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These Instant Pot Meatballs are the easiest way to make meatballs, EVER. No browning or sautéing. Just throw them in the sauce uncooked and let the Instant Pot do the rest!
Featured with this Recipe
- Instant Pot Meatballs
- Instant Pot Meatball Ingredients
- How to Make Meatballs
- Put them straight in the Pot!
- Any Kind Of Pressure Cooker Will Work
- Avoiding The Burn Notice
- Quick Reference: How Long To Cook Meatballs in the Instant Pot
- Storing, Freezing, and Reheating Meatballs
- Tips for Cooking and Serving
- Frequently Asked Questions About Instant Pot Meatballs
- Want More Instant Pot Recipes?
- How to Make Instant Pot Meatballs
- Instant Pot Meatballs Recipe
Instant Pot Meatballs
Try this Instant Pot Meatballs recipe with some of our favorite side dishes or salads. If it’s bread you are looking for, you can never go wrong with Hot & Cheesy Garlic Bread, Breadtwists, or our Parmesan Pull Apart bread.
Meatballs in the Instant Pot are THE way to go when it comes to meatballs. They really couldn’t be easier! When cooking meatballs in a pan, they can crumble and fall apart. Baking them can dry them out. Cooking them in the Instant Pot is easier AND tastes better. By cooking them in the sauce, the meaty flavor infuses the sauce and makes it so much more flavorful. Instant Pot Meatballs can be shaped, thrown in, and cooked without falling apart AT ALL. The meatballs stay tightly packed and don’t crumble in the sauce!
Instant Pot Meatball Ingredients
- ground beef – You can also use a beef/pork mixture with lean ground beef and Italian sausage, or if you prefer turkey meatballs use ground turkey
- onion – yellow or white will work best, finely chopped or grated
- bread crumbs – seasoned or unseasoned is fine. We like using panko bread crumb
- parmesan cheese
- eggs – the “binder” that holds the meatballs together.
- milk – adds more moisture to the meat while cooking and keeps it from drying out
- seasonings – garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper (feel free to add or sub out other dried or fresh herbs like basil, parsley, or thyme)
- spaghetti sauce – you can use jarred pasta sauce or our recipe for canned spaghetti sauce
How to Make Meatballs
- Combine all ingredients (except spaghetti sauce) in a large bowl until well-mixed. Mixing together with your hands works great.
- Form into 1.5-inch balls using your hands or a small ice cream scoop or cookie scoop. You want them to be slightly smaller than a golf ball. I like to set them on some parchment paper as I roll them.
Put them straight in the Pot!
See? Uncooked! Crazy right? The first time I made these, I was a little worried. I thought that the meatballs wouldn’t keep their shape and I would end up having meat sauce, which happens to me more than I would care to admit when I am sautéing meatballs in a skillet. I don’t know why they don’t fall apart in the Instant Pot. It’s like magic.
Any Kind Of Pressure Cooker Will Work
I also need to mention that this will work great in ANY kind of pressure cooker. No matter what you use, you will get the same results. Just make sure you have enough liquid in the pot so it will actually seal. You also don’t want to get a burn notice. Which brings me to…
Avoiding The Burn Notice
Tomato-based sauces can be tricky in an Instant Pot because tomatoes have a tendency to burn easily. Make sure your sauce is thin enough to create steam and seal the pot. You can thin it out by adding a can of diced tomatoes or even just a little water. If you are worried about it being TOO thin, you can always add tomato paste or tomato sauce to your pasta sauce after the meatballs are done cooking. I like using my homemade canned sauce because the consistency is just right. If it seems too thin afterward, I will add a few tablespoons of tomato paste and that usually does the trick.
Quick Reference: How Long To Cook Meatballs in the Instant Pot
Cooking time (high pressure): 7 minutes
Slow release (natural release): 5 minutes
Storing, Freezing, and Reheating Meatballs
To store your meatballs after cooking, allow them to cool for 10-15 minutes, and then place them in an airtight container or freezer zip-top bag. Store them in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or in the freezer for 3 months. These meatballs are great for meal prep and you can make large batches at one time. To reheat, place frozen meatballs in the fridge overnight to thaw and re-heat over the stove top or in the microwave until meatballs are cooked through and the marinara sauce is hot.
Tips for Cooking and Serving
- For this recipe, I used our own Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce, but you can use your own recipe or just store-bought spaghetti sauce. No matter what you use, it is going to be awesome. Even store-bought spaghetti sauce will be kicked up a notch because the meatballs will be cooked in it, giving it an incredible flavor.
- Not a huge fan of ground beef? Feel free to try ground pork, ground turkey, or ground chicken meatballs too! We will often do a mixture of both ground beef and pork to make them more tender.
- These meatballs can easily be made gluten-free if you want to switch out the Panko breadcrumbs for gluten-free breadcrumbs. You can also use gluten-free oats if you don’t have breadcrumbs on hand.
- Of course, you will want to serve these meatballs over gluten-free pasta if you have an intolerance to gluten. If GF pasta isn’t your thing, you can also use zoodles (spiralized zucchini), or you can use spaghetti squash.
- Have leftovers? These meatballs make incredible meatball subs! Give them a try!
Read Next: 27 BEST Instant Pot Recipes
Frequently Asked Questions About Instant Pot Meatballs
It’s not the time as much as it is the temperature. The internal temperature should be 160 degrees. By following this recipe you will have perfectly cooked meatballs in 20 minutes.
Yes! The meat will heat up quickly in the Instant Pot, making it a safe cooking method.
If cooking pre-cooked meatballs and they are frozen, you can cook them on high pressure for 5 minutes and do a 5-minute slow release.
Definitely, these are great used for a meatball sub sandwich, with toothpicks as an appetizer, or even as a main dish with a side of mashed potatoes and vegetables for a more low-carb option.
Read Next: Pym Test Kitchen Impossible Spoonful
Want More Instant Pot Recipes?
Strapped for time? We have dozens of delicious dinners that come together in no time! Check out some of our Instant Pot favorites:
How to Make Instant Pot Meatballs
Instant Pot Meatballs
Video
Equipment
- Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef lean
- 1/2 cup onion grated
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 2 eggs
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 cups spaghetti sauce (see notes above)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients (except spaghetti sauce) until well mixed. Mixing together with your hands works great.Form into balls using hands or small ice cream scoop. You want them to be slightly smaller than a golf ball.
- Spray bottom of Instant Pot with cooking spray and add spaghetti sauce. Place meatballs over the sauce, layering them if necessary. It's OK if they touch, just don't squish them too much.
- Place lid on Instant Pot and switch valve to “sealing”. Press “Manual” and set to high pressure for 7 minutes.
- After you hear the timer go off, allow to slow release for another 5 minutes and then do the quick release (you do this by carefully switching the tab to "venting"). Remove lid from Instant Pot, stir, and serve over cooked pasta noodles.
I had trouble with “burn” even with adding water. My next batch I ran on “regular pressure “ instead of high.. and upped the time by 2 minutes.. and same 5 min release… it worked great!
Soooo tender and flavorful !!! My 18-months old loved them. Never using the oven again to make meatballs.
I followed the recipe using my Instant Pot and everything was still raw after 7min high pressure and 5 min natural release. What went wrong?! Had to then use the sauté function for half an hour to make sure everything was cooked through.
