Spaghetti in the Instant Pot is a super quick and easy meal that allows you to make one of your family’s favorite dinners fast. As a true one-pot meal, clean-up will be a breeze!
Did you know you can make spaghetti in the Instant Pot? This simple one-pot meal is an easy weeknight dinner!
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Like most families, everyone in our house enjoys having spaghetti for dinner. It’s inexpensive, easy to throw together, and it fills us up and leaves us satisfied.
After making pressure cooker chicken fettucine alfredo, I started wondering if I could make another standby pasta dish in the pressure cooker.
It’s not that spaghetti is hard to make, by any means, but it does require dirtying a couple of dishes–one for boiling pasta and one for cooking sauce and then a colander for draining the pasta.
That’s one great thing about making spaghetti in the Instant Pot–everything cooks together. So you only have one pot to clean when all is said and done.
This is one of my favorite Instant Pot Olive Garden copycat recipes, and I’m sure it will be for you, too!
Related Recipes You Might Love:
- Pressure Cooker Italian Meatball Subs
- Healthy Chicken Cacciatore Made Simple in the Instant Pot
- Easy and Delicious Zuppa Toscana in the Instant Pot
How to Make Spaghetti in the Instant Pot
You start by using the Saute function to cook the ground beef (or turkey, if you prefer) and onions in the insert pot of the Instant Pot.
Once beef is browned and onions are translucent, drain any excess grease if necessary and return contents to pot (if you use lean beef, you can skip this step). Add in the sauce and the optional seasonings, stirring well.
Next, you’ll take the uncooked spaghetti noodles and break them in half. Then layer the noodles in a crisscross pattern on top of the sauce. This pattern helps to minimize noodles sticking together during cooking. Don’t stir at this point!
Last, you’ll pour some water on top of everything. You want just enough water to fully cover the spaghetti noodles–for me, this was about 2.5 cups.
And that’s it! Lock the lid into place and set the vent to the Sealed position, then select a 4 minute cook time at high pressure using the Manual setting.
Once the cook time is complete, perform a quick release of pressure and carefully open the lid. Stir everything together, breaking apart any noodles that may have stuck together. I like to allow everything to sit for a couple of minutes, because the noodles absorb a little more liquid as they cool.
Top it off with some grated Parmesan or some fresh basil and serve alongside a salad and some bread. Dinner is done!
Recommended Equipment:
- Instant Pot (I have the DUO60 model, but there are many options) or another electric pressure cooker
- Pasta Server
Spaghetti in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker

Cooking spaghetti in the Instant Pot makes for an easy one-pot dinner with minimal cleanup!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 medium onion, diced
- 1 24-oz jar spaghetti sauce
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning*
- 1 tsp dried basil*
- 1 tsp dried oregano*
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 8 oz uncooked spaghetti, broken in half
- 2-3 cups water
- *optional
Instructions
- In the insert pot of an Instant Pot, add ground beef and onions. Use the Saute function to brown the beef, breaking it apart as it cooks.
- Once the beef is brown and the onions are translucent, drain excess grease if necessary and return to pot.
- Add spaghetti sauce and optional seasonings. Stir to combine.
- Place broken spaghetti on top of the sauce in a cross-cross pattern. Pour enough water into the pot so that the spaghetti is just covered with water (I used about 2.5 cups). Do not stir.
- Lock the lid in place and press Cancel/Keep Warm to turn off the Saute function. Using the Manual function, select a 4 minute cook time at high pressure.
- Once the cook time is complete, perform a quick release of pressure. After pressure has released and the valve has dropped, carefully remove the lid.
- Stir contents well, breaking apart any noodles that may have stuck together during cooking. Allow to sit for a few minutes to allow noodles to absorb a bit more liquid, then serve!
Notes
Inspired by Meatloaf and Melodrama
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 418Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 70mgSodium: 658mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 4gSugar: 8gProtein: 27g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and is not guaranteed for accuracy.
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