Perfect Cook Time for Spaghetti

Cook time for spaghetti is here! How long does spaghetti take to cook in an Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi spaghetti, slow cooker, or one pot spaghetti on the stovetop until al dente tender.

How to Cook Spaghetti Noodles

You used to have to boil pasta in one pot, and heat or make homemade spaghetti sauce in another. NOT anymore!! That is so yesterday my friends. I mean if you insist on this method I will explain the best method here but I highly suggest you try one of the other methods I’ll share below.

For the old fashioned method you’ll want to fill a large pot halfway full with water. Takes 4 quarts of water (16 cups of water) for every pound of noodles. Set over medium heat with a sprinkle of salt and a few Tbsp of olive oil. Bring the water to a low rolling boil add the pasta in water.

• Check the pasta after a few minutes. The bottom half should be softer and you can submerge the top portion all the way in.

How Long to Cook Spaghetti Noodles

Boil for 10-12 minutes stirring intermittently until it is the texture you like. Take one out and taste. If it’s too firm finish cooking for a few more min. and check again. If you like al dente spaghetti noodles cook for 2 minutes less or so.

BUT you can skip that all together and still use your stovetop to make one pot spaghetti instead. I know!!! Amazing idea right??

NO draining water, and the noodles have so much more flavor than if they were cooked in water. I mean you can imagine they would right?? When pasta is cooking in the sauce it soaks up all that wonderful flavor as it gets tender.

Can you cook ground beef in the microwave? Totally can if you want. You can use the same pot to brown your ground beef or ground sausage too so only one pot to clean too!!

Cook Time for Spaghetti

Now let’s move on to the fastest and most efficient method. It is almost identical to the one pot method above except it’s made in a pressure cooker. You use the saute function to brown the meat, then add the sauce and noodles, submerge and cook!!

If you choose to follow our Instant Pot spaghetti recipes they only take 10 minutes. I am not joking y’all. Ok so it does take a few minutes to come to pressure but still with prep and all it is done in less than 20 minutes total. If you choose to melt cheese on the top with the air crisp mode on the Food, add another 3 min.

Cook Spaghetti Time

Let’s move on to using the oven. That takes longer but if you really wanted a cheesy top and didn’t have the Foodi pot, you could make baked spaghetti. Another great option, and yes we love all things cheesy so there’s that. I get it.

Now what if you want to use your slow cooker? You totally can. If you want to make homemade spaghetti sauce Crockpot style you would do that first and let it simmer basically all day long.

• Then one hour before you would add your noodles and cook until they get nice and tender. You can add frozen meatballs in there too for protein.

If you wanted to use jarred sauce to make this you could certainly do that as well. Depending on how much time I have I’ll do it that way. Follow our Crockpot spaghetti and meatballs recipe for this method. So good really.

How to Cook Spaghetti

If you are going to make Little Caesars Cheese Bread with it I would start by prepping that so you can bake at the same time once water comes to a boil. For the most part the ingredients you are going to need are:

1. Dried pasta – if you don’t want to use long thin traditional styles, try our Instant Pot penne pasta
2. Spaghetti sauce – homemade or 24 oz. jarred
3. Add salt and add oil if you are going to use boiling water
4. Meat choices unless you want it to be vegetarian
   1. browned ground beef
   2. we love a bit of spicy ground sausage in it
5. I typically will add 1/2 an onion diced fine into the mix

We are talking about noodles here but you can follow our recipe for spaghetti squash pasta too if you want a low carb option. If you haven’t try to cook spaghetti squash before and use it instead of pasta you should. It is amazing and gluten free. Zoodles are another alternative using vegetables instead of starch.

Once done you can toss with marinara sauce, top with cheese and make spaghetti squash spaghetti. Or whatever toppings you want.

We have a bunch of other easy pasta recipes you can try on our site too if you’d like. From pasta salad to casseroles, butter noodles and everything in between, it’s a great side dish and main meal.