Cheesy Ninja Foodi spaghetti will become your new favorite dinner using both your pressure cooker and air fryer functions! Baked spaghetti in a snap!! If you’re new and looking for Foodi recipes for your new machine we have them and pasta with jar sauce is where to start.
How do you make Ninja Foodi spaghetti you ask?? The BEST pasta you’ll ever try in your new fancy kitchen appliance! This is it! Our cheesy Ninja Foodi spaghetti recipe has it all. A one pot dinner with tender noodles and melted cheese on the top. If you’ve never had baked spaghetti before this is how you’ve gotta make it. Baking in the oven is so 2014. 😉 (affiliate links present)
How to Make Ninja Foodi Spaghetti
Are you obsessed with your pressure cooker and air fryer too??!! I made Instant Pot spaghetti years ago and it was a hit. Not only with my family but everyone else who tried it. But NOW there’s a new player in town and they can melt that ooey gooey cheese I love right on the top without having to transfer it into a dish and in the oven.
First – Let’s start with some helpful tips: Now once you’ve tried our cheesy Ninja Foodi spaghetti just go to our tab at the top and find more to try. Then let us know which one was your favorite!
If you too are obsessed with your pressure cooker and air fryer machine, here are a few resource to start with:
- You can bookmark our Ninja air fryer recipes page, we add to that weekly.
- Here’s an air fryer cooking times chart here for your fridge.
- Be sure to save this link to Instant Pot recipes for beginners too. You can use any of those in your pot too.
- Grab a set of wooden utensils to work with. They are great so your pot doesn’t get scratched!
- Then join our Facebook group where you can share and find more ideas you’ll love. Thousands of others share easy recipe ideas.
How much water do I put in my Ninja Spaghetti?
You only need 2 cups of water or broth because the jar of spaghetti sauce has liquid in it too. I’m sure that’s how you used to make baked spaghetti but after you try it this way I guarantee it will be a game changer for y’all too! These are the ingredients you will need:
- 1/2 lb. of hot ground sausage + 1/2 lb. regular – or ground beef
- the sausage combo is the bomb!!
- Onion
- Olive oil
- Spaghetti noodles or you can use penne
- Jar of spaghetti sauce – we use this pasta sauce
- Water or broth
- Mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese if desired
- Green onion is optional, and red pepper flakes too if you want it spicy
- Garlic salt and Italian seasonings are good too
Here’s a peek of how to cook pasta in Ninja Foodi step by step with pictures. First off you are going to use the pressure cooker function. This means the lid that is NOT attached is the one you want. What you want to remember when cooking Pressure Cooker Pasta is make sure it is submerged into the liquid or sauce for best results.
How to cook spaghetti in a Ninja Foodi
This is no different than in any other pressure cooker. The difference comes at the end when you melt and lightly brown the cheese on top. That is a game changer y’all!! You just brown the meat, pour in the sauce and liquid, break up the noodles to submerge and cook!
Yes I have other pots and yes I have been using them for years but in order to do this in prior years I had to dirty a baking dish. Transferring everything into a pan, preheating the oven, and waiting for the broil setting to do the work. Not anymore! I love one one pot spaghetti.
Can you cook noodles in tomato sauce?
Absolutely! We actually prefer it now. They soak up the flavors and you can adjust for how al dente you’d like them. You can make it like our Lazy One Pot Spaghetti on the stove this way too. The 9 minute cook time I share here is perfect we say but if you like firmer noodles set to 7 or 8.
About double. If you are just cooking pasta in a Ninja Foodi with water you would add 1 cup noodles to 2 cups of liquid. Broth will have more flavor than water but spaghetti sauce is even better!! Next time try 1.5 cup of sauce + 1 cup of water + 2 cups of spaghetti noodles broken up into thirds so they are submerged to make Ninja Foodi spaghetti!! As long as they are covered they will boil perfectly
Once you have made this you will see how easy it is, and get the feel of the ratio between the two like you’ll need for our Ninja Foodi macaroni and cheese recipe too.
Ninja Foodi Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
If you’d rather make homemade spaghetti sauce you’re free to do so, just use 24 oz in total. I typically use jarred just because I don’t have the time to put it all together but either way is great.
- Saute the onions, salts, and ground meat together until the pink is almost all gone.
- If you’re using ground beef you can leave a touch of pink but if I’m using pork Ninja Foodi sausage I cook it all the way through. It will continue to cook in the pressure cooking process too though so don’t stress about it too much.
- Turn your pot off when this is done. This gives the pot a chance to cool off a bit.
- Spread your meat on the bottom so it’s evenly spread across.
- Pour your sauce evenly across that.
- Then fill that spaghetti sauce bottle with your water or broth. Put your lid back on and shake. You’ll be able to get the rest of the sauce out this way, I hate to waste.
- This liquid will be poured into your pot now but do NOT stir anything.
- Grab 1/2 of your noodles out of a 16 oz. box (that is how I measure, seriously) and break them into thirds.
- SPRINKLE pasta in the pot. If you throw them in as one big chunk they will come out as one big chunk, not separated.
- Gently submerge noodles with a spoon. Do NOT stir.
- Then close your lid and steam valve and set to pressure high pressure for 9 minutes. Quick release at the end.
If you wanted to pair this with our Ninja Foodi bone-in chicken thighs, that is a healthy choice. Kids though love chicken nuggets with this. Game changer and so much better than in the oven.
Yes, you could serve it up right then……but it gets WAY better!! In the recipe card below you can go all the way with the browned mozzarella on top or stop once the noodles are tender, that is totally up to you.
Can you cook spaghetti in an air fryer?
Not entirely. You would need to boil the noodles first, toss with the sauce and then follow the air fryer portion to melt the cheese. Looking for other air fryer recipes? We have lots but pasta is a tricky one for sure.
