Instant Pot Johnny Marzetti Recipe

If you are looking for a quick and easy meal to feed a crowd, this Instant Pot Johnny Marzetti recipe is your answer!

So what exactly is Johnny Marzetti?

If you ask 10 different people how to make Johnny Marzetti, you are likely to get a variety of answers.

Therefore, let me explain what my version of Johnny Marzetti looks like.

Think of a ground beef and noodle casserole tossed in seasoned pasta sauce and then topped with cheese. And it is baked until the cheese is hot and bubbly.

But the noodles aren’t spaghetti noodles. They are typically elbow noodles. But you could also use penne pasta as well.

Either way, it was a dish made frequently in our house, along with Creamy Beef and Shells. Especially on busy weeknights.

And if you are thinking to yourself this sounds like your Goulash recipe, you might be correct. Depending on where you live, the terms Goulash and Johnny Marzetti may be interchangeable.

However, for others, the term for this recipe may even be Beef Bolognese casserole.

Although the names may change, all I can tell you is that this is a delicious one pot meal that everyone loves!

Instant Pot Johnny Marzetti

Since I received my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo, I hardly ever use my oven to make dinner. Why? The answer is quite simple. It is much faster to make most meals in the Instant Pot.

This is especially true when making dinners that must bake in the oven for a long time.

And if you meal prep at all, this dinner could be on your table and ready to eat in less than 20 minutes.

Meal Prep Makes This Meal Even Faster

Every Sunday evening my husband and I spend some time in the kitchen, prepping for meals throughout the week.

The time that we spend preparing on the weekend makes our weeknights run much smoother. In addition, it helps us stay away from those last-minute worries deciding what’s for dinner.

We cook a Whole Chicken in the Instant Pot. We use the meat for various meals and snacks such as Buffalo Chicken Wraps, Chicken Avocado Salad and even Buffalo Chicken Dip.

But we also use the time to brown up a few pounds of ground beef and sausage. This is a huge time saver when it comes to making weeknight meals.

We use the cooked meat to make Unstuffed Pepper Casserole, tacos, Instant Pot Sausage Rigatoni, sloppy joes and of course this Instant Pot Johnny Marzetti recipe.

Then all we have to do is pull the cooked meat out of the refrigerator and throw everything together.

For this Johnny Marzetti recipe, we will throw the cold meat into the Instant Pot and saute it with some diced onions and garlic.

Then simply throw the remaining ingredients in the pot and turn on the pressure cook timer.

Once the time is up allow the pot to Natural Pressure Release for at least 5 minutes. Then release any remaining pressure and stir. Finally, sprinkle some cheese on top, and let it melt.

Seriously, that is all there is to this delicious, one -pot meal!

Adjusting the Cook Time For the Noodles

The cook time for this recipe is based on elbow noodles. However, you may substitute any noodles that you wish.

The rule of thumb when cooking pasta in the Instant Pot is to cook the noodles for half of the time that it tells you on the instructions on the back of the box.

For instance, if it says to cook them for 9-11 minutes, use the lower time suggested and divide that in half, and then round down.

So take 9 minutes, divide it in half which would equal 4.5 minutes. Then round the numeral down, which would result in a 4 minute cooking time.

However, everyone likes their noodles cooked a different way. So if you like your noodles extra soft, I would suggest rounding upward instead of downward. And if you like them nice and firm, I would suggest subtracting 1 minute of the cooking time.

Remember, because your meat is already cooked, it is totally safe to decrease the cooking time.  

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