Name: Instant Pot Salmon Pasta
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1/2 pound Penne Pasta (**8 ounce, 227 g. Uncooked Penne Pasta.); 3 Frozen Salmon (**about 1 pound. Use skinless frozen salmon.); 1/2 cup red bell pepper (**finely chopped); 1 cup onion (**finely chopped. Use yellow onion.); 1.5 tsp garlic (**minced); 4 ounce cream cheese (**cubed. 1/2 a block cream cheese.); 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (**pre-shredded or grated from a block.); 1/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream (**look for subs in the NOTES below.); 1/4 cup dill (**roughly chopped. Use fresh dill.); salt (**add according to your personal taste preference. ); 1.5 cups water (**warm.); 1 tbsp Better Than Bouillon (**stir this into the warm water to make a flavorful chicken stock.); 1/2 tsp oregano; 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes; 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper; 1/2 tsp seafood seasoning (**like old bay. We used red lobster seafood seasoning.)

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Instant Pot Salmon Pasta is filled with juicy chunks of salmon, al dente penne, a creamy sauce and lots of fresh dill. You can make this Instant Pot Creamy Pasta using frozen salmon and in under 10 mins. A fantastic dump & start Instant Pot fish dinner that'll never disappoint you!

Check out our huge collection of easy Instant Pot Recipes.

instant pot salmon pasta in a grey bowl with a spoon — Instant Pot Salmon Pasta

Instant Pot Creamy Salmon Pasta

We love Instant Pot Salmon Recipes like this Instant Pot frozen Salmon and Potatoes & Instant Pot Salmon and rice. They taste great, wholesome, healthy & cooks in just one pot.

Today's one pot Salmon pasta is a great way to use up frozen Salmon fillets & some pantry, fridge ingredients. If you love Instant Pot seafood dinners you'll definitely enjoy this dump & start Instant pot creamy Salmon & Penne recipe.

creamy salmon pasta in a white bowl garnished with dill and lemon — creamy salmon pasta dinner

Ingredients

Find the Ingredients with actual measurements at the bottom of the post. The list below is just a reference.

Pasta: We used Penne pasta. You can use shells or rotini as well. Always weigh the pasta and than use in this recipe. This recipe is not tasted with special varieties of Pasta like gluten free or lentil pasta. We recommend that you stick to the regular penne for achieving the best result.
Frozen Salmon: Use frozen salmon fillets directly from the freezer. Do not thaw the fish or use fresh salmon. The frozen salmon turns out amazing in this recipe and stays so moist & juicy. You'll love it. We prefer using wild caught Alaskan Salmon.
Aromatics: Yellow onion and minced garlic will boost up the flavor of this creamy one pot salmon pasta recipe. DO NOT use red onion, they are pungent and doesn't go well in creamy recipes. You can however sub the yellow onion with shallots (use ½ cup finely chopped).
Red Bell Pepper: This will add a subtle sweetness to the creamy fish pasta & add lot's of fresh flavors. You'll love it! You may sub it with orange bell pepper but DO NOT use green bell pepper. It won't go well in this recipe!
Dairy: Heavy whipping cream (known as double cream outside the USA), cream cheese & Parmesan cheese. You may use pre-shredded parmesan from the store or grate a block.
Seasoning: Ground black pepper, dried oregano, red pepper flakes (won't make it spicy at all), seafood seasoning. We used Red Lobster seafood seasoning, you can use any seafood seasoning (like old bay). If you want to increase the heat level just use more red pepper flakes & a few pinches cayenne.
Fresh Herbs: Dill. Roughly chopped. You can't beat the fresh dill flavor with dried dill. We recommend this ingredient a lot.
Butter.
Liquid: Better than Bouillon is the holy grail for all those amazing flavors in any recipe. We love using it stirred in warm/hot water. You can get a fantastic flavor filled chicken stock in seconds. However, if you don't have Better than Bouillon paste use store bought or homemade chicken stock. You can also use water. Stock will add more flavor.

