Instant Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce—So Good, Easy & Cheap, It’s Insane!

I love my Instant Pot—the greatest time-saving, magic-producing, easy-to-use kitchen appliance known to [wo]mankind. But I have to admit the idea of making Instant Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce in a single pot, all at the same time sounded fabulous. But the process just did not sit well with me.

I use it almost every day to make everything from eggs to pot roast, steel-cut oats, and (wait for it …) cheesecake! Yes, the BEST cheesecake ever! But haven’t we learned that pasta and pressure cooking do not play well together? Pasta will turn to mush, breaking down in ways that make it not particularly edible. No wonder I was suspicious!

Listen to the real experts

Rave reviews from cooks and food enthusiasts I respect highly kept haunting me. I had to give it a try if only to prove once and for all that pasta in a pressure cooker will turn out a mushy mess, lacking distinct flavor, texture, and visual appeal. Boy was I wrong!

This spaghetti method with meat sauce will knock your socks off! What’s so great is that the pasta turns out perfectly, but more than that it comes out infused with the flavors from the meat sauce. And it hugs each strand of spaghetti, clinging to it the way it’s supposed to! I find this so much better than preparing the pasta in a separate pot, then pouring the meat sauce over the top to serve.

I’ve been making this once a week for a couple of months—first for dinner and then reheating the leftovers for lunch the next day (even better the next day!). And I have to say is this is the best thing to come out of my kitchen in a long time. I’ll never make spaghetti and meat sauce any other way. And once you try it, I predict you won’t either.

 

Ingredients

To make Instant-Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce,  you will need:

• olive oil
• chopped onion (optional)
• minced garlic (optional)
• ground beef
• salt
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• water
• your favorite jarred marinara, spaghetti, or tomato-based pasta sauce
• dry spaghetti
• Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional and not pictured)

 

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General Instructions

Here’s the critical issue. You must follow the specific instructions exactly, and I’m talking about how you layer and add the ingredients to the Instant Pot. At one point the recipe instructs “Do not stir!” so please, don’t do it! Here’s the “Clifs Note” version for how to do this, with the complete recipe and full instructions in the printable recipe card below.

1. Set Instant Pot to “saute,” adding olive oil, chopped onions and garlic. Cook until tender.
2. Add ground beef, salt, and powders, breaking it up with a wooden spoon or spatula and continue cooking until no longer pink.
3. Add part of the water and all of the spaghetti sauce.
4. Stir well to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.
5. Break noodles in half and layer on top.
6. Do. Not. Stir
7. Add the rest of the water.
8. Set to High Pressure, then quick-release.
9. Stir, plate, top with Parmesan, serve.

 

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Last update on 2024-04-15 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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