Instant Pot Pasta Carbonara Recipe - the easiest pasta dish you can make in your pressure cooker! Spaghetti noodles tossed with bacon, grease and egg and Parmesan mixture to make the sauce, make this pasta dish a huge favorite!
If you want to serve it with sauce, try my Homemade Alfredo Sauce and serve it all with a simple salad with my Italian Dressing.
I took the concept of one-pot pasta and made one of my Hubby's favorite pasta dishes, Pasta Carbonara, in my Instant Pot pressure cooker. It's unbelievably easy to make and you will have only the IP insert to clean. Win-win!
INSTANT POT PASTA CARBONARA
This Instant Pot Pasta Carbonara is one of the easiest meals you can make in your Instant Pot. It's creamy, flavorful and satisfying. Toss cooked spaghetti noodles in crispy bacon, add the mixture of Parmesan cheese and egg and stir until creamy. Garnish with chopped parsley and devour!
HOW TO MAKE PASTA CARBONARA IN INSTANT POT?
- Start by chopping bacon and garlic. Set aside.
- Place pasta, water and butter in Instant Pot, close lid, set valve to sealing position, press "manual" or "pressure cook" setting and set timer to 7 minutes. The IP will take about 10 to come to pressure. Once the timer is done, wait 1 minute, then switch the valve to venting to release pressure. Carefully open the lid away from your face. Spoon out ½ cup of pasta water into a measuring cup. Set aside. Drain pasta and discard rest of the pasta water. Keep spaghetti in the colander.
- Place IP insert back in the IP and press "saute" setting. Wait 1 minute, then add olive oil. Add chopped bacon and cook until crispy. Add garlic to IP and stir. Add one tablespoon of butter and let melt. Press "cancel/off" button. Add spaghetti back to the Instant Pot. Stir well, coating with bacon and grease.
- Slowly add egg and cheese mixture, stirring constantly, to prevent the egg from scrambling. It should turn into a creamy sauce with the spaghetti. Add reserved pasta water, a little bit at a time, and stir well.
- Serve garnished with more shredded Parmesan, chopped parsley. For a little bit of spice, sprinkle crushed red pepper flakes over each serving.
HOW LONG DO YOU COOK SPAGHETTI IN THE INSTANT POT?
That's my favorite part of this easy dish! You cook the spaghetti noodles right in your Instant Pot in just 7 minutes! Arraning it in a criss-cross pattern and adding 1 tablespoon of butter on top prevents the noodles from sticking to each other. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta water after cooking, drain the rest. When the bacon is nice and crispy, you add the pasta back to the IP and toss with bacon and the grease. Talk about flavor!
INSTANT POT PASTA CARBONARA VARIATIONS:
- add more meat: add cubed chicken, ham or Italian sausage and cook with bacon, before tossing in the pasta.
- add veggies: spinach, sweet peas, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, even broccoli and cauliflower.
- use different noodles: angel hair, fettuccine, linguine or even bow tie pasta can be used to make this dish. The rule is to cook it for half the time mentioned in instructions on the box.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS INSTANT POT PASTA CARBONARA:
Instant Pot pressure cooker (I have the DUO60 6qt and Ultra 6qt <<--- affiliate links)
wooden spoon
cutting board and knife
colander
measuring cup
MORE INSTANT POT PASTA RECIPES:
Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta
For more IP recipe, feel free to browse our Instant Pot category.
If you like this recipe and make it, snap a photo and share it on INSTAGRAM! Tag me @crunchycreamysweet so I can check it out and leave a comment! 😀
INSTANT POT PASTA CARBONARA RECIPE
Instant Pot Pasta Carbonara Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz. spaghetti noodles
- 4 ½ cups water
- 2 tablespoons butter divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6 slices of bacon
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 large egg
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Grab a handful of spaghetti noodles at a time, break in half and arrange in a criss-cross pattern. Add water. Do not stir. Place one tablespoon of butter on top of pasta. Close the lid. Set valve to "sealing" position. Make sure the IP is set to cooking on HIGH pressure. Press "manual" setting and set timer to 7 minutes. The IP will take up to 10 minutes to come to pressure.8 oz. spaghetti noodles, 4 ½ cups water, 2 tablespoons butter
- Once the timer is done, press "cancel/off" button. Wait 1 minute, then switch the valve to "venting" position to release pressure. Once the pin drops and pressure is released, open the lid carefully away from your face. Spoon out ½ cup of pasta water into measuring cup and set aside. Drain pasta over colander, discard remaining pasta water. Keep spaghetti in colander.
- Place the insert back in the Instant Pot. Press "saute" setting. Wait 1 minutes. Add olive oil to insert. Add bacon and cook until crispy. Add garlic and saute with bacon for 1 minute. Add one tablespoon of butter and let melt. Press "cancel/off" button. Add pasta back to the IP. Toss well with bacon, garlic and grease.1 tablespoon olive oil, 6 slices of bacon, 2 garlic cloves
- In a small bowl, beat egg and Parmesan together. Slowly add the egg and Parmesan mixture, stirring constantly to make sure the egg does not scramble. It should turn into creamy sauce. Add reserved pasta water, a little bit at a time, stir well. The pasta should be creamy.1 large egg, ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Season with black pepper. Serve garnished with chopped parsley and more grated Parmesan.¼ teaspoon black pepper
Sheila Connor says
I just helped my son (college age) make this and it turned out really good! Just a couple minor comments/questions:
1) Should the 6 slices of bacon be cut up before sauteing them? We thought that should be done but I am wondering if that was necessary or if the bacon would have fallen apart on its own in the pot once it was crisped enough? Would like to hear how you & others have done this step.
2) Since I was having my son do this it would have been great to have the garlic listed as or mentioned as minced somewhere, but that seemed obvious also so I'm sure not necessary to spell out for most people. Thanks so much for a great recipe - it will definitely be a keeper for him and me also :-)!!