Julie Clark
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Instant Pot Italian Meatballs
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How to make Instant Pot Italian Meatballs. Our BEST homemade meatballs with easy sauce made faster than ever with the Instant Pot. You may also like our Instant Pot Spaghetti recipe!
Instant Pot Italian Meatballs Recipe
Spaghetti and meatballs are always a hit at our house. Although once you make the meatballs, waiting for them to bake in the oven isn’t “hard” (unless you can’t wait to dig into them), this method allows the meatballs to cook in only 10 minutes (plus additional time for the pot to come to pressure).
How to Make Meatballs in the Instant Pot
Making meatballs in the Instant Pot starts the same way. We used our homemade meatball recipe that we know and love.
- Start with a lean ground beef. We prefer at 85% but don’t generally go higher than 90% lean. Because the meatballs and sauce cook together in the Instant Pot, you don’t want all of the extra grease.
- Roll the meatballs larger than you normally would. We got about 24 meatballs which means they might be hard to fit on the bottom of the Instant Pot. We were ok with that, but if you’d like, you can make really big meatballs so they can all fit on the bottom.
- An 8-quart Instant Pot works best for this recipe because there is more space for the meatballs to sit. You can use a 6-quart though!
Easy Spaghetti Sauce
This homemade sauce is easily made with tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add spices to deepen the flavor. Add a touch of red pepper flakes if you like a little spice!
I like to mix the sauce in a separate bowl and then pour it over the meatballs, but if you’d like you can just add the sauce ingredients to the pot and toss the meatballs in it. Just be careful not to smoosh or tear the uncooked meatballs!
Other Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Apple Dumplings
- 15 Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Ribs
Instant Pot Italian Meatballs
How to make Instant Pot Italian Meatballs. Our BEST homemade meatballs with easy sauce made faster than ever with the Instant Pot.
Servings 12
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 3/4 pound ground Italian sausage (hot, sweet or mild, depending on what you like)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- ½ cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Spaghetti Sauce
- 30 ounces tomato sauce (2 15 ounce cans)
- 14.5 ounces diced tomatoes, undrained (1 can)
- 6 ounces tomato paste (1 can)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
For pouring overtop:
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
Meatballs
- Mix together all ingredients for the meatballs in a mixer. Use a large scoop and then use hands to roll into packed meatballs. Make 24 large meatballs.
Spaghetti Sauce
- In a medium bowl, combine the ingredients for the spaghetti sauce. Pour ⅓ of the sauce into the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Place meatballs on the bottom of the inner pot.
- Pour the remaining sauce over the meatballs.
- Gently stir together to coat the meatballs, being careful not to press together the uncooked meatballs.
- Pour the ½ cup water overtop the sauce.
- Close the lid on the pressure cooker and make sure the pressure valve is turned to Sealing.
- Set a manual cook time for 10 minutes on high pressure.
- Do a quick release when pressure cooking time has finished.
- Serve over your choice of pasta noodles, or on an open-faced sandwich bun with melted cheese.
- Serves 12 (2 meatballs each).
Notes
The calories shown are based on the recipe making 24 meatballs, with 1 serving being 2 meatballs. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.
Nutrition
Calories: 313kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 136mg | Sodium: 1305mg | Potassium: 824mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 735IU | Vitamin C: 12.3mg | Calcium: 160mg | Iron: 4.4mg
Can I make this recipe with just the ground Italian sausage in stead of both?
I found this recipe months ago when I first got my Instapot. It is the best spaghetti sauce and meatballs I have ever made! Thank you!
Would it be possible to use the Trivet to place the Meatballs on so you don’t get the Burn notice?
This was my first meal I made in the Instant Pot I got for Christmas so I’m VERY green at this. Since there are just two of us, I made only half the amount of meatballs but kept the full amount of sauce. I followed the recipe exactly, however, I kept getting a “burn” alert. Thank goodness, there was no burnt taste even though the pot got somewhat scorched. Any idea what I did wrong? We did love the taste of the sauce and meatballs, although I felt the sauce was too watery. Is it necessary to put the water… Read more »
I grew up in an italian family but the family recipe book is off limits to the men in the family. I divide meatballs into 2 categories: Italian meatballs have the right combination of flavors that make them taste exciting and american meatballs that taste like hamburger meat rolled into a ball. Half the restaurants I go to serve american meatballs (no thanks). This is my first attempt at making meatballs. I used my instant pot. I am happy to report to you that these are definitely Italian meatballs! I was very happy that the results of my first attempt… Read more »
I just made ttese in the oven for our dinner tonight. Outstanding taste!
Would you happen to have this recipe for a crockpot? It sounds delicious, and I have no Instant Pot. 🙁
Hubby think I don’t need one! Haha…
Thank you!
Couple of questions about the IP meatballs. Do you spray your IP with non-stick cooking spray before cooking in it? When do you add the water, or is it just stirred into the sauce? Thanks!!