Use your Instant Pot to make this incredible combination of cavatappi pasta with feta cheese, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. The flavors are so savory and vibrant and everything cooks to perfection with just a few easy steps.
Making pasta with feta cheese and basil is nothing new. However, because of popular culture and social media, this dish has become quite famous of late. The original recipe is an oven baked recipe which is actually causing feta cheese shortages at some supermarkets! My question was, of course: can we make a similar dish in an Instant Pot pressure cooker? And the answer is – absolutely!
What do I need to make this recipe?
Our Instant Pot version of this recipe uses very basic ingredients. You don’t need to a block of feta cheese (but you can), crumbled feta is just fine. We’ll actually be melting it along with some other ingredients to make a sauce that is out of this world.
You will need:
- An Instant Pot pressure cooker (we use a 6qt)
- 16oz cavatappi pasta (the corkscrew stuff with ridges)
- 8oz feta cheese (crumbled is fine)
- Fresh basil
- Cherry tomatoes
- Chicken broth
- Garlic powder
- Parmesan cheese
- Optional: Extra cherry tomatoes, basil and feta for additional topping.
Just Prep and Go
The total prep is really just chopping the fresh basil. After that, add the pasta and broth first and give it a good stir. This allows the broth to thoroughly coat all the pasta. Then add the cheeses on top, followed by the fresh basil and cherry tomatoes.
Pressure cook for 5 minutes
I love making pasta dishes in the Instant Pot. You don’t need to get out a large strainer or drain any liquid. The Instant Pot will cook the pasta in the broth to perfection without any need to drain. Then you simply stir everything together and you’re ready to serve. It’s really that easy. The tomatoes will soften and combine with the cheese and basil to create the most wonderful sauce.
How to serve
As mentioned, the cheese and tomatoes and basil will all combine into a sauce. But, you can really bring this recipe to life by adding… more feta, fresh cherry tomatoes and more fresh basil! Yep, you don’t need to add much, but just a little of each served over the freshly cooked and warm pasta with sauce will be amazing. I also like to add some freshly course ground black pepper.
Best Darn Instant Pot Feta Pasta
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 4 min (plus about 5-10min to come to pressure
- Total Time: 49 minute
- Yield: About 4-6 servings
Description
Use your Instant Pot to make perfectly cooked pasta with feta cheese, fresh basil and cherry tomatoes. This adult mac and cheese is ready to serve in about 25 minutes.
Ingredients
- 16oz. Cavatappi pasta
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 8oz. feta cheese, crumbled or block
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 cup fresh basil (about ¾oz.), chopped
- 10oz. cherry tomatoes
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Add cavatappi pasta to Instant Pot with chicken broth, garlic powder and salt. Stir well.
- Add feta cheese, parmesan cheese, basil and tomatoes on top of pasta. Don’t mix.
- Secure lid, close seal and pressure cook on high for 4 minutes. When time is complete, quick release the pressure.
- Carefully remove lid and gently use a wooden spoon to stir everything together.
- Serve with additional cherry tomatoes and fresh basil if desired.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Carrie
Would it work to make a half-recipe of this? I’m not sure if it would upset the balance of the pressure to have the pot less full. Otherwise it would be way too much food for the two of us, but looks delicious!
RecipeTeacher
Hi Carrie. You certainly can adjust it. Cut all the ingredients in half, but keep the cook time the same. Let me know what you think!