Instant Pot Spaghetti

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Growing up as a kid we had spaghetti every week…..at least once a week.  To this day, my parents still have spaghetti weekly.  Why?  Because it’s quick, it’s easy and it’s cheap.  Spaghetti is one of the meals that ALL of the kids will eat.  It’s a home run every time.

I usually cook spaghetti on the stovetop….let’s be honest…..it’s not that hard and it’s not that time consuming.  But, since I have come to cook LITERALLY EVERYTHING in a pressure cooker, I figured it was time that I tried cooking spaghetti in the Instant Pot too.  I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect.  Let me tell you…..it was fantastic!  The pasta was cooked perfectly, there was the perfect amount of sauce and the flavor was great.

Tips for this recipe:

1. It’s tempting to want to stir this recipe before starting to cook under pressure.  Don’t do it!  Resist the temptation!  If you stir this recipe after you have added the pasta, you will end up with a burn or error message.
2. Buy lean ground beef when cooking under pressure in the Instant Pot.   If you buy a higher fat content, you will need to drain the grease if you don’t want to end up with a greasy finished product.  That’s a lot of extra work in my book, so I buy 93% lean ground beef and skip the grease draining step.  Saves time and is much easier.
3. To make this a quick meal, use jarred sauce and frozen onions.  If you have more time, you can make the sauce from scratch and use fresh onions.  But, if you are looking for a quick weeknight meal, jarred sauce and frozen onions work great!

How to make Instant Pot Spaghetti:

1. Turn the Instant Pot on the high “sauté” option.  Once hot, add the ground beef, salt, Italian seasoning and onion to the inner pot.
2. Stir ground beef, salt, Italian seasoning and onion constantly until the ground beef is broken up into small pieces and is lightly browned.
3. If you use lean ground beef, you do NOT need to drain the grease from the pot.  If you use a high fat content ground beef you will need to drain the grease.  You can do so by either using a ladle to scoop the grease out or you can CAREFULLY remove the inner pot and pour the grease out.  I HIGHLY recommend using a low fat ground beef to avoid this step all together.
4. Once ground beef is lightly browned, add garlic and sugar.  Stir together
5. Add 24 ounces of beef broth.  Save the last cup of beef broth for a future step. DO NOT STIR!  If you stir, you are likely to get a burn or error message.
6. Pour in 24 ounces of pasta sauce.
7. Pour the remaining cup of beef broth into the pasta sauce bottle, put the lid on and shake.  This will help get every last bit of sauce out of the jar.  Pour into pot.
8. Sprinkle red pepper flakes into pot.
9. Add in fresh basil and stir.
10. Turn off the Instant Pot,  You no longer need to sauté anything in the pot.
11. Add in 1/2 pound of spaghetti or fettuccine noodles (Half of a box).   Do so by breaking the noodles in half, over the pot.  Place noodles on top of other ingredients in a criss cross pattern.  You want to alternate directions of the pasta so that they are not all stacked on top of each other in the same direction.  Create a # pattern with the pasta noodles. DO NOT STIR!
12. Make sure that all pasta is covered by liquid (or as much as possible).  I just pushed down on the noodles with a spatula until they were covered with liquid.
13. Pour in 6 ounces of tomato paste or thick pasta sauce right on top of the pasta.  DO NOT STIR!
14. Close the lid, turn the Instant Pot back on and cook on manual high for 3 minutes.
15. Once the timer goes off, natural release pressure for 3 minutes.  Quick release remaining pressure. Turn off the Instant Pot.
16. Open the lid and stir pasta together.  Be sure to stir well and ensure no pasta is clumped together.
17. Top with parmesan or mozzarella cheese if desired.
18. Put the lid back on but do not turn the Instant Pot on.  Let pasta sit for up to 8 minutes.
    1. If you used spaghetti noodles, let sit for 3 minutes.
    2. If you used linguini, let sit for 5 minutes.
    3. If you used fettuccini, let sit for 8 minutes.
19. Remove lid, stir and serve!  Enjoy!

• 1 Pound of lean ground beef (93% lean recommended)
• 1/2 Cup diced onions- I used frozen
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon fresh basil- chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 Tablespoon garlic- minced
• 1 Teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 32 Ounces beef broth
• 24 Ounces pasta sauce- I used store bought in a jar
• 1/2 Pound spaghetti or fettuccine noodles
• 6 Ounces tomato paste or thick sauce
• 1 Cup of parmesan or mozzarella cheese if desired

Instant Pot Spaghetti

5 from 1 vote

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Servings: 8 Servings

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 Pound of lean ground beef (93% lean recommended)
• ▢ 1/2 Cup diced onions- I used frozen
• ▢ 1 Teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon fresh basil- chopped
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon garlic- minced
• ▢ 1 Teaspoon sugar
• ▢ 1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ▢ 32 Ounces beef broth
• ▢ 24 Ounces pasta sauce- I used store bought in a jar
• ▢ 1/2 Pound spaghetti or fettuccine noodles
• ▢ 6 Ounces tomato paste or thick sauce
• ▢ 1 Cup of parmesan or mozzarella cheese if desired

Instructions

• Turn the Instant Pot on the high "sauté" option.  Once hot, add the ground beef, salt, Italian seasoning and onion to the inner pot.
• Stir ground beef, salt, Italian seasoning and onion constantly until the ground beef is broken up into small pieces and is lightly browned.
• If you use lean ground beef, you do NOT need to drain the grease from the pot.  If you use a high fat content ground beef you will need to drain the grease.  You can do so by either using a ladle to scoop the grease out or you can CAREFULLY remove the inner pot and pour the grease out.  I HIGHLY recommend using a low fat ground beef to avoid this step all together.
• Once ground beef is lightly browned, add garlic and sugar.  Stir together
• Add 24 ounces of beef broth.  Save the last cup of beef broth for a future step. DO NOT STIR!  If you stir, you are likely to get a burn or error message.
• Pour in 24 ounces of pasta sauce.
• Pour the remaining cup of beef broth into the pasta sauce bottle, put the lid on and shake.  This will help get every last bit of sauce out of the jar.  Pour into pot.
• Sprinkle red pepper flakes into pot.
• Add in fresh basil and stir.
• Turn off the Instant Pot,  You no longer need to sauté anything in the pot.
• Add in 1/2 pound of spaghetti or fettuccine noodles (Half of a box).   Do so by breaking the noodles in half, over the pot.  Place noodles on top of other ingredients in a criss cross pattern.  You want to alternate directions of the pasta so that they are not all stacked on top of each other in the same direction.  Create a # pattern with the pasta noodles. DO NOT STIR!
• Make sure that all pasta is covered by liquid (or as much as possible).  I just pushed down on the noodles with a spatula until they were covered with liquid.
• Pour in 6 ounces of tomato paste or thick pasta sauce right on top of the pasta.  DO NOT STIR!
• Close the lid, turn the Instant Pot back on and cook on manual high for 3 minutes.
• Once the timer goes off, natural release pressure for 3 minutes.  Quick release remaining pressure. Turn off the Instant Pot. 
• Open the lid and stir pasta together.  Be sure to stir well and ensure no pasta is clumped together.
• Top with parmesan or mozzarella cheese if desired.
• Put the lid back on but do not turn the Instant Pot on.  Let pasta sit for up to 8 minutes.
• If you used spaghetti noodles, let sit for 3 minutes.
• If you used linguini, let sit for 5 minutes.
• If you used fettuccini, let sit for 8 minutes.
• Remove lid, stir and serve!  Enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1.5g

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