Everybody loves tacos! And who doesn't like pasta!? Combine these two together and they create this tasty, meaty, delicious Instant Pot Taco Pasta recipe.
It's a fast and easy weeknight meal loaded with delicious taco flavor.
When you're wanting to feed that craving and also use simple ingredients, let this easy pasta and taco recipe work its magic.
Instant Pot Taco Pasta is a family-friendly, super tasty meal and requires very little cooking time and only ingredients you probably already have!
Did we mention it’s also a one-pot meal ready in less than 10 minutes?! You’ve simply got to try this.
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe Works
This recipe is the perfect pantry meal. It doesn’t require any fresh produce, so it’s great to make when you haven’t been to the store in a while.
You can easily use this as a way to "clean out the cabinets" and STILL create a flavorful meal that will have everyone running to the table.
The tomato sauce and beef broth form the base of the sauce that is then seasoned with taco seasoning, which gives it loads of goodness in every bite.
When you add the shredded cheddar cheese, it's literally cheesy goodness in a bowl! In my opinion, you can never have too big a bowl full of meat, pasta, and cheese!
- Fast and easy to make for a quick weeknight meal
- Affordable ingredients for an affordable meal
- Unique and flavorful for a fun spin on dinner
If you like tacos, check out this Instant Pot taco soup or these Instant Pot Chicken Tacos.
Recipe Video
Recipe Ingredients
Olive oil – you can also use vegetable oil, or any neutral oil you have on hand.
Pasta - I'm using pipe rigate for this recipe. You can use macaroni or any small pasta you have.
Ground beef – I prefer to use a lean ground beef around 93% but any type will work. If using frozen beef, you should defrost it first. Also, be sure to drain off any excess grease or fat as well if there is an excess.
Tomato sauce – A small can of unseasoned tomato sauce is perfect. If you only have marinara, you could use that instead.
Rosemary – Fresh or dried rosemary both work in this Instant Pot Taco Pasta recipe, or you can omit it if you don’t have it.
Taco seasoning – You can substitute a blend of chili powder, paprika, garlic, and onion powder, and whatever other spices you like.
Beef broth – I would use unsalted to better control the sodium level of this recipe. If you don’t have beef broth, you can use any other type of broth or water.
Cheddar cheese –A Mexican cheese blend also works well. I prefer to grate the cheddar myself rather than buying pre-grated because it melts better and makes for a creamier sauce.
How to Make Taco Pasta in the Instant Pot
Before starting be sure that you have all the needed ingredients on hand. There isn't a lot but they're all important to the outcome and taste!
Step One: Add the ½ pound of lean ground beef to the Instant Pot.
Step Two: Press the "Sauté" and cook the beef until browned. Use a wooden spoon to stir the beef as it cooks. Be sure that there is no pink.
Step Three: Add in the rosemary, 1 cup of beef broth, and 4 ounces of tomato sauce.
Step Four: Next, add 1 ounce of taco seasoning.
Step Five: Pour in the 5 ounces of dried pasta and stir all the ingredients together well.
Step Six: Put on the Instant Pot lid, and press the "manual" button on high pressure for 5 minutes.
Step Seven: Do a quick pressure release and remove the lid.
Step Eight: Top with the grated cheese and let cook for 1 minute so that the cheese melts.
Serve the Taco Pasta and enjoy your delicious meal!
Variations
Add beans - Try adding some black beans or red beans for added texture and protein.
Change up the type of pasta - I'm using pipe rigate for this taco pasta recipe. Any type of short pasta works well in this dish. Try it with penne or rigatoni. Anything with ridges or holes is great because it holds the flavor perfectly.
Use different meat - If you’re not the biggest fan of beef, you can choose to make this dish using chicken, or even leaving the meat out altogether! If you go with ground or shredded chicken, I would use chicken broth instead of beef to complement the flavor better.
Helpful Tips
If you don't have the time or energy to grate the cheese yourself, don't stress. You can buy it already shredded for ease of prep time and meal planning.
How to Serve
This dish is ready to be served as is! Since it doesn’t contain much in the way of vegetables, I like to serve it with a side salad for a completely balanced meal.
Don't forget that you can also add some fun toppings to your dish as well to change up the flavor and taste. This gives everyone a chance to great their very own Pasta Taco bowl however they'd like. Some fun topping ideas are:
- Shredded cheese
- Diced onions
- Chili powder
- Chili flakes
- Diced jalapenos
How to Store
If you have leftovers, just add them to an airtight container and keep them stored in the fridge. The leftover pasta and beef recipe should be fine for 2-3 days.
