Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs – instant comfort meal with only 3 main ingredients under 30 minutes! Your favorite jar of pasta sauce and frozen meatballs are our secret shortcut to this quick and easy one pot spaghetti meal.
It’s going to be your family favorite in no time.
Instant Pot spaghetti and meatballs are seriously a life-saver on those super busy weeknights, when you don’t know what to cook and hungry mouths are begging for food. It’s also perfect last-minute dinner recipe that doesn’t require any prep work in advance. Just have some meatballs on hand!
3 Instant Pot Pasta Tips:
- Layer the ingredients in proper order. And place the spaghetti in criss cross layers to avoid clumps.
- Make sure the pasta is fully covered in pasta sauce and water, so it cooks evenly.
- Do quick release pressure, so that pasta doesn’t get overcooked.
Now let’s talk about the ingredients…
Only 3 main ingredients for this Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs!
- Meatballs – fresh or frozen. This’s my go-to meatballs recipe. I make a big batch and freeze them for lazy days. But you can use store-bought cooked frozen meatballs too. When using frozen meatballs, you don’t need to thaw them!!!
- Your favorite pasta sauce. You can use any kind of pasta sauce here. I like mushroom and basil pasta sauce, more flavor with less effort. Since it’s the one of 3 main ingredients, it’s important to use the sauce you truly love and enjoy.
- And finally, spaghetti. Any kind you like, whole wheat, regular, gluten-free, anything. I even use penne pasta sometimes, and it works just fine, if not better!
Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb meatballs Note 1
- 8 oz spaghetti Note 2
- 24 oz pasta sauce of your choice
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Optional toppings:
- Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil
Instructions
- Arrange meatballs in Instant Pot in one layer.
- Break spaghetti in half and arrange them over the meatballs in criss cross layers. (See image below.)
- Drizzle olive oil over spaghetti.
- Pour pasta sauce and water, making sure spaghetti is completely covered.
- Cover and set the Instant Pot to manual for 10 minutes at high pressure.
- Quick release pressure and carefully open the lid.
- Serve with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.If you tried this recipe, I’d love to read your feedback. Please leave your comment and rating below, or share on Instagram with #busycooks and tag us @busy_cooks. Thank you!!
Notes
Nutrition
* Disclaimer: All nutrition information are estimates only. Read full nutrition disclosure.
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Reader's Reviews
You need a go-to spaghetti and meatballs recipe, and this is it. Fast and easy and good.
So happy you loved the recipe, Sue. Thank you for your feedback!
The sauce came out a bit more watery than I would like, so next time I will probably try this with a bit less water, but other than that it was great. Thanks for this easy, delicious recipe!
Mine has done that before. I just let it set a little and it set up.
This is one of my favorites!!
Hi, Carla. Thank you for your feedback. As Heather mentioned, it usually sets up nicely in a bit.
This was really good quick and easy. I do however like my spaghetti more al dente, but for a quick dinner this was fine. I added more meatballs than the recipe called for because that is what I had. We like a lot of sauce, so after it was done I added extra sauce to the finished product. Served it with salad and everyone was happy. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you, Gail, for your feedback! So glad you gave it a try!
LOVE! LOVE!! LOVE!!!!!
SO SIMPLE. SO EASY! SO TASTY!
I CAN’T WAIT TO MAKE IT AGAIN!
Yay, so happy you tried and loved the recipe, Heather! Thank you for your feedback!
I’ve used this recipe several times and it always comes out perfectly! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Awesome. So happy you and your family enjoys this recipe, Trudy! I really appreciate your feedback.
Made this tonight with frozen raw meatballs and it came out absolutely delicious! Thank you for this easy, yet flavorful recipe! My new ‘go-to’ for spaghetti! 💖
Yay, so happy you loved it, Jennifer! I appreciate your feedback!
This recipe was fast and easy, the kids loved it! It made enough for our family of four to eat it twice. Thanks for posting this recipe! The rating stuff below is not displaying right, I would give it the best rating.
Cheryl, thank you SO much for your feedback! I’m glad your family enjoyed it.
This is the only recipe that I use to make spaghetti and meatballs in my IP. Love it! It’s so easy. Thank you so much!
That’s awesome. So happy you’re loving this recipe, Viviana. Thank you for your review!
