Instant Pot Sausage and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
This easy Instant Pot Sausage and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta is the perfect one-pot meal for busy weeknights. It’s satisfying, quick, kid-friendly, and so good you’ll make it again and again.
- Prep Time:
15 minutes - Total Time:
30 minutes - Makes:
4-6 servings 1x
15 minutes
30 minutes
4-6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup jarred sun-dried tomatoes in oil (from one 8.5 ounce jar), drained and chopped, plus 2 tablespoons oil reserved
- 8 ounces uncooked Sweet or Spicy Italian Sausage, casings removed (see notes)
- 1 small onion, diced small
- 3-4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 4 1/4 cups water
- 16 ounces dry linguine, penne, rigatoni or pasta of choice (white or whole wheat, see notes)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 tablespoon flour (optional)
- Juice from ½ lemon (about 2 teaspoons)
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Sauté the sausage, onion and garlic. Set Instant Pot to SAUTE — NORMAL and add 1 tablespoon oil from the sun-dried tomatoes to the pot. Once hot, add the sausage, onion, and garlic. Stirring occasionally and breaking the sausage up with a wooden spoon as you go, cook for 7-9 minutes, or until sausage is fully cooked and onions tender. Hit CANCEL to turn off the Instant Pot.
- Remove the sausage and cook the pasta. Transfer the sausage mixture to a small bowl and set aside. Add sun-dried tomatoes plus 1 additional tablespoon of oil from the jar to the pot. Add the water, salt, and pasta. Crack longer pasta like linguine in half and fan it out a bit so the noodles aren’t all pointing in the same direction. Gently stir to coat the pasta and secure the lid, making sure the pressure valve is closed. Set the Instant Pot to PRESSURE COOK — HIGH for 8 minutes.
- Do a 1-minute quick release. Once the pasta is finished, wait 1 minute and then quick-release the steam. Remove the lid and give noodles a stir, separating any that have stuck together.
- Over low heat, stir in the remaining ingredients. Set the Instant Pot to SAUTE — LOW. Add the flour, lemon juice, half-and-half, sausage, spinach, and Parmesan; stir well. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the spinach has wilted and the cheese has melted.
- Garnish and serve. Portion into bowls or onto plates. Top with additional Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
FAVORITE EQUIPMENT
INGREDIENT NOTES
- Pasta: I’ve used linguine, rigatoni, and whole wheat ziti with this recipe and all cooked in 8 minutes on high pressure with a 1 minute quick release.
- Sausage: Chicken or pork Italian sausage are both great in this recipe. If you have extra, freeze the remainder and use the rest the next time you make this recipe.
- Sun-dried tomatoes: Jarred sun-dried tomatoes in oil have the most flavor but you can use dried if that’s what you have. For the best flavor, soak dried sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil for 8 hours, or in a 50/50 mix of oil and very hot water (boiling) for 15-20 minutes beforehand. If you do not use sun-dried tomatoes in oil, substitute olive oil when sautéing and pressure cooking.
INGREDIENT PREP
- Chop onion and sun-dried tomatoes
- Peel garlic
- Shred Parmesan cheese
LITTLE HELPERS
Involving little ones can decrease picky eating while increasing appetite and willingness to try new foods. Here are a few ways your kids can help:
- Toddlers: Help measure water, half-and-half, spinach, shredded Parmesan etc.; peel garlic;
- Little & Big Kids: All of the above plus help chopping the onion and garlic (closely supervised)
NUTRITION NOTES
Nutrition calculated based on 6 servings made with Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage and whole wheat linguine.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of recipe
- Calories: 476
- Sugar: 8 g
- Sodium: 763 mg
- Fat: 17 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 64 g
- Fiber: 10 g
- Protein: 25 g
- Cholesterol: 60 mg
Did you make this recipe?
We wanna see!
Tag @modminimalism on Instagram and hashtag it #modernminimalism
