EASY INSTANT POT SPAGHETTI

In this post I’m going to show you how to make an Instant Pot spaghetti. What I love about Instant Pot spaghetti is the process is almost completely hands-off.

The spaghetti noodles, water, and sauce cook in your Instant Pot all at the same time so this dish is ready to serve as soon as your pressure cooking cycle is complete. It’s the easiest one-pot meal when you need to get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. You can make Instant Pot spaghetti with or without meat, so today I’m going to show you both methods.

For a meat sauce you’ll want to cook the ground beef first Press the saute button then let the pot heat up to help prevent sticking. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the Instant Pot then add in the ground beef and any seasonings you like Stir and break up the meat until it’s thoroughly browned and cooked through I’m using lean ground beef in this case so there isn’t much fat to drain off but if you see a lot of grease at the bottom of the pot drain it first before you move on to the noodles.

It’s also essential that you make sure that nothing is stuck to the bottom of your Instant Pot before you add the spaghetti in So I like to scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to make sure nothing is stuck and you can add a splash of water to help with that process If you prefer to make a vegetarian pasta you’ll skip the meat cooking process altogether and you’ll start with the pasta You can even add some dry red lentils into the pot to add some vegetarian protein as this dish cooks together it’s still the easiest one-pot meal.

To cook the spaghetti break the dry noodles into thirds so that they will easily fit into your instant pot Add them in a criss-cross motion so the noodles won’t clump together as they cook With the Instant Pot you can’t stir your noodles the way you could if you were cooking this on the stove so it’s essential that you help to prevent clumping as much as possible Pour the water over the noodles then pour the marinara sauce on top of that covering as much of the noodles as you can for extra flavor.

I like to add a little bit of tomato paste on top The order that you add these ingredients to the pot is important since you can’t stir the mixture as it cooks so make sure you follow these directions closely and don’t attempt to stir the spaghetti noodles once you’ve added them into the pot Secure the lid and move the steam release valve to “Sealing” Use the manual or pressure cook button to cook on high pressure for 4 minutes The Instant Pot will simply read on until it comes to pressure and then the countdown will begin as soon as the floating valve in the lid pops up.

It takes about 10 minutes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure and it takes another 10 minutes when the cooking cycle is complete for the pressure to release so make sure you take that time into account when you’re planning your dinner When the cooking cycle is complete allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, this lets the pasta finish cooking and it allows the foam that may have built up during the cooking cycle to settle so nothing will spew out the top of your lid when you release the pressure later.

When 10 minutes have passed move the steam release valve to “venting” to release the remaining pressure when the floating valve drops it’s safe to open the lid Use tongs to stir the noodles and sauce together then serve this spaghetti warm with your favorite toppings Regular or whole wheat pasta tends to work best with this one-pot spaghetti because gluten-free noodles release a lot of starch and they can make your sauce feel gluey If you need to cook gluten-free spaghetti.

I recommend cooking it on its own in the Instant Pot using a shorter cooking cycle then rinse it off to remove the starch and add in your sauce I hope you’ll enjoy this easy one pot meal the next time you need to get dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 cups water, divided
  • 1 (24-ounce) jar marinara or tomato-based pasta sauce
  • 8 ounces dry spaghetti
  • Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1 ) Sauté the beef. Turn an electric pressure cooker on to sauté. Once heated, add the olive oil and beef. Break the beef up into large pieces with a wooden spoon and season with the salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Cook, stirring and breaking the beef into smaller and smaller pieces, until cooked through and no longer pink, about 5 minutes.

2 ) Add 1/2 cup of the water, then the sauce. Turn off the sauté function and add 1/2 cup of the water to the pot. Scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any stuck-on bits. Add the sauce and stir to combine well.

3 ) Break the spaghetti in half and layer in the pot. Break the spaghetti strands in half and spread them in one or two layers over the ground beef mixture. Do not stir from this point on.

4 ) Add the remaining water but don’t stir. Rinse the pasta sauce jar with the remaining 1 1/2 cups water (pour the water into the jar, twist on the lid, and shake gently) and then pour the water over the pasta. Remember — no stirring here.

5 ) Set the pressure cooker to HIGH for 8 minutes cook time. Seal the pressure cooker. Set to cook on HIGH pressure for 8 minutes. The cooker should take between 10 and 12 minutes to come up to pressure.

6 ) Use a quick release to release pressure and stir. Open the pressure release valve (quick release) as soon as the 8 minutes cook time is up. Open the pressure cooker and stir the spaghetti into the sauce.

7 ) Turn off the pressure cooker and remove the insert from the pressure cooker. Serve immediately with a flurry of grated Parmesan cheese.

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I'm Sarah. I'm an Author, Blogger, Editor at Superfashion.us. I love to share my expertise here with Superfashion.us audience. I'm a specialist in cooking or at least that's what I'm doing here at superfashion.us, and if you have any question or concern, please contact me here: @Homecarestuff