Instant Pot Beefaroni Recipe (2024)

Meaty, saucy and comforting Instant Pot Beefaroni is a crossover between pasta Bolognese, goulash and mac'n'cheese. Three family favorites in one dish homemade with simple pantry ingredients, ground beef and elbow macaroni pasta. Takes 30 minutes to put this beauty on the table!

This quick and easy Instant Pot beefaroni recipe is hands done one of our favorite comfort foods. Using fresh ingredients and pantry staples, this homemade version of the childhood classic is SO much tastier and healthier than the canned version. Kids and adults will love this flavorful one-pan dish.

What Is Beefaroni?

You might be familiar with the canned version of beefaroni - elbow pasta in tomato meat sauce. Chef Boyardee Beefaroni is an old-school classic brand served as convenience food. You could eat it cold out of a can or quickly heat it in a microwave.

And while we can't compete with the speed of dishing something out of a can, we can give you a homemade Instant pot beefaroni recipe that wins in flavor, nutrition, texture and presentation. Forget overcooked soft noodles and preserved meat sauce with questionable quality of beef and too much salt and sugar. Make your own - it's super easy, quite affordable and family-friendly!

Ingredients For Beefaroni

• Macaroni pasta – For authentic beefaroni, elbow macaroni noodles are best.
• Ground beef – We recommend using lean ground beef for this recipe (85/15 or 90/10) to avoid the dish from becoming too oily.
• Tomato sauce – You can your favorite tomato pasta sauce such as marinara or Napolitana. We think a tomato sauce that has basil in it works particularly well. You will also need some tomato paste to enhance the flavor.
• Cheese - the final touch is grated cheese to melt over the finished beefaroni pasta. Cheddar, Parmesan, Jack - they all work!

• Herbs & spices - You will get a lot of flavor from garlic, onion powder, paprika, a little cumin, Italian herbs or dried oregano and salt.
• Butter - this is our secret ingredient! A little bit of cubed salted butter is added to the sauce, which makes it luxuriously rich, creamy and delicious.

How To Make Instant Pot Beefaroni

You will find the full list of ingredients, recipe and nutritional breakdown in the recipe card below. Here are step-by-step photos to guide along. We used Instant Pot Duo classic 6-quart model.

• Step 1. Saute ground beef for 4-5 minutes until the meat changes color. Make sure to break the meat apart as much as possible.
• Step 2. Add garlic, herbs and spices and stir through. Cancel the Saute process.
• Step 3. Add 2 cups of water and stir through, scraping the bottom of the pot with a spatula. This will help to avoid the Burn error.

• Step 4. Once the meat and liquid are well stirred, add the elbow pasta on top, spread but don't stir. Again, this helps to prevent the Burn error as pasta can sometimes stick to the bottom. Don't worry, it will still cook!
• Step 5. Spread tomato sauce and tomato paste on top, do not stir!
• Step 6. Scatter cubes of butter on top of the tomato sauce and lock the lid.
• Step 7. Pressure cook on Manual/Pressure Cook function for 4 minutes on HIGH pressure. Then, once done, allow the pressure to release naturally for 5 minutes (leave the pot alone!). Then use the top valve to release the remaining pressure manually (quick release).

• Step 8. Open the lid and stir the contents of the pot.
• Step 9. Leave the pot on Keep Warm setting. Add the grated cheese and cover with a regular glass lid for 5 minutes.
• Serve once the cheese has melted, you can also stir it in or transfer the beefaroni to a casserole dish and melt the cheese under broil in the oven.

Serve beefaroni with parsley or scallions on top. You can add more grated Parmesan or other cheese once in bowls. A lovely green salad or some steamed veggies will complement the dish well.

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