It’s like they are in a rocket ship being pummeled into space, strapped in super tight and having water and pressure SQUEEEEEZED into their little noodle astronaut bodies. When noodles are pressure cooked, they are covered in BARELY enough water to breathe cover, then brought to a boil in minutes. They are cush! They are at a spa, releasing their “toxins” (aka starch) and swimming around freely for about 11 minutes while they plump up and get perfectly al dente. When noodles are boiled in a large pot of salted water, they are living the good life.

Why boiled and pressure cooked pasta taste different But let me tell you why it’s not going to be the same as boiled noodles. The texture is a bit denser, and It’s just not my cup of tea. I find pressure cooked noodles to have a very slight, odd texture.

Scientifically, chemically, it cannot be the exact same. If you meet someone that tells you it’s the exact same… well, I don’t agree. Therefore, the taste and texture IS GOING TO BE DIFFERENT. The cooking chemistry is completely different for boiling a pot of noodles and pressure cooking a pot of noodles. The same concept applies with spaghetti or pasta. You can make my Instant Pot Salt Potatoes and then air fry them for a pretty dang good similar dish though! 😉 Instant Pot Pasta BUT it’s NOT going to be 100% the same as slathering it in olive oil with a nice coating of coarse salt and baking for an hour to get nice and fluffy inside while it gets crispy and flaky on the outside. Have you ever made a “ baked potato” in the microwave or Instant Pot? Sure, it gets cooked and it gets the job done. Just like the microwave, it cooks things in a fraction of the time a traditional method would take, but some things may turn out slightly different. I sound like a broken record when I say this, but the Instant Pot it a SHORTCUT. Personally, I believe bulkier pasta noodles handle pressure cooking better than spaghetti noodles, so it’s the more preferable. I am on team OG, as in I think they are better off cooked the traditional method and not in the Instant Pot.

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