Marsha's Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

My kids love spaghetti and meatballs... at least most of them most of the time... Kids... right?! Ha, ha! So when this came up as something I could cook in the Instant Pot, I had to check it out. I really want to make the most of the new tool I have in the kitchen and find some amazing things to cook in it so it doesn't just sit on the shelf.

The original inspiration for this recipe came from Six Sister's Stuff, but their version burned to the bottom of my pot, so I change it up just a bit and here is how it all works for me. Enjoy!

Marsha's Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

1 package frozen meatballs
1 24 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 pound dry spaghetti noodles
water 

Spray your Instant Pot liner with non-stick spray and add your frozen meatballs to the bottom. Break your spaghetti noodles in half and lay them as neatly as you can over the meatballs, alternating directions of how the noodles lay so they don't cook into a large clump. Pour about a cup of water over everything and then pour the jar of sauce over the top last. Try to coat all the noodles as best you can in liquid and try to keep noodles from poking up so everything cooks properly. Close the lid, make sure the vent is on seal, and cook under high pressure, normal mode, for about 8 minutes. Quick release or natural release the pressure, stir and serve.

You can watch the Six Sisters Stuff video here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4QoMHgPrOs She recommends putting the noodles in first (probably to help keep them covered in the liquid for cooking as much as possible) but if you check the comments there are a lot of people who complain about how things burn. While the first time I made this following her recommendations, I did NOT get a burn notice on my pot, I DID have noodles burned and stuck to the bottom and it was difficult clean up.

When I made it again later, sprayed the pot with non-stick spray, and put my meat on the BOTTOM, it turned out beautiful and nothing stuck or burned. It IS more difficult to get your noodles to lay flat and even when they are placed on top of lumpy meatballs instead of the bottom of the pot, but just do your best, be careful about how you pour your water and sauce over the top so you coat everything as best you can, and hopefully you won't have any trouble. It takes a couple minutes more messing with the noodle layering, but you can still seriously have the lid on and the pot cooking in under 5 minutes and end up with delicious spaghetti and meatballs with almost no work.

In my grocery store there are two sizes of bags of frozen meatballs (between 16-24 oz., or 32 oz. bags) and you can use either size depending on how many you want to cook. Usually the smaller bags are the perfect amount for this size pot of spaghetti, but the males in our family like meat and so I've done it before with the larger bag and we just ended up with TONS of meat that some people ate without noodles.

My one son did note that the noddles can soak up a lot of the liquid in the sauce, so if you like your spaghetti saucier or more liquid, you can experiment with adding a bit more water or additional sauce to the pot before cooking, or you can heat up a little extra sauce in a bowl in the microwave to add to the pot once the cooking process is completed.