This Instant Pot Spaghetti is a quick, easy, tasty dinner that is perfect for a busy weeknight meal! Post also has lots of tips and tricks for cooking spaghetti in your pressure cooker.
Spaghetti Is Easy
This past winter I was talking to my husband about how I could use my Instant Pot to make spaghetti, and he said something along the lines of, “but spaghetti is so easy to make, why would you ever need to do that?” I agreed, and didn’t think about it much more.
But then this summer, I found myself in an interesting situation. We made some renovations in our kitchen, and our stove was disconnected for a few days. After a couple of nights of take out, I wanted a homemade meal. Without a stove or oven, my options were limited. That night, Instant Pot spaghetti made a lot of sense.
Instant Pot Spaghetti
The Instant Pot spaghetti was everything I wanted: delicious, quick, and easy. It is now one of my go-to weeknight meals. Although boiling water is by no means difficult, this recipe saves that step and sometimes you just need those extra minutes to yourself or for something else.
I need to be honest here – spaghetti in the Instant Pot can burn easily. I have made this recipe 6 or 7 times over the last couple of months so that I can hopefully give you all the tips you need to learn from my mistakes.
- Tip #1: READ THESE TIPS. Spaghetti in a pressure cooker can burn easily. These tips will help avoid that particular catastrophe.
- Tip #2: Do one of these three things to saute the vegetables:
- If you only have one inner pot, saute the veggies in the Instant Pot, then remove them and set them aside. After this, clean out the bottom of the pot and let it cool for about 20 minutes.
- Alternatively, saute the vegetables on your stove top.
- If you have two inner pots (which I recommend) use one pot to saute and the second pot to cook the spaghetti.
- Tip #3: Spray the bottom of the inner pot with cooking spray before filling it with the spaghetti.
- Tip #4: Stir together the tomato sauce and spices in a separate bowl. This is because if too much tomato sauce touches the bottom of the pot, or it does for too long, it can burn.
- Tip #5: If you follow these tips you should be okay. However, if you accidentally mess up or something crazy happens and your Instant Pot says ‘burn’, place the inner pot over medium heat on your stove top and stir until the spaghetti noodles are cooked through. I have done this on a couple of occasions when I needed to in order to save the dinner, and it worked out well.
Instant Pot Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 4 cloves fresh minced garlic
- 15 ounce can diced tomatoes not drained
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
- 1/2 tbsp dried parsley
- 2 25 ounce jars Emeril’s Home Style Marinara Pasta Sauce I have also used Raos Marinara and Classico Traditional with good success
- 12 ounces dried thin spaghetti noodles
- 1/2 recipe Italian Meatballs or you can use ~20 ounce bag pre-packaged frozen Italian meatballs
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in inner pot on saute mode, or in a skillet over medium-high heat on stove top (see notes at end of post above). Add pepper and onion. Saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for another minute. Remove from heat and set aside.
- If you have two inner pots, use a different pot than you used to saute for the next steps. If you do not have two pots, wash out the bottom of the pot you used to saute, and let it cool for at least 20 minutes.
- Spray the inside of your cool, inner pot with cooking spray. Pour 1/2 cup water into bottom of pot. Place meatballs on top of water (meatballs can be frozen or fresh, this does not impact cooking time).
- In a large bowl, stir together cooked vegetables, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, thyme, parsley, and marinara sauce.
- Break noodles into halves or thirds. Spread 1/2 of the noodles over the top of the meatballs (criss cross the noodles as much as possible, you do not want them clumping). Spread 1/2 of the marinara over the noodles. Repeat with the remaining noodles and sauce.
- Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. Quick release at end of cooking time.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed this Instant Pot Spaghetti, you should check out these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Instant Pot Chicken Mole
Instant Pot Meatballs
Greek Meat Sauce with Spaghetti
Italian Sausage Pasta Bake
Sausage Stuffed Shells