Oh, shoot! Maybe your meatballs were a little on the big side? Sometimes Instant Pots vary in how much they heat up.
I only have a three quart instant pot will that work?
We haven’t tried it in a 3 quart instant pot so I can’t say for sure!
I make a dairy-free swap in this recipe and have made this at least 5x now. My substitution is 2 tsp of nooch and 1 tsp of onion powder for the 1/2 cup of parmesan. It’s a regular in my weekly meal plan, and it’s easy. I’m a huge fan!
If I need to triple the ingredients then should the 7min pressure cooking time also be tripled?
I would not recommend tripling the recipe. The instant pot cook times are very dependent on how much liquid and food is in the pot. If you need that many I would recommend our crock pot meatball recipe or cooking them in batches.
I use a stainless steel pot with a lid inside the Instapot to avoid the “burn notice.” Two cups of water in the bottom, set the pot on a stainless steel trivet, and cook as usual, and it works like a charm.
Well I’m 61 never cooked for myself before tried the spaghetti and meatballs made it with egg noodles it turned out fantastic 1st thing I ever cooked In my instant pop I’m real proud of myself thank you very much I will have a full belly for a couple of days now
We are proud of you too! Thank you for sharing your success with us!
Any thoughts to using ricotta instead of parmesan?
You could try it! It might be a little on the wet side, so maybe add a bit more breadcrumbs? Let us know how it goes if you do try it!
I made these for supper the other night. Times were spot on. They were FANTASTIC!!! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Love this easy recipe and have been making it for several years now and my family absolutely loves! I made it with turkey meat as well and it’s just as delicious!!
I wanted spaghetti sauce but didn’t want to fool around pre cooking the meatballs. Your procedure description lead me to try raw meatballs. It’s quick, easy and I think I’ll be making these again. My sauce was a bit watered so I added a small can of tomato paste to thicken it up. I’m letting it Hold Warm as a faux simmer and marrying of meat and sauce. Thanks.
This is my go to for meat balls, I love how easy it is!!!🙌🙌thanks for sharing this.♥️
This is a weird question, but my son can’t have tomatoes, so he can’t have sauce either. Can you make these in the IP without any sauce? Maybe with some broth or something?
Oh, shoot! I am not sure. We haven’t tested it with any other sauces besides the tomato sauce.
I would bet that a couple of cans of cream of mushroom soup would work well. You’ll likely need to make the soup by adding only one can or less of water. You’re trying to make a sauce so less is best. You can always add a bit of water at end of cooking. Should be tasty over noodles or spaghetti. Experiment and enjoy.
I love these meatballs. I make them with ground turkey and usually with only a pound of meat. They are so easy and quick to make and always a big hit!
I love these meatballs. I make them with ground turkey and usually with only a pound of meat. They are so easy and quick to make and always a big hit!
Simple and tasty. Love this and so does my Husband, who can be hard to please!
I have made this with Turkey mince and been very successful! Thank you for sharing the recipe, I make it once a week now and sneak frozen chopped spinach into the mix to trick my daughter lol
This is my 2nd comment, but just wanted to say I added 1/2 cup water to some sauce & stirred, then added remaining sauce & meatballs on top. NO burn notice what so ever.
LOVE! Followed recipe fairly exactly & family loved it. Will make this way again & again. Thanks!
Love this recipe! Made it at least 20xs using Turkey meat and my family LOVES it!
Your meatballs are falling apart in the skillet because you’re using a recipe without egg, which acts as a binder. Two tablespoons of psylium husk in the mix will help a lot if you can’t cook with egg.
Fabulous! I’ve made the recipe with, beef, turkey, and veal – all amazing. Its a great “go to” meal and makes plenty for 2 dinners for our family.
I made this recipe for 20 people exactly as it was posted and it came out delicious & moist. I used jarred Prego Chunky Veggie Sauce and everyone loved them. Because of the amount of meatballs I made, I had to cook them on the stovetop but it was just as easy for me. Two thumbs up!
I’m so happy you like this recipe as much as we do! Thank you for the review!
This looks amazing! My daughter is highly allergic to milk protein, so we will have to omit the cheese. Will this affect how the meatballs cook? Would you suggest using anything in its place, or will it be fine without? Thanks in advance for the feedback!
I think it would be alright without the cheese. If you want to, you could use some nutritional yeast as a substitute! Maybe not 1:1 exactly, a little less nutritional yeast and add some more breadcrumbs.
I eat kosher, so I left the cheese out and it turned out fine
This recipe makes a very nice, moist meatball… so often meatballs can get dried out with just a bit too much cooking… not with these!
Greatings from Australia! New to Instant Pots and wanted to try this recipe. I have 4 young children ranging in age from 9 to 2 and all of them inhaled the dish. I loved the flavour also. So comforting. Thank you for posting this. Not a single meatball left.
I am on a Keto diet, but use this recipe with my own keto changes. Turns out yum every time!
You can avoid the “burn” signal problem by putting the ingredients into a round Corningware casserole and placing the casserole into the Instant Pot stainless steel pot on the trivet with a cup and a half of water in the bottom of the pot (under the casserole). Put a glass lid on the casserole pan, and cook according the recipe instructions. This prevents the “burn” signal problem. Cleanup is much easier too!
Instead of the spaghetti sauce could I use a brown gravy then put on top of mashed potatoes.
I haven’t tried gravy in the instant pot, so I’m not sure. Usually gravy has some milk or cornstarch in it and those things don’t cook well in an IP.
My meatballs turned out great!! I followed the recipe and directions exactly. I have never gotten a burn notice when using tomato sauce, but I have an older IP Duo 5 qt. Thank you!!
Best meatballs ever. My grandkids inhale them.
I love using these instant pot meatballs in spaghetti. Perfect addition that the kids love
This recipe turned out great! I ended up using Ragu instead of making my own sauce like i normally do, but even with jar sauce the meatballs were delicious! This is definitely my new go to meatball recipe. It was so quick and easy making them in the pressure cooker. Thanks
These meatballs were delicious! I love how easy they are to make!
http://www.modernmealmakeover.com
This recipe is fantastic. I love that in following all the instructions and measurements to a ‘T’, the outcome is exactly what you would hope for. The only substitution I made was onion powder in lieu of grating onion but that was only for the sake of convenience. I made the meatballs slightly larger than a golf ball and cooked them for 11 minutes instead of 7 but followed the other cooking instructions verbatim and the results were perfect and delicious. Unlike some reviews, I didn’t get a burn notice but I would emphasize the importance of spraying the bottom of the Instant Pot with the non-stick cooking spray to minimize the possibility of this happening. Needless to say, I’ll be making this again!
Thank you so much for your comment! I’m happy you love this recipe as much as we do!
Would the cooking time change if I made the meatballs bigger? Baseball size
Yes, you would probably have to cook longer. I don’t know exactly the time, you’d have to experiment with it!
Ok so this was a fail for me. I got the food burn message. I even added water to the spaghetti sauce. When I got the error I scooped it all out and finished on the stove top. They tasted great but I need help to make this one work.
The same thing happened to me tonight. I am not sure how to make sure that does not happen again.
LOVE THESE MEATBALLS!!!