How to Reheat
The easiest way to reheat this dish is to add it to the microwave. You can add some freshly shredded cheese on top as well. It may splatter as it's heating to putting a napkin on top can help with that.
Recipe FAQs
The reason that you want to choose your Instant Pot for cooking pasta is that you don’t have to wait for the water to boil and then drain it. The pasta water becomes the base of the sauce, which makes the pasta more flavorful and adds a little starch to the sauce to thicken up, so it’s a win-win.
The Instant Pot also cooks recipes so much faster than other cooking methods and also to perfection as well.
To avoid splatters when cooking with your Instant Pot, make sure to have 5 minutes of natural release on the Instant Pot at the end of the cooking time. This will take care of the extreme pressure inside the pot so that whatever steam is left after the 5 minutes will not be as intense.
Also, just to make sure, toss the kitchen towel over the vent while releasing the leftover steam and your counter will be entirely spotless – no splatters at all.
Yes, you can double the amount of pasta for this taco pasta recipe. You can add 8 oz of pasta instead of 4 oz. If you do that, add 2 cups of beef broth. Cooking time stays the same (5 minutes on high pressure and then a quick release).
Instant Pot Pasta Recipes
If you liked this recipe, try these delicious Instant Pot recipes too!
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and leave a comment below. Thanks!
Instant Pot Taco Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ lb ground beef lean
- 4 oz tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 oz taco seasoning
- 1 cup beef broth
- 4 oz pipe rigate or macaroni
- ¾ cup cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Add the oil to the Instant Pot and press “Saute”.
- Add the ground beef to the Instant Pot and cook for a few minutes until all the beef is browned and there is no pink.
- Add tomato sauce, beef broth, taco seasoning, rosemary and dried pasta. Stir all the ingredients together well.
- Put on the Instant Pot lid and press the "manual" button and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
- When the cooking time is complete, do a quick pressure release.
- Take off the lid and add on the grated cheese. Let it cook for a minute to melt on top.
- Serve and enjoy.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
- If you want to double the amount of pasta, double the amount of broth that you're adding as well.
- If you’re not the biggest fan of beef, you can choose to make this dish using chicken, or even leaving the meat out altogether
- I'm using pipe rigate for this taco pasta recipe. Any type of short pasta works well in this dish. Try it with penne or rigatoni. Anything with ridges or holes is great because it holds the flavor perfectly.
Is the cook time for al dente pasta, as that is the way I like my pasta (same question for all your pasta recipes.). Thanks
When i double the recipe do i double the time
Same time.
Fantastic recipe. New to the instant pot and my family loved it! Having it two nights in a row this week.
Everyone over this way is loving your Taco Pasta! A deceptively simple recipe in that there are none of the usual aromatics (onions, garlic, etc.). Question: where it says "1 oz taco seasoning," is that correct for 1/2 pd. beef and four oz. of pasta? Does that mean if I were to double the beef to one pd and the pasta to eight oz., it would be TWO oz. of taco seasoning? An entire bottle of Badia taco seasoning weighs in at 2.75 oz.
Thanks! That's how much I use for a bold flavored dish. As you mentioned, it gets all of its flavor from this seasoning. So yes, I would double the seasoning. However, you can use less if that's what you prefer! It will still taste great if you use 1 oz. seasoning for 1 lb. of beef.
This looks so good and easy! Have you ever frozen the cooked meal in order to have it for fast and easy reheat later? If so, was it ok? Not mooshy?
Unfortunately, pasta tends to get mushy when you freeze it and reheat it. What you can do is make the recipe without the pasta, and freeze the sauce.
Making these with a gluten free pasta, such as chickpea pasta, are the times the same? Thanks
That's a good question. If the cook time is around the same as most pastas on the box ~ 10 minutes you should be good (same cook time- 5 minutes in IP). To be sure, you could cook the pasta separately and add it in at the end.
Do you drain the ground beef after saute is finished?
I typically don't, especially since I'm using lean ground beef. And keeping a little bit of the fat adds good flavor. But it's up to you if you want to!
Love the recipe tasty coming out of our insta pot.
One of my favorites too, glad you enjoyed it!
How do I figure out how much is 4 oz of pasta?
I usually weigh it on a kitchen scale. But if you don't have one, you can estimate about 1/4 of the box (if it's a 1 lb. box of pasta)