This fresh and light Instant Pot pasta is a perfect example of how to enjoy Italian cuisine in a healthy way. Made with nutritious ingredients such as protein and calcium-rich ricotta, spinach and lemon, it’s a dish is that is both tasty and easy to prepare. Weight Watchers: 10 SmartPoints (if made with low-fat ricotta)
With the popularity of Whole30 and keto diets, traditional staples like pasta and rice often get shunned in favour of lower carbohydrate foods. However, these affordable staples can still make an appearance in a healthy meal plan. The key is to use a lot of nutritious ingredients and fresh produce with pasta and rice serving a delivery vehicle.
This Instant Pot pasta with ricotta, lemon and spinach is the kind of nutritious Italian dish that you can easily enjoy as part of a balanced, healthy diet. It’s got a lot of protein as well carbohydrates, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals in an easy and fast to prepare one-pot dish that the whole family will enjoy.
HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT WITH SPINACH & RICOTTA
Find the full list of recipe ingredients and instructions below but here are some handy step-by-step pics.
Step 1. Combine ingredients and stock in the pot.
Step 2. Pressure cook on HIGH for 3 minutes with quick release.
Step 3. Stir in ricotta, Parmesan, lemon and extra fresh tomatoes.
MORE INSTANT POT PASTA RECIPES
Instant Pot Pasta With Ricotta, Lemon and Spinach
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Main
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Enjoy healthier Italian cuisine with this delicious Instant Pot made with ricotta, lemon, spinach and cherry tomatoes. It’s light, fresh and nutritious.
Ingredients
For cooking pasta
10 oz / 300 g spiral pasta (we used tri-colour pasta like this)
1 L / 4 cups of water (we use 250 ml cups)
1/4 cup tightly packed with defrosted spinach OR 2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
5 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
For finishing the pasta
Zest of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 garlic clove, finely diced or grated
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil (omit for Weight Watchers)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese (low-fat for Weight Watchers)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
A few mint leaves or basil leaves, chopped or sliced
6–8 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot on and add the cooking pasta ingredients inside. Stir through and pop the lid on top. Lock it and set to Manual, HIGH, for 3 minutes. Make sure the top valve is pointing to Sealing. After 3 beeps, the Instant Pot will start to build up the pressure and cooking will commence.
- Once the timer goes off, use the quick release to let off the pressure and steam. If you leave it in the pot under pressure, the pasta will keep cooking so you should quick release it as soon as possible.
- Open the lid. If there is any excess liquid, strain it while holding the pasta back. Add the finishing ingredients, including the ricotta and Parmesan cheese, and stir through. Serve with extra fresh herbs and a side salad.
Notes
Ricotta cheese can be replaced with cottage cheese. You can also add a little feta cheese for extra tang and saltiness.
Weight Watchers: 10 SmartPoints (if made with low-fat ricotta). Find more Instant Pot WW recipes here.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cup cooked pasta
- Calories: 424
- Sugar: 3.9 g
- Sodium: 1030.5 mg
- Fat: 15.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 60.3 g
- Fiber: 8 g
- Protein: 17.5 g
- Cholesterol: 20.6 mg
Keywords: Fusili, Italian Pasta, Pasta Recipes, Dinner, Weight Watchers
This is a favorite…what if I wanted to add a pound of shrimp? Do you know what the cooking time would be on the instapot? Thanks again.
★★★★★
If you do frozen shrimp, you can keep the cooking time the same. If using fresh, then it might be too overcooked if you throw it at the same time as pasta. I suggest, pan-frying or grilling the shrimp separately and then stirring them into the pasta.
So instead of 4 C water I used 1 14oz can chopped tomatoes and 2 C veggie broth. Added all the garlic to cook with the noodles at 1 1/2 Q of baby spinach. Worked great. No need for draining. Big hit with all
★★★★★
Delish! Turned out perfectly 🙂
★★★★★
Do you mean 1 and 1/4 cups water
Hey Pam, 1 litre or 4 cups, whichever measurement is easier for you. This is the amount of liquid you need for the pasta amount as it wil absorb a lot of that liquid.
I read this at 1 1/4cups of liquid. I thought it was too little so increased to 2 cups. Pasta was almost raw. After venting I added about 2/3 cups & pressuredfor 2 minutes. It burned on the bottom & I am soaking the pan. What wasn’t burned was really good, though
Delicious! I substituted normal pasta for bean pasta for lower GI and increased fibre. The whole family absolutely loved this dish.
★★★★★
That a great idea to use bean pasta for extra nutrients! Glad it still worked just as well with the rest of the ingredients.
This recipe turned out great. So easy and fast!
It would be helpful if the ingredients were in list form, rather than one after the other with commas that are not between ingredients. Can be a bit confusing.
Hey Elle, thanks for your feedback. Glad you liked the pasta. Not sure why the ingredients displayed that way, might be some glitch with the formatting. We will check on our side what’s going on.
If doubling, would you double the water also?
This recipe is amazing! I make it several times a month for a quick, awesome dinner. I want to make it for a larger group – do you think I can simply double everything and have it come out okay?
★★★★★
Thanks, Melanie. Glad you love it so much! Yes, in theory, doubling should work. Just make sure there is enough room in the Instant Pot. I think you need to leave a third of the pot empty at the top (especially as the pasta expands when it cooks). Let us know if you do make a bigger batch.
I did double it and it turned out great! Thank you!