Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
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If you need an easy Instant Pot dinner recipe to add to your dinner rotation you have to try this delicious Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs! It can be made with homemade meatballs or frozen ones if you are in a hurry. It’s a one pot dinner that your family will love.

Homemade spaghetti and meatballs made easy in your Instant Pot! You don’t need multiple pots and pans for this recipe because everything cooks in your pressure cooker for easy clean-up.
I’ve made Instant Pot spaghetti and crockpot spaghetti before, but for an even heartier dinner, I love to add meatballs, and the IP makes it really easy to do.
You Will Love This Recipe!
- I’m sharing an amazing homemade meatball recipe, or you can use frozen meatballs to make this a quick dinner. I’m showing you both ways!
- You use the saute feature and the pressure cooker setting for this recipe – it’s an easy one-pot recipe. No separate pots and pans required.
- I use a jarred pasta sauce and doctor it up with a little beef broth and diced tomatoes for extra flavor. It tastes like it cooked all day!
Make this easy recipe for your family, and they will love it! We love it at our house – especially with some air fryer garlic bread or breadsticks on the side!
Products Needed
How to Make Instant Pot Meatballs
My beef meatball recipe is really easy to make with ingredients you might already have on hand:
- Ground beef
- Italian bread crumbs
- Minced onion
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Minced garlic
- Salt and pepper
Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and form it into 24 balls.
Set the Instant Pot to the sauté setting and add olive oil to the pot. Once the oil is hot, brown the meatballs on all sides. You may need to do this in batches.
Once they are browned, take them out and place them on a plate.
Substitute Frozen Meatballs
If you don’t have time to make them, use frozen ones instead. I use a 32-ounce bag, and you don’t need to brown them – just do the following steps!
How to Cook Spaghetti and Meatballs in an Instant Pot
- Pour some beef broth into the IP. If you browned meatballs, it will make it easy to scrape up the browned bits.
- Place the browned meatballs (or frozen ones) in the pot with the broth.
- Place uncooked spaghetti on top. Spread it out so it doesn’t clump up and stick while it cooks.
- Pour the pasta sauce and diced tomatoes over the top of the pasta.
- Secure the lid, close the steam valve, and set the pot to cook on high pressure for eight minutes.
- Once it’s done, do a quick release to let the steam out, and it’s ready to serve.
Pro Tips
I’ve only tested this Instant Pot pasta with spaghetti, so if you use a different shape, I can’t say for sure how it will turn out. If you try a different pasta, be sure to let me know in the comments!
You can substitute ground turkey and ground pork for the homemade meatball recipe or do a mix of beef and pork if you like.
You can prep the meatballs a few hours in advance (or overnight) to make things easy! Mix and form the balls, cover them, and keep them in the fridge. When it’s time for dinner, brown them and finish the recipe.
Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for three to four days.
This is the best Instant Pot pasta recipe! I hope you add the ingredients to your shopping list so you can give it a try this week – I know you’re going to love it!
Make It a Complete Meal!
- Make some Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks and add a salad on the side!
- Make some Air Fryer Asparagus or Broccoli for an easy vegetable side dish.
- My Antipasto Salad is a great side dish or starter for your dinner.
- Treat your family to some Tiramisu or Chocolate Lasagna for a delicious dessert.
Love this recipe? Be sure and comment below and leave a 5-star rating! I know you’ll love this delicious recipe as much as we do!
You can find more deliciousness on Instagram @julieseatsandtreats or #julieseatsandtreats!!
Did you make this? If you snap a photo, please be sure tag me on Instagram at @julieseatsandtreats or #julieseatsandtreats so I can see your yummy treat!
Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
Video
Ingredients
Spaghetti
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 c. low-sodium beef broth
- 8 oz spaghetti broken in thirds
- 24 oz jar pasta sauce
- 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
Meatballs
- 1 ½ lb lean ground beef
- ¾ c. Italian bread crumbs
- ½ c. finely minced onion
- ¼ c. finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the ingredients for the meatballs, using your hands or a wooden spoon to combine. Form into about 24 meatballs about 1 – 1 ½ inches in diameter. Place on a plate until ready to use.
- Set the Instant Pot to the saute setting. Add olive oil to the pot. When it’s hot place the meatballs in Instant Pot, you may need to work in batches, and cook until all sides are brown, rotating as they cook. Remove meatballs from Instant Pot when they are browned and set aside.
- Stir in beef broth while IP is still on saute setting, deglazing the bottom of the pot to loosen about bits of meatballs to prevent burn warning.
- Then place meatballs back in the pot, add spaghetti making sure it’s spread evenly out and not in clumps to prevent them from sticking together. Then pour the pasta sauce and diced tomatoes on top.
- Put the lid on the pot and set the steam release knob to the sealing position.
- Press the manual button and adjust to 8 minutes on high pressure.
- After the cook time has finished, turn off the pot and do a quick release of steam.
- Serve immediately.
Tips
- You can also use a 32 oz bag of meatballs instead the homemade meatballs. Just skip the recipe steps to make meatballs. Place the frozen meatballs in the Instant Pot then layer with spaghetti noodles, spaghetti sauce and diced tomatoes and cook the same.
Jen says
We all agreed this is much better than “regular” spaghetti! Super easy and has really good flavor!
Courtney says
Yay! So great to hear this. Also a favorite in our household.
Tara says
We all LOVED it. I did you 1 lb ground venison, 1/2 lb ground pork because that is what I had on hand.
Julie Evink says
So glad it worked with what you had on hand!
Danielle says
We love spaghetti at our house! Always looking for new recipes to try. Adding this one to my recipe book!
Alison LaFortune says
So easy and delicious! A hearty weeknight meal– the kids gobbled it up.
Julie Evink says
Great to hear!!
Malinda says
Adding this wonderful recipe to the meal rotation!! Everyone loved it!!
Julie Evink says
So glad to hear that Malinda!