Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

I use my Instant Pot a lot and have had my share of failures along the way. You know when you get the burn message when you don’t scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pot? Or when you don’t cook something long enough and it doesn’t seal again? I’ve done it all. What has really helped is the Weekly Dish Instant Potters Facebook Group of 10,000 folks who share recipes and tips for cooking with their Instant Pots. The Melissa Clark cookbooks are also great if you have an Instant Pot, but I digress.

I decided to try this Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe on The Jason Show, and not wanting to fail on live TV, I invited my skeptical family members over for Sunday dinner. While we watched the pot count down, I know many of them were wondering if we would end up eating a frozen pizza, but when the pot’s timer went off, and I opened the top, it was magic! The noodles were cooked perfectly, the sauce was thick and not watery, and the meatballs were warm and intact and didn’t fall apart in the pot. My family went from being naysayers to wanting seconds. When I make this in the future, I will probably use my own canned tomato sauce from the Ely Hilltop Garden but I have to say I was impressed with the 365 Marinara from Whole Foods. I made my special meatballs with Minnesota-made 3 Lonetti Sisters Meatball Mix, but you could also use frozen meatballs or even frozen Beyond Meatballs.

This one is a winner so give it a try.

Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

Yield: 6 Servings

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Ingredients

Meatball Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 cup 3 Leonetti Sisters Meatball Mix
• 2 Tbsp yellow mustard

Sauce Ingredients

• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 14.5 ounces petite diced tomatoes
• 28 ounces tomato sauce
• 3 cups water
• 2 tsp salt
• ½ cup fresh basil leaves roughly chopped
• 12 ounces spaghetti noodles

Instructions

Meatball Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix meats, spice mixture and mustard and mix well with your hands

With a one and a half-inch scoop - scoop mix and roll between your hands to make the meatballs. Place on a baking sheet and bake meatballs for 20 minutes.

Let meatballs cool then place on the sheet pan in the freezer overnight.

Store meatballs in a Ziploc bag until ready to use

Instant Pot Spaghettio Assembly

Place onions in the bottom of the pot. Layer frozen meatballs on top of the onions. Add the can of chopped tomatoes. Add garlic and salt on top of the tomatoes.

Break 12 oz spaghetti noodles in half and layer in the pot criss cross overlapping

pour sauce on top of noodles

Add 3 cups of water to the side of the pot

Place lid on pot and press MANUAL (or PRESSURE COOK) and set timer for 9 minutes. Allow 10-15 minutes to come to pressure before it starts the countdown cook timer

Once it is finished cooking, do a quick release of the pressure. Remove the lid and stir. If any noodles are stuck together keep string they will eventually break up. With tongs put the pasta into each bowl with a few meatballs and top with the fresh chopped basil to garnish.

Notes

Resist the urge to stir the ingredients in the pot - they should be layered.

Pour the water in long the sides of the pot - again you don't want to disrupt the layer of sauce and noodles.

If noodles are sticking together when you open the pot - just keep stirring they will eventually break up.