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Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs! A delicious one pot meal with chicken meatballs and a homemade tomato sauce. A lighter and healthier meal made in a pressure cooker with gluten free chickpea spaghetti.
One of my favorite comfort foods growing up was spaghetti and meatballs. In fact, it was popular with our family that it became a family tradition to eat spaghetti and meatballs for Christmas. I mean you can never go wrong with spaghetti and meatballs. Am I right?
This year I decided to take a shortcut with this recipe by making it in an Instant Pot instead of the crockpot. Don’t get me wrong I love my crockpot, but using the crockpot means I actually have to plan in advance to let the meatballs slow cook. Sometimes you just don’t have that kind of time.
Instant Pot Spaghetti Meatballs
Making this recipe in a pressure cooker makes the BEST spaghetti meatballs ever and it’s so simple. You will love it!
The meatballs are super tender and juicy from the steam of the pressure cooker and the spaghetti cooks perfectly with the sauce in under 10 minutes. No waiting to sauté the vegetables, no cooking the meatballs in a separate pot, no waiting for the sauce to thicken and warm.
The Instant Pot makes it super easy to make this recipe in one pot (less dishes YAY!) and makes the best meatballs you’ll ever eat.
What You Need
- Ground Chicken
- Chickpea Spaghetti
- Chicken Broth
- Tomato Sauce
- Onion
- Bell Pepper
- Garlic
- Olive Oil
- Egg White
- Parmesan
- Basil, Italian Seasoning, Oregano, Garlic Powder
- Salt and Pepper
What Spaghetti is Gluten Free
If you’re making gluten free spaghetti meatballs, look for certified gluten free on the label of your spaghetti. Brown rice spaghetti, chickpea spaghetti, black bean spaghetti, edamame spaghetti, lentil spaghetti and gluten free spaghetti are all options.
I recommend chickpea pasta as it’s higher in protein and plant based. A much healthier option than flour based spaghettis! But truthfully, any of those options will work.
How to Make Spaghetti and Meatballs in a Pressure Cooker
Start by making the chicken meatballs. The meatballs are garlic-cheesy tasting! They’re made with parmesan, Italian seasoning and garlic power. Roll your balls then sauté them in batches in a pressure cooker 5 minutes.
Remove the meatballs from the pressure cooker then add the remaining ingredients, scrape the bottom, add the meatballs back, cover and pressure cook for 8 minutes. Then eat!
Remember the pressure cooker will take a few minutes to build up the pressure so it will be more like 18-20 minutes before it’s done. But the wait will be worth it!
Helpful Tips
If dairy or cheese is a problem, you can substitute the parmesan with nutritional yeast. This will give the meatballs a cheesy flavor without the dairy.
If you prefer your noodles a little more al dente (with a bite), I recommend pressure cooking 6-7 minutes. All gluten free pastas cook differently. Some fall apart easier than others so make sure you’re using a brand you like and know what to expect.
Want more healthy meatball recipes? Try my Paleo meatballs with spaghetti squash, keto diet meatballs, and recipe for asian meatballs next!
Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken, or ground turkey
- 1 egg white
- 1/4 cup parmesan, grated
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup white onion, diced
- 1 cup green bell pepper, diced
- 24 oz tomato sauce
- 12 oz chickpea spaghetti
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg white, parmesan, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Use your hands to combine then roll into 1 1/2 inch balls until you get 16 to 18 meatballs. The batter will be sticky. Washing your hands every couple ball roll will help with this.
- Set an 8-quart Instant Pot to saute. Add the extra virgin olive oil then place 1/3 of the meatballs in the pot to cook until brown about 5-7 minutes. Repeat until all meatballs are cooked. Remove all the meatballs from the pot and set aside on a plate.
- Add the minced garlic, bell pepper, onion, tomato sauce, basil oregano, salt and pepper to the pot scraping the bottom for browned pieces. Add the chickpea spaghetti and broth and stir. Return the meatballs to the Instant Pot.
- Set the pressure cooker to steam 8 minutes (note it will take time for the pot to pressurize) and adjust the valve to sealing.
- Manually release the pressure and remove the cover. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- My Amazon shop has more products similar to those used for this recipe and that I recommend to my nutrition clients.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
