF you do try it, please let me know how it goes!
Yum! Used macaroni pasta because I had it on hand and it was great. Also replaced corn with cut up carrots and it was very tasty. First time cooking pasta in the instant pot and it went so well!
I just tried in an 8 qt. I used 2.5 cups water so that the pasta was covered, and it might have been fine with just 2 cups, but I’m still glad I had a little extra. Maybe just 2 1/4? Delicious!
My wife and I absolutely love this delicious recipe but can’t seem to get the cook on the pasta right… We use medium pasta shells and we’ve tried three minutes, four minutes, and five minutes. There is always pasta that ends up being too chewy. We follow the recipe exactly and have even used other pasta as well but that doesn’t seem to help. Is there anything we can do? Any pasta that is particularly recommended? I would hate to give up on this because it is one of our favorites! Thank you!