This easy Instant Pot Lasagna is like a lazy lasagna – you’ll saute the ground beef and layer the lasagna noodles right in the pot!
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Ingredients in this recipe
You also only need a few staple ingredients to make this Instant Pot lasagna:
- extra-lean ground beef
- yellow onion
- garlic
- lasagna noodles
- ricotta cheese
- baby spinach
- jarred marinara sauce
- mozzarella cheese
How to make lasagna in the Instant Pot
It’s so easy to make this Instant Pot lasagna, and you don’t need any other inner pots besides the one that comes with your Instant Pot.
- Set Instant Pot to saute mode. Saute ground beef, onion, garlic and salt & pepper. Turn off saute mode.
- Remove two-thirds of the ground beef mixture and set aside. Add 1 cup water to bottom of the pot.
- Layer in 4 lasagna noodles. Top with half the ricotta cheese.
- Layer in half the spinach and another third of the ground beef mixture.
- Pour in half of the jar of marinara sauce, then top with another layer of lasagna noodles. Repeat, then pour the rest of the jar of marinara sauce and the remaining cup of water overtop. Pressure cook for 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle mozzarella cheese overtop and close lid to melt cheese for 2 minutes. Cut lasagna into slices, then serve and enjoy!
Ingredient substitutions
The ingredients for this lasagna recipe are very easy to customize for any dietary or allergy restrictions you may have. Also, there are plenty of ways to change up the flavour.
- Meat – Rather than making a traditional ground beef lasagna, you can use a different protein to make it healthier. Ground chicken or turkey are great choices. Or, for more of an Italian flavor, consider using ground Italian sausage or ground pork.
- Onions – If you don’t like onions, feel free to leave them out. I use yellow onions but good substitutes are white or red onion.
- Ricotta cheese – You can use any variety of ricotta in this recipe. A good substitute is small curd cottage cheese but you’ll want to put it in a fine mesh strainer first to remove some of the excess moisture.
- Spinach – You can use traditional or baby spinach, and it can be fresh or frozen. If you plan to use a box of frozen spinach, you’ll need to remove it from the box and thaw it in a mesh strainer first. Then, squeeze the spinach to remove as much moisture as possible. Otherwise, it will water down the lasagna sauce.
- Cheese – I use shredded mozzarella cheese but you can shred and use any variety of meltable cheese that you like. Another option is to use slices of mozzarella cheese.
Tricks to avoiding the burn message
It can be frustrating (and a little bit concerning) when the Instant Pot gives you a burn message. It’s a very common issue, so if it happens to you, don’t panic. Just turn off and unplug the Instant Pot before you attempt to fix the problem.
To avoid the problem altogether, be sure you add water to the bottom of the pot with the ground beef. Also, don’t stir anything around after you’ve added it.
Making it vegetarian
To make this a vegetarian Instant Pot lasagna recipe, the only thing to do is leave out meat.
To add flavour and protein without using meat, feel free to use tofu sausage crumbles or black beans. You can also add in veggies like bell peppers, shredded carrot, or zucchini.
NOTE: Avoid using mushrooms, as they release a lot of liquid which will water down the sauce.
What to serve with lasagna
When serving a hearty meal like this one, you really don’t need to serve a side dish unless you want to. A light garden salad is a nice choice, and of course, just about everyone enjoys warm breadsticks with pasta dishes.
Storing and reheating
This recipe makes enough lasagna to serve 6 people. So, if you’ll be serving less people than that, you can refrigerate the leftovers in an airtight container.
Or, place some of the lasagna into meal prep containers to enjoy later in the week. Enjoy your leftovers within five days.
To reheat, sprinkle some water overtop and microwave each slice for 2-3 minutes.
Freezing leftover lasagna
Speaking of meal prep, this comfort food meal freezes beautifully. After cooking it in the Instant Pot, you can freeze the entire lasagna, or just single servings.
Just be sure to store them in freezer safe containers so ice crystals don’t form on the top of the food.
To serve, defrost in the fridge overnight or microwave each slice straight from frozen for 6-7 minutes in the microwave, sprinkling some water overtop before reheating.
More Instant Pot pasta recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls for the leftovers
- I get all my grass-fed ground beef from Butcher Box
5-Day Instant Pot Challenge!
Learn how to use your Instant Pot to meal prep by subscribing to our newsletter!
Instant Pot Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 lb extra-lean ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
- 2 cups water, divided
- 12 lasagna noodles, broken up
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 cups baby spinach, chopped
- 1 (680mL) jar marinara sauce
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to saute mode and wait for it to heat up. Once hot, add ground beef, onion, garlic and salt & pepper, sauteeing for 5 minutes until browned. Turn off saute mode.
- Remove two-thirds of the ground beef mixture and set aside in a bowl. Add 1 cup water to bottom of the pot, then layer in 4 lasagna noodles. Top with half the ricotta cheese, half the spinach and another third of the ground beef mixture.
- Pour in half of the jar of marinara sauce, then top with another layer of lasagna noodles. Repeat with the remaining ricotta cheese, remaining spinach and the final third of ground beef mixture. Top a final layer of lasagna noodles and pour the rest of the jar of marinara sauce and the remaining cup of water overtop.
- Place lid on Instant Pot and make sure valve is set to seal. Press the pressure cook button and set to high, then pressure cook for 5 minutes. The Instant Pot will take about 5-10 minutes to come to pressure, then notify you it's done by beeping. Press the Cancel button then do a quick release of the pressure on the Instant Pot by flicking the switch at the top with a spoon. Open the lid when pressure gauge has dropped and the lid opens easily.
- Sprinkle mozzarella cheese overtop and close lid to melt cheese for 2 minutes. Cut lasagna into slices, then serve and enjoy!
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