Amazing Instant Pot Baked Ziti
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In only 25 minutes, you could be enjoying this delicious Instant Pot Baked Ziti without all the wait time or work.
I just made this Baked Ziti recipe yesterday and the leftovers and photos are haunting me! This recipe was so so good that I needed to bump it to the top of my ‘new recipes to share’ list.

Baked Ziti in the Instant Pot?
I have a bit of an obsession with pasta + sauce + cheese. Spaghetti, Lasagna, Manicotti, Cannelloni, you name it, I love it. However, I typically don’t eat these kinds of meals very frequently because of how long they take to make. Baked Ziti included. But, ya’ll I found the cheat sheet, the magic sauce, the silver bullet. And that cheat sheet is called my pressure cooker. I was super skeptical about cooking pasta IN the sauce IN the pressure cooker because I thought the only outcome would be mush.
I was wrong. DEAD wrong.
Not only did I not get mush, but the sauce tasted slow-cooked, the pasta was cooked to al dente, it wasn’t watery or soupy in the least, and I stirred in plenty of fresh mozzarella to take this into heavenly realms. Oh, and did I mention it was ready in 25 minutes? I’m concerned about the future size of my pants because I could make this every night for dinner with little to no effort and not get sick of it. Maybe I was an Italian in a former life?
Anyways, I know lots of you don’t even own a pressure cooker but never fear! Directions for making this on the stove are also included below. It obviously takes a little longer to make on the stove, but still equally delicious.
Main Ingredients Needed
Here’s everything you’ll need to make perfect Baked Ziti in a pressure cooker or on the stovetop!
- Sweet Italian Sausage – if you are vegetarian, simply leave this part out for a meatless baked ziti. The sweet Italian sausage brings so much flavor to this recipe.
- Olive Oil, Onion, and Garlic – all sauteed together for a great base.
- Diced Tomatoes – canned and ready to go! Easy right?
- Marinara Sauce – buy store-bought or use a homemade version.
- Water – the amount depends on whether you are using the stovetop or pressure cooker method.
- Dried Oregano, Bay Leaves, and Dried Basil – all the seasonings for a tasty Italian dish.
- Salt and Pepper – to taste.
- Ziti Pasta – you could also swap this out for penne if you can’t find ziti pasta.
- Mozzarella and Parmesan – double the cheese for twice the flavors! Yum!

How to Make Baked Ziti
- Brown Italian Sausage in pressure cooker using the Brown/Saute function, breaking apart as it cooks. Drain if needed.
- Add in olive oil, onion, and garlic and saute until mostly tender, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in diced tomatoes, marinara sauce, water, basil, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and dried pasta. Stir well. Ensure all the pasta is immersed in liquid (you don’t want any pasta sticking out of the top so it doesn’t cook.)
- Add the lid, lock in place, ensure pressure valve is not releasing pressure and switch cooking functions to ‘Beans/Chili’, ‘high pressure’ and cook for 5 minutes.
- Once the timer chimes, release pressure immediately, stir, and taste to ensure seasonings are good. Adjust as needed. Stir in cheeses and serve hot.
Stovetop Directions
- In a large pot, brown sausage, breaking apart as it cooks. Drain if needed. Replace back in the pan.
- Add in olive oil, onion, and garlic and saute until mostly tender, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in diced tomatoes, marinara sauce, 1 cup of water (a reduced amount from the ingredients listed), basil, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper. Stir well. Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes.
- Toss sauce with cooked ziti. Stir in cheeses and serve.

Baked Ziti Leftovers
Any leftovers you have can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days! Simply reheat in the microwave, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Side Dishes
There are classic side dishes that go with any pasta dinner. Those are breadsticks and salad, so good. Here are a couple of my favorites that go with baked ziti!
- Craigo’s Breadsticks
- Caprese Salad with Garlic Balsamic Dressing
- Oven Roasted Asparagus Recipe
- Cheesy Garlic Bread Pull-Apart Rolls

Love Baked Ziti? Try these other pasta recipes!
- Baked Rigatoni Pasta
- Brown Butter Alfredo Baked Ravioli
- Skinny Baked Spaghetti
- Italian Herb Baked Cheesy Tortellini
- Classic Baked Ziti
If you loved this Baked Ziti recipe you’ll love these other baked pasta recipes.
The printable recipe card is below, make sure to save it because it’s a good one. Enjoy friends!