I am an Instapot virgin haha, so I came here to get the easiest recipes. This recipe was the first one I tried. I’ve made these heavenly meatballs quite a few times now, and today i though I must leave a 5-star review that I always forget to write.
YAY!!! I’m happy this recipe was a success for you. Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
Basic spaghetti and meatballs. It is exactly what it is, nothing more. Very easy to make, quick (7 minutes plus warm up and cooldown). No browning, just drop the meatballs into the sauce and hit start. Easy and perfect for a quick meal after work.
My family loves this recipe! And it’s so easy compared to the way I used to make meatballs. Thank you.
How do you suggest cooking these if I made the meatballs ahead of time and froze them? Then cooked them from frozen?
I would try them on Manual High Pressure for 5 minutes, with a natural release after!
Ok try this…put 3/4 cup water in your pot, then trivet. Then meatballs atop the trivet and then pour sauce on top.
I avoid the burn notice by putting a layer or two of diced onions, celery, carrots and or mushrooms on the bottom of the pot first with a quarter cup of broth or water. Then I load the meatballs and gently pour the sauce over the meatballs so I don’t disturb the bottom layers and the water or broth stays put. I always add two or three TBS of tomato paste on top to compensate for the added liquid and the liquid from the veggies so the sauce doesn’t thin. After it’s finished cooking I stir it all together. Works every time and my family gets more vegetables on their plates.
Thank you so much for your tips! Great ideas!
This was so easy to make and my picky husband LOVES them!
Hands down the best spaghetti and meatballs I’ve ever had! Way better than any Italian restaurant. The kitchen smelled delicious for a full day afterward.
I’m sorry this burned for you. What brand and what model of Instant Pot do you have?
This looks so delicious and tasty! I’m so excited to give this a try! My family and I are going to love this!
Best meatballs ever!!!
So easy to make and a new family favorite. Instant pot makes it even easier! Thank you!
LOVE these instant pot meatballs recipe! Thank you for this recipe.
Although they look and smell good 7 min in my instant pot did not work, they were completely raw. 😁 so turning back on.
Oh shoot! How did they turn out after the additional time?
Would the time be the same if I make this with turkey mince instead of beef?
Thanks
We haven’t tried it with turkey before, so I can’t say for sure. Let us know how it turns out if you do try it!
Great Recipe! Easy, fast and absolutely delicious! I highly recommend trying this excellent dish and even playing around with it. It is a great dish for everyone. We enjoy the meat balls with pasta and on their own with other sides. Give it a try, you won’t regret it!
Hi!! Excited to try this recipe. Could I substitute two tablespoons of milk with Ricotta cheese to make it extra creamy and rich?
Sadiya
I haven’t tried it that way, so I’m not sure! Let me know how it goes if you do try it!
These were great and my picky eater hubby even made a meatball sandwich the next day! I have a 3 quart Instant Pot and got the burn message before the timer started to count down when it was still on preheat. I unplugged the Instant pot and tried the quick release but there was no steam coming out. I removed the lid and did a temperature check on the meatballs and it said they were 145 degrees so I gently stirred them around and then put lid back on and Instant Pot unplugged. I kept them in for 5 minutes while I finished the noodles. Next time I might try putting the trivet (that came with the Instant Pot) in before the sauce and meatballs. I did not use the trivet this time.
Hi!!!!
This looks amazing! I’m going to try it today! Do you think after cooking the meatballs, I could add some more water, the pasta on top and more tomato sauce and set it on high pressure 7 more minutes? 🤔
Thanks for sharing!
I haven’t tried it that way, so I’m not sure! Please let me know how it turns out if you try it!
So simple and easy to follow but what’s even better is the flavor. These were amazing! I’m not a fan of cooking so I have to follow recipes in order to avoid disaster, lol! I was afraid I’d get the burn signal some were having but it didn’t come up. Instead the meatballs were delicious and perfect! Will be making this again and again…thanks!
Great recipe!! My first time using IP for meatballs. I did slightly change the recipe. I used my own breadcrumb mixture and half ground beef, half ground pork. This recipe is a must try!! Thanks!! I will definitely try more of your recipes!!!
Meatballs are one thing I haven’t tried in my IP yet. I had to give them a try. So easy!
This really is the easiest recipe I have come across without browning. I seem to love instant pot recipes these days!
No browning? Hurrah! These meatballs look incredible and so easy in the IP.
This really is the easiest recipe and was a hit with my whole family! I love instant pot recipes these days!
Spaghetti and meatballs sauce is a match made in heaven .. I love all that your recipe has in there. Gotta try it out soon…
I had to give this a try…being from an Italian family it is unheard of to not brown the meatballs but I tried this and it was delicious…..what a time saver!!!!!
Unfortunately I got the “burn food” message half way into cooking these! 🙁 I tried cancelling and adding sauce and stirring slightly but got the same message the 2nd time around. Now it’s just a “feel and pray” type of situation over here 🤦♀️
I’m so sorry! Sometimes if you have a newer Instant Pot, it can be more sensitive to the burn message. Try adding a little more liquid to offset that.
Made it today and it came out perfect! My boyfriend kept saying how good the meal was 🙂 I needed to add 4 more minutes to the cooking time as the meatballs were not cooked through after 7 minutes, but they were on a larger side, so that’s probably why.
Easy and delicious! Thanks for the great recipe!!
This dish came out perfect! The only thing I changed was I used Italian seasoning we purchased in Italy instead of the kosher salt and oregano and doubled the recipe to feed 6 adults and 4 children. Everyone raved about the flavor!
Great instruction and visual helped. Thanks Dr. Chairez
That’s was super ez to put together and cook. Very satisfied. Our meatball sandwiches was better than dining out!!!
So delicious and easy!!
Delicious! I didn’t have any issues with the Instant Pot and the meatballs came out moist and chewy! Absolutely loved it. The meat to sauce ratio was a little off so next time I’ll probably add another cup or two of sauce. Love that it’s fairly low calorie and high protein!
If I don’t make this at least once a week, my husband will pitch a fit! Great recipe!
I’ve made this recipe four times with great success. Thank you for it. I modified it. I have Type II Diabetes and my wife can’t eat garlic. Instead of garlic, parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs, I use 1/4 cup nutritional yeast. I use 2 cups of sauce, not 4, since we are not serving it over pasta. As a result, I use the trivet to hold them up off the bottom. I cook them High Pressure for only 5 minutes, then natural release. We live near sea level. Anyone else experimenting with it?
I’ve made this a couple of times now, and it always comes out great!
This recipe didn’t work for me. The meatballs were absolutely mushy after 5 min. on high, even using quick pressure release. I always try not to overwork the meat, so I don’t believe that was the problem. I cut the salt to 1/4 tsp., which was perfect for our taste.
How much and what kind of sauce did you use?
Thanks for posting this recipe made it tonight for the first time, husband and I both loved it. Husband only noted that he thought due to grease factor from meatballs the sauce is not useable. ^ note; I added little olive oil on bottom of pot no burn notice.
To cut down on the grease, I would try adding chicken broth on the bottom of the pan to avoid the burn notice. Hope this helps!
Tried this 3 different times. BURN notice appears every time. I tried 3 different sauces and the second and third sauce I tried, I added water to it. What a bummer.
Here is a comment we received from another user that might help!
