Incredibly Easy Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs is the easiest weeknight meal out there. This quick Instant pot dinner uses pantry and freezer items that I always keep on hand so that they are ready on those nights when dinner falls through the cracks. This one-pot meal has very little clean-up and is done in 8 minutes!

Dinnertime can be a struggle around my house. I love to cook but there are some nights when 5:00 rolls around and you are just too tired to think about food (or anything else). This Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatball recipe can be thrown together using things we always have on hand and is ready in only 8 minutes.

My kids all love spaghetti but it’s one of those dishes that ends up making a huge mess to prepare. You need a pot for the noodles and a pot for the meat sauce, plus a strainer and all the other odds and ends we end up pulling out to make it.

This Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs can be made using only your Instant Pot – no straining required.

I always have a few backup meals planned because you never really know how your week is going to go. This is one of our favorites because my kids LOVE spaghetti and this technique just makes it so quick and easy to throw together.

You may also like this Freezer Meal Plan that will help you make 7 meals in an hour!

How to Make Spaghetti and Meatballs in the Instant Pot

The technique behind Spaghetti and Meatballs in the Instant Pot is so easy. This is one of the fastest dinners that I can throw together.

I always keep frozen meatballs in my freezer to have on hand for quick meals. I honestly don’t even measure when I make this — I just eyeball it.

I pour enough meatballs to cover the bottom of my Instant Pot (plus a bit — I have 6 kids). I buy meatballs in a 6 pound bag so I guesstimate and use about 1/3 of the bag to get 2 pounds or so of meatballs.

Break the spaghetti noodles in half and spread them over the meatballs.

You can use a different variety of pasta in this but you will need to play around with the cooking time. As a general rule, you will cook pasta for a few minutes shorter than what is listed on the box. I’d aim for undercooking vs. overcooking since you can always turn the pot back on for a few more minutes if you need to.

Be sure to spread your spaghetti noodles out as much as you can so they won’t stick together as much.

Pour your broth over the noodles. You can use water here but broth gives it some great flavor and added nutrition. I really like to use bone broth in this to give it some extra nutritional value (this brand is our favorite).

Pour your spaghetti sauce over the top. I like to spread this out a bit so that the noodles are completely covered because I find that the noodles cook better.

Set your Instant Pot to 8 minutes using the manual mode. You can cook this for longer or shorter, depending on how you like your pasta. I find that 8 minutes turns out perfectly for us.

This turns out fantastic every single time and it is the most stress-free dinner my family makes.