How To Cook Meatballs In Instant Pot

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How To Make Perfect Instant Pot Meatballs

Italian meatballs instant pot recipe

My method for making meatballs is very simple, but here are a few tips to help.

  • Dont make the meatballs too big. If they are too big, they can become dry on the outside before they are fully cooked inside. A cookie scoop is the perfect tool to use.
  • Choose a variety of ground meat. I like to use a blend of meat, with one that has a higher fat content.
  • Add moisture. The egg I use in this recipe is necessary to bind the ingredients together. Dont skip it!
  • Be gentle with the meatballs! Dont make them super compact or they will end up rubbery.
  • Oil your hands when rolling meatballs. This may seem unnecessary, but it prevents the mixture from sticking to your hands. If you prefer, you can also use food prep kitchen gloves.
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    How To Make Instant Pot Meatballs And Sauce

    Form your meatballs first. In a bowl, add the ground beef and pork or whichever ground meat you use. You can make this with all ground beef or oven ground turkey, if you prefer.

    Add breadcrumbs, eggs, dried herbs, salt, and pepper. Use clean hands to work the ingredients together.

    Form into ping pong ball size meatballs. You should end up with approximately 20 meatballs.

    Wash your hands and place the meatballs in the fridge while you prep the sauce.

    Turn your Instant Pot to saute. On a clean cutting board, peel and mince your garlic. You know how to do that, right? Check out the super simple video tutorial below:

    Nutrition Information:

    Making Meatballs And Rice In The Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Is A Quick And Easy Way To Prepare A Delicious And Hearty Dinner

    Cheesy rice, Italian spices, and frozen meatballs make this dish of Italian Instant Pot Meatballs and Rice a simple comfort food youll love!

    Note: This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

    As a homeschooling family, we are blessed to have some flexibility in our days. However, that also means I have three young kids running around all day, so the amount of time I can spend making dinner is limited.

    Because its only a matter of time before someone will start fighting over a toy, need my help with something, or get a busted lip. Truly, some days it feels like a miracle that Im able to make dinner at all!

    I am always on the hunt for new ways to make quick and easy meals in my Instant Pot. Im especially grateful if I can create an Instant Pot meal that is also a one-pot meal, meaning that everything cooks together in the Instant Pot.

    Its so nice to only have one pot to clean afterward! Tasty, quick, easy, and minimal cleanup? Thats a win in my book!

    Whether you have small kids running around, a taxing job with a long commute home, or youre shuttling big kids back and forth between soccer practice and piano lessons, Im guessing you need quick and easy meals, too.

    Thats why Im sure youre going to love this Instant Pot meatballs and rice recipe, made with frozen meatballs and basic pantry staples.

    Its one of my favorite Instant Pot frozen meatballs recipes, and for good reason.

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    Juicy And Tender These Easy Low Carb Meatballs With Sauce Are Made In Just A Few Minutes In Your Instant Pot These Keto Friendly Instant Pot Meatballs