Instant Pot Spaghetti is an unbelievably delicious one pot dinner! It’s incredibly easy to make and the flavors developed from cooking it in a pressure cooker are very rich and deep. This tender, flavorful pasta is cooked right in the sauce, broth, and meat mixture to soak up every bit of flavor.
Instant Pot Spaghetti
Spaghetti with meat sauce comes together in the Instant Pot in just about half an hour and results in a comforting, flavorful, hearty dinner. It’s a really great take on Classic Spaghetti Sauce and Pasta Bolognese. The main difference is that this Instant Pot recipe is much quicker than traditional cooking methods, and the pressure cooker does all of the work for you.
This recipe is the definition of an easy weeknight dinner. Nothing quite hits the spot after a long day like spaghetti with meat sauce, and nothing’s easier than making dinner in the Instant Pot! Well, ordering Italian food to your door might be easier… But it’ll be more expensive and way less delicious. This Instant Pot spaghetti is budget friendly, filling, and tasty as can be.
The flavor here really comes from the Homemade Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce, which I highly recommend that you use in this recipe! While you can certainly use your favorite store-bought jar of spaghetti sauce, homemade sauce is much more flavorful than store-bought.
Benefits of Cooking Spaghetti in the Instant Pot
- It’s a one pot dinner! That means it’s less of a hassle to make AND has way easier clean up than other methods.
- Using the Instant Pot gets fast, tender, and flavorful results that normally take hours on to achieve on the stove top.
- The rich flavors that develop from cooking the pasta sauce and then the spaghetti with meat sauce are almost unbelievable for such a short time.
How To Make Instant Pot Spaghetti
Ingredients for Instant Pot Spaghetti:
- Olive Oil
- Yellow Onion – While a yellow onion is preferred, a white onion will also get the job done.
- Garlic – Use fresh garlic for the most aromatic flavor. Avoid using garlic paste or pre-minced garlic.
- Ground Beef – I prefer to use ground beef in this meat sauce. However, you could instead opt for ground pork, ground Italian sausage, ground turkey, or ground chicken.
- Salt
- Pepper – Freshly cracked black pepper yields the best flavor.
- Garlic Powder
- Italian Seasoning
- Spaghetti Sauce – You can use a 24 oz. jar of your favorite store-bought sauce, but I highly recommend using a homemade instant pot pasta sauce for the best results.
- Chicken Stock – use Homemade Chicken Stock when available. You can also use Vegetable Stock in needed.
- Pasta – while spaghetti is the most traditional, you can also use fettuccine, linguine, or even angel hair. The time will stay mostly the same, but may change by a minute or two for angel hair since it’s so thin.
Cooking Instructions:
Before you start cooking, measure and prepare all of your ingredients.
Preheat the Instant Pot to “sauté” and add some oil. Sauté the onions until softened before stirring in the minced garlic. Cook the garlic until fragrant.
Add the ground beef, breaking it up as it cooks. Season the beef and continue cooking until brown and just cooked.
Pour in 1 cup of chicken stock, while you scrape the bottom of the pot. Then, pour in half of the pasta sauce.
Break the dry spaghetti in half and layer them in a circle while crisscrossing. DO NOT STIR IT IN!
Top the spaghetti with the remaining sauce, then the remaining chicken stock. Still, do not stir!
Close the lid and latch it. Turn the valve to “seal,” and set the pressure cooker to cook on the “high pressure” setting for 5 minutes. Once the time is up, do a natural release for 5-7 minutes followed by a quick release.
Open the lid and carefully remove the pot insert. Gently stir, plate the pasta into a bowl, and top it off with some freshly grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Tips for the Best Spaghetti in the Instant Pot
- Deglaze the pot after browning the meat. When the meat is done cooking, pour in the chicken stock as you scrape the bottom of the pot. It’s important to scrape everything off the bottom of the pot so you don’t get the “burn” notice on the Instant Pot. Plus, it adds more flavor to the dish!
- Layer the dry pasta in the middle of the sauce. Add half of the sauce to the meat and half the chicken stock. Then, layer the pasta and top it off with remaining pasta sauce and chicken stock. This will ensure that while the pasta cooks, it will be fully submerged and cook evenly.
- Place pasta in a crisscross pattern for less clumping. Don’t just dump the pasta in the pot, or it may clump together. So place pasta in a crisscrossed circles to avoid any clumping.
- Don’t stir it once you layer the sauce and pasta – again, DO NOT stir it! Don’t touch it at all, as tempted as you may be. Just cover and cook.
- Use homemade sauce for best results. For the best flavor, use homemade Instant Pot spaghetti sauce or another homemade sauce you love! Store-bought pasta sauces are usually not as flavorful as homemade. If you want to use store-bought, taste it first and you can adjust the seasoning by adding a little more salt, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and/or herbs. If you go with homemade sauce, keep in mind that you can make spaghetti sauce ahead of time or right before making the pasta.
Instant Pot Spaghetti
Instant Pot Spahgetti
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
- Wooden spatula
- Measuring cups
- Knife and cutting board
Ingredients
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef can also use Italian sausage, ground pork, ground turkey, or ground chicken
- salt
- pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 3 cups spaghetti sauce (or 24 oz jar of your favorite sauce)
- 2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 1 lb uncooked spaghetti
Instructions
- Prepare and measure your ingredients before starting to cook. Dice onion, smash and mince garlic.
- Preheat Instant Pot on "sauté" or "sear" setting and add some oil. Add onions and sauté until softened. Stir in minced garlic and cook until just fragrant.
- Add ground beef and break it up. Season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder. Cook, breaking up the clumps as it cooks, until the beef is browned and just cooked.
- Pour in 1 cup of the chicken stock while scraping the bottom of the pot as you pour. Pour in half the pasta sauce as well.
- Break spaghetti in half and layer them in a circle, while crisscrossing. DO NOT STIR.
- Top layered spaghetti with remaining sauce and then pour in remaining chicken stock. Resist the urge to stir!
- Close the lid and make sure it is latched all the way. Turn the valve to “seal” and set the pressure cooker to cook on “high pressure” setting for 5 minutes. Once time is up, do a natural release for 5-7 minutes and then a quick release. (If you want your pasta to be al-dente, do natural release for only a couple of minutes.)
- Open the pressure cooker lid and carefully take out the pot insert. Gently stir, plate the pasta into bowl, and top off with parmesan cheese. Note that the pasta will be scalding hot! So give it a little bit of time to cool down.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
LyubaB says
Yes, but make sure you’re not using a large instant pot because you have to have a minimum amount so it doesn’t burn. I would not recommend freezing but it does store while in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. When I make it my husband eats it the rest of the week. 😉
Susan says
Can this recipe be halved? Or, does it freeze well? Not sure I have ever frozen my cooked spaghetti. There are just two of us, so one pound of spaghetti is a lot.
Chelsea says
Hi! How much pasta do we put in this?
LyubaB says
Oops! I forgot to post the amount of pasta! But it is 1 pound of pasta and I fixed it in the recipe as well, thank you!