Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

The best way to make spaghetti and meatballs in the instant pot – this easy recipe uses frozen meatballs for a quick dinner the family loves.

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Simple Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

There are some recipes you crave when you need a big, cozy, and comforting bowl of comfort – and spaghetti and meatballs will always be one of ours.

We love meatballs – and have a ton of meatball recipes on our site (like our creamy meatball soupeasy homemade meatballsgarlic butter meatballsand even vegan hoisin meatballs) – we can't get enough!

Spaghetti and meatballs is one of our favorite easy meals – boil spaghetti, heat or make meatballs, and add sauce. Can't get any easier…. right?

Except it totally can!

We know it sounds crazy for such an easy thing to make for dinner, but cooking Spaghetti and Meatballs in an Instant Pot saves a TON of time, is incredibly easy to clean and prep, and saves a ton of steps.

This recipe is truly a dump it in, set it and forget it recipe – you won't even so much as stir until the time is up – and it honestly tastes SO much better than how we normally make stovetop spaghetti and meatballs with pre-made sauce and meatballs.

Cooking spaghetti and meatballs in the Instant Pot helps spaghetti sauce emulsify properly with no work (meaning the sauce sticks to noodles perfectly), giving solid results every time.

We hope you love how easy this recipe is as much as our family!

Instant Pot Spaghetti with Frozen Meatballs

This recipe relies on using frozen meatballs – which is not something we normally call for in recipes.

We are a big believer of thawing frozen foods before cooking, but this recipe has been specifically designed to go straight from the freezer and the cabinet into the instant pot – without even stirring, let alone thawing.

Using frozen meatballs is pretty essential to this recipe – we've tried with thawed pre-cooked frozen meatballs, but if the meatballs are thawed before added to this, they get gummy and soggy.

For this recipe, use meatballs straight out of your freezer – we promise it will work and give the best results!

What Kind of Meatballs To Use

This recipe is incredibly adaptable – as long as you use frozen meatballs that are pre-cooked.

This is a great budget meal, since pre-cooked frozen meatballs are often less expensive and a million times easier than making your own.

While we LOVE making our own meatballs (check out the best meatball recipeor even our air fried keto meatballs for some of our faves) – this recipe works with pre-cooked and frozen meatballs.

You can use any kind you want (chicken, vegetarian, turkey, beef, pork; even large or small meatballs) but they need to bee the pre-cooked frozen kind.

What Sauce to Use For Spaghetti and Meatballs

Since this recipe calls for store-bought meatballs and store-bought spaghetti sauce, you can pick whatever kind of sauce you love.

Any 32 ounce (2 pound) bottle of your favorite spaghetti sauce will work perfectly!

Since we're not adding many other ingredients, you will want to go with a sauce you truly love.

If you normally toss in some Italian herbs or spices when cooking spaghetti and meatballs, add them to the sauce when adding to the Instant Pot, so it can cook into the sauce like you normally would.

How To Cook Spaghetti And Meatballs in an Instant Pot

This instant pot spaghetti and meatballs recipe is basically foolproof – but it does rely on specific steps and a specific order that you need to follow for this recipe to work properly.

Please read through the steps below – we promise they are insanely easy – for perfectly cooked meatballs, perfectly sauced noodles, and a thick, good sauce full of flavor.

Add Meatballs – Remove meatballs from packaging and add directly to Instant Pot pan, while frozen.

Add Spaghetti – Hold spaghetti and snap in half. Layer spaghetti over frozen meatballs in Instant Pot.

Add Sauce – Dump sauce over spaghetti in Instant Pot. If using any herbs, season when adding sauce. DO NOT STIR. Let this sit exactly as-is, or the recipe won't work.

Add Stock or Water – Pour in stock (more flavor) or water (works fine too). The recipe calls for two cups of stock and one cup of water – this is the blend we like, because it enhances the meaty flavor. You can make it all stock, or all water, change it up depending on the flavor you'd like. Some stock can be salty, so we try to grab low sodium stocks.

Again – DO. NOT. STIR.

Close Lid, Set to Seal

Close Instant Pot lid, set to high pressure for nine minutes.

While 9 minutes is the cooking time we use, please remember this will take longer than 9 minutes to cook, because the Instant Pot takes time to come to pressure, and the 9 minutes doesn't start until the pot is at pressure.

This means your spaghetti and meatballs will take longer than if you made it on the stove.

However – this is only one dish to clean up, and involves basically zero work, for only a couple minutes difference.

We will only ever make spaghetti and meatballs from store bought meatballs this way ever again – it comes out perfectly and is too simple to not use, even though it adds a few minutes.

You can use that time to whip up some Garlic Butter Texas toast to go alongside this dinner in that time, since you won't be doing any other work!

Cook

Let the Instant Pot cook at pressure for 9 minutes until the timer goes off.

When done cooking, force the release.

Quick release is important for this recipe, so your noodles don't overcook and turn to mush.

Use quick release when food is done, and be careful to never put your face near the Instant Pot and use gloves or tongs to slide the vent open to prevent any burning from steam when releasing your pressure cooker.

How Long To Cook IP Spaghetti and Meatballs

This recipe was tested at our home outside of Denver, Colorado – meaning we're high altitude. 9 minutes should be where you start if you're also at high altitude.

If you like al dente pasta, you can reduce cook time to as low as 6 or 7 minutes.

We suggest starting at 9 because that is what works for most people, but you can reduce the cook time if you find your spaghetti too soft.

Stir

Now that the spaghetti and meatballs are cooked, you can stir it all up!

The spaghetti sauce will be a bit funky looking when first opened – give it a quick stir and it will look solid!

Serve

Remove from Instant Pot quickly to prevent overcooking (mushy noodles are no fun), and serve!

We like to top with fresh grated parmesan cheese, and a bit of fresh parsley or basil.

Serve it with

This spaghetti and meatball recipe is hearty and comforting, but if you're looking for a whole meal, we are lining up some of our favorite recipes that pair perfectly with spaghetti!

Other Instant Pot Recipes You'll Love

If you love this easy Instant Pot pressure cooker recipe, please check out more of our popular Instant Pot Recipes!

Share Pin It Follow

Ingredients

• 1 lb Italian style frozen meatballs*
• 8 oz spaghetti noodles, which is half a box of spaghetti
• 2 cups beef stock, we opt for low sodium
• 1 cup water
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 28 oz

Method

1. Remove meatballs from packaging and add directly to Instant Pot pan, in an unplugged instant pot, while frozen.
2. Remove 1/2 spaghetti from a box and hold to snap in half.
3. Layer spaghetti over frozen meatballs in Instant Pot.
4. Dump sauce over spaghetti in Instant Pot. Do not stir.
5. If using any herbs, season when adding sauce.
6. Pour in stock and water.
7. Do not stir.
8. Close Instant Pot lid, set to high pressure for nine minutes.
9. Let the Instant Pot cook at pressure for 9 minutes until the timer goes off. Note: this is tested in Denver, CO. Reduce down to 6 minutes according to your preference and altitude (if too soft, reduce time to 7 minutes and troubleshoot from there, but most people like this cooked at 9 minutes.)
10. Quick release when food is done, maintain a safe distance to prevent steam burns.
11. Stir well to toss spaghetti and meatballs in sauce.
12. Remove from Instant Pot quickly to prevent overcooking, and serve!
13. Optional: top with fresh grated parmesan cheese, and a bit of fresh parsley or basil.