This Creamy Beef and Shells in the Instant Pot is a perfect 20 minute dinner. The pasta is cooked in a tomato and cream sauce that mixes deliciously with the beef in the recipe! It is thickened up with parmesan cheese and ready to serve so quickly. You’re going to love it!
Matt’s mom makes a dish that his family has loved forever. They call “One Pot Pasta”. It’s basically shell pasta with beef in a creamy tomato sauce. And they call it one pot because… you guessed it… it comes together in one pot!
I’ve been loving my Instant Pot recently, so I decided to take the concept of their favorite meal and transform it into an Instant Pot recipe!
The perks of cooking pasta in the Instant Pot is that I just feel like the pasta is so much more flavorful than it is when simply cooking on the stove. The pasta cooks in the chicken broth and tomato sauce, which makes it infinitely more scrumptious.
Plus, I can throw it all together in a pot and not have to worry about continuing to check my pasta to figure out if it’s done.
What Ingredients are in this Instant Pot Recipe for Creamy Beef and Shells?
Onion
Ground beef
Tomato sauce, canned
Chicken stock
Medium Shell Pasta
Italian seasoning
Salt
Heavy Whipping Cream
Parmesan cheese
How to Make Creamy Beef and Shells
Turn your Instant Pot to the saute function. Add some olive oil to the Instant Pot and saute the onions until translucent and soft.
Add the beef into the pot. Break apart the meat with a wooden spoon and allow it to brown completely.
Once the meat is browned, add the chicken stock into the pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot. This is an important step as you don’t want to cause a burn notice effect later.
Add the tomato sauce into the pot, then the shells, then the italian seasoning, then salt to taste in that order.
Set Instant Pot to manual for 5 minutes. Once the pasta finishes cooking, do an instant Release. Open the lid to the Instant Pot and add in the cream and the parmesan cheese. Stir to combine. Enjoy!
What if I Don’t Have Shells?
If you don’t have shells, have no fear! You can use any type of pasta of similar size. This includes mostaccioli, larger shells, or anything else of the variety.
If your pasta is similar in size, do not change the cooking time. If the substitute pasta is larger than medium shells, you may need to increase cooking time by a minute.
Can I Use Marinara Sauce Instead of Tomato Sauce?
Yes! If you’d like, you can use marinara sauce instead of tomato sauce. In fact, I use this combination in my Instant Pot Pasta with Palomino Sauce, and it is a delicious combination!
I like plain tomato sauce more in this pasta recipe because the Italian seasoning flavors it up nicely. However, feel free to use whatever recipe you’d like.
What Kind of Meat Should I Use to Make this Dish?
My recommendation is 80% lean ground beef. I’ve found that this combination gives a wonderful flavor to the meat that can’t be beat!
If you don’t eat red meat but still want to make this dish, feel free to substitute ground chicken or ground turkey instead. The result will be fairly similar and definitely delicious!
Can I Freeze my Creamy Beef and Shells?
Absolutely! If you’d like to freeze your Creamy Beef and Shells, simply spoon the pasta into a freezer safe container. You can store the pasta in the freezer for up to 6 months.
If you liked this recipe, make sure to take a photo and share it on Instagram or Facebook and tag @TheForeignFork. For more recipes like this, check out the other Instant Pot Pasta recipes I have on my site:
Creamy Beef and Shells in the Instant Pot
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 lb ground beef 80% lean
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce canned
- 8 oz shell pasta
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté function. Add some olive oil to the Instant Pot and saute the onions until translucent and soft.
- Add the beef into the pot. Break apart the meat with a wooden spoon and allow it to brown completely.
- Once the meat is browned, add the chicken stock into the pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot. This is an important step as you don’t want to cause a burn notice effect later.
- Add the tomato sauce into the pot, then the shells, then the Italian seasoning, then salt to taste in that order.
- Set Instant Pot to HIGH for 5 minutes. Once the pasta is done cooking, do an instant Release. Open the lid to the Instant Pot and add in the cream and the parmesan cheese. Stir to combine. Enjoy!
Melissa says
Hi, what pressure setting should the pressure cooker be at?
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Melissa,
Cook it on high!:)
Becky Burns says
Have you ever tried doubling? I have 6 quart IP hoping to make for dinner tonight.
The Foreign Fork says
I have not doubled it but as long as the ingredients are below the fill line, you should be good to go! 🙂 No need to change the cook time or anything!
Becky says
Thanks for your quick reply
Hannah says
Hi this may be a silly question but what do you mean by tomatoe sauce. Im from the UK if that makes a difference. Do you mean tomato ketchup? Or chopped tomatoes? Or is this like a puree? As I dont think tomato sauce is sold in cans here.
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Hannah! Canned tomato sauce is an ingredient that is just unseasoned, pureed tomatoes that form a sauce. Here is a link to what I normally buy in case this helps.
Heather Dickson says
Just read about this on an Instant Pot FB group I’m in. Poor lady didn’t know how to share a link in her post so I tracked you down. The original sharer shared a photo of your printed recipe! She raved about it so now I need to try it!
The Foreign Fork says
Thanks for tracking me down Heather, I appreciate it!! What a fun story 🙂 I hope you like it as much as she does!
Melissa says
I never have heavy cream on hand when I need it. Would sour cream (always have that!) work in this recipe?
The Foreign Fork says
Hey Melissa,
I’ve never actually tried sour cream in this recipe or in any Instant Pot recipe for that matter, so I’m not quite sure…. Though I’m sure it would definitely change the taste of the sauce. I would recommend using heavy cream if you’re able to, but if you ever end up using Sour Cream please let me know how it turns out! I’m so curious to know now 🙂
KATHY says
I just found this recipe so I haven’t tried it with here however I often substitute evaporated milk for heavy cream, it works great, and I always have a can in the pantry. I think that would be a better option than sour cream.
Louise says
What type of Parmesan cheese do you use? Fresh shredded or grated (in the shaker).
The Foreign Fork says
I use freshly grated 🙂 I try not to use the shaker if I can avoid it (sometimes it has preservatives in it that can keep the cheese from melting completely).
Diane Boysen says
The grated parmesan in the plastic container has an anticaking agent in it and doesn’t mix as well as shredded parmesan.