This Instant Pot Baked Ziti is vegan and is a fantastic meatless pressure cooker pasta! Loaded with vegetables, spices, and flavor! Serve with a salad and a thick slice of homemade garlic bread for the ultimate stay-at-home Italian meal. A restaurant-quality dinner ready in 3 minutes.

This Instant Pot Baked Ziti Recipe Is:
- Creamy
- Decadent
- High protein
- Loaded with flavor
- Simple
- Earthy
- Vegetarian, Gluten Free, and can easily be made vegan (just skip the cheese)
Instant Pot Baked Ziti for the Easiest Meal Prep Ever!
For all my recipes I use the 8-Quart Instant Pot Ultra, its larger than the standard models (which are only 6 quart) so I have extra room to meal prep and batch cook more meals for the week. The Ultra model also has some great extra settings like cake baking and yogurt making which are really neat. I love that everything can cook in one pot, which makes for way less dishes and hands-off cooking. The Instant Pot is hands-down my favorite kitchen appliance, and actually makes my life so much easier.

What’s In This Vegetarian Instant Pot Pasta Baked Ziti?
- Meatless Meat: I like to use TVP or Textured Vegetable Protein in place of ground beef in a lot of my recipes. It has the same texture as ground beef, but you can flavor it with any spices you like. I always keep a few bags of TVP on hand, it’s a great pantry staple protein.
- Olive Oil: I like to use Zoe olive oil which has a really great flavor and color. I get it inexpensively online here, and I find that this brand is the best value for the quality of oil you can find!
- Onion
- Garlic: I use fresh garlic when I have it, and this great jarred organic garlic when I don’t have fresh. It’s actually super convenient to keep pre-chopped garlic on hand for quick meal prep.
- No Salt Added Tomato Paste: I use no salt added tomato paste, which I like to keep in my pantry for soups, stews, and sauces like this. We only use low or no sodium tomatoes in recipes, sodium can really add up!
- Balsamic Vinegar: this is a bit of a secret ingredient in this sauce, the balsamic vinegar gives the sauce a really nice acidity and bright fresh flavor. A little je ne sais quoa!
- Red Chili Flakes: for a little heat and spice -I love a sprinkle of red chili flakes in my pasta, but you can leave them out if you are cooking for a milder crowd.
- No Salt Added Diced Tomatoes: I like to keep the sodium down to a minimum in my cooking, so I only get no sodium diced tomatoes, espeically for this dish because I use both the tomatoes and the juice. I love these little boxed tomatoes instead of using ones canned in aluminum.
- Vegetable Stock or Bouillon: I like to use Better than Bouillon’s vegetable base for all my dishes, it has a great flavor without the sodium of normal broth. Super important in this dish if you are using cheese… it can get real salty real quick!
- Pasta: You can use a GF baked ziti if you are gluten free, or a regular wheat pasta if you eat wheat.
- Cheese, optional

How Do I Make This Vegetarian Baked Ziti In the Instant Pot?
- Set the Instant Pot to saute mode and heat the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and saute for 3 or 4 minutes until the veggies start to become translucent. Add the meatless meat, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, red chili flakes if using, diced tomatoes Vegetable stock, and pasta. Stir well.
- Set Instant Pot to Pressure Cook for 3 minutes. Quick release the pressure, taking care not to have your hands or face near the steam vent.
- Once float valve has lowered, carefully open the lid. Stir in the cheese, and serve!
Other Healthy Vegetarian Instant Pot Recipes You’ll Love!
Instant Pot Penne Pasta Recipe (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Pressure Cooker Root Vegetables & Lemon Caper Sauce (Vegan, GF)
Instant Pot Garden Risotto Recipe (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Vegan Instant Pot Ratatouille (Paleo, Whole30, GF, Dairy Free)
Instant Pot Ribolitta; Tuscan Kale and White Bean Soup (Vegan, GF Option)
Get the Same Ingredients I Use For My Vegetarian Instant Pot Baked Ziti Recipe:
As always, if you make this Instant Pot Baked Ziti (Vegetarian, Vegan, GF) recipe be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe, and tag me @theherbeevore on Instagram so I can feature you. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
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Instant Pot Baked Ziti (Vegetarian, Vegan, GF)
Equipment
- Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 cups meatless ground meat (or 1 cup dried TVP Textured Vegetable Protein) soaked in 1 cup boiling water)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion sliced
- 6 cloves garlic
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes optional
- 1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
- 4 cups Vegetable stock
- 1 lb ziti pasta gluten free
- 1 cup melty cheese dairy free
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to saute mode and heat the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and saute for 3 or 4 minutes until the veggies start to become translucent. Add the meatless ground meat, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, red chili flakes if using, diced tomatoes Vegetable stock, and pasta. Stir well.
- Set Instant Pot to Pressure Cook for 3 minutes. Quick release the pressure, taking care not to have your hands or face near the steam vent.
- Once float valve has lowered, carefully open the lid. Stir in the cheese, and serve!
[…] Instant Pot Baked Ziti (Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free) […]
[…] Instant Pot Baked Ziti (Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free) […]
Love all kinds of pasta including this one