This Creamy Vegan Beef & Shells dish is an easy one pot dinner made entirely in a pressure cooker. It’s like homemade hamburger helper, with beefless crumbles and pasta in a tomato cream sauce and very kid-friendly!
Comfort food. It can be defined differently for everyone, but I don’t think I’ve ever really met anyone that doesn’t have at least one food or dish that brings them feel good memories.
A lot of mine have to do with special occasions or staple meals my mom would make me as a kid, but recently I thought about a comfort food that takes me back to some of the best summer’s of my life at summer camp!
Granted, not ALL of the food at my sleep-away camp was great. But at the end of each session when the parents would come to pick everyone up, the cook’s would make this pasta dish, sort of like a goulash, that always had me going back for seconds!
The perfectly cooked pasta was covered in a rich red sauce, yet was creamy and beefy at the same time. And there was always enough to feed an army, since the whole camp plus parents and families had to eat.
Since we’re nearing the end of summer, I started to reminisce about those end of camp days. Carefree days of capture the flag and old camp songs passed down from older to younger campers. I also thought of that special ‘end of camp’ meal again and thought it would be fun (and a challenge since I don’t eat red meat!) to try and recreate it at home.
From what I remember the pasta, was always always shells! I went to that camp 3 years in row for multiple sessions and at the end of every session on the last day for parents and campers, the pasta feast was always made with shell pasta. No complaints here, since that’s my favorite pasta shape!
Creamy Vegan Beef and Shells
So I headed to my local grocery store and picked up a bag of shells. From there, I decided I was going to make the whole dish VEGAN, so I needed to find plant-based alternatives to ground beef, cheese, and half and half.
With my ingredients in hand, I whipped out my mom’s Instant Pot® and got to work.
I am happy to report, the result was 1000x better than the original!?
Creamy Vegan Instant Pot® Beef & Shells
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Main Meals
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ large sweet onion, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, quartered
- 12 oz meatless gluten-free beefless crumbles
- 2 tsp Mrs. Dash Original Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 1-pound bag of gluten-free shell pasta
- 1 24-ounce jar marinara sauce (make sure it’s vegan!)
- 3 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened vegan creamer (I used Califia Farms)
- 1 cup shredded vegan cheese (I used Parmela Creamery)
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting, and wait for the display to turn to hot.
- Add olive oil, tomatoes, and onions, and cook until slightly soft.
- Add meatless crumbles, break up with spatula, and cook until heated through, stirring frequently to make sure it doesn’t stick to pot.
- Season with sea salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash, and garlic powder, and hit cancel on the Instant Pot.
- Add shells over meatless crumbles, then add the marinara sauce and water. Do not stir, but press the pasta down lightly with spoon to ensure it is completely covered with sauce and water.
- Place lid on Instant Pot, close, and make sure vent is set to the sealing position.
- Hit pressure cook for 8 minutes.
- When pressure cooking is done, do a quick release, then remove lid and hit cancel to turn cooker off.
- Stir in creamer and cheese. Keep stirring until cheese is melted and fully incorporated.
- Serve hot!
Comfort Food in the Instant Pot
This Creamy Vegan Beef & Shells dish is so easy to put together and takes less than 10 minutes to cook in the Instant Pot®. Gotta love healthy pressure cooker meals!
The gluten-free pasta, combined with the meatless crumbles, marinara sauce, and tomatoes, makes for a perfectly balanced meal with carbs, protein, and vegetables that the WHOLE family will love. I’ve never had Hamburger Helper myself, but one person who tried this recipe said that this is like the “grown-up, sophisticated VEGAN version” of that! I’ll take it.
Try it for yourself and you may just find your new favorite comfort food!
What is one of your comfort foods?
What’s your favorite kind of pasta dish?
Did you go to sleep-away camp as a kid?
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24 responses to “Creamy Vegan Instant Pot Beef & Shells”
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I’m the worst at cooking but I have to try!
Thanks Briana! Let me know what you think!
This is a great Instant Pot Beef Shells recipe that looks delicious! Hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday!
Miz Helen
★★★★★
Thanks Helen!!
That does look really creamy and delicious! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party – have a fabulous week!
Thanks Helen!!
[…] Creamy Vegan Instant Beef & Shells | Healthy Helper […]
I love morning star products. This sounds as good as it looks! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party!
Me too! Morning Star has some great products!!!
Are the crumbles frozen or thawed?
You can throw them in frozen!
[…] Creamy Vegan Beef and Shells […]
[…] Vegan Instant Pot Beef Shells […]
I got a burn error on this – the beefless crumbles (TJs brand) were sticking to the bottom. Was able to salvage it when I added more water to the pasta and put on sautee mode instead of pressure cook, but any suggestions to prevent this in the future? Thanks! It was delicious in the end (I subbed in ricotta instead of cream).
Hmmm that’s so strange! I’m sorry that happened. I am not sure what could have caused that but the next time I make this I will review the method again and let you know if I have any issues. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe overall! 🙂
Can you use coconut milk instead of creamer? Will that throw the liquid ratio off?
I think if you use the thick, full fat kind you should be okay!
This looks so good!! We’ve been using more and more meatless alternatives lately. Pinning this one! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party!! Have a fabulous weekend!
Thanks Helen!!
Such a great recipe. I made it for my family yesterday and it turned out very yummy. Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
So happy you enjoyed it, Malissa!! 🙂
I had the burn happened to me too. I had to open stir it and put it back on meat stew button for 4 minutes… 🤞🏻
I am thinking I had plant meat that didn’t crumble and that was what stuck on the bottom. When I put the lid back on the red button shot right up
Thanks for making it!
Ok made this a second time… burn message again. I like the dish but this burn message is frustrating. Any ideas?