Instant Pot Halloumi Pasta Bake. How to make the best halloumi pasta bake using the instant pot pressure cooker. Loaded with Mediterranean flavours such as peppers, garlic, tomatoes, and courgettes, this is a fantastic simple weeknight dinner.
Even better, this halloumi pasta recipe is made exclusively with Aldi produce making it budget friendly too.
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Halloumi Pasta
This week we have been sharing with you some delicious cheap dinners made exclusively with Aldi UK produce.
We have already done air fryer pork and apple burgers, air fryer halloumi burgers and today we are showing you how to make a halloumi pasta bake in the electric pressure cooker.
My favourite happy place is experimenting with my kitchen gadgets to make a brand new recipe with the kids.
I find cooking so much fun and love trying out new things and to see if they work out or not.
Or taking a recipe such as halloumi pasta from the traditional cooking methods and converting it to make favourite gadgets.
After having lots of pasta in the kitchen cupboard and loads of Aldi halloumi in the fridge, I wanted to find an easier way to make a halloumi pasta bake.
I had an idea that what if you used the same cooking method that I had created for the TikTok feta pasta and used halloumi instead, but loaded it up with a lot of extra Mediterranean veggies?
It could have loads of my favourites such as tomatoes, carrots, courgettes, and peppers and then make a pasta bake that we could eat for days.
It would more like a halloumi pasta salad and could even be taken to work or served at picnics.
I used the exact same cook time and cheese on top method as our feta pasta and it was a HUGE success.
Though of course, I made way too much, ended up freezing loads and ate it at several mealtimes.
Which is a plus, especially for those that don’t want to cook every day!
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What’s Halloumi?
Halloumi is a popular cheese from Cyprus. It is also known as haloumi cheese and is semi hard and made from goats and sheep’s milk. Though occasionally it will include cow’s milk too.
Because it has a high melting point it is fantastic as a meat alternative for grilling, air frying, and baking.
What To Make With Halloumi?
There is so much choice of what you can make with halloumi. You can cook frozen halloumi in the air fryer, you can make air fryer halloumi burgers and of course a halloumi pasta bake in the instant pot (like we are showing you now) is also a great use of your halloumi.
Beyond this you can also make salads, fries, fun appetizers and so much more.
What Sauce Goes With Halloumi?
Because halloumi is a Mediterranean food, it suits a Mediterranean sauce. Such as a homemade tomato sauce.
You can cheat though and make a sauce for your halloumi pasta from cans of tinned tomatoes.
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Halloumi Pasta Recipe Ingredients
Halloumi – I recommend one pack of halloumi for each batch of halloumi pasta bake. After it has been cooked it will be sliced up and then can either be transformed into a warm halloumi pasta bake or used to make a cold halloumi pasta salad.
Tomatoes – I am using some Aldi tinned tomatoes to give it the perfect halloumi sauce. You can use 1-2 cans depending on how much pasta you are making.
Pasta – Any cheap bag of pasta will do the trick. Aim for pasta that is easy to mix rather than using a spaghetti.
Veggies – Of course, you could keep your baked pasta simple and just cook pasta, halloumi, tinned tomatoes, and seasoning. But I much prefer to cook lots of veggies at the same time and then it will make a lot of meals. I used carrots, peppers, celery, onion, and courgette.
Seasonings – Then for your halloumi pasta seasoning, I recommend salt, pepper, basil, parsley, and oregano.
Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this halloumi pasta recipe it has just been our Instant Pot. We have this one and its my favourite and great for a quick pasta bake.
Plus, we recommend you head over to our instant pot recipes category as we have many electric pressure cooker recipes and have been using instant pots for 5 years.
How To Make Halloumi Pasta?
- Sauté. I like to start by flavouring the instant pot with some garlic and onion. Then adding in prepped veggies so that they can brown slightly before being pressure cooked.
- Deglaze. Next, I recommend a deglaze with either red wine, veggie stock or tinned tomatoes.
- Load. After a sauté and a deglaze its time to add in the pasta, enough liquid to go to pressure and seasoned halloumi on top.
- Cook. Pressure cook, stir your pasta, slice your halloumi and serve.
And I am sure you can see now how easy it is to pressure cook halloumi pasta and why it has become one of my favourite cheap dinners.
Can I Freeze Halloumi?
Yes, you can freeze halloumi. But instead of just telling you to freeze halloumi, let me show you what I did.
Firstly, I portioned up the halloumi for the freezer into pyrex containers and then labelled it up as leftover pasta.
Then a few weeks later, when I was ready for more halloumi pasta, I defrosted it overnight.
I then loaded it into a bowl, made some of my favourite air fryer sweet potato cubes and added it to the bowl too with some mayonnaise.
Gave it a mix and then served it for lunch.
Halloumi Pasta Tips & Tricks
- Save some halloumi to serve on top. It makes your pasta meal a lot more fun and remember you can crisp up your halloumi in the air fryer if you prefer.
- If you added just one vegetable make it courgette as courgette halloumi pasta is the best and so fast to prep.
- Make it ahead for a family gathering and serve up a bowl of halloumi pasta salad.
Interesting Instant Pot Trick – Pressure cook pasta for 3 minutes and follow this up with a 5 minute natural pressure release. This will work with many pasta instant pot dishes, including an instant pot macaroni pasta salad.
What about leftover halloumi pasta? Add a couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise and you have a yummy creamy pasta salad.
More Instant Pot Pasta Recipes
- Instant Pot Macaroni Pasta Salad
- Instant Pot Spaghetti & Frozen Meatballs
- Ninja Foodi Spaghetti Bolognese
- Ninja Foodi Mac & Cheese
Your halloumi pasta recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.
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Instant Pot Halloumi Pasta Bake Recipe
Ingredients
- 450 g Halloumi
- 500 g Pasta Shells
- 1 Medium White Onion
- 1 /2 Yellow Pepper
- 1 Medium Carrot
- 1 Celery Stick
- 1 Small Courgette/Zucchini
- 1 Can Tinned Tomatoes
- 1.5 Litre Vegetable Stock
- 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Tsp Garlic Puree
- 2 Tsp Basil
- 2 Tsp Oregano
- 2 Tsp Parsley
- 1 Tsp Mint
- 1 Tsp Thyme
- Salt & Pepper
- Mayonnaise optional
Kitchen Gadgets:
Instructions
- Peel and dice your carrot and onion. Clean and slice your celery. Deseed and dice your pepper. Dice your courgette.
- Add your onion and sauté in the instant pot with extra virgin olive oil. Then add in garlic puree and mix. Stir in the vegetables and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Cancel the sauté, add tinned tomatoes, and use the tinned tomatoes to deglaze the instant pot. Pour in pasta and seasonings (apart from thyme and mint) and veggie stock and mix well. Use a spatula to pat down the pasta so that no pasta is above the liquid.
- Place the halloumi over the pasta and season with mint and thyme.
- Place the lid on the instant pot, set the valve to sealing and cook for 3 minutes on manual/pressure cook followed by a 5 minute natural pressure release.
- Release pressure, remove the lid and remove the halloumi. Slice the halloumi into strips.
- Stir the pasta and if needed add a little mayonnaise or Greek yoghurt to make it creamier.
- Serve on a platter or in a salad bowl if doing a halloumi pasta salad.
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then save it for later!
I am always careful when cooking pasta in a pressure cooker, but this turned out amazing, i love haloumi cheese and this was delicious and your timings were great. Thanks.