Instant Pot Baked Ziti

Instant Pot Baked Ziti is an easy one pot meal made with whole wheat pasta, spinach and cheese. The perfect meatless main dish for the family on busy weeknights!

I’m so excited to share this baked ziti recipe with all of you! I’ve tested this several times and got it just right! It’s an easy one pot pasta recipe that takes less than 15 minutes to make. I tried this out on my picky husband and he loved it, so did I! More one pot recipes like this you might like Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce or Instant Pot Turkey Meatball and Pasta Soup.

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So many things to love about this one pot dinner! Because this baked ziti cooks with the sauce, you honestly can’t tell the pasta is whole wheat. Of course, when it comes to whole wheat pasta, you all know the only brand I like is Delallo. The texture is so much better than other brands, it’s the first brand that got me to convert and I love that it’s organic. They have a variety of shapes in whole wheat, but I really love their whole wheat cavatappi for this recipe. To keep the calories low I suggest making your own homemade marinara with their San Marzano imported tomatoes or one that doesn’t have a lot of oil added.

There’s no meat in this dish, so for the protein (over 23 grams per serving) this dish has three cheeses – mozzarella, ricotta and Pecorino Romano cheese. If you want to add meat, use a meat sauce instead or add some leftover chopped up meatballs. The pasta cooks together in the Instant Pot (affil link) with the sauce at the same time all in one pot! All you Italians out there are shaking your head, I know! You’re supposed to boil pasta in a large pot of water, but guess what, I fed this to my Italian husband and he came back for seconds. Kids love it too!

Tips when making one-pot pasta:

Since the pasta is cooked right in the sauce, you will need to add water to the pot along with the sauce.
Make sure the liquid covers the pasta.
Once the pasta is ready, eat right away for al dente or the pasta will continue to absorb the sauce.
To make this on the stove, cook everything in a large pot with the same ingredients following the same method over med-low heat, covered about 16 to 20 minutes, or until pasta is cooked, stirring half way. Similar to this Spaghetti and Meat Sauce recipe.

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