Your recipe is my go to !! I use a Foodie also, so it works the same !!!! Very easy in 20 mins and done !!
That’s awesome, Jeff. Thank you for your feedback!
This is Rose I wonder if I had to be following before I could see the recipe, because today I found your recipe real easy
If I knew how to send you the screen shot page from yesterday you would see why I couldn’t find the recipe.
Glad you were able to find the recipe now, Rose. All of our recipes are available for free to everyone, no following or subscribing required.
Is there any way of putting your recipe first thing you see, instead of making it hard to find .
I had to use a different recipe because I couldn’t find yours
Hi, Rose. It makes me sad to read this comment. I intentionally placed the recipe right at the top so you don’t have to scroll down to look for recipe. (Maybe I should move it down, so it’s more “traditional”. Just thinking outloud. 🤷♀️ )
This is the best spaghetti and meatballs recipe I have tried in the Instant Pot. The liquid amount is perfect, and the consistency comes out perfect!
So happy you loved the result. Thank you for sharing your feedback, Kacey!!
Love this recipe—super quick and easy! And, most of all—it is GOOD!
Awesome. I’m so glad you enjoy this recipe, Martha. Thank you!!
What if you want to make a large pot with the whole box of pasta and a 54 oz bottle of prego? How much water would you add?
Hi, Karen. You’ll probably need to double the water as well. But instead of adding all of it at once, add it slowly until it the noodles are mostly covered. Hope this helps.
The best spaghetti I’ve ever had!
Fantastic! So glad you tried and loved it, Debi. It’s out favorite too!
Made this tonight and it came out ok. I would add more sauce next time.. Put in 24 oz of pasta sauce plus a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes. When it was finished, still seemed a bit too dry so I added another 1/2 of a 15 oz can of tomato sauce. Added the rest of the sauce from that can. later.. Definitely increase the liquids or decrease the pasta. I would make this again with some tweaks. Isn’t that what cooking is all about? Thank you for this go to recipe. Very kid friendly!
Hi, Polly. Thank you for your feedback and sharing your tweaks! Cooking (unlike baking) is definitely all about personal touches and tweaks! It’s interesting though, the most common complaint about Instant Pot spaghetti recipes is pasta being too watery. And I intentionally tested and retested different amount of liquid to settle on the least amount of water. Anyway, I appreciate your feedback!
Hi Shinee,
One of the helpful tips I learned from your recipe was how to cook frozen meatballs, which is why I tried the recipe. 🙂 They got a little black on the bottom but not enough to spoil the recipe. Has that happened to you ? Next time I will spray a bit of oil on the bottom. I liked the directions to add bit of olive oil to the pasta. I used rotini.
Hmm, I have never had that happen to me, Polly. And I make this recipe quite often. I just want to make sure. You did add 2 cups of water, right?
I’ve made this pasta and meatballs twice. The first was ok but a little bland for our taste. I think it was the sauce. The next pot I made I added one package of spaghetti sauce mix. Made a lot of difference to my gang.
Thank you for your feedback, Dave, and for sharing your adaptation. Is the spaghetti sauce mix a dry spice mix?
Can you use Uncooked frozen meatballs? Would the uncooked meatballs need to be thawed first?
Yes, you can use frozen uncooked meatballs. I’ve tested with raw frozen meatballs, works just as great. No need to thaw them and no need to adjust cooking time either. Hope you’ll enjoy, Christine.
What about doubling the recipe?
*Specifically doubling the pasta and noodles? I made ground sausage meatballs that were very good, but I could have used more pasta!*
Hi, Amber. So sorry for delayed answer. You can definitely double the pasta. But you’ll need to add more water/sauce. I can’t say exactly how much, but you want the noodles fully submerged.
What if I wanted to add fresh mushrooms, green peppers and onions? Same directions?
Hi, Tee. Yes, just add those veggies over meatballs and follow the same directions. Let us know how you like it. Thanks!
Could you use Italian sausage in place of meatballs?
I think so, but I’d brown it first and drain excess fat.
Can you use any type of pasta, like penne pasta
Yes, absolutely. I have used penne pasta many times, and honestly I kind of prefer penne over spaghetti. Let me know if you give it a try.
how do I change this to cook for 2 servings?
Hi, Phyllis. You can half the recipe, but keep the cooking time the same. Let me know if you give it a try!