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Instant Pot Spaghetti makes pasta night super easy! The pasta cooks in the pressure cooker with the ground beef spaghetti sauce for a one pot meal that’s ready in 30 minutes.
I love making Homemade Spaghetti Sauce, but some days I just don’t have the time. This Instant Pot Spaghetti recipe to the rescue!
Table of Contents
Why It’s Great
- One-Pot Meal – Hello, easy clean up!
- 30 Minute Meal – Great for a busy weeknight.
- Simple Ingredients – You may even have everything on hand!
Ingredients For Instant Pot Spaghetti
- Olive Oil
- Ground Beef – Use at least 85/15 or higher.
- Spices – Salt, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Dried Basil, Dried Oregano, Red Pepper Flakes
- Water
- Jarred Marinara – or other tomato-based pasta sauce
- Uncooked Spaghetti Noodles
- Grated Parmesan Cheese – for serving
How To Make Instant Pot Spaghetti
See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Making pasta in the instant pot is so easy! The pasta cooks with all of the other sauce ingredients making for a recipe that is flavorful and with little clean up.
- Cook Ground Beef – Start by putting your Instant Pot on SAUTE. Once hot, add the oil, ground beef, and spices. Cook the beef, crumbling while it cooks, until no longer pink. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Add Noodles – Add about ½ cup of the water to the cooked beef, stir, and scrape up any bits from the bottom. Break the noodles in half and add to the pot – stacking in a crisscross pattern. Do not stir!
- Add Marinara and Water – Pour the marinara sauce over the uncooked noodles then pour in the remaining water. Do not stir, but you can press the noodles down lightly to make sure they are completely submerged.
- Pressure Cook – Place the lid on the Instant Pot and seal. Cook on manual high pressure for 8 minutes. Once done cooking, quick release the pressure immediately.
- Serve – Once the pressure is released, you can remove the lid, give the pasta a stir and serve. I like to serve the bowls of spaghetti with fresh parmesan cheese.
FAQs
There are a few key steps to prevent getting a burn error. First, is scraping the bits from the bottom of the pressure cooker. The second is both using enough liquid and also layering the liquid and other ingredients properly. Make sure you follow the recipe steps and don’t stir the noodles in.
The ratio of water to pasta in the Instant Pot is about 3 cups of water for every 8oz of pasta. But in this recipe, the marinara sauce adds liquid so less water is needed.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this recipe with a big green salad like this easy Caesar salad or garden salad. And pasta night isn’t complete without garlic bread or garlic breadsticks.
Variations
- Spicy Spaghetti – Add more red pepper flakes for a spicier spaghetti.
- Other Meat – Instead of ground beef, you can swap in ground sausage (such as hot Italian) or even ground turkey.
- Creamy Spaghetti – For a creamier sauce, after cooking you can stir in a couple tablespoons of cream cheese.
Storing and Reheating
Storage – Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheating – Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave or in a pot on the stove with a little water added to loosen it up.
- Break and Criss Cross Noodles – This is important to ensure that the noodles cook and don’t stick together in one lump.
- Scrape the Bottom of the Pot – It’s important to scrape up any bits from the bottom after browning the beef. This helps prevent getting the BURN error on your pressure cooker.
- Don’t Stir the Noodles – I know it’s tempting, but don’t stir the noodles into the other ingredients.
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Pasta with Chicken
- Instant Pot Skyline Cincinnati Chili
- Instant Pot Chili Recipe
- Instant Pot Jambalaya with Shrimp and Sausage
Instant Pot Spaghetti
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 2 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 cups water divided
- 2 24-ounce jars marinara or tomato-based pasta sauce
- 16 ounces uncooked spaghetti noodles
- Grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Turn the pressure cooker to SAUTE. When hot, add the olive oil, ground beef and seasonings. Cook, breaking up beef with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir and break up the beef until fully cooked and no longer pink; about 5 minutes.
- Turn off the saute function and add ½ cup of water. Stir, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
- Break spaghetti noodles in half and add to the pot, stacked in a crisscross pattern. Do not stir.
- Pour the marinara sauce over the noodles, then pour in the remaining water. Again, do not stir, but press down lightly on the noodles to ensure they are completely submerged.
- Place the lid on the pressure cooker and seal. Set to manual mode and HIGH pressure for 8 minutes cook time. It will take about 10 minutes to come up to pressure.
- Perform a quick release as soon as the cook time is up. Wait for cycle to complete, then open the lid and stir the noodles into the sauce. Turn off the pressure cooker and serve immediately.