“Altitude on your Instant Pot will need to be calibrated if you are 2,000 feet above sea level. At 3,000 feet, please add 5% cooking time, and for every 1000 feet add an additional 5% cooking time.
As an example, if your recipe details 20 minutes cooking time, then for 3000 feet add 1 minute (5%). At 4000 feet add 2 minutes (10%). At 6000 feet add 4 minutes (20%), etc. An easy calculation for 6000 feet is to multiply the time by 1.2 (e.g. 20 * 1.2 = 24). Please see the following link for an Altitude Cooking Timetable:
https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/pressure-cooker-high-altitude-cooking-time/
Looking at the recipes that you provided that had given you a BURN message,, it seems to be low on thin liquid. We recommend roughly 18 fl oz., or 2 cups, of watery liquid so that the IP can created the necessary steam to bring the pot to pressure. Try increasing the water content by adding water, broth, or another thin liquid. You can use the steam rack to elevate the food and allow the liquid to move freely underneath it.
When using the Saute function, please be sure to deglaze the inner pot by adding some water and scraping any stuck on bits on food before switching to pressure cook. You can also remove the inner pot from the cooker base to allow the Instant Pot to cool for a few minutes before starting a pressure cooking function.”
I wasn’t able to complete the cook because my IP kept giving me the ‘burn’ notice and would never start the time. I had to finish on the stovetop which was frustrating. I did spray the pot as instructed but didn’t seem to make a difference. Tasted good in the end anyway!
Shoot! I am sorry that happened! It seems like depending on what brand/year of IP you are using it can be more sensitive to liquid. If you try another IP recipe with a tomato sauce, add some chicken broth or water to the sauce. If it is runny at the end from the extra liquid, you can put it on Saute mode and reduce it a bit. Hope this helps!
Delicious! I doubled the recipe and my family enjoyed these meatballs for quite a few meals! Had I more thoroughly/carefully read your recipe and added notes BEFORE preparing and cooking, I’m sure I would have avoided the pitfalls I encountered. That’s my user error! The recipe produced an excellent meal!
Hi,
This looks delicious, am going to make it tonight. I am, unfortunately, allergic to eggs. I realize they are used in this recipe as a binding agent, do you have a recommendation for an egg replacement? When I bake, I generally use apple sauce or a flax paste as egg replacements however they won’t work here. I’ll try a straight up replacement with tomato paste or maybe a tomato paste + rolled oats, but I don’t want the end result to change the taste. Wondering if you have a better suggestion?
Thanks!
You can use 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese per egg! I think that would work with the flavors of this recipe. Let us know how it turns out if you do try it!
Thanks! I ended up using tomato paste and rolled oats to replace the eggs. 2 Tbsps of tomato paste to replace one egg, 1/4 cup of rolled oats to replace the other. The meatballs stayed nice and round throughout the process and tasted great! I did use 2 lbs of ground beef instead of 1.5, and then neglected to increase the pressure cooking time. Fortunately, that is an easy mistake to correct, I simply resealed the Instapot and manually set it to pressure cook on High for another 5 minutes. I didn’t have to wait the 10 minutes that it normally takes to heat up as the sauce was already hot. This time the meatballs were cooked all the way through. The kids were all happy with the result!
I got the burn warning, vented for a second and then it went away. The meatballs turned out amazing. I did 2lbs of meat half turkey and half pork sausage. Yum! This recipe is a keeper! Thanks!
Wondering if this recipe would work to swap out the tomato sauce for a sweet and sour sauce?
The meatballs are Italian flavored, so I don’t know if I would try it that way. If you want to change up the spice profile it might work!
I suspected I was going to get a BURN message based on how this recipe was laid out- sauce at the bottom. Mine burns if I have anything thicker than a robust stock in there- it’s infuriating- so I’m completely not surprised by the notice- I used a combo of prefab sauce and added tomato. I added some water and still got a burn. completely surprised- hoping for the best here and womp womp.
Just made these meatballs. So So Good!! This is the recipe I’ll be using now. Thanks so much
I have two different Instant pot brand pots. (One older, one newer), Sometimes when I put the same recipe in both the newer one will show the ‘burn’ message, while the older Instant pot does just fine. Not sure why this happens as I have the same recipe in both! Perhaps this may be happening with some of your people trying this recipe?
The newer ones are more sensitive to the bottom of the pot burning. If you are getting the burn message try adding extra liquid to your recipes!
Hubby requested meatballs last night – (I’ve never really liked meatballs), but looked for a recipe for my new favourite appliance and found yours. I followed it exactly and we both loved them.
We are GF and DF so I made these with GF Panko Flakes instead of bread crumbs and subbed coconut milk. They were SO good! This will definitely be put into our rotation. Thanks!
So glad you were able to make these GF so you could enjoy them! Glad you liked them!
great addition to my insta pot recipe collection. only meatball recipe that i have found making “small” meatballs, for the insta pot. my grandkids (5 of them) couldn’t get enough of them. Used my own sauce recipe, from scratch. used a combination of 85/15 beef and ground turkey, 2 to 1 turkey to beef.
no oil slick on the top of the finished product.
So glad you and your grandkids liked this recipe! Thanks for sharing how you combined the different meats and found success 🙂 Thanks for the 5-stars!
Made these this morning, I added 1/4 cup beef broth to the meatball mixture and about 1/4 cup beef broth to the canned hunts tomato sauce and they came out perfectly and had so much flavor! Will definitely use this recipe again. Thank you!!
We are so glad you liked this recipe! Thanks for the 5-star rating!!
I also added two extra minutes to the Insta Pot cook time but not sure it needed it. Regardless these turned out amazing. Seasoning was perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Mike- so glad you liked the meatballs! Thanks for the nice comment and the 5-stars!
This was the first recipe I tried in my brand new IP. I added some beer to thin out the sauce a bit, for fear of getting the food burn warning. So much for that, since I still got it. LOL! I figured it would be fine, so I held the pressure cook button down until it resumed. Preheat finished a minute later. Seven minutes later, the meatballs turned out stellar! No food was burnt in the process. Thanks for guiding this rookie in the right direction. Onto my next adventure!
Thank you so much for this nice comment, Dave! So happy to hear your first recipe in the IP was a success. Glad nothing came of the burn notice and that it still turned out well 😉 Thanks for the 5 stars!
I got an Instant Pot for Christmas 2017 and had no idea how to use it.
Great directions, made recipe as is 1st time then added my husband’s favorite seasonings the next batch.
I have made this recipe at least 6 times over the last year. It is fabulous.
Thanks so much Pam! So glad you have enjoyed this recipe so many times! Thanks for the 5-stars!
Thank you so much for this. I plan to try it with my tomato soup gravy. To be served with mashed potatoes.
If I use frozen RAW meatballs in a marinara sauce, how long should I pressure?
I haven’t used raw frozen meatballs before, so I’m not sure! If I were making it, I would probably try increasing the cook time by 50%. Let me know how it comes out if you try it!
I’ll throw in some chunks of Italian sausage … then I’ll put some garlic butter on rolls and toast them for the ultimate sub sandwich. 😉
Oh man Marla, that sounds DELICIOUS!!!! I have got to try that! Thanks for sharing your great idea!
