Instant Pot {Pressure Cooker} Ham & Penne Pasta
60 Comments
Posted: 05/30/17
Updated: 09/04/21
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Instant Pot {Pressure Cooker} Ham & Penne Pasta ~ Our Favorite Meal Now in the Instant Pot! Only One Dish to Clean and You Have an Easy Dinner Recipe!
Fixer Upper….what a trend! Can you imgaine being the brain power behind that? And what doesn’t Jo and Chip do? Now Chip is writing a book! Trust me, I love them as much as the next person but I wonder how they do it all. They have to have a lot of “people” in their corner don’t you think?
Sometimes people ask me how I do it all and I seem boring to them! I do love their style. I dream of having some shiplap in my house!
You know what other trend I adore right now? The Instant Pot trend! LOVE LOVE LOVE! First of all I love One Pot recipes, but the fact that I can do a One Pot recipe in my Instant Pot and not even have to worry about stirring it? WIN! What crazy busy Mom doesn’t like that? Throw it in the Instant Pot and forget it. You can clean up, unload the dishwasher, spend up time with the kids, fold a load of laundry, OR sit down, put your feet up and watch some crap television for a few minutes!
This recipe is an adaption of my One Pot Ham & Penne Skillet which has been CRAZY popular since I first posted it a few years ago. It goes nuts over Easter because of all that leftover ham, but really you can make this any time of year!
If you haven’t joined the Instant Pot craze yet, I have only one questions for you. What on earth are you waiting for??
If you are scared of the Instant Pot and haven’t used yours yet, like I was. Really, I was. My friends were using it all the time and I left mine in the closet collecting dust because I was nervous to use it! I assure you that it’s not hard, this is the perfect recipe to start with. You really can’t go wrong with it and the entire family will love it. Plus, you’ll be an Instant Pot junkie just like I am now!
Did you make this? If you snap a photo, please be sure tag me on Instagram at @julieseatsandtreats or #julieseatsandtreats so I can see your yummy treat!
Contents
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Instant Pot {Pressure Cooker} Ham & Penne Pasta
Our Favorite Meal Now in the Instant Pot! Only One Dish to Clean and You Have an Easy Dinner Recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 c. diced yellow onions
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 3 c. cubed fully cooked ham
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3 c. chicken broth
- 2 c. 2% milk
- 1/4 c. flour
- 1 16 oz penne noodles, uncooked
- 2 c. frozen peas thawed
- 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Place 1 Tbsp olive oil in bottom of Instant Pot. Turn on to manual. Saute ham and onions until onions are translucent. Add garlic, parsley, basil, oregano, pepper and red pepper flakes; cook 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in broth, milk, and flour. Whisk until combined. Add the rest of the ingredients except Parmesan cheese.
- Place lid on Instant Pot.
- Set to high pressure for 8 minutes.
- After it is done, let the pressure naturally release for about five minutes, and then change to quick release until all the pressure is gone.
- Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of pasta. Serve immediately.
Tips
If you'd like to make this on the stove top here is the One Pot version of this recipe!
Nutrition Information
Calories: 285kcal (14%), Carbohydrates: 21g (7%), Protein: 27g (54%), Fat: 10g (15%), Saturated Fat: 3g (19%), Cholesterol: 62mg (21%), Sodium: 1751mg (76%), Potassium: 345mg (10%), Fiber: 3g (13%), Sugar: 8g (9%), Vitamin A: 645IU (13%), Vitamin C: 31.4mg (38%), Calcium: 272mg (27%), Iron: 2.2mg (12%)
Johnna says
It was pretty good. For those who say the pot burned. I suggest deglazing the pot after cooking the ham & onion. I just added chicken broth to deglaze so the bottom wouldn’t burn.
Julia says
I wanted to like this. I read comments beforehand and because I have three instant pots and know how to use them I decided to make it anyway.
The only change I made was using mini penne instead of full size penne. I made two batches in two pots simultaneously.
One got a burn error and had a whole layer stuck to the bottom of the pot. The ingredients are all good and should taste good together but this was flavorless. We added so much salt and parmesan and it still tasted like nothing and the flour gave it a bad texture.
The second pot didn’t have a burn warning but it had a bigger layer of burnt noodles than the first pot. I tried to put what wasn’t burnt into a stainless steel bowl with half and half and parmesan. Still completely flavorless
Definitely try a different recipe.