Tips & Tricks

Dump ingredients in order: Yes, it matters and will prevent the BURN error. You need to dump the ingredients in order that's mentioned in the recipe.
Weigh Pasta: Use pasta by weight. Eyeballing the pasta might not work for this recipe and you might end up with a BURN! Pasta by weight and the liquid ratio is very important while making any pressure cooker pasta recipe. So it's important that you weigh the penne pasta and use it.

Method

Find the detailed step by step recipe along with measurements + Video at the bottom of the post.

Step #1 Dump ingredients in order

dumping ingredients in order in instant pot — Dump ingredients in order

Dump ingredients in order: Place the frozen salmon fillets into the steel insert of the instant pot. Add the uncooked penne pasta. Pour stock all over and around the pasta. Dump the chopped onion, garlic, bell peppers, cream cheese and seasonings in this order. DO NOT mix or stir.

Step #2 Pressure Cook

pressure cooking salmon pasta — Pressure cook salmon pasta

Pressure cook: Secure the lid of the instant pot, seal the valve and PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for just 5 mins followed by quick pressure release.
Mix gently: Salmon pasta will look very liquid-y now. Gently stir to mix well the ingredients and breaking down the cooked salmon as you go mixing. The liquid will be well absorbed by the pasta and rest of the ingredients.

Step #3 Stir in dairy

adding dairy in salmon pasta — Add dairy

Add dairy: Turn off the instant pot and add the heavy whipping cream. Mix well gently. Than, add the pre-shredded or grated parmesan cheese and gently stir to mix well until the cheese melts uniformly.
Serve: Throw in the fresh chopped dill and mix well. Serve hot, enjoy!

pressure cooker creamy salmon pasta in instant pot — Pressure Cooker creamy Salmon Pasta

Storage

Freeze:

You can freeze it but the pasta does turn awfully tender when thawed and re-heated. If that's not a problem for you than you can freeze the Instant pot salmon pasta for upto 1 month. Store in heavy duty freezer safe bags or containers.

Fridge:

You can store this Instant Pot creamy Salmon Pasta for upto 3 days in the fridge in air tight containers. Follow the reheating instructions shared below.

Reheating tips

Fridge: Reheat the fridge cold Salmon Pasta in the microwave oven until warm or hot. Sprinkle water on top of the pasta before reheating, this will prevent the pasta from drying out.

If you feel that there's not much creaminess left in the dish you also add a few splashes heavy whipping cream or milk or half and half just to revive back the creamy goodness.

Freezer: Thaw the Instant pot salmon pasta overnight in the fridge and follow the reheating instructions shared above.

Serving Ideas

Though creamy Salmon pasta is a complete filling meal all by itself. But, if you want to portion control and add some healthy sides with this creamy instant pot pasta dinner than here are some choices:

Instant pot steamed broccoli.
Instant pot steamed carrots.
Instant pot steamed green beans.
A light salad of your choice.
A crusty bread. We love sour dough!
Cheesy garlic bread.

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creamy ground turkey pasta served in a white plate — Instant pot ground turkey pasta

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Comments

Nikki says

January 16, 2023 at 1:07 am

Made it with canned salmon. Used rotoni noodles, used 2 more oz of cream cheese and some nutritional yeast since I was out of parmesan and had no other substitutes. Also used whole milk and a large pat of butter instead of heavy cream or half and half. Adjusted my cooking time according to the type of noodle. Turned out FANTASTIC! Thank you for the inspiration! I feel this will become a more frequent meal at my house! Oh, I also added a tiny bit of frozen spinach at the end too 😋

- Foodies Terminal says
  
  January 17, 2023 at 7:20 pm
  
  So glad you enjoyed the recipe and made it your own with wonderful subs 🙂 Thanks much for the feedback, appreciate it 🙂 Hope you'll also try our other recipes from this blog and enjoy each one of them! - Meghna xoxo.

Instant Pot Salmon Pasta

Instant Pot Creamy Salmon Pasta

Ingredients

Tips & Tricks