Instant Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Spaghetti swirled on white serving plate

4.95 from 20 votes

Instant Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Instant Pot Spaghetti in Meat Sauce, all in one pot. Use ground beef or turkey, your favorite marinara sauce and dinner is on the table in 30 minutes.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: servings

Calories: 550kcal

Author: Kelly Wildenhaus

Ingredients

½ cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground beef or ground turkey (I like ground sirloin, or a mix of light and dark turkey meat)
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
Pinch of crushed red pepper, or to taste
Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
3 cups water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound spaghetti, broken in half (I prefer De Cecco brand)
3 cups marinara sauce, jarred or homemade (I like Rao's)
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for serving

Instructions

Turn on sauté feature on Instant Pot and heat olive oil until hot. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add garlic and stir for just a bit until fragrant. Add ground turkey and continue cooking and stirring to break up clumps until browned and no longer pink. Add the Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Stir to combine and cook another minute.
Turn off sauté setting. Add water and 1 teaspoon salt to the pot. Lay spaghetti on top and then cover with marinara sauce. With tongs, carefully and gently toss to combine, making sure all the spaghetti is covered with liquid.
Secure lid and seal Instant Pot. Set for 6 minutes on high pressure. When finished, let pressure naturally release for 6 more minutes (set a timer!). Manually release remaining pressure and carefully remove lid.
With tongs, stir and toss to combine spaghetti and sauce, carefully breaking up any clumps of pasta. Taste and adjust for salt. Serve with plenty of freshly grated Parm and Enjoy!

Video

Notes

I have often used more ground meat, up to about 1⅓ pounds and it works just as well, in fact, we prefer a little more meat!
You can also use less spaghetti, like 12 ounces. If so, drop the water down a little, to 2¾ cups.
Pressure cooking times and pasta varies, a good starting point is to cut the package boiling instructions in half and set cooking time to that amount, followed by the same natural release time. I recommend the 6 minutes based on De Cecco brand and my al dente preference.

Nutrition