I have been making this recipe twice a month for the last year! My family has never ever liked spaghetti ! Until l found this recipe. It’s so good thank you!
I made this last night for the first time. It can out good. But Durning the cooking I kept getting the burn food signal.
It cook everything and the meatballs were great and together. But then bottom of the pot had stuck on spaghetti sauce.
If you’re using a thicker sauce or store-bought sauce, don’t add that to the Instant Pot. Instead, put the meatballs in a container such as a glass pyrex dish. (I coat the dish with olive oil spray before putting the meat in but you don’t have to.)
Place the metal steamer rack/trivet that come with the Instant Pot in the pot and pour in 1C liquid (beef stock, water, etc.). Put the glass pyrex dish on the rack/trivet and cook as above.
Heat the sauce separately while the noodles are cooking.
This technique works great for lots of other meat dishes where you want the meat separate from the liquid.
Absolutely divine and husband approved! Can’t wait to make it again! Cuz I made a double batch and put half in the freezer cuz I knew they’d be tasty!
So glad it was a hit!
Made this just now. Hubby is fussy and he loved it
So glad your fussy hubby liked it! Any time we can win over a picky eater, we consider it a win 😉
Followed these instructions exactly. BURN notice appeared. When I opened my instant pot to give the meatballs a stir, they were complete mush and were longer balls at all. What a waste of time. Will not make this recipe again.
You are honestly the first person that I have seen this happen to. What kind of sauce were you using? Was it a really thick sauce?
Did you add some
Water to your sauce? I always cut it with water and have never had an issue 😞
I only add water if my sauce is pretty thick. I usually use my homemade sauce and I haven’t had any problems and typically don’t need additional water. If you use a sauce like Ragu or prig, you may want to add some water so you can get enough steam to seal the IP. Hope this helps!
My meatballs stayed in shape and tasted good but the bottom of the sauce started to burn. Not enough to give a burn flavor throughout thank God but definitely required some scrubbing. I coated the bottom with olive oil before I put the sauce in. Maybe that was the problem? Love my instant pot and your recipes, but probably wont do these again.
It’s possible the olive oil got too hot on the bottom, causing it to burn. Tomato sauces can be tricky in the instant pot if they are too think as well. I would try adding in a little water or chicken broth next time!
This is the second time we have made this recipe and even though it is delicious, we have also gotten the burn notice each time. My sauce is much thinner than I usually make it for spaghetti but it didn’t seem to make a difference
Hi, this happened to me as well. I’m not sure what went wrong… The meatballs also didn’t really looked entirely cooked, so I set it again for a couple more minutes. I’m hoping for the best.
How many minutes for turkey?
It should be the same!
I had the same thing happen. Was using a traditional sauce and followed exact directions. Total mush.
Mine burned too 🙁 I was just using Hunt’s sauce. I guess next time I’ll try cutting it with water but I didn’t think it was that thick to begin with. Bummer.
I’m about to make these with a can marinara sauce. How much water do you think I should add, so that we do not get the burn signal? Thanks!
I dunno, I was using Prague and added about a fourth of a jar and still got burn
Same happened to me except the meatballs were still intact so I had to switch to slow cook. I added water to the sauce also.
I am wondering if LIndsey might live at a higher altitude like I do (I live at 6000 ft)? I’ve only had my Instant Pot for about a year. Many of the recipes I tried early on yielded the BURN notice – so frustrating. I contacted Instant Pot Support, and this is the response I received:
“Altitude on your Instant Pot will need to be calibrated if you are 2,000 feet above sea level. At 3,000 feet, please add 5% cooking time, and for every 1000 feet add an additional 5% cooking time.
As an example, if your recipe details 20 minutes cooking time, then for 3000 feet add 1 minute (5%). At 4000 feet add 2 minutes (10%). At 6000 feet add 4 minutes (20%), etc. An easy calculation for 6000 feet is to multiply the time by 1.2 (e.g. 20 * 1.2 = 24). Please see the following link for an Altitude Cooking Timetable:
https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/pressure-cooker-high-altitude-cooking-time/
Looking at the recipes that you provided that had given you a BURN message,, it seems to be low on thin liquid. We recommend roughly 18 fl oz., or 2 cups, of watery liquid so that the IP can created the necessary steam to bring the pot to pressure. Try increasing the water content by adding water, broth, or another thin liquid. You can use the steam rack to elevate the food and allow the liquid to move freely underneath it.
When using the Saute function, please be sure to deglaze the inner pot by adding some water and scraping any stuck on bits on food before switching to pressure cook. You can also remove the inner pot from the cooker base to allow the Instant Pot to cool for a few minutes before starting a pressure cooking function.”
Since implementing these suggestions I’ve not had BURN messages. Hope this helps!!
Thanks a lot”
Wow, great info…. thanks! I live at 4800’ and was wondering why most of the recipe times were not enough to cook the food properly for me. I was questioning if my InstaPot was defective! But now I know what to do. You’d think InstaPot would have this info in their manual & recipe book, but this is the first I’ve heard of this.
Consider another try with the trivet in the IP to keep the meatballs off the bottom of the cooking vessel.
I used Ragu traditional sauce with a pinch of sugar for the acidity and I used 1Ibs ground beef and the other half pound I subbed ground sausage and omg so scrumptious!
This is exactly what happened to me! I used a regular jarred marinara and did thin it out a little bit. Ended up with meat sauce, which I could’ve made on the stove in less than half the time and it would’ve been better. I won’t be making this again either.
I made this and like so many others the burn signal came on and bottom of pot and sauce was burned. Had to take the meatballs out and finish on the stove. Very disappointing. Meatballs were delicious though. Might try again with beef stock instead of sauce.
Are the nutrition facts for the whole batch? Or a single serving? And if they are for a serving, what is the serving size? Thank you and can’t wait to try the recipe
The nutrition facts are for a single serving – which is about 6 meatballs per serving. Hope you like the recipe!
This recipe is nothing short of amazing! My two fussy kids (5 and 3) loved them! It was the first time I’ve been able to get them to eat spaghetti with sauce. With this recipe, I’m saying goodbye to butter noodles… Unless of course that’s the plan.
I don’t know if it’s available everywhere, but because I detest garlic, but do recognize its health benefits and the flavor it adds to foods, I use it. There is now a product that is squeezable garlic, comes in a plastic tube, in the produce section of all the stores I shop in. Brands vary, but all of them are the same–garlic that’s been mashed, or minced, or crushed, or whatever, and squeezes out easily. There is also already-minced garlic in jars, so that’s another way to go if someone (like me) doesn’t like handling the stuff, or just wants garlic “quick and easy,” no work involved.
Also, if anyone doesn’t like to, or cannot, use wine in their sauce to thin it out, a little beef broth or vegetable broth works very well.
These are great tips! Thank you!
YUM! This was so good! I used my “cookie scoop” to make the meatballs all the same size. I wasn’t sure if I would have to roll them by hand, so rolled half and didn’t roll the other half – and then couldn’t tell them apart once they were cooked (and I was careful to put them on different sides of the pot, so I knew which ones were which!)
I like spaghetti, but I LOOOOOVED it this way. SO GOOD.
Thank you so much for the nice comment and the 5-stars!! So happy that these meatballs turned out so well for you. We almost always use a scoop to roll these (much faster). Thanks for sharing your results!
