Instant Pot Fettuccine Alfredo

Instant pot fettuccine alfredo is a perfect one-pot meal for busy weeknights. It is a perfect side dish to accompany your Italian menu for potlucks and parties. It can be prepared in just about 30 minutes of cook time or also made ahead of time for weekly meal planning.

This is a vegetarian recipe to make fettuccine alfredo with mushrooms and also homemade alfredo sauce from scratch. It is an easy, quick, delicious, and kid-friendly dish. You can also adapt it to your liking with add-ins of choice.

Fettuccine alfredo ingredients

If you are looking for a delicious, quick, and easy dish to serve as a meal or even as a side, this instant pot fettuccine alfredo with garlic and mushrooms is a great choice. It is made with only a few basic pantry ingredients.

You will need fettuccine noodles, but spaghetti noodles or even penne pasta can be used as a substitute. For every 4 oz. of pasta, 1 cup of water is required while cooking it in the instant pot.

For the alfredo sauce, a store-bought one can work fine, but I like to make it from scratch and without eggs. Heavy cream, cheddar or parmesan cheese, and unsalted butter are all you need apart from some herbs and spices to make a creamy alfredo sauce.

Best additions to fettucine alfredo

It is a very simple dish with very basic pantry ingredients. But the best part is you can adapt the recipe to your liking. A few of my favorite add-ins to fettuccine alfredo are broccoli, mushrooms, and asparagus.

To make it a little spicy, some black pepper or red chili flakes can be sprinkled on the top. A little bit of grated pepper jack cheese can add a little spicy taste.

Instead of Italian seasoning, you can always add dried herbs like parsley, oregano, or thyme to enhance the flavor.

Are fettucine alfredo vegetarian?

Most of the recipes for fettuccine call for parmesan cheese. Parmesan cheese is not suitable for vegetarians as it contains rennet. So I have used cheddar cheese which has a vegetarian option available.

So yes, you can make fettuccine alfredo vegetarian by substituting parmesan cheese with other cheese like sharp or mild cheddar, or even pepper jack if you like a hint of spice.

How to make fettuccine alfredo in instant pot?

Once I started making pasta in the instant pot, I have not gone back to the traditional method of boiling water, cooking and monitoring it, and finally draining the hot water. Instant pot makes it really easy, and that too with very little water.

To start making fettuccine alfredo in the instant pot, first, turn on the instant pot saute mode. Once it becomes hot, add some olive oil followed by minced garlic, and sliced mushrooms.

Saute them for about 2 minutes until they are soft and then pour the water, add salt, and deglaze the bottom of the pot with a spatula.

I have used the 6 qt. instant pot and had to break the fettuccine noodles into halves to place them in the instant pot in a criss-cross manner in layers. This helps the noodles from sticking and becoming a big blob of pasta that could be difficult to separate out.

Push the fettuccine noodles with a spatula to ensure it is covered with the liquid and then cook on high-pressure mode for 0 (zero) minutes and turn the "keep warm" setting on.

Allow the pressure to release naturally for 6 minutes and then release the remaining pressure manually by turning the knob in the venting position until the silver pin drops.

Separate out the noodles with the help of tongs and then add the butter, cheese, pepper, and Italian seasoning and stir well. As the noodles are hot, butter and cheese will melt.

Finally, mix in the heavy cream and continue stirring until it reaches the desired thickness. Turn the saute mode on to speed up the process of thickening the sauce.

What to serve with fettuccine alfredo?

My favorite accompaniment for fettuccine alfredo is garlic knots, breadsticks, and at times frozen garlic bread. A side of veggies like roasted broccoli or roasted asparagus also pairs well.

If you are entertaining and looking for more variety in side dishes, hasselback potatoes, smashed potatoes, roasted mixed vegetables, and garlic pull-apart rolls make a great choice.