Courtney says
So sorry to hear you did not enjoy this recipe! We love this recipe.
Belinda says
Family thought it was pretty good. Great way to use leftover ham. Recipe went well and nothing burned.
Julie Evink says
Great to hear Belinda! Thanks so much for commenting and rating the recipe!
Don Johnson says
Not a fan. Ick
Randall says
DO NOT make this recipe as written! I’ve ruined two interior pots now trying to make this!!
randall_boof says
recipe is fine, you simply do not know how to use your kitchen utensils, lol
Geoskimom says
Great way to use up the leftover ham from Christmas. Just made this for dinner tonight in my InstantPot and will absolutely make it again. Often. Didn’t have plain peas, but a mixed bag of peas & carrots worked wonderfully. Only change I made was to use whole milk (and omitted the oregano due to allergies). Since we live at 8,000 ft I used a slow pressure release to make sure the noodles cooked. Best of all, enough leftovers for tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe!
Geoskimom says
One more tiny tweak. Only used one clove of garlic and that was plenty for my family.
Michelle Sperr says
I love this idea! Thanks!
Michelle Sperr says
You’re welcome and thank you for your comments! Glad that you loved this recipe!
Jessica Patton says
Excellent!! I just got my pressure cooker and i am so glad i found this recipe! Even my one year old had seconds!!
I did make some small changes. I used 1 cup of milk and 1 cup heavy cream. I also used frozen, thawed, spinach instead of peas. I will be making this again and again!!
Julie says
Awesome! I’m so glad it was a hit with everyone, thanks for sharing!
Heidi says
This dish was great; I especially loved the easy clean-up afterwards! Thanks Julie, for another great idea!! Tomorrow, it’s Creamy Chicken Enchiladas. 🙂
Julie says
Perfect! I’m so glad you loved it! Enjoy the enchiladas!
Pippy says
The white sauce didn’t really “sauce”, and maybe because I used whole wheat penne, the penne kind of ran the flavor show. Very little ham taste (It seemed to have cooked out during the onion saute). Was fine the first night, but not so much after that. (I’m going to try adding red peppers and mushrooms and maybe a bechamel sauce to the leftovers)
Julie says
I’m sorry to hear that! I hope adding some different flavors to your leftovers helps give it the flavor you need!
Sue says
I followed the directions, but did not have great success with this recipe. I don’t have a lot of Instant Pot experience yet, so it could have been ‘user error’. My pot took 45 minutes to reach pressure. I didn’t get a burn notice, but when I opened the lid, I was greeted by a slight burn smell as it had stuck to the bottom of the pot and turned into a gooey, mushy mess. I stirred in the cheese as best I could and served it with apologies. The flavor wasn’t bad, but the appearance and texture was extremely unappealing. 🙁
Julie says
I’m so sorry, Sue! 45 minutes seems like a long time to come to pressure, it almost sounds like it was “pressure cooker error” not “user error.” I wonder what went wrong! Here is the stove top version if you wanted to give that a try instead!
https://www.julieseatsandtreats.com/one-pot-ham-penne-skillet-recipe/
David says
Oh my goodness! This came out amazing! Something that everyone in the family enjoyed (including a picky 2 and 5 year old).
Julie says
Awesome! I’m so happy to hear that, David! Glad you all loved it!
John says
Would any of of the times/ingredients change if using an 8 quart Instant Pot?
Julie says
No, everything should remain the same.
John says
Thanks made it tonight and it was awesome!
Julie says
Glad to hear it, John! Thanks for the review!
Nicole says
Can you use bow tie or egg noodles with this recipe.
Julie says
Bow tie noodles should be fine, egg noodles tend to cook a little faster so I don’t know how they would work!
sue says
must have been that flour, but I got a burn notice
Julie says
I’m sorry to hear that, Sue. Were you able to scrape the bottom and try again?
Julie says
This was a huge hit with my husband and our three-year-old. We all went back for seconds. It was pretty easy to just dump in most of the ingredients. Only had to chop up the onion and the ham. It took 20 min for my IP to build up enough pressure to start the 8 min of cooking. So plan on about an hour from the time you get out your ingredients to the time it’s actually ready to eat. It was delicious though and we’ll definitely make it again!
Julie says
Awesome! I’m so glad it was a hit with the whole family!