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Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs is a one-pot meal that is so easy to make! If you have some frozen meatballs and sauce on hand, this pressure cooker spaghetti and meatballs recipe will be ready in under an hour! It is delicious, easy, and no need to boil the pasta separately.
Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
Making pasta dishes in the Instant Pot is not something most people would think of doing, but it’s really great! No pot of boiling water or draining to deal with. The noodles get a chance to soak up the flavors of the sauce. Dinner ready in under an hour!
When making Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs, just remember to layer the ingredients in the pot and don’t stir it until after pressure cooking. This helps keep things from sticking, and ensures that the noodles get cooked.
Here is how to make Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs:
If you prefer your spaghetti with meat sauce, check out my recipe here. You cook the meat in the pot and add the rest of the ingredients in layers like this recipe, before pressure cooking.
You don’t have to use spaghetti noodles in this recipe. If you prefer penne, macaroni, or even shells, that’s fine. You may need to adjust the pressure cook time for the type of noodles you choose.
The rule of thumb for pressure cooking pasta is half of the recommended time on the package. So if the package directions calls for 9 minutes, you will cook for 4 or 5 minutes in the pressure cooker.
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Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb Meatballs, raw, cooked, or frozen
- 12 oz Spaghetti Noodles
- 1 (14 oz) can Diced Tomatoes (optional), drained
- 1 (24 oz) jar Spaghetti Sauce (or marinara sauce plus Italian seasoning)
- 3 cups Water (fill the 24 oz jar once) or use broth
Garnishes
- Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Parsley or Basil
Instructions
- Put meatballs in the bottom of the inner liner pot.
- Break the spaghetti in half and sprinkle over meatballs in a random pattern, so not too many are side by side. This helps prevent them sticking together.
- Pour the water/broth over the noodles.
- Pour the diced tomatoes, if using over the noodles, and then the spaghetti sauce over the noodles, and cover as much of them as you can with the sauce. This helps them all get cooked.
- Put on the lid and set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
- Press the Pressure Cook (Manual) button or dial and then the +/- button or dial to select 9 minutes (7 minutes for al dente). High pressure.
- The pot will take several minutes to come to pressure. Cook time begins when pot is at pressure.
- After cook time has finished, turn off the pot and turn the steam release knob to the Venting position, and do a Quick Release of the steam so the pasta doesn't overcook.Watch it closely, and if sauce starts to spew out with the steam, close the vent and release the steam in bursts until it looks like no more sauce will be spewing out.
- After the pin in the lid drops down, open the lid and give the spaghetti a stir. If any noodles stuck together, just use a fork to separate them.
- Serve with some bread, and garnish with parmesan cheese, mozzarella, or whatever you like!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Resources to make Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe and more
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I have an 8qt. Instant Pot and feeding 9 this weekend, how much sauce/water would I need for 2lbs. of noodles and would the time change? Thanks in Advance!
Just double the recipe, but keep the time the same.
But wouldn’t she quadruple the recipe? She needs 2lbs of noodles and the recipe calls for 8oz/half a pound.
Yes, but I wasn’t sure if quadrupling the recipe would fit in her pot.
Can you use Jimmy dean sausage instead of hamburger meat as long as I use the same amount?
Yes!
Made this tonight, but read the recipe wrong and added 3bottles of water (9 cups). Thankfully, I didn’t add the tomatoes, lol. I dipped out as much as I could, about 4 cups of water,, then turned on the Instant Pot and hoped for the best. Turns spaghetti soup isn’t too bad.
Oh no, Jean! I am glad that you partially rescued it!
I want to try this tonight. I am making homemade turkey meatballs is the cooking time any different with non frozen meatballs?
Thanks for your time. Love your recipes.
Thank you, Michele! The cook time is the same as that is what the pasta needs. If the meatballs are UNCOOKED and raw, I suggest placing them on a lined baking sheet and baking them at 375° for 10 minutes to give them a little head start, and firm them up first.
I used thawed meatballs. This recipe turned out perfectly.
I would like to do 16 oz of spaghetti, do I use the same amount of water and cook time?
You will want to double the water and sauce if you double the pasta. Keep cook time the same.
I use 16 Oz all the time and don’t double anything. It turns out perfect.
I wish I had added 16 Oz of noodles. I found 8 to be too runny.
Good to hear that. Ours turned out too soupy. Not at all like the photos. I cooked some dry spaghetti pasta on the stove and added it to what was left after we ate. Eight people – we cooked two recipes. One in each instant pot.as we recently bought a second one. Will try the whole box next time and keep the rest according to the recipe. It was delicious.
Normally the soupiness is from not using enough pasta (try weighing it). It thickens up as it cools, so letting it sit a few minutes after stirring helps. You do wand some sauce.
For the uncooked meatballs, just place them in the bottom just like the frozen . . . and cook the same time (9 min)?
Yes!
If I make homemade meatballs and add them uncooked with the noodles, won’t it be greasy from the hamburger cooking? I just got an instapot yesterday and wanted to try this as my 1st meal.
If you made the meatballs with lean beef it should be fine. I do prefer cooking the meatballs first though,
If the sauce is too thin when using tomatoes, you can just omit a little bit of the water to compensate for the juice in the tomatoes
Can you use uncooked meatballs?
Yes.
First try at spaghetti in the IP. It was incredible! Hubby loved it!
I made it as printed, but omitted the tomatoes. The consistency was perfect for us.
Added some seasoning and onions – then some freshly grated parmesan after cooking. Perfecto!