Here’s an easy Instant Pot spaghetti recipe with jar sauce and ground beef! Dump one pot pasta that feeds all five of us, made in just 10 minutes! Use a Crockpot Express or make Ninja Foodi spaghetti the same way using high pressure.
One of our favorite easy recipes was cooked tonight. The cook time was much faster than usual though. I am obsessed with my new pressure cooker! I had to make Instant Pot spaghetti with jar sauce to see just how much easier it would be. Here’s how to make this Instant Pot recipe today 😉
If you’re new to using this high pressure pot, this is the first recipe you should make. If you follow the directions below you’ll never make it on the stovetop again. It doesn’t matter whether yours is the Crockpot Express brand or you want to make it as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe. All of these pots work the same with high pressure.
We use Ragu jar sauce to make but with our homemade Instant Pot spaghetti sauce is possible too. Include frozen meatballs if you’d like at the same time and they will get tender all in one pot together too. A cheap meal that is family friendly.
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- You can PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
How Long to Cook Spaghetti in Instant Pot
With everything cooked in one pot it came out perfectly in just 10 minutes AND it’s been on the most popular Instant Pot recipes TWO years in a row! So yummy right??!! It’s truly a grab your Instant Pot and set, then GO type of recipe. Even if you choose to use shells or penne pasta the timing stays the same.
You could make it vegetarian without meat, as is stated in the recipe card below, or cook porcupine meatballs in Instant Pot separately first. Then serve them together and enjoy with parmesan cheese.
Ingredient Notes
You are going to need to start with some lean Ground beef (ground turkey, or the best is to use spicy ground sausage). Here is how to defrost Instant Pot frozen ground beef
You will want a package of Spaghetti noodles – either break in thirds or use medium shells, for those I use half the box
I use any brand of Jar of spaghetti sauce (1 jar bottled pasta sauce of your choice) or you can make it homemade instead but we are going for easy peasy.
And you are going to want a bit of water.
Can you pressure cook with spaghetti sauce instead of water?
Yes and no. There is liquid in marinara let’s say but not enough, you need to thin it out with some broth or water too to make a successful pot of noodles, meat and sauce. For every jar add 2 cups more liquid to thin it out.
Variations
Of course you can use homemade sauce instead of jarred if you wish and can tweak either one to make it spicy or sweeter. Seasonings are totally up to you but I don’t feel like it needs anything else other than what is listed here personally.
Meatless Variation
You do not have to add protein to this. Many times I have just used noodles and a jar of sauce to make it faster. Sometimes we aren’t in the mood for meat so there is no issue if you make this vegetarian instead. Add diced carrots and celery instead too if you’d like to make it heartier without proteins.
Adding Frozen Meatballs
Want quicker, instead of browning ground beef at the get go you could instead throw in some frozen meatballs. Don’t worry, during the 10 minute cook time they will not only defrost but warm all the way thru to the middle too. Add in at the same time as your sauce, but no more than 2 cups or ratio won’t work.
Instead of boiling them all on their own you’re just adding some water to the overall mixture so it absorbs it from there.
Tips
I would say this recipe serves 6 comfortably, so for 4 people there may be a bit left over. Of course that depends on who you are feeding. We have 1 man, 3 daughters and myself. This recipe feeds all of us with probably 1 serving for lunch I save for leftovers the next day.
If you want more than what the recipe calls for I would recommend making two batches separately. I personally prefer it this way though others have said doubling it works fine for them in their 8 qt.
Here are a few questions you might be asking yourself if it is your first time making this. I hope these answers help you to becoming an expert.
This is one of the most popular cheap Instant Pot recipes too. It costs less than $10 to feed 5-6 people which is pretty amazing. If you include a bag of meatballs it might be closer to $14 but still a bargain.
Instant Pot Spaghetti Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef, or 1 lb. spicy sausage is our new favorite instead of ground beef
- 1/4 c onion, diced
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 jar spaghetti sauce, (24 oz)
- 2 c water, I pour into spaghetti sauce jar once emptied, shake to get remainder of sauce and pour in pot, could use beef broth for even more flavor
- 8 oz spaghetti noodles
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt, optional, to taste
Instructions
- Put Instant Pot on saute.
- Add olive oil, onions, and garlic and cook until onions are softened a bit.
- Add ground beef and cook until pink is gone. Drain grease or leave in, your choice.
- Add jar of spaghetti sauce, water, break noodles into 3rds (sprinkle in so they don’t lump together) and push noodles into liquid until they are covered. (do NOT stir)
- Secure lid, close close steam valve and set to 10 minutes (if you want more al dente set for 8-9 minutes).
- Quick release when it beeps, stir and serve. Done!
- ** Do not recommend doubling this recipe as it will not turn out properly. Make two batches separately if you want more.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
FAQ
Yes of course, we will show you how in the video above and the instructions below. It cooks in just 10 minutes. Quick and easy.
Submerged in spaghetti sauce and water the noodles become tender when they are sprinkled in and broken. I think thirds is the right length so they don’t stick together.
I adjust the time slightly to 8 minutes usually, using the same directions here. Smaller noodles will need less time.
