This Instant Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce is a classic pasta dish. The noodles cook alongside the Bolognese sauce for an easy weeknight meal!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – or another neutral cooking oil like avocado or canola oil.
- Extra-lean ground beef – you could try making this recipe with ground turkey or chicken for a leaner option, just add an extra tablespoon of oil.
- Carrot – feel free to leave this out if you don’t have any on hand.
- Celery – feel free to leave this out if you don’t have any on hand.
- Onion – white onion, yellow onion or shallots would all work.
- Garlic – freshly minced garlic is best. In a pinch, use jarred minced garlic.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
- Jar tomato sauce – use your favourite store-bought pasta sauce or a homemade version.
- Beef broth – vegetable broth would be the best substitute here.
- Spaghetti – you can make this recipe with fettucine and linguine, but you’ll need to add 1 minute to the cooking time.
- Parmesan – you could also garnish your spaghetti with some fresh shredded mozzarella.
How to make spaghetti in the Instant Pot
- Sauté the beef and veggies.
- Add the rest of the ingredients.
- Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
- Do a quick release of the pressure.
- Garnish with parmesan and enjoy!
What type of tomato sauce should you use?
I just use my favourite store-bought sauce for this Instant Pot spaghetti, but you can use any high-quality sauce that you love. I used Classico’s Sweet Basil Marinara Sauce (no, this is not a sponsored plug for them, I just love their sauce) but any spaghetti sauce will do.
You can also buy a can of crushed tomatoes or a jar of strained tomatoes (make sure it’s 655mL) and then add some seasoning to it. In this case, you’ll want to add 1 tbsp. brown sugar, 1 tsp. Italian seasoning and 1 tsp. salt to ensure it tastes similar to a jarred spaghetti sauce. That’s an easy hack using ingredients from your pantry at the last minute.
Frequently Asked Questions
Just like everything else, making pasta is much quicker in an Instant Pot. Once the Instant Pot comes to high pressure, it only takes 5 minutes to cook. To help the pasta cook evenly, make sure it’s completely covered with liquid before you start pressure cooking.
You don’t actually need to add any water to this recipe! Instead of water, you’ll use 2 cups of beef broth and a 650 mL jar of tomato sauce for the liquid. As the spaghetti cooks, it’ll absorb the beef broth and sauce, giving you a super flavourful and delicious dish.
The Bolognese sauce for this recipe is made with extra-lean ground beef, carrot, celery stalks, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, jarred tomato sauce and beef broth. It’s super easy and so yummy!
Storing and reheating
If you happen to have any leftovers, you can store them in the fridge for 3 to 5 days in airtight glass containers. When you’re ready to enjoy your leftovers, you can reheat this spaghetti either in the Instant Pot or in the microwave.
To reheat in the microwave, sprinkle some water over top of the pasta, cover the dish with a wet paper towel and microwave for 2 minutes, stirring halfway through.
To reheat it in the Instant Pot, follow these instructions:
- Add a bit of water or broth to the spaghetti.
- Place a trivet in the bottom of the Instant Pot, then add at least a cup of water to the pot.
- Add the leftovers to a heatproof dish, cover it with foil, and place it directly onto the trivet. Glass meal prep containers are perfect for dish-in-dish cooking.
- Set the Instant Pot to vent so that it won’t be able to build up pressure and manually set to the desired reheating time.
Freezing this recipe
You can totally freeze this recipe – pasta tends to freeze and reheat very well. After this dish has cooled completely, you can freeze it in airtight glass containers or freezer-safe Ziploc bags for up to 3 months.
Defrost it in the fridge overnight then reheat it in the microwave for 2 minutes. You can also reheat it from frozen for 6-7 minutes, stirring halfway through. Make sure to sprinkle some water over top of the pasta before reheating so it doesn’t dry out.
More Instant Pot pasta recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this Instant Pot Spaghetti into your weekly lunches.
- I get all my grass-fed ground beef from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months.
Instant Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb extra-lean ground beef
- 1 carrot, finely diced
- 2 celery stalks, finely diced
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 (650mL) jar tomato sauce
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 lb spaghetti, broken in half
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Add olive oil to Instant Pot and select saute mode. Add ground beef, carrots, celery, onions and garlic, sauteeing for 4-5 minutes until meat is lightly browned. Add salt & pepper and tomato sauce, mixing well to combine. Add beef broth and spaghetti, pushing pasta under liquid as much as possible. Place lid on Instant Pot and make sure valve is set to seal.
- Press the pressure cook button and set to high, then cook for 5 minutes. Instant Pot will take about 10-15 minutes to come to pressure then pressure cook the 5 minutes.
- Do a quick release of the pressure on the Instant Pot by flicking the switch at the top with a spoon. Open the lid when pressure gauge has dropped and the lid opens easily.
- Mix pasta well and serve with fresh parmesan (optional). Enjoy!
