Instant Pot Spaghetti
This Instant Pot Spaghetti has perfectly cooked spaghetti noodles in marinara sauce with ground beef, simple seasonings, and cream cheese as an amazing secret ingredient. Your family will love this 30 minute meal!
Try my Eggplant Parmesan next! And don’t forget a side of Garlic Bread with Cheese.
Instant Pot Spaghetti
If you’re looking for an easy dinner idea that the whole family can actually agree on, this is it.
Not only is it super convenient to cook this entire meal in one pot, but the flavors blend so perfectly together, you’ll never make spaghetti any other way!
See below for my PRO tips for freezing, this makes a great freezer meal.
How to Make it
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Heat the olive oil and add the ground beef. Cook and crumble the beef, drain any grease.
- Stir in the seasonings. Break the spaghetti noodles in half and criss-cross them over the ground beef to prevent them from sticking together.
- Add the chicken broth and undrained diced tomatoes.
- Add marinara sauce and ensure spaghetti noodles are completely submerged.
- Pressure cook for 8 minutes.
- Flip the quick release valve. Stir in the cream cheese. Sauce will thicken upon standing. Serve!
Using a 6 Quart Instant Pot
- I us my trusty 6-quart Instant Pot for this recipe, which is what I recommend for most families, and is what most Instant Pot recipes are based on.
- It can cook enough food for a family of four and won’t take as long to come to pressure as an 8 quart will.
Burn Message Indicator
The burn indicator can sometimes trigger more easily with starchy foods, (i.e. – pasta). Rest assure, there is a sufficient amount of liquid in this recipe to avoid burning this pasta.
Even so, I commonly see this indicator when I am cooking but I just let it continue to come to pressure and eventually it goes away.
For more information you can check out these 7 Instant Pot Burn Mistakes you need to avoid.
Storing Leftovers
Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Tips for Freezing
- Cook the pasta to the Al Dente Point, but no more. That way the pasta won’t be overcooked when you reheat it. The quick release of the pressure valve helps to halt the cooking process.
- I make portion-sized foil packets for these and place them right from the freezer to a 350° oven for about 20-25 minutes, depending on the portion size.
- You can also freeze them in Ziploc bags and place in the fridge overnight to defrost.
More Instant Pot Meals:
- Creamy Chicken Stew
- Chicken and Stuffing
- Hamburger Helper
- Roasted Potatoes
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Split Pea Soup
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Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 pound ground beef, I use 85% lean
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon Italian Seasonings
- Salt/pepper, to taste
- ½ pound spaghetti
- 24 oz. marinara sauce
- 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2 cups chicken broth, can sub water
- 2 Tablespoons cream cheese, softened (optional, but recommended!)
Instructions
- Set the instant pot to Sautee. Add the Olive oil and ground beef. Cook and crumble the ground beef until it is browned and cooked through. Drain any excess grease if needed,
- Stir in the seasonings. Use a silicone spatula to scrape up any brown bits that might be stuck to the bottom of the pan. (This helps prevent the burn indicator message.)
- Break the spaghetti noodles in half. Crisscross them over the meat so that they don't stick together.
- Add the chicken broth and undrained diced tomatoes over the noodles. Top with marinara and ensure the noodles are submerged.
- Cover/Seal the Instant Pot and set it to pressure cook for 8 minutes (Or, select the manual button and hit high pressure for 8 minutes). Note: It might sound like nothing is happening but if you put your ear up to the instant pot after a few minutes, you can hear it working.
- Turn the quick release valve to let all of the steam escape, and open the pot. (Do not let the pressure release naturally as this will overcook the pasta.)
- Stir in the cream cheese. The sauce will continue to thicken upon standing. Serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Substitutions and additions:
- Ground Turkey or Chicken may also be used.
- Thin Spaghetti may also be used. Pressure cook for 6 minutes instead of 8.
- For a similar flavor to Bolognese, saute diced onions, celery, and carrots when browning the meat.
These instructions were perfect! I did sub a few things due to lack of original ingredients
. Used italian sausage instead of burger and spices, sautéed onions in the beginning as well, and my diced tomatoes had green chilies in them. I also used thin spagetti (set cook time for 6 min). The pasta was a little under cooked, but after putting in the cream cheese and letting it sit for 10 min with the lid on, it was perfect! Absolutely fabulous! Thank you!
Nice work Dawn, sounds like you nailed it! I’m so happy you found the instructions helpful, thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💖
Made it with thick spaghetti, 8 minutes kept it nicely al dente. Doubled the recipe, only used 1 ½ cans of 42 oz sauce, but 4 cups of broth. sauteed onion, garlic and squeeze of tomato paste before adding the ground beef. It was delicious.
I’m so glad that it was a hit Michael, thank you so much for sharing and for taking the time to leave a review!! -Stephanie
Really good and super-quick to make for my family on a busy night! Cream cheese made it creamy and indulgent. Everyone liked it so much!
Next time I will pre-cook the ground beef for an even quicker meal.
I’m so happy it was a super quick success with the family Kitrina, thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!😃
This is my go to recipe for spaghetti now! My husband is really picky and even he loves it. I will make this recipe forever and pass it along to friends and family.
Wahooo! That makes me so happy Susan, thanks so much for the great review!💗
About the 3rd time making this. This time I doubled everything in a 8 QT pot, added some meatballs, mix ground beef and hot Italian sausage, Rotel Diced tomatoes and chilies. Not sure if time should increase but gonna split time and go with 12 mins. Will let you know how it turns out.
Good luck! I think you got this!💗
Thank you, Great recipe!
You should join this Instant Pot Tips & Recipes Facebook group. I got a lot of new ideas and recipes. highly recommended!
Thanks so much Shannon, happy to hear you liked it!❤️
I have made this before in my 8 quart IP. I see that you do not recommend doubling the recipe in a 6 qt. Will it double in an 8 qt?
As long as it doesn’t go past the max line, you should be good, I haven’t doubled this in an 8 quart so I can’t say for sure!
Thank you! It is my favorite IP spaghetti recipe and I am going to make it for a large group. I will let you know!
That makes me so happy Kerry! I’ve made this for large groups before and it’s always been a hit. Thanks so much for the great comments and review!❤️
Could I make it with ground Italian sausage instead?
Sure can! ☺️
Such a fast easy recipe, and only one pot to wash. I used crushed tomatoes instead of diced since I had toddlers eating it and thought it would be easier for them.
Next time I make it I may add some diced onions in with the ground beef. But it is great tasting as is and also reheats really well.
Thank you for a great easy instant pot recipe. I won’t be making spaghetti on the stove top anymore.
It’s my pleasure Kathy, I’m so happy this was a hit!💖 I love how easy this one is, and it’s so easy to reheat. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!
This recipe was very yummy!! I used meatballs instead of ground beef. The cream cheese did add a richer taste!! I will definitely make again.
Thanks so much for the great comments and for taking the time to leave a review! Happy to hear you enjoyed this one with meatballs!😃