Recipe sounded great. Followed it exactly but after the sevond burn notice I gave up and simmered them in a saucepan on the stove! Any ideas what I did wrong?
There probably wasn’t enough water in the sauce. You may want to add water to the bottom of the pan and also a little over the top. That should make it nice and steamy so it seals. Hope this helps!
I found spraying the pot with nonstick spray before adding the sauce kept it from burning but you must ensure you have enough liquid/sauce.
That is a great tip! I usually forget to spray the pot. I need to be better at that!
If I double it, do I double the time? I saw someone added just two minutes for a few more meatballs. Is that enough if I double it? Thanks!
You could maybe add 2-3 minutes if you are doubling it. Since it is pressure cooked and all the meatballs are roughly the same size, you shouldn’t have to double the time. You should be just fine adding a few minutes onto the timer. Hope this helps!
Does the water boat in foil sit on the top of the meatballs? (I don’t want the foil to stick to the tops and burn them.) If not, do we wrap the foil edges over the edge of the pot?
We have actually had better success just adding more water to the sauce if it is a thick sauce. If you decide to go the foil route, you don’t want it going over the edge of the pot. It just sits on top of the meatballs. It won’t burn and stick to them. Hope this helps!
Love the ingredients. But, “burned” came on as pot came to full temperature. Meatballs are now in oven. Must have been problem with pasta sauce.
Your sauce was probably too thick– it’s totally ok to add some water to it. I hope this helps!
This is an easy straight-forward recipe for meatballs. I followed your ingredients and added more when I knew it was something I especially like (garlic and oregano) with a dash of red pepper flakes for my guys. These were so easy to prepare, (despite tearful onion grating)! Used a small cookie scoop to portion and rolled gently, dropped right on top of sauce in the inner pot of the pressure cooker. I used Barillo jarred sauce from the grocery store, so measured the 4 cups and it came up a tad short, which was perfect, rinsed the jar with a little water and used that to complete the 4 cups. Results were beautiful after following your instructions exactly. Tender, juicy, flavorful meatballs and kicked up store bought sauce for sure! My 3 year old, 19 year old and husband all enjoyed dinner. Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing how you made this a success! Great idea rinsing the bottle out with some water. So glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe!
The instant pot kept saying burn and wouldn’t get up to pressure – We looked up to and so we turned it off added a tad of liquid and started it back up – not feeling optimistic – still isn’t up to pressure- This is a brand new pot , used 3 times. It’s like the sauce was burning . It wont start the 7 minute countdown
Oh no- I saw you posted this a few days ago. Did you ever get it to work?
Can this meatball recipe be made in the 3 quart Instant Pot? If so, is there a better chance of burn?
I don’t see why not. You may not be able to fit as much in the 3 quart one though– perhaps half the recipe? You can definitely add more liquid if you are worried about it burning. Hope this helps!
This recipe was great! I did add some fresh basil to the meatballs (I always do), I was worried about the burn notice so I hollowed out a tomato and filled it with water and centered it on top of the meatballs. Hope that helps!! Buon Apetito!
So glad you liked it! Great idea using a hollowed out tomato! Thanks for sharing your tip!
I also got the burn notice. I created a steam option without adding water to the sauce. I placed the trivet into the pot (legs down) and propped a Pyrex bowl with some water inside on top. You get the steam and it’s a safer option that a foil boat.
This is a great idea!!! Thanks for sharing!!
Can I leave the cheese out? My son can’t eat dairy
Thankd
Of course! It will be just as good without the cheese. Thanks for asking!
Hi! Just wondering if I could make this without the milk? Or can you suggest a milk replacement? I’m also going to use ground turkey instead. Making this for my one year old daughter, thanks!
Unsweetened almond milk should work fine as a replacement. You definitely don’t want to leave it out because the meatballs will be dry.
How did it work with ground turkey as that is what I want to do. Also using a milk replacement.
Loved them! Great recipe….thanks! 👍
We leave out the breadcrumbs as a binder but we do use chichirones or pork rinds as they are called.
A tip is buy them at the dollar store, otherwise they are most $3 bucks for the same brand and bags which is crazy.
And as a binder they work great just smash them (be carefull) up in the bag with the bottom of coffee cup on the counter, ps crack open the bag first as they will expand.
I tried this last night with ground turkey. I followed the directions exactly and it came out perfect! Thank you for an easy and delicious recipe!
I am so glad you liked it! Thanks so much for letting us know!!
Ahh-mazing! I’m new to instant pot cooking and new to meatballs and these BLEW. MY. MIND! Looking forward to trying more of your recipes. Thanks for sharing!
So glad you liked it, Jen! Thank you for the 5-stars!!! Enjoy your Instant Pot – it makes cooking fast and easy. I love mine!
I rarely comment on recipe sites but I just had to give this 5 stars! Even after reading the positive reviews, I was sure this would never work and I’d end up with one giant lump of meat or the dreaded ‘burn’. What I actually ended up with was a bunch of perfect, beautifully cooked meatballs and I could not be happier that I don’t have to pan or oven fry them ever again. I used jarred Prego sauce and stirred in about 1/4 – 1/3 cup of water before placing the meatballs on top. Thank you!
Yay! Amy I am so glad these meatballs worked out so well for you! Though I love a good pan-fried meatball, you just can’t beat how easy these are. Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and comment!
Made this with turkey mince and added garlic, ginger, chilli crushed in my mortar and pestle. I also added bread soaked in milk instead of bbreadcrumbs. I made a sauce with half the garlic, ginger, chilli paste and lots of herbs and onion and cooked for 5 mins on High Pressure before adding the meatballs. Turned out delicious and it was so easy! Ive tried making meatballs before and it always turned into a mess but not this time!Thank you for a great recipe!
So glad to hear that ground turkey works just as well! Thank you for sharing how you made these with such great success!
I have a question- instead of adding water to the sauce can I add a bit of red wine? I usually do when I am making ground beef sauce and the flavor is amazing. But I am new to up cooking, so I don’t know. Thanks!
Yes, you absolutely could– I probably wouldn’t use too much though because that taste won’t cook out as much as it would in a regular frying pan. You just want to be sure there is enough liquid in the pot so the IP will seal. Maybe a little water and a little bit of red wine just for flavor?
I got the BURN also. Might want to advise of that option to fix that in the actual recipe. It was absolutely amazing. Best meatballs ever
Yikes, yes I will address that in the recipe. Thanks for the heads up!
Great-tasting meatballs. One question-I’ve tried this a few times and get burnt sauce at the bottom of the pot every time. What can I do to avoid this?
The sauce you are using is probably too thick. One thing I have done is spray the IP with cooking spray and then add about 1/2 c. of water. THEN I will add the sauce and meatballs. You can also try adding the water and THEN the meatballs and THEN the sauce over the meatballs.. this keeps the sauce away from the bottom. It wouldn’t hurt to add 1/4 c. of water over the top of the sauce as well, that way it can pool up on top of the sauce and steam out. Hope these suggestions help!
Very tasty and easy! It made magnificent meatball sub sandwiches. Thanks for the recipe.
You are very welcome! Glad to hear the meatballs work so well in meatball sandwiches. YUM!
Nice recipe but 1 star for wasting so much time scrolling down to it.
