An easy Instant Pot Meatballs recipe that can be made with or without tomato sauce. Serve over pasta or on a roll for a delicious dinner.
When it comes to classic dinners, spaghetti and meatballs are one of our favorites — hearty, comforting, and a hit with the whole family.
Making your meatballs in the Instant Pot is a great way to cut down on the time it takes to make meatballs traditionally.
Plus, they taste amazing if I do say so myself!
Easy Instant Pot Meatballs
This easy Instant Pot recipe takes minutes to make and comes out perfectly every time.
You have the option of making your meatballs in a tomato sauce or leaving them plain. The recipe will cover both options.
I like to make my meatballs in sauce and serve them over pasta and with a piece of Italian seasoned bread for an easy weeknight dinner. Other times I like to make meatball parmesan sandwiches by placing the meatballs on a roll, top with mozzarella cheese, and placing them into the oven for a few minutes just to melt the cheese. So good!
However you choose to enjoy these meatballs I am sure you will enjoy them.
Let’s take a look at what you will need to make meatballs in the Instant Pot.
Meatball Ingredients
- ground beef
- garlic
- Italian seasoning
- egg
- breadcrumbs
Sauce Ingredients
- tomato sauce
- Italian-style tomatoes
- Italian seasoning
How to Make Instant Pot Meatballs
Mix: Add ground beef, garlic, Italian seasoning, breadcrumbs, and tomato sauce or BBQ sauce (optional) to a large bowl and mix until fully combined. Then, knead in an egg. Adjust the texture by adding additional breadcrumbs, if necessary.
From Meatballs: Roll meat mixture into meatballs. Set each finished meatball aside onto a plate or other container.
Saute: Use the saute function on your Instant Pot to saute the meatballs in olive oil, turning to brown well on each side. If you will be adding sauce, brown for 4 minutes then remove meatballs. If you want to cook your meatballs without sauce, continue to saute for 6-8 minutes until cooked through.
Add Sauce (optional): Remove the meatballs and turn off the saute function. Add the tomato sauce ingredients to the Instant Pot and then add the meatballs back in. Select the stew setting and cook for 5 minutes. Then, use a natural release to release the pressure before removing meatballs and serving.
If you like this recipe, be sure to try out Instant Pot cheesy hamburger pasta and shrimp scampi recipes as well!
Instant Pot Meatballs
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For the Meatballs:
- 2 pound ground beef
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 cup breadcrumbs, or more for personal preference
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon tomato sauce, optional
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
For the sauce:
- 4 cups tomato sauce of choice
- 12 oz Italian-style tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Combine ground beef, garlic, Italian seasoning, breadcrumbs, and tomato sauce (optional) until fully combined. Knead in an egg. Adjust the texture by adding additional breadcrumbs, if necessary/desired.
- Roll into 1.5 tablespoon-sized meatballs. (I used a cookie scoop to measure out the meat mixture.) Set each finished meatball aside on a plate or in a clean container.
- Add olive oil to your Instant Pot and set to "saute."
- Once the oil is hot, add the meatballs and brown well on each side. To fully cook the meatballs, you need to cook for 6-8 minutes. However, if you will be adding the meatballs to the tomato sauce you can cook until just browned, about 4 minutes.
- After browning all meatballs, turn off the saute setting and remove meatballs from the Instant Pot.
- In the Instant Pot, combine the tomato sauce ingredients and then place the meatballs back in.
- Select the "stew" setting and cook for 5 minutes. Then, use a natural release to release the pressure in your Instant Pot before removing meatballs and serving.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by a third party and intended to serve as an estimate only. The accuracy of nutritional information is not guaranteed.
I have another brand of instant pot, no sauté setting, or stew. Any suggestions as to converting? I have the following settings rice, chicken, fish, soup,casserole, cake, meat.
I am sorry, I wish I could help you but I am honestly not sure!!!