Name: Instant Pot Carrot Sauce Pasta
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 3
Ingredients: 4 Carrots; 1/2 Onion; 3 Garlic Cloves; 1 tbsp Olive Oil; 1 tsp Dried Oregano; 1 tsp Dried Thyme; 1 tsp Salt; 1 tsp Ground Pepper; 1 cup Vegetable Broth (check notes if using water); 1 cup Water; 2 cups Fusilli or any pasta variety; 3 cups Water; 1 tsp Olive Oil; 1/2 tsp Salt; 1.5 cups Carrot Sauce (or as required); Pasta - cooked from above; 1/4 cup Frozen Peas; 1 tsp Olive Oil

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Sneak in some carrots and make this delicious carrot sauce pasta from scratch in Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker. This vegan and kid’s friendly carrot sauce pasta is a perfect lunch box recipe as well. Check out how to make the carrot sauce and how to cook the pasta in Instant Pot with detailed instructions and step-wise pictures below.

This week blogging marathon theme is “kids friendly recipes with veggies sneaked in.” And as you might all know, I am hosting the kid’s delight event with the same theme as well. You can check about the event here and send in your recipes. :-) Children’s taste buds and their food preference change every day as they grow. What they fancied last month might not be their favorite this month. Vaandu loves pasta, and he is in a phase where he likes it more than any other food. So I thought of sneaking in all my vegetables into the pasta sauce and make some delicious pasta recipes. And here comes my first one – Carrot Sauce Pasta.

Between did you check out my new Instant Pot vegetarian cookbook? You can read more about it on my blog post here and you can pre-order the book on Amazon.

Carrot Sauce Pasta:

The carrot sauce recipe is quite simple. All you need to do is to cook some carrots, onion, and garlic in vegetable broth/stock or water with some herbs, salt, and pepper either in the pressure cooker or in the instant pot. Cook it, blend it and store it. That’s it. Your homemade carrot sauce pasta is ready. You can prepare this over the weekend and stock it up in the refrigerator. And when required, cook the pasta and add in the required sauce and make a delicious kid’s friendly meal.

How to Cook Pasta in Instant Pot?

I know the internet has a lot of information regarding how to cook pasta in the IP and I am not going to add anything new. I simply followed the formula from the tidbits-Marci blog but went with my water measure. Yes, its a formula and it is – cook pasta for half the lowest package cooking time, minus one minute and do a quick pressure release.

So for example, the fusilli pasta package (I bought the Sprout’s brand pasta) mentioned the cooking time range as 9 to 11 minutes. So I took the lowest range which is 9 and decreased it to 8 to get an even number. Then half of 8 is 4 and then minus one which is 3. So the cooking time for fusilli pasta is just three minutes for the entire packet or only half of it.

Regarding water, I added sufficient water so that my pasta is well immersed in the water. For this recipe, I used two cups of fusilli, and I added about 3 cups of water.

Now without any further ado, here is the carrot sauce pasta recipe that I made in the Instant Pot.

Ingredients:

For the Carrot Sauce:
Carrots – 4
Onion – 1/2
Garlic Cloves – 3
Olive Oil – 1 tbsp
Dried Oregano – 1 tsp
Dried Thyme – 1 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Ground Pepper – 1 tsp
Vegetable Broth – 1 cup (check notes if using water)
Water – 1 cup
For Cooking the Pasta:
Fusilli or any pasta variety – 2 cups
Water – 3 cups
Olive Oil – 1 tsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp
For the Carrot Sauce Pasta:
Carrot Sauce – 1.5 cups or as required
Pasta – cooked from above
Frozen Peas – 1/4 cup
Olive Oil – 1 tsp

Instructions:

Step 1 – To Prepare the Carrot Sauce:

Peel the carrot skin and chop them roughly. Also, peel and chop the onion and garlic.
Set the Instant Pot to Saute mode and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot add the onion and garlic and cook until they turn translucent.

Then add the dried herbs and give a mix.

Now add the carrots, salt, and pepper.

Followed by the broth and the water. Mix thoroughly. Press the cancel button now.
Close the lid and make sure the vent is in the sealing position.
Select the “Pressure Cook” or “Manual” setting and set the cooking time to 7 minutes at high pressure.
Allow the pressure to release naturally and when the pressure is released, press the cancel button and carefully open the lid.

Allow it to cool and transfer the cooked veggie into a blender and puree it. You can use a hand blender too.
That’s it the sauce is now ready.
Step 2 – To Cook the Pasta:
Add the pasta, water, olive oil, and salt to the inner pot of the IP. Mix them thoroughly.

Close the lid and make sure the vent is in the sealing position.
Select the “Pressure Cook” or “Manual” setting and set the cooking time to 3 minutes at high pressure. (Time might vary depending upon the pasta and the variety. Check the formula above)
When it beeps after three minutes, press the cancel button and then carefully move the vent to the open position and release all the pressure.
When the pressure is released, carefully open the lid.

Drain the pasta and if required then reserve some starchy water.

Step 3: Making the Carrot Sauce Pasta:
Set the Instant Pot to Saute mode and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot add the peas and cook for a minute.

Now add the cooked pasta and carrot sauce.

Mix it well and cook for two to three minutes gently stirring in between cooking.

And that’s it. Carrot sauce pasta is ready.

Serve hot with some cheese drizzled or keep it vegan.

Notes:

While making the carrot sauce, instead of olive oil you can add butter.
If you are using fresh herbs, adjust the quantity accordingly. You can use 1/2 tsp of oregano and thyme. Also, you can add in your preferred herbs.
The pasta cooking time varies according to the pasta variety, brand, and shape. Using the above formula calculate yours.
It is not mandatory to cook the carrots in the vegetable broth or stock. It adds its flavor. If you not using the broth, increase the amount of salt by 1/4 to 1/3 tsp. Depending upon the sodium content the veggie broth adjust the salt amount. I used low-sodium vegetable broth.
As always, adjust salt and spices according to your preference.

PS:

Sending this toSrivalli’s Kid’s Delight event, guest hosted by me themed on Veggies Sneaked In.
Sending this recipe for the BM 94. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#94

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