Set the Instant Pot to 'Sauté' and allow it to warm up for a couple of minutes.
Add the ground beef to the pot and sauté until browned.
Add the herbs & spices (minced onion, basil, minced garlic, oregano, brown sugar, salt, and pepper) to the ground beef in the Instant Pot. Mix the herbs & spices into the meat and allow to continue sautéing for a couple more minutes.
Cancel out of the 'Sauté' mode.
Add the 1/2 cup of water and the jar of marinara sauce to the meat. Mix all the ingredients together and then let the meat sauce sit in the pot while you get the other ingredients ready.
layer the Lasagna
You'll be adding three layers of pasta, meat sauce and cheese in a 6" x 3" push pan or springform pan.
Add a layer of the pasta to the bottom of the pan. Break it into pieces and arrange the pieces so that you can fully cover the bottom of the pan.
Next, add approximately 1/3 of the meat sauce and spread it evenly over the layer of pasta.
Evenly spread 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese over the meat sauce.
Place 5 or 6 spoonfuls of cream cheese on top of the layer of mozzarella. Place them so that they are evenly spread across the layer.
Place the next layer of pasta over the first layer. Gently push the pasta down to compact the layer below it.
Repeat the meat sauce, mozzarella cheese and cream cheese for the second layer.
For the third and final layer, add the pasta, meat sauce, and mozzarella. This time, you will omit the cream cheese and add 1/4 cup of shredded parmesan cheese.
Cut off enough foil to cover the pan and spray the bottom of the foil with cooking spray and tightly cover the lasagna with the foil.
cook the Lasagna
Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the Instant Pot. Place the pan of lasagna in the pot on the trivet. If your trivet does not have handles, you will need to fashion a sleeve from aluminum foil. Set the pot to Manual (or Pressure Cook) High Pressure for 20 minutes and allow for a 15-minute natural pressure release.
After both the cooking time and 15-minute NPR have completed, release any remaining pressure. Once the Instant Pot has fully released its pressure and the pin has dropped, open the pot and carefully remove the trivet and pan.
Turn your oven on broil, remove the foil and then place the lasagna on the middle rack in the oven. Allow it to cook until the top layer of cheese gets bubbly starts to turn a golden brown. This only takes a couple of minutes. Keep a close eye on it because the top layer of the lasagna can begin to burn very quickly.
After removing from the oven, allow the lasagna to cool for a few minutes.
To remove the lasagna from the pan, run a knife around the outside edge of the lasagna to separate it from the pan. With my push pan, I usually use the empty bottle of pasta sauce to make this easier. I'll place the push pan on top of the empty bottle of pasta sauce and then carefully pull the sides of the pan down. The lasagna will be left balancing on top of the bottle. You can then place the lasagna on a serving platter.