Make sure before you close the lid and start pressure cooking that your noodles are submerged in the liquid. Do not stir or it may trigger the burn message and/or stick to the bottom.
Cooking noodles in sauce gives them the most flavor, in pressure cooker is the easiest method using these directions below. If using the “old fashioned” stovetop method the instructions are very similar just thin our your spaghetti or tomato sauce with water or broth bring it to a boil add dry spaghetti noodles.
Yes if you don’t watch it carefully enough in your pot it can, and noodles will become gummy. It is best to cook until al dente. Using this Instant Pot spaghetti recipe will avoid that as it is timed perfectly. I hope if you landed here looking for Instant Pot pasta recipes we have helped quite a bit!
More Instant Pot Pasta Recipes
Here are a few others you might want to try to make this week; If you’d like to use your slow cooker you can try our crockpot spaghetti and meatballs recipe too.
- This Instant Pot lasagna soup is comfort food in a bowl with small noodles and WAY easier to make than using traditional wide pasta.
- More 5 ingredient Instant Pot recipes
- Instant Pot cheesy chicken spaghetti has a bit of a kick and tons of flavor.
- You’ve gotta’ try this Instant Pot chicken parmesan casserole, it is amazing.
If you let it sit what little liquid is there will get soaked up by the noodles and thicken a bit too. It stays well inside the Instant Pot for quite some time so even if we are all getting home at different times everyone can enjoy this Instant Pot spaghetti dish.
Didn’t have 24 Oz spaghetti sauce– used some for pizza last night and couldn’t find the other jar I thought I had, so I opened a can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings. Added a little more than 24 Oz total with sauce and tomatoes so they didn’t die in the fridge. Added a full 2 cups of water.
Also used hot Italian link sausage ($.99 this week!) that I cut into 4 pieces each and then sautéed in my IP until they were browned and cooked through. Wiped out the grease, then added a little olive oil for its flavor and a spoon of minced garlic and sautéed a little more and deglazed with some tomato water from the diced tomatoes (no burn notice). I did add some Italian seasoning and salt to help flavor the diced tomatoes.
I had thin spaghetti, so I set my pot for 8 minutes… came out fantastic! No big clumps of stuck together pasta, plenty of sauce and lots of flavor!
We’d stopped making spaghetti in the ip, but had 2 littles at the house and it was too hot to mess with boiling water and sauce so gave this recipe a shot— so glad I did!!
Oh Yum! Sounds like a spaghetti soap opera—”As The Sauce Turns.” You took what could have been a noodle nightmare and turned it into a pasta performance worthy of a standing ovation. Bravo, Chef Alsy!
Hi. commented a couple of weeks ago about conversion to slow-cooker. don’t own a pressure cooker or Foodi. anywhere we can find instructions for your recipes using a CROCK POT? sure hope so. enjoy reading your mouth-watering recipes, but can’t make any of them. 😕
Yes on my homepage I have a slow cooker category you can search, in the search bar you can search further and I do have crockpot spaghetti and meatballs on my site to find.
I’ve been making this recipe for a couple years now, and my family & I love it! I have doubled the recipe in my 8-quart Instant Pot more times than not, and it comes out perfectly every time! I stick closer to 7-8 minutes as we prefer al dente. I love that you can adjust the recipe by adding more ingredients if you want – I’ve regularly added veggies and/or frozen meatballs. But I love the simplicity of the recipe as is – it’s perfect for busy weeknights, & uses simple ingredients that we always have on hand. Thank you for this & so many other of your fantastic recipes!
Thank you for the nice note, it means a lot!
Both my young toddlers will eat this. Never making pasta with meat sauce any other way! I used a Ninja Foodie Deluxe XL to make this and worked just as well. Did not make any changes. Forever grateful to find another recipe that the whole family is happy with!
Yay thanks for the sweet note
I have an 8qt unit. Will I regret trying to make this with 12oz of pasta/angel hair, and a little extra water? I don’t need it quite as saucey as it is with 8oz, and I really need to stretch the meat. If I have to make two batches every time, it will get too expensive for me.
Thank you!
It was delicious, and so nice to not have so many dishes to do, counters to clean (from the inevitable sauce spillage)… thank you! I will make again, with more beef because that’s the way my guy likes it.
It’s the only way we have made it now for years
Could you one and a half (12 oz spaghetti, etc) instead of doubling? In the 8 quart.
Probably
Have you modified any of these meals to have the meat cooked then freeze the meat and the rest of the ingredients so you can drop it in the instant pot and cook till done?
Best thing I’ve made in my instapot. I’ll never make spaghetti any other way again❤️
Agree
I can’t say enough about how tasty and easy this recipe is! It’s such a time saver because you don’t have to bring water to a boil and only have to wash one thing! My daughters love spaghetti and one of them told me it’s the best I’ve ever made…she liked it much more than the regular way of making spaghetti. I think it’s more flavorful bc the noodles take on the taste of the sauce and spices when cooking. It’s even great as leftovers! I don’t think I’ll be making spaghetti the old way anymore!
Yep it is a favorite over here too