Instant Pot Taco Pasta

June. Summer. The season that Hartford does not deserve but receives anyway, the warm months that make this cold city briefly habitable, the months when I can sit on the porch and drink café and pretend I am on a porch in Bayamón if I close my eyes and ignore the traffic on the street and the neighbor's dog and the fact that there are no coquí frogs because there are no coquí frogs in Connecticut because Connecticut is not Puerto Rico, a fact I have been protesting for thirty-three years.

Rosa is five months pregnant. Showing significantly. She came up from New Haven on Sunday looking like a woman who is teaching thirty children while growing a human, which is exactly what she is doing, and the doing is leaving her exhausted in a way that I recognize because I have been exhausted in that specific way four times and the exhaustion is not defeat, the exhaustion is investment, the body spending its resources on the future. I made her a plate: pernil, rice, beans, a double portion of everything because eating for two is not a suggestion in this family, it is a mandate. She ate it all. Carlos said, She eats like this every night. I said, Carlos, that is the correct amount. He said, Yes, Doña Carmen. He is a good student. He is learning.

Sofía finished her coursework at the community college — all prerequisites complete, ready to apply to the nursing program. She came downstairs with her final grades and said, All A's, Mami. I said, Of course all A's. You are a Delgado. She said, Papi also contributed genetically. I looked at Eduardo. Eduardo looked at me. He said, The A's are from both of us. Sofía said, The stubbornness is from Mami. Eduardo said, That is correct. We all laughed. The kitchen held the laughter the way it holds everything — completely, without reservation, as if laughter and the smell of sofrito and the sound of a family being a family were the same substance, which they are.

The Sunday pernil takes all day — the marinade the night before, the low oven, the patience — and I would make it every day if my knees and my schedule agreed with me, but they do not. What I have learned in thirty-three years of feeding this family is that the food does not have to be elaborate to be an act of love; it has to be present, it has to be warm, and there has to be enough of it. This Instant Pot Taco Pasta is what I make on the Tuesdays and the Thursdays when Sofía is studying and Eduardo is tired and I still want everyone at the table, full and together — all that sofrito spirit, all that family richness, in thirty minutes flat.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef (80/20)
1 packet (1 oz) taco seasoning
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as Rotel), undrained
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
8 oz penne pasta, uncooked
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend or cheddar cheese, divided
Salt and black pepper to taste
Optional toppings: fresh cilantro, sliced jalapeños, diced avocado, lime wedges

Instructions

Brown the meat. Set the Instant Pot to Sáuté mode. Add ground beef, diced onion, and garlic. Cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until beef is no longer pink, about 5–6 minutes. Drain any excess fat.
Season. Sprinkle taco seasoning over the beef and stir well to coat every bit of meat. Let it cook one more minute so the spices bloom.
Deglaze and add liquids. Pour in the diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with green chiles, and beef broth. Stir and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot — this prevents a burn notice.
Add pasta. Pour the uncooked penne over the top. Press it down gently with a spoon to submerge it in the liquid. Do not stir after this step.
Pressure cook. Secure the lid and set the valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes. When the cycle ends, perform a quick pressure release by carefully switching the valve to Venting.
Make it creamy. Open the lid and stir everything together. The pasta will look loose — that’s correct. Stir in the sour cream and 1 cup of the shredded cheese until melted and creamy. The sauce will thicken as it sits.
Finish and serve. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with remaining cheese and any optional toppings. Serve immediately while hot.

Nutrition (per serving)

Instant Pot Taco Pasta — The Weeknight Plate That Keeps This Family Fed