Yeah, that 5 seconds is really a time waster…. *eyeroll*
Ratings are for the food, not the wesite set-up. Sad to see such a comment.
Should the meatball be covered in sauce or just a little at the bottom?
I like to put the sauce in first and then add the meatballs. I don’t know if it really makes a difference, it’s just how I usually do it. I hope this helps!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. First time I’ve ever used a pressure cooker and frost time making meatballs! So dang delicious!!!
So happy to your your first pressure cooker recipe was a success! Thanks so much for the 5-stars!
We are not really beef eaters, can I use turkey instead?
You can absolutely use ground turkey instead 🙂
Thank you for this recipe! I made it tonight with spaghetti and everyone really enjoyed it! I’m new to the instant pot and have also never made meatballs before, and it took 2 hours to actually complete the whole thing but cooking it was fast! Now that I have done it before I’m sure it will go faster next time. My dad said they were amazing and my mom said they were tender! So thank you.
Thank you so much for the kind comment and 5-stars! This has been our go-to way to make meatballs lately, too. Once you get it down, dinner will be ready in a snap. SO much faster (and more flavorful) than baking or frying– plus I think it makes the sauce taste better 😉
I thought 1 tsp was Waaay too much salt… It looked like a lot when I was adding it, but I did so anyway, and just thought it was much too salty. And I’m one who salts everything! I’m a big rule follower… so don’t want to suggest options, but I’m guessing even cutting in 1/2 may be better
Otherwise, good recipe!
Sorry this turned out so salty for you– I guess it really depends on what kind of pasta sauce you use. Some are already salty enough and some need a little more salt added. Per your comment, I am changing the recipe so the salt is more to taste. Thank you for letting me know!
Maybe you used regular salt instead of kosher salt? I did that once and the recipe was too salty. Kosher salt crystals are larger, so there are fewer of them when measuring, so not as salty as a teaspoon of regular salt.
I made these last night and had them over spaghetti for dinner. A big hit with everyone! We will make these again, and I have given the recipe to two friends so far this morning.
Thanks!
Jamie– thank you so much for passing the word along to your friends! So glad you liked this recipe, we made it the other night and experimented with LARGE meatballs and they turned out awesome. Just added an extra 5-minutes and they were so good! And the kids loved having one GIANT meatball on their plate lol
Can I freeze the meatballs? Any specific instruction or suggestion?
Thank you!
Yes, you can freeze them. Allow them to cool and then put in a freezer-safe container or bag. When re-heating, just thaw and then heat on the stove. Hope this helps!
Reheat in the instant pot works great, too. Here is a link to the instructions I found when first learning to use my Instant Pot.
https://marginmakingmom.com/reheat-leftovers-in-the-instant-pot/
Thanks for sharing! We haven’t re-heated leftovers in the IP before, we will have to give this a try!
Definately going to make this. I use two different methods when freezing mestballs. I put the amount I want in a zip lock bag with sauce and freeze. This is one meal, 8 to 12 meatballs per quart size bag. I also put wax paper on a cookie sheet and place the meatballs on the sheet so they don’t touch, let them cool and freeze. Then I yave individual meatballs in a gallon size bag for when I need to add a few extra for a meal or only need one or two for a quick kid dinner.
I cannot figure out what I did wrong but these taste horrible. The onion taste is so strong. I used a cheese grater and grated about 3/4 of a large onion but it was small strings and very wet like slop but onions, is this how the onions are supposed to be? I feel like maybe I grated them too small and therefore a lot more fit into a half cup than supposed to. Help!
It could have been that your onions were old. Were they nice and crisp when you grated them?
Could you please tell me what size instant pot you are using in this photo? I just bought a 6 quart and I’m wondering if the pound and a half of meat called for in the meatball recipe will fit. Thanks!
The one we have is a 6 quart too, so you should be totally fine 😀 Hope this helps!
wondering if there’s a way to do JUST the meatballs alone? (with 1 c. water, of course) I have a Philly Cheesesteak recipe and cringe at the idea of cheese sauce in my IP! I hate the loss of meat when I brown in a skillet, (not to mention the grease factor) and figure IP is a TON HEALTHIER.
Yes, you can just cook the meatballs alone with some liquid in the pot. Water will work just fine. Thanks for asking!
Could I make these ahead of time and then freeze them?
Yes! Let the meatballs cool and place them in a resealable freezer bag. Let as much air out of the bag as possible before freezing. I like to place the bag on a flat cookie sheet in the freezer for a few hours, then the bag lies flat in the freezer and saves space. Thanks for asking!
I forgot to put the meatballs on top of the sauce. I put them on the bottom. Weill it be okay?
As long as you have enough liquid in your sauce you should be ok. You can try to lightly stir them if you haven’t already started the IP. If it hasn’t come to pressure it might be a good idea to try to rearrange them a little bit!
Ok so what did I do wrong? Followed the recipe, and when it starts cooking I get the BURN message! Stirred it, started over, same thing! ARGGHHHH! Is my pot too small? I have the LUX mini.
Ok so we have had a few people experience this. Whenever we make this we use our homemade canned spaghetti sauce which is typically a little more watery than the thick, extra blended kind that you can get at the store. Some of the store-bought brands are a little too thick so there isn’t much water to rise up as steam and seal the lid. To remedy this, you can add 1/2 c. of water or beef broth over the top so it sits on top of the sauce (most of it will evaporate out). You just need enough liquid in there that it will seal that lid. Hope this helps!
You said that oats could be subbed for the bread crumbs? How much and how? What about something like almond flour as a binding agent?
You can use about 1/2 c. oats. You can use almond flour but I would only use a few Tbsp if using as a binding agent. Hope this helps!
I just made these in my 8 qt IP. I loved the convenience and not having to saute them. I used 1 lb of 80/20 grd beef which I don’t normally buy but decided to today which probably made the sauce a bit greasy. Next time I’ll need to make sure to use 90/10. Even though I used less meat than the recipe calls for I left all dry ingredients pretty much the same but only used one egg. For the sauce I used one jar of classico. Ok, for the review. These were, surprisingly a bit bland. My wife thought they need more garlic, who normally does not care for a lot of garlic. I used 1 tsp of jarred crushed garlic which claimed 1/2 tsp was a clove. I also don’t know if the grated onion added much additional flavor. I’ll try it again but tweak the garlic next time and definitely use a lower fat beef. I don’t want to fslut the recipe because I made some adjustments so the fattier beef may have muffled the flavor of the garlic? Otherwise A+ on ease and it’s a great starting point to start with. Thanks!!
Yes, you definitely want to use very lean ground beef. That may have affected the taste. You can definitely add more garlic if you would like! I have found that the jarred garlic doesn’t have as much flavor as fresh pressed garlic. That may have been an issue as well. Let us know how it turns out for you next time!
Going to try this shortly! Just confused about the garlic – if crushed, won’t it just end up in 2 of the meatballs when cooked?
You will want to crush the garlic and mince it up if it still seems like one big chunk. That way it will go throughout all the meatballs. You can use minced garlic as well.
I keep getting the burn notice- is it because I added the meatballs first and then the sauce? I am a newbie to the IP. Thank you!
