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When dinner needs to happen fast, instant pot spaghetti is your new best friend! Perfectly seasoned beef, tender pasta, and a rich, saucy finish, all in one pot and ready in less than 15 minutes.
A Reader’s Review
This is my go-to recipe for Instant Pot spaghetti and I love it. This recipe always turns out right. Thanks for publishing it.
– Regina
Why This Dish is a Dinner Win
- One Pot, Zero Hassle: Everything (pasta, meat, and sauce) cooks together to make cleanup a breeze.
- Weeknight Wonder: Ready in just minutes, which means no dinnertime stress and more time to relax, enjoy, and dig in!
- Budget-Friendly Feast: This delicious meal is as easy on your wallet as it is filling and full of flavor.
Ingredients Needed
- Switch Up the Pasta: Spaghetti is classic, but you can use other pasta shapes too. Just add an extra minute or two for thicker varieties. However, skip angel hair because it cooks too fast and can turn mushy.
- Mix Up the Meat: Ground turkey, chicken, or Italian sausage all work beautifully for a flavorful twist on the original.
- Make It Creamy: Craving a richer sauce? Stir in a couple tablespoons of cream cheese after cooking and let it melt into silky perfection.
How to Make Instant Pot Spaghetti
The magic of this instant pot spaghetti recipe? The pasta cooks right in the sauce, no boiling, no extra pots. Just one pot, quick cleanup, and a tasty dinner on the table in record time.
- Cook Beef: Set a 6 quart instant pot to saute mode and add olive oil, ground beef, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook and crumble until the meat is no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes. Drain off any grease and return the meat to the instant pot.
- Place Pasta: Break the uncooked spaghetti noodles in half, then layer them on top of the meat in a crisscross pattern so they do not stick as they cook.
- Add Pasta Sauce and Pressure Cook: Pour the jars of marinara sauce and all the water on top of the noodles. Make sure they are fully submerged, then secure the lid and close the valve on the Instant Pot. Cook on manual for 5-7 minutes.
- Quick Release and Stir: Once the cooking time is finished, use the quick release and wait for the float valve pin to drop before unlocking the lid. Stir together and serve instant pot spaghetti with parmesan cheese, fresh basil, and garlic bread if desired.
Tips for the Best Instant Pot Spaghetti
Before you hit “start,” check out these handy tips for dinner success.
- Avoid sticky noodles: Break pasta into halves or thirds and layer in a criss-cross pattern. Pour the sauce and water on top without stirring. Stirring releases starch and causes gumminess.
- Undercooked noodles? Check that the noodles were fully submerged and not stirred. If still too firm, use the sauté function to cook a few extra minutes.
- Looks watery? Give it a good stir and let it rest for 3–5 minutes. The sauce will thicken as it sits.
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Instant Pot Spaghetti
No time, no energy, and still need dinner? This Instant Pot Spaghetti is your answer. One pot, fast and easy, and totally kid-approved.
Equipment
- 1 6-quart instant pot
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 pound uncooked spaghetti noodles
- 2 (24-ounce) jars marinara sauce
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- Set a 6 quart instant pot to the saute mode and 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 pound lean ground beef, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. Cook and crumble until the meat is no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes. Drain off any grease and return the meat to the instant pot.
- Break 1 pound uncooked spaghetti noodles in half. Layer them on top of the meat in a crisscross pattern so they do not stick as they cook.
- Pour 2 (24-ounce) jars marinara sauce and 3 cups water on top of the noodles, ensuring they are fully submerged.
- Secure the lid and close the valve on the Instant Pot. Cook on manual for 5-7 minutes. Once the cooking time is finished, use the quick release and wait for the float valve pin to drop before unlocking the lid.
- Stir the spaghetti together and serve with parmesan and chopped basil, if desired.
Video
Notes
How to Store Leftovers
- Refrigerator: Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Reheat on the stovetop over medium heat, stirring often, or microwave in 45–60 second bursts.
- Freezer: Freeze for up to 3 months. Slightly undercook the noodles if you plan to freeze. Cool completely, portion into freezer-safe containers, then freeze. Thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating.
Nutrition
Calories: 463kcalCarbohydrates: 69gProtein: 29gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 47mgSodium: 1330mgPotassium: 1121mgFiber: 6gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 997IUVitamin C: 16mgCalcium: 72mgIron: 5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!
More Easy Instant Pot Recipes
If you loved how quick and tasty this Instant Pot spaghetti turned out, you’re going to want to try these other easy Instant Pot favorites next!
Hi! Thank you for this recipe. What did I do wrong, it became spaghetti soup haha. I only had one jar of marinara so I used 4C of water. Cooked for 8 min on high, and did quick release and waited to open. Thank you!!
Gosh It seems like that would work, but it must have had too much moisture. Maybe using tomato sauce in place of one cup of the water would’ve worked better? I’m not sure, it’s tricky with liquid amounts and getting the ratio right with a recipe like this.
This is one recipe I would not stray from the original, instant pots can be temperamental!
The cooking time was not long enough. My noodles were undercooked.
