Instant Pot Baked Ziti With Homemade Ragu
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My Instant Pot Baked Ziti With Homemade Ragu Sauce is a favourite in the Milner household. It is easy to make and provides you with the ultimate creamy sauce for your baked ziti. Loaded with cheese and vegetables our Instant Pot Baked Ziti is a family winner.
In number 4 of 5 of our 5 part recipe series of international cookery in the Instant Pot we are heading to Luxemburg for a box of ragu.
We spent 3 nights at a campsite in Luxemburg in early July and after speaking to locals we learnt that they don’t really have much of their own food.
Instead their cuisine is inspired by a mix of European countries.
Such as pastries from France, Italian pizza and pasta, Belgium chocolates and a big Dutch influence.
We are not surprised that while in the local supermarket that ragu boxes are everywhere and I just had to get one!
I cook ragu a lot in the Instant Pot and in the Slow Cooker at home. This is because I can either eat it as it comes or blend it and have it as a delicious creamy sauce for my meat or other vegetables that I have planned.
I decided to use my ragu box that I bought to make a delicious Instant Pot Baked Ziti and of course load it up with lots of cheese.
Its amazing as a one pot meal in the Instant Pot and so easy, you will be wondering why you have spent so many years buying ready made ragu when you can do it yourself.
The ragu box that we bought included:
- 1 Large Red Pepper
- 1 Medium White Onion
- 1 Large Aubergine
- 1 Medium Courgette
- 3 Large Red Tomatoes
Here is our campsite kitchen:
As you can see we had a basic set up when we were camping. One bag had our pantry foods in it such as our pasta and tinned tomatoes supply, then the other bag had our fresh food in it and some ice packs.
As well as our ragu box all we needed to make our Instant Pot Baked Ziti was:
- Pasta
- Tinned Tomatoes
- Soft Cheese
- Hard Cheese
- Garlic Puree
- Seasonings
I also had Jorge helping me make the Instant Pot Baked Ziti just because if cheese and pasta are about then so is Jorge! You will spot the edge of his t-shirt in some of the mobile phone camera shots like this one:
Also, if your kids tell you that they hate vegetables, then a homemade ragu sauce is a perfect way to get them to eat their 5 a day.
How Do You Cook Baked Ziti In The Instant Pot?
#1 Sauté The Ragu
You begin by prepping the ingredients for your ragu. Once you have done this you can use the sauté setting to lightly cook them. You don’t need olive oil which also cuts back on the calories.
#2 Cook + Blend Your Homemade Ragu
Throw in the rest of your ingredients, cook in your Instant Pot + blend.
#3 Cook The Pasta + Extras + Serve
Add the pasta and cook a little more. Add the rest of the ingredients and serve.
Instant Pot Baked Ziti With Homemade Ragu
Ingredients
The Ragu
- ½ Medium Onion
- ½ Large Red Pepper
- ½ Large Aubergine
- ½ Medium Courgette
- 1.5 Large Red Tomatoes
- 1 Can Tinned Tomatoes
Baked Ziti:
- 500 g Ziti Pasta
- 200 g Soft Cheese
- 150 g Edam Cheese
- 1 Tsp Garlic Puree
- 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
- Salt & Pepper
Instructions
- Start by making your ragu for your baked Ziti. Peel the onion and dice your vegetables and place it all together into your Instant Pot inner pot. Add some salt and pepper.
- Place the Instant Pot on sauté and sauté the ragu ingredients for about 2 minutes or until the tomatoes have gone soft.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, Italian seasoning and place the lid on the Instant Pot. Set the valve to sealing and cook for 4 minutes on manual pressure.
- When it beeps manually release pressure and blend the contents of the Instant Pot so that it represents a homemade ragu sauce.
- Add 500g of ziti pasta and cook for a further 5 minutes on manual pressure, remembering to set the valve to sealing like you did before.
- Stir in sliced Edam, soft cheese, garlic puree along with a little extra salt and pepper.
- Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
How To Get The Most Out Of Our Instant Pot Baked Ziti
We’re a family of 5 and this Instant Pot Baked Ziti recipe above was enough to feed us all plus a little leftover.
If we had used all the ragu ingredients and not halved them then there would have been enough for 10 of us or enough for two rounds. You could of course double or triple this recipe and then freeze the other portions.
Or forget the ziti stage and have yourself a delicious homemade ragu that you can use whenever you make any other pasta recipe.