Yes, that could definitely be a reason. You could also add some water if the sauce is really thick. There has to be a way for the IP to create steam and close up the valve. Does that make sense? Let us know if you keep having issues and we will do our best to help!
I am worried the sauce might be greasy if the meatballs were cooked in the sauce soI am going to saute them slightly first to release the fat, then rinse out the pot and begin the process. I may want to shorten the cook time by a minute if I do that. Comments?
When we make meatballs in the IP, we like to use VERY lean ground beef, for the exact reason you mentioned. That way the little bit of grease that is released infuses the sauce and makes it taste amazing. Hope this helps!
Add a little sugar (1 tsp) to your sauce, don’t mix it in. You won’t get the grease!
If I double the recipe do I need to double the sauce as well? Please say no! And great tip about floating a boat of water filled foil on top. That’s genius!
Why thank you 🙂 haha it’s not very often my ideas are called genius! If you do the “steam boat” method you could probably get away with not doubling the sauce. Hope this helps!
I LOVE this recipe! I’m not even a fan of red sauce, but this was awesome. I used Big Y brand sausage flavored jarred red sauce. We made grinders with provalone. It was so good and so easy, we are gladly eating the leftovers on night two!! This is a keeper recipe. I highly recommended it!
Thank you so much for the comment! Mmmm grinders with provolone sounds delicious!
Oh no! I got the burn notice! Should I add water to my sauce next time?
Oh no! Yes, you will want to add a little water if it is really thick. I know this may sound odd but we have also made a little “boat” out of aluminum foil that holds about a cup of water and placed it on top of the meatballs/sauce. It makes it so there is enough steam to push the little valve up to seal. Does that make sense? We have done that when we have noticed the sauce was too thick and didn’t want to water it down. Hope this helps!
Tried this recipe twice and got the burn notice both times
You must be using a really thick spaghetti sauce. Try adding some water to the sauce so it will be able to create steam to steal the pressure cooker. Hope this helps!
Just make sure that aluminum boat does not simultaneously contact the sauce and the inner pot or you’ll have a culinary galvanic nightmare and the foil can dissolve and add aluminum to your food. It’s not supposed to be a health risk but why take the chance?
Also bear in mind the heat has to travel though the sauce in order to heat the boat so that extra bit of water won’t stop a sauce from burning if it’s prone to-it will burn before the water is even warm.
Oh woah, I didn’t even think of that! Maybe the best thing to do is just add more water to the sauce. Thanks for the heads up!
Can you use 1/2 ground beef & 1/2 Italian sausage ground to make the meatballs also add fresh mushrooms to cook the sauce & meatballs in insta pot??
Yes, absolutely! Any meatball recipe will do just great. Adding mushrooms is a wonderful idea! Hope this helps!
How soon after you started your instapot did you get the burned notice?
Can I make the noodles in my instant pot with the meatballs?
You can try it but you would have to add more liquid.. we haven’t done it like that before so I would have to experiment before I told you for sure. If you try it out, let us know how it worked for you!
Made this last night for company. It was a big hit. There are just enough leftovers for meatball heroes tonight!
So glad your company liked it! Great use of leftovers too!
I just found this recipe I cannot wait to try it it looks so yummy thank you
My all time pet peeve with internet recipes is people using parsley or cilantro at the end in the photos and yet not on the ingredient list. Since Italian Parsley is in my fridge 350 days a year not a problem but please add it to your ingredient list. I’m burying the lead here which is these just came out of the IP and they are amazing. Like, what the crazy hell amazing. No sautéing? I’ll never make meatballs another way again. Game changer. Well done, and thanks for sharing. You’ve changed my life.
I agree, haha, we can definitely add it as optional. Technically we just use it sometimes for photography reasons, to make the food look more appetizing, but it isn’t really part of the recipe. That being said, I’m so glad you liked the meatballs!!
I don’t think it’s optional! Fresh Italian Parsley is terrific on virtually anything. 🙂
Making the meatballs again tonight. Terrific stuff…will check out your other recipes tomorrow
Could I replace the spaghetti sauce with BBQ sauce?
Funny you should ask that because we are wanting to do the same thing! I just don’t dare because I am afraid the bottom will burn with all the sugar from the BBQ sauce. I will research this more and most likely do a post on it soon if it works out. If you end up trying it before I get a post up, please let me know how it turns out for you!
Great recipe. Could bbq sauce be done as a pot in pot in a pyrex bowl? How much extra time if done that way?
That is a great question. We have never done it that way before. If you try it let us know how it turns out and what you did!
It works!! Did 2 cups BBQ sauce, 1 cup honey, added a little chicken stock to avoid the burn notice. They’re beautiful and yummy!! These are gluten free.
Oh yay! Thanks for coming back to let us know how you made it successful for BBQ Meatballs! Definitely going to try this!
Amazing! I was sure I’d have meat sauce also because my meatballs were so wet and I made some substitutions (lean turkey for beef and rolled oats for Panko) and they came out PERFECT! My 3 kids ate as many as I would feed them. Thanks for this recipe!
Cannot use glass dish in instant pot, but perhaps pot in pot
Glass can be used. From HIP Pressure Cooking (and confirmed on many sites):
“Suitable Heat-Proof Containers –
As the name suggests, heat-proof containers should be heat or ovenproof- this includes high-temperature silicone, heat-proof glass (like pyrex), ceramic, stainless steel, aluminum and even copper! The forms should not be plastic or any glass that is not tempered.”
Wow, these were amazing, I used ground chicken & gluten free panko bread crumbs due to various allergies in our house and they turned out perfect. The whole family loved them.
So glad you liked them! Glad to know ground chicken works well too! Thanks for sharing 😀
Tried these IP meatballs last night and they were wonderful! We toasted hoagie rolls and made meatball subs with provolone. Thank you!
So glad you liked them! Great idea to make meatball sandwiches… Mmmmm we will have to do that next time!
Thank you so much for this recipe it’s amazing 😍
You are very welcome! So glad you like it! 😀
These were amazing! If I double the amount of meatballs, should I increase the cooking time?
If you increase the time, I wouldn’t do it for more than 5 minutes or so. Hope this helps!
I made a large pot of meatballs and added 2 min to the recommended 7 min. They we’re perfect. Nice texture and the sauce was better than ever. The microwave oven has been removed from the house. The Instant Pot is just amazing
An additional tip. After reading the posts regarding the “BURN” notice. Today is thinned our the spaghetti sacixe with about 1/4 cup of red wine. NO “BURN” notice. Meatballs were cooked perfectly and after the vent was opened I stirred in a can of tomato paste and stirred it up..replaced the lid for 5 min and sauce was outstanding
Thank you so much for sharing how you had success with this! I will definitely have to try it with some red wine to enhance that delicious flavor!
It would have been ok except it was the first time we used our Instant Pot and the timer did not work. After 10 minutes, we stopped it and they were not done. We put them in for another 8 minutes. Done. Have to call the company to figure out why the timer was a FAIL:(.
Oh no! Did the IP seal and come to pressure?
i have noticed that when you add a lot to the instant pot it takes longer to heat up and get the pressure and the timer wont start until its starting to cook so when i have vary little in the instantpot it will take about 15 min for it to start the timer and a few more when i have a lot of food in it so im guessing you just dint give it time to build up the pressure and the kick the timer
These were fantastic!