- Stir in 1 cup of mozzarella and let that melt.
- Next you’ll want to sprinkle in 1 more cup of cheese on the top. I use a mix of mozzarella and parmesan but use whatever you love.
- Use the air crisp lid for 4-5 minutes to melt that cheese and lightly brown it.
- Voila!! Done to perfection.
The pressure cooker Mexican casserole we make is similar to this one. You make the pasta and then melt cheese on top. I’d try that next. Then make our Ninja Foodi taco pasta.
To add meat we have Ninja Foodi chicken recipes here that you can pair with it, it is better than combining it all together.
Cheesy Ninja Foodi Spaghetti
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker ninja foodi
Ingredients
- 1 lb spicy ground sausage, or ground beef
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 24 oz.
- 2 c water, or beef broth
- 1/4 tsp garlic salt
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1.5 c mozzarella cheese , grated
- 1/2 c parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 green onion, diced, optional
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz spaghetti noodles, 1/2 a regular size 16 oz. box, broken into thirds
Instructions
- Press saute on Foodi and add in your olive oil, diced onions, salts and ground sausage or beef. Cook until meat is no longer pink. Then turn off pot.
- Spread cooked meat out on the bottom of your pot evenly so it covers it entirely.
- Pour in your jar of spaghetti sauce. Then pour in 2 c. of water or broth into your jar. Put lid back on and shake to get out remaining sauce. Pour this liquid into your pot. Do NOT stir.
- Break your noodles into thirds, equal size pieces. Sprinkle them into your pot on top of the liquid.
- Use a spoon to gently submerge them into the liquid but do NOT stir.
- Put pressure cooker lid on and close steam valve.
- Set to pressure cook, high for 9 minutes.
- Do a quick release and remove lid. Stir in 1 c. of mozzarella cheese so it melts.
- Then sprinkle on the remaining 1/2 c. of mozzarella cheese + parmesan on to the top of your spaghetti. Can add diced green onions now.
- Close your air fryer lid. Press air crisp 400 degrees for 5 minutes so it melts and gets golden brown on the top!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My kids love this recipe and I made it for the whole family before they loved it
We love this recipe! But, if I double the recipe do I just double the pressure cook time?
No, just double all ingredients but you’ll need an 8 qt and don’t overfill the pot or it won’t come to pressure.
Just made this. Turned out great. Added carrots and green pepper with the onions for extra veggies. Used lentil spaghetti.
This was my first time preparing pasta in a PC. I was a little hesitant adding 2 cups of broth to the mix with sauce considering I always drained the liquid after the pasta was cooked. I followed the recipe exactly as posted,( something I rarely do). This is now my new method of making spaghetti. This was by far, the easiest and best tasting meal. I found quite a few recipes that you posted that caught my attention. Looking forward to trying them all.
Yay enjoy them all
This is my 3rd time making this recipe and it turns out delicious every time! Tonight I used angel air pasta and doubled the recipe. I also only had 80/20 ground meat. It turned out better than I thought it would. My husband and son loved it! Big hit in my household.
So glad you love it too. Try it with half ground meat and half spicy sausage next time!
Can you please explain the time on this recipe?
Whenever I do spaghetti and pressure cook it, I always do half the time the box says. It comes out perfect every time.
With the different sizes, shapes that could be used for this it would be a wonderful help for me being I like to change it up some.
Thanks love all your recipes
I have used rotini, penne and spaghetti noodles called for here. Every time I use the same timing and comes out well no matter what. Very small noodles would need less time but medium size will be the same as long spaghetti.
I followed the 2cups of water, added it to the empty jar of sauce and poured it into the pot. After my ninja cooker built up pressure, it said to add water. I added a bit more, but now I guess it has to go through the pressure process again? Hopefully it still comes out ok. Has anyone experienced this?
I just made this and wasn’t paying attention when it was suppose to pressurizing and the timer came on but the red button wasn’t up and I didn’t hear it pressurize either. When it said it was done there was no pressure to release. Thinking I didn’t let it cool down enough after sautéing before pressurizing. I checked the red button that pops up and the seal around pressure lid. All was fine and I restarted it and it pressurized this time I heard it and there was pressure to release. I cooked it less time the second attempt. It turned out good but A little watery at first. I would advise letting it cool down after crisping the top. The noodles did a absorb more liquid as it cooled down. Husband really liked it. I will make it again. Thank you for the recipe.
My pressure cooker does this every time I make this recipe. Don’t know why.
This was absolutely delicious! If you follow the directions you can’t mess this up. I used some of the ideas regarding time. I think If you aren’t going to eat right away then the 5-7 minutes would be best. I did 6 minutes and left to pick up a family member. I came home 30 minutes later and it was just right, not mushy at all. Thanks for the recipe.
I just made this tonight and it was soooooo good. My picky boys loved it even asked for seconds. I agree with a comment above the cheese on top and crisped so good literally tastes like a pizza, 2 dumbs up.
Can you use garlic powder instead of garlic salt. Trying to cut down on salt
Thaks
I used both myself, also I added some Italian seasoning as well. I also used penne pasta..ground turkey is also great with it
So glad it was a hit!!
I was skeptical. I don’t like meat sauce with pasta. I don’t like sausage. Everybody else I was feeding said the recipe looked amazing, so I made it. The only change I made was I used Jimmy Dean Sage flavored sausage. I doubled the recipe, everything but the time. When I opened the pot after the PC, there was about an inch of liquid on top, and I panicked. It integrated perfectly when I stirred it up 🙂 This was a game changer 🙂 Just make it 🙂
yay so glad it was a hit with everyone
Hoping to try this tonight. If I use angel hair pasta do I need to cook for less time?
Yes I would decrease time maybe 2 min.