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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.
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.