Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce

This is our easy homemade Instant Pot spaghetti sauce with ground beef recipe! All you need are a few pantry ingredients to make the most flavorful Ninja Foodi pressure cooker sauce ever. In 20 minutes it was done and we were ready to make Instant Pot spaghetti from there.

Here’s the story. I was at the grocery store when I noticed the rolls of spicy sausage in the meat department were just $.99.  It’s seriously the best, and use it a multitude of recipes so I took one and thought “I’m going to figure out something to make with this today.” My initial thought was an easy homemade pasta sauce!

You see when I met my husband this was one of “his recipes” meaning if I asked him to cook there were a few choices and this was one. Hamburgers, pasta with scallops, or he would make his own sauce in a huge pot. There was so much for just the two of us that it was ridiculous, but early on I couldn’t break his heart to tell him that.

It was like he was cooking for 12 people and a lot of it go wasted. Took him like all day nursing it to his liking. Although it was good, I wanted it paired down to a normal amount and have the cook time for spaghetti be a lot less.

I remembered what he added and worked on just that. A pot full that was more for about 6 people so we could make dinner for the now 4 of us and then save some for later. This is what I came up with, and at the end I had enough for a small meal later. Freezing it for later worked quite well, I will talk about that later…..

Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce with Meat

Now everyone has different preferences when it comes to this classic dish, and this is no different. Typically most want to add ground beef, that is safe and delish. BUT let me tell you that using spicy Jimmy dean ground sausage takes it up another level to out of this world!! Or….use half and half for medium heat.

Ninja Foodi Spaghetti Sauce

I assure you that when you make this just once you’ll wonder where this recipe has been all your life. 😉 You can make this with or without meat, but we always add it in. Use your IP, Crockpot Express or as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe too with the lid that is not attached. They all work great with the instructions below.

How long does it take to make homemade spaghetti sauce in a pressure cooker?

It takes a few minutes to cook until meat is no longer pink, then make sure to scrape bottom with wooden spoon to avoid burn notice. Then I simmered it on the soup setting for just 20 minutes!! If you were in a hurry you could set it for 10 minutes and I think it would still be great too. You are just warming everything together at that point because the meat is already cooked.

That is one of the other many reasons I love this fancy pressure cooker is you only dirty one pot to make the whole thing. Browning the sausage and onions together on saute, and then adding all the other ingredients make it super simple.

For years my husband simmered and babied his sauce in a huge pot on the stove top, and he even had to admit this one was so good there wasn’t much difference. HAH…..I win. 😉

Ingredients

I like starting with a big can of Whole peeled tomatoes, will give it more texture than just sauce being used.

As for the meat I highly highly recommend that you use a roll of Spicy sausage, seriously it is way better than using ground beef, I like Jimmy Dean brand

Tomato sauce we used is listed below, use more or less depending on how thick you want it to be.

A can of tomato paste will help to thicken all of it together. You can adjust this amount according to how thick you want the end result.

Diced tomatoes can be bought Italian style, spicy, or plain. I personally like the canned version that is petite with roasted tomatoes.

A small white or yellow Onion I add to everything, diced finely for flavor and added texture.

As far as seasonings go I always add minced garlic in everything around here, Garlic salt is a must always, Basil and oregano are traditional Italian seasonings and Salt, to taste at the end

Can you make spaghetti sauce without meat?

Of course this is an option, marinara is what that would be called. If you didn’t want to add any proteins then you could just skip that sauteeing step and continue after that to the high pressure stages in the recipe card below.

Some people prefer to boil the noodles separately and others love one pot spaghetti because it gives the pasta so much more flavor, so it’s totally your choice. Either way making homemade spaghetti sauce is now so easy to make all the things with it now and later.

Variations

Want to make cheesy?? Follow our Ninja Foodi spaghetti and then when done just add a layer of cheese on top and let it melt. I like the Mexican cheese blend at the store that has a few types mixed together with taco seasoning too. It’s killer for sure. If you have the CrispLid or Ninja Foodi you can brown the top too.

If you want it really smooth you could use an immersion blender, we don’t. Nutritional information will vary slightly if you add meat. I use very lean grass fed beef typically so that is what it accounts for. If I add sausage or it’s meatless then it would be different too.

What is the one ingredient that makes spaghetti sauce so much better?

I mean that depends on whom you ask but I think it is meat and cheese! Ground beef is just the beginning. For MORE flavor make Instant Pot porcupine meatballs, set aside and then combine when both are done.

FAQ

How do you save leftover homemade spaghetti sauce?

Ok so when you are done and it is sitting off the burner you will need to wait until it is room temperature. You never want to transfer hot or even warm food from a pot into the fridge right away. It will have a strong chance of growing bacteria because of the dramatic temp. difference.

How to freeze leftovers

Use a ladle to transfer it into a large or pint sized freezer bag, depending on how much you have. Zip it tightly and lay it flat in the freezer. Once it is rock hard you can move it around to a different location but flat will save space in there and you can stack them if you have a few. Always remember to mark the date and contents on the outside too.

Print recipe below. You can use this to make crockpot spaghetti and meatballs recipe too.

What noodles can you use to make spaghetti?

One of my earliest recipes was homemade Instant Pot spaghetti, and later Instant Pot penne pasta with, well penne noodles. They’re two of my most popular pressure cooker recipes on my site. As far as noodles go you can use just about anything.

If you prefer homemade sauce though, you can start with this recipe. Then submerge spaghetti noodles broken in 3rds into the sauce. Then pressure cook for 10 minutes until tender.

For a lower carb option, make air fryer zoodles and serve this sauce on the top. If you haven’t tried this you’ll be surprised at just how good it is. Just cook until slightly tender with still some texture to it and toss with this sauce. Even my kids were surprised at how good this option was.