Instant Pot Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 1.25 lbs Sweet Italian Sausage
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 14.5 oz diced tomatoes 1 can
- 25 oz marinara sauce 1 jar
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 lb dried ziti pasta
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella drained and cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
Pressure Cooker Directions
- Brown Italian Sausage in pressure cooker using the Brown/Saute function, breaking apart as it cooks. Drain if needed.
- Add in olive oil, onion, and garlic and saute until mostly tender, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in diced tomatoes, marinara sauce, water, basil, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and dried pasta. Stir well. Ensure all the pasta is immersed in liquid (you don't want any pasta sticking out of the top so it doesn't cook.)
- Add the lid, lock in place, ensure pressure valve is not releasing pressure and switch cooking functions to 'Beans/Chili', 'high pressure' and cook for 5 minutes.
- Once the timer chimes, release pressure immediately, stir, and taste to ensure seasonings are good. Adjust as needed. Stir in cheeses and serve hot.
Stovetop Directions
- In a large pot, brown sausage, breaking apart as it cooks. Drain if needed. Replace back in the pan.
- Add in olive oil, onion, and garlic and saute until mostly tender, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in diced tomatoes, marinara sauce, 1 cup of water (a reduced amount from the ingredients listed), basil, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper. Stir well. Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes.
- Toss sauce with cooked ziti. Stir in cheeses and serve.
I’m making this right now, minus the sausage – I’m cooking some chicken thighs sous vide to add once it’s all done. Easiest dinner ever with minimal cleanup! Love it!
[…] speech for his Friday appointment so I could get some posts up! That’s the day I posted this pressure cooker baked ziti and this post all about menu planning. It’s amazing what quiet time will do for my […]
What size instapot do you have? We tried this last night and we must have a smaller one as i had to remove some liquid and didnt use an entire pound of pasta.. Just wondered. 🙂
I have a 6 quart Crockpot brand pressure cooker.
Made this tonight! My family loved it!
I haven’t been able to get this out of my head since I saw it so I stopped for ingredients on my way home tonight! I did try to make it “healthier” (ha!) with ground turkey and part-skim cheese, and I used rigatoni, petite cut tomatoes, and my own sauce because I had them. But even with my subs it was still delicious! So easy, too. I did have to cook it for 2 extra minutes to get the pasta al dente (and melt the cheese) – maybe rigatoni is thicker than ziti? Anyway, the baby loved it, too, so it’s going on my keep list 🙂 I wanted to say thanks, too – I see a lot of pressure cooker recipes that say “cook for 5 minutes” but don’t tell you what setting to use or how to vent. Your instructions are clear and precise, which is SO helpful. So, again, thanks!
I made the baked ziti last night. I’m new to the whole ‘pressure cooker’ way of cooking so I was skeptical. Just wanted you to know my picky husband was totally impressed and loved it, so did I. This is a keeper! Thanks, Lauren.
Lauren this dish is AMAZING!!! Made it last night for my whole family, and everyone loved it so much. Just finished the leftovers for lunch today, it reheats just beautifully. The first words that came out of their mouths after that first bite was “This is another one of Lauren’s, isn’t it?” Please have more pressure cooker recipes coming, I got the Crock Pot multi pot for Christmas and I need HELP!
This was SO good! My 6-year-old ate three bowls of it!
Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow. 🙂
Made this tonight for the hubby and I, we loved it! Was super easy and fast. Great recipe!! I love finding recipes to use with my instant pot! Thank you!
This is a winner! I liked that the pasta was actually al dente, not mushy like I expected. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
Cindy Grey
Making this Sunday. Do you fully cook sausage or just brown it?
You want it browned and cooked through.
Hi Lauren – Just had to leave a comment that this was absolutely delicious! We all enjoyed it last night and I’m about to enjoy leftovers for lunch. Keep ’em coming! 🙂
I made this and it was totally delicious! Before my pressure cooker started counting down though, I got a ‘burn’ message. I released the pressure, stirred it a lot, scraping the bottom until it was smooth and then restarted it. I got a ‘burn’ message again. This time when I released the pressure and stirred it, I tasted a noodle and it was cooked perfectly so I didn’t restart it and just added the cheese and served it. As I said, it was fabulous! Any idea what I could have done differently? I followed recipe very closely. More water?
Possibly. What kind of pressure cooker do you have? Some are more sensitive than others.
I have a 6qt. Instant Pot. I have never used the bean setting before. It was weird, even though it said burn, it kept working. When I have seen the burn message before, while using the manual setting, it turns itself off. Anyway, it worked out fine since the pasta was perfectly cooked. My whole family loved it, which is a tall order! Thank you!!
I had the exact same experience with my 8qt instant pot. Two burn messages but perfectly cooked noodles so I added the cheese & we enjoyed a delicious meal.
This is such a great recipe-it came out perfect! Super cheesy and delish. Hubby loved it too!
I’m going to have to try this! Especially since pasta is my kids favorite meal. I’ve been scared to try pasta in the pressure cooker but I trust you that it won’t be mushy 🙂
One day I will get an Instapot, but for now I will make it the slow way. Look at the cheese!! Get in ma belly.
This has been on my “I want to make list” since you posted it a few weeks ago. I am finally going to the store tomorrow and getting everything that I forgot the last time I went!
This is on my to-make list, for sure! Thanks for sharing such doable and family friendly recipes.❤️
I am definetly making this!!!
This looks so good. I am for sure making this!!
This was soooo good!!
This is on my list to try for sure! 😋
This looks amazing ! I cant wait to make it !
This looks really good! Wish I had a pressure cooker!
Best meal I’ve made in a long time and the easiest!
This is fabulous
We recently got an instant pot and I’ve been overwhelmed with ideas for things to make in it… which leads to making nothing. Whoops! This looks like a delicious place to start… I love some baked ziti 🙂
I absolutely cannot wait to try this!!!! Pressure cooker pasta is so fabulous! Great photo!
I got an instant pot about 4 months ago and I absolutely love it. My hubby and kids love anything pasta based, so I’ll be trying this next. Thanks for the great recipe!
I can’t wait to try to make this.
This looks amazing and I need more recipes for my pressure cooker!!! Thank you for testing this one out, comfort pasta FTW!
This looks so good!
I would love to try this, it looks so yummy! But…first I need to get one a pressure cooker! I almost got one last Christmas and now I’m totally regretting not getting it!
I so want to try and make this! I love pasta and this looks amazing!! Thank you for posting a pressure cooker recipe!
I just ordered an instant pot so I’m looking forward to even more pressure cooker recipes. Can’t wait to try this one!
Cheese, pasta and sauce…what could go wrong. I’ll be making this soon!
My husband absolutely LOVES pasta so this is on our menu this week!
I’m new to the pressure cooker and this is going to be the next meal I try. It’s looks awesome. Thank you for this recipe.
Made this for my family and we all loved it!
This looks so good!
Love the pressure cooker recipes, keep them coming!
This looks delicious and the perfect recipe to try out one of my Christmas presents on!
Just recently started using our pressure cooker for meals when I came across this recipe, it was amazing and the kids approved which is always a major bonus! Thank you for making my dinners so much easier 😊
Planning on making this next week- I’ve never used our instapot before. Fingers crossed!
I’ve been too scared to use my instant pot until you posted this recipe! I made it last week and we were all BIG fans!! So easy, cheesy, and delicious! Thanks, Lauren, for helping me get over my fear of the pressure cooker by placing a carb-load recipe before my face!!
I made this the other night and O. M. Goodness! It was delicious and easy……..YES PLEASE! Thanks for a great new edition to our dinner rotation!
I have a pressure cooker, but gave been hesitant to try cooking pasta in it, afraid it will be too well done or gummy or something like that. You’ve inspired me to try with this recipe!!
We have a pressure cooker and don’t use it nearly enough. I’ve actually never used it myself as it scares me! I know they are made pretty safe these days, and this looks like the perfect recipe for me to get my feet wet with it 😊 Thanks for sharing!
I made this and it was sooo yummy! Thank you for continuing to create yummy recipes, especially Instant Pot ones!
Made this for dinner last night, and it was a total winner! Even the picky 9 yr old who won’t really eat anything these days loved it and asked for it to become a regular meal. And bonus….the kids argued over who got to take the leftovers in their lunch today! Win!
I really want to try this recipe! It just looks so yummy! Thank you for sharing your cute family with us; I really enjoy “This week at the Brennans”.