Taco Pasta

This one-pot taco pasta is made with juicy beef, beans, corn, salsa, and pasta using the Instant Pot pressure cooker. It's taco-seasoned, cheese-topped, ready in 30 minutes, and family-loved!

Taco pasta is budget-friendly because it uses simple pantry ingredients like pasta, salsa, onions, canned tomatoes, and beans. Fresh ingredients include ground beef, corn, and a modest amount of cheese – and you can always add more cheese.

Ingredients:

Olive oil - Or any cooking oil.
Onion - Use white, red, or yellow onions.
Ground beef - I recommend lean ground beef or substitute with ground turkey or ground chicken.
Medium shell pasta - Or preferred pasta (rotini, elbow macaroni, penne, etc)
Canned tomatoes - Use canned diced or crushed tomatoes, or tomato sauce. For more flavor, use salsa picante or rotel.
Whole black beans - Use canned black beans or pressure cooked black beans – or canned whole pinto beans.
Corn - Use fresh, canned, or frozen corn.
Taco seasoning - Grab my 5-minute easy taco seasoning recipe or use a seasoning packet (or two) if you have it on hand.
Chicken broth - Or preferred broth such as vegetable or beef broth.

Method:
Heat olive oil and saute onions and beef using the saute setting on the Instant Pot. If needed, deglaze the pot by adding a splash of broth and using a flat-edged utensil to loosen any browned bits stuck to the bottom. This is flavor "gold".

Press "Cancel" on the pot. Add pasta, followed by tomatoes, beans, corn, taco seasoning, and chicken broth. Press ingredients under the liquid. No need to stir, in fact, it's best to keep canned tomato products away from the bottom to prevent an overheat protection notice.

To pressure cook, select MANUAL or PRESSURE COOK on high pressure for 1 minute followed by a 10-minute natural pressure release (NPR). Open the lid and stir in the pasta – it will appear a bit soupy first. This is normal because the liquid becomes the sauce after the cheese is added. The pasta will continue soaking up the moisture, making it the perfect saucy consistency.

Stir in cheddar cheese until it's fully incorporated. Add salt to taste. Serve warm and devour!.