Hmm, I’m not sure what happened. For most instant pot’s you can cook spaghetti on HIGH pressure in 5-8 minutes followed by a 5 minute natural pressure release. Did you have your instant pot on the correct settings?
I used this recipe and crisscross my spaghetti so it did not lump together. I put in my sauce then spaghetti then 3 cups of water, put on lid for 7 minutes. Worked great! Thank you!
One recipe calls for 3 minutes, this one calls for 7, I put it it in for 15 minutes and it still isn’t done.
Hi Maya, did you do a quick release or natural release?
This is my go-to recipe for Instant Pot spaghetti and I love it. This recipe always turns out right. Thanks for publishing it.
Hi Alyssa, Thank you for the recipe. I was too afraid to cook the spaghetti in the Instapot with adding all that water. So I just mixed the sauce into the ground beef and added some cut up frozen bell pepper and a cup of water. I boiled the pasta separate. The sauce and spaghetti was delicious and ready to eat in short order.
Best of all the IP spaghetti recipes we’ve tried so far! Maybe because of the second jar of sauce?
Do you think I could substitute jarred alfredo sauce for the marinara? Would I need to change anything else?
They’re interchangeable! ?
This turned out great. The spaghetti was cooked nicely and the meat sauce was spiced to our liking .
I’m a toaly Instant Pot newb so bear with me. I’m trying this recipe right now and the meat was only half done after the Sautee cycle – I tried to saute again and it went for a couple of minutes and then said done…that process alone took @ 10 minutes. i quick released to be able to mix it together well and figured it will finish cooking when the noodles are being cooked. I set it to Pressure cook, 7 minutes, High Pressure. It’s taking a while to come to pressure… all in all it’s been @ 40 minutes since I started this recipe and I can hear it like it’s boiling in there – but when I push the “more” or “less” buttons it still shows :07 time remaining since it hasn’t come to pressure again yet…. I looked and saw a couple of other comments that said their Instant Pots didn’t come to pressure either. I’m just waiting it out. Note: I’m dumbfounded that this Instant Pot did not come with a basic manual of basic recipes and directions. *My friend loves hers and said she gets all her recipes online.
It sure feels like I’m missing something that may seem intuitive to others somehow. Like I’m missing the “Instant” part! (Thanks for any suggestions)
**(Okay – it just came to pressure!) but it’s been 43 minutes since I started this recipe… now I’d guess it will be 7 more since the timer is counting down once it came to pressure.
??? Guess I’ll wait to post until it finishes.
End result: cooked down from 7 minutes then I quick released and the noodles were not cook all the way and still a lot of liquid… so I stirred and started again for 10minute same settings. This time it signaled “burn”… but after quick released and stirring – (plenty of fluids still so unsure why it burned) the noodles were acceptably cooked and the burned bottom part was at the very bottom, so I salvaged it. All in all this took 1:15!??/ Tasted good but any suggestions are appreciated. I have an Instant Pot Duo.
Hi Dawnette!
For the saute function, you won’t be using the pressure cooker lid. Just keep the instant pot open like it’s a pot on the stove and saute the meat as though you’re browning it in a pan. It only took me 7 or 8 minutes. Then, layer everything on top and put the lid on, following the recipe as written.
I’m not sure if that would fix the rest of the problems you faced, but it might help bring the time down significantly!
Hi Dawnette,
It sounds like you didn’t close your vent. I forget to do that at time and will take forever because all your steam is venting out. Also saute your meat with lid off. I hope that helps. ?
Made this for meal prep. Made 5 meals with peas and a roll and butter on the side, plus my evening meal for one tonight.
My son and I will take for school/work lunches and I can freeze the rest.
I will definitely make this again-Quick and economical.
Used a chopped onion and real garlic as I had those.
Great Single Pot “SUPER EASY” Recipe! Will become a quick meal “and” a permanent RV Camping meal. PS…Make Sure to release the pressure immediately. I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect. However, I forgot about it and let the pot sit for 2 minutes before manually releasing the pressure. It seems like the pasta would burn if sits to long without opening and stirring.
I made this and was skeptical based on the mixed reviews, so I’m leaving mine as detailed as possible: I used a 6qt instant pot duo. Sautéed the meat on sautéed setting- I just went for it and didn’t wait for it to reach a certain temp. For my machine, I can’t just switch to go pressure setting, I have to “cancel” the sauté mode and then go to high pressure mode. YES, this took a WHILE to come to pressure/temp (I saw some commenting about theirs not coming to pressure/temp)… I felt it took a while bc I was staring at it, waiting. I had it in high pressure for 9 min, then I opened it, and YES, some bits stuck together and some were undercooked, but here’s the deal: I took out the minor undercooked clump and tossed it (no major loss) and then I got tongs and stirred up the rest- some bits were undercooked, so I just closed that sucker (it’s “off” at this point) and let it sit for 3-5min and all the noods were fine. You have to expect SOME to clump together, but it’s doable. All in all, this saves a LOT of time (and water!)- only one pot and tongs to wash as opposed to a pan and spatula for meat + pot and strainer… will definitely keep this recipe in my arsenal!