Best Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce Recipe! This easy, one-pot pasta dinner is ready, start-to-finish in just 30 minutes total!
Have you tried cooking pasta in your Instant Pot? If not, get ready because it’s amazing!
At first, I was nervous that I would end up with soggy, smooshy noodles, but pressure cooked pasta really is fantastic. Not only is it quick and made in one-pot, but the pressure cooker really helps to infuse the flavor into the noodles as they cook.
This Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce recipe makes a flavorful spaghetti dinner. It’s great for a quick, weeknight dinner because it only takes 30 minutes total to make this meal.
How to make Instant Pot spaghetti and meat sauce
Step 1: Press SAUTE. When HOT, add Italian sausage, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned.
Step 2: Drain grease from Italian sausage and return to the inner pot.
Step 3: Add the onion, and cook, stirring regularly, until softened, about 2-3 minutes.
Step 4: Stir in the garlic and cook, stirring regularly, for 30 seconds.
Step 5: Pour in the wine and scrape up any browned bits. Press cancel.
Step 6: Add the spaghetti sauce, noodles, and water. Close and lock the lid. Turn the pressure release valve to sealing.
Step 7: Press manual and adjust pressure to high and time to 5 minutes.
Step 8: When cooking time finishes, carefully turn the pressure release valve to venting to quickly release the pressure.
Step 9: Unlock and remove the lid. Give the spaghetti a good stir.
Top tip >> If the noodles aren’t as soft as you would like, cover and let the spaghetti sit for a few minutes.
Tips
- Italian Sausage: I recommend using Italian sausage, hot or mild, because it gives the spaghetti a lot of flavor. You can use ground turkey or ground beef if you prefer.
- Red Wine: The red wine gives the sauce a nice flavor boost. If you don’t want to use wine, you can use chicken or beef broth instead.
- Spaghetti Sauce: Use a sauce you like! If the sauce doesn’t have good flavor, your spaghetti won’t have good flavor.
- Spaghetti: I used regular spaghetti noodles. If you use thin spaghetti or whole wheat spaghetti, you may find that you need to adjust the cooking times.
- Serving: I serve the spaghetti with a little bit of grated Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.
Storage
Store any leftover spaghetti in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The spaghetti will keep for up to 4 days when properly stored.
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Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
Equipment
- Instant Pot/electric pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage1
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup diced white or yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup red wine2
- 25 ounce jar spaghetti sauce3
- 8 ounces dry spaghetti noodles broken in half
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Press sauté
- When HOT, add Italian sausage, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned.
- Drain grease from Italian sausage and return to the inner pot. Sprinkle with salt.
- Add the onion, and cook, stirring regularly, until softened, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and cook, stirring regularly, for 30 seconds.
- Pour in the wine and scrape up any browned bits.
- Press cancel.
- Add the spaghetti sauce, noodles, and water.
- Close and lock the lid.
- Turn the pressure release valve to sealing.
- Press MANUAL and adjust pressure to high and time to 5 minutes.
- When cooking time finishes, carefully turn the pressure release valve to venting to quickly release the pressure.
- Unlock and remove the lid.
- Give the spaghetti a good stir. If the noodles aren’t as soft as you would like, cover and let the spaghetti sit for a few minutes.
Video
Notes
- Hot or mild Italian sausage. You can use ground turkey or ground beef if you prefer.
- If you don’t want to use wine, you can substitute an equal amount of beef or chicken broth.
- I pour the water into the spaghetti sauce jar and shake it to get all of the sauce out of the jar.
- Pick a good sauce with a lot of flavor as this will be where you spaghetti gets its flavor. I like to use a roasted garlic herb spaghetti sauce.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
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Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Erin says
Mine came out VERY liquidy. Not your typical thick spaghetti dish. Not sure if that’s correct or if it was the type of pasta sauce but will try once more before writing off.
Kate says
Hi! The spaghetti thickens up as it sits. It should be saucy, but there shouldn’t be a lot of liquid. Three questions – 1) Did you make any changes? 2) Did you use 2 cups of water? 3) What type of sauce did you use?
kimber says
i always use more spaghetti than called for and without stirring it really clumps together and becomes a not convenient dish. can i stir in some of the spaghetti or does it all have to lay on top? or should i just add more broth or water to cover it? thanks
Kate says
Hi! When I make spaghetti and meatballs in the IP, I use 16 ounces of spaghetti. For that, I increase the water to 3 cups, and I add about half a jar of extra sauce (we like it saucy). Hope that helps!
Katherine says
Are you crisscrossing layers of pasta? That should eliminate the clumps
Misty says
If I double the recipe do I double the time
Kate says
No, you shouldn’t need to. When I’ve made a double batch, the cooking time has been the same.
Debbie York says
This is a 5 star instapot recipe for sure! Very easy to make and tastes great! One of my favorites for sure plus the family loves it. Everyone needs to try this one and you will see.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that your family liked it!
Eve says
Thank you for sharing your tasty recipe. My partner and I enjoyed eating this instant pot spaghetti and meat sauce with a side of garlic bread. Upon serving, I sprinkled chopped cilantro and dill herbs and grated pecorino Romano cheese onto our spaghetti mounds. We had a wonderful meal, and I had a wonderful time preparing this recipe for the instant pot.
I browned sweet pork Italian sausage at step 1. I followed the recipe as written with the addition of black garlic at step 5. Then, at step 6, I poured in a red wine to remove the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. The red wine, Gianluigi Bonari Appassimento, a Cabernet Sauvignon/merlot blend, which I used in this, tasted much better on my palate when cooked in this spaghetti than when poured in a glass for drinking. I wanted to use this leftover red wine in a recipe that I enjoy eating and can 100% cook in the instant pot.
I found this great instant pot spaghetti recipe, which I will prepare again. :)
Deborah says
This was great. I used beef broth in place of most of the water. I didn’t use wine because I didn’t have it. Still delicious.
Kate says
Thank you! Beef broth is a great substitute for the water and for the wine!
Debbie Clark says
Using red wine. Is this regular wine or a cooking wine? I’m not a wine drinker and I really don’t want to buy wine that I won’t drink. Is this recipe just as good with beef or chicken broth?
Kate says
I don’t drink wine either, but I buy the Sutter Home mini bottles (there are probably other companies that make them, too). They come in a 4-pack and have 1/2 cup per bottle. Since they have a twist cap, I can use as much as I need and close it for the next time. I have no idea how it would be to drink, but it’s better than the grocery store cooking wine that I’ve tried.
If you don’t want to do that, you can absolutely use chicken or beef broth. Hope that helps!
Eve says
Thank you for sharing your tasty recipe. My partner and I enjoyed eating this instant pot spaghetti and meat sauce with a side of garlic bread. Upon serving, I sprinkled chopped cilantro and dill herbs and grated pecorino Romano cheese onto our spaghetti mounds. We had a wonderful meal, and I had a wonderful time preparing this recipe for the instant pot.
I browned sweet pork Italian sausage at step 1. I followed the recipe as written with the addition of black garlic at step 5. Then, at step 6, I poured in a red wine to remove the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. The red wine, Gianluigi Bonari Appassimento, a Cabernet Sauvignon/merlot blend, which I used in this, tasted much better on my palate when cooked in this spaghetti than when poured in a glass for drinking. I wanted to use this leftover red wine in a recipe that I enjoy eating and can 100% cook in the instant pot.
I found this great instant pot spaghetti recipe, which I will prepare again. :)
Kate says
Thank you for sharing your notes!! I have some black garlic that I wasn’t sure how to use, but now I’m going to try it in this recipe the next time I make it.
Jessica says
Best new recipe I’ve made during quarantine!
Kate says
Yay!! I’m so glad that you liked it. =)
Sandra says
I used ground beef as it was all the store had. So much better then our usual spaghetti. This will be my new recipe. Thank you.
Kate says
I’m so glad that you liked it! This is my family’s favorite spaghetti, and it’s nice to hear that other people are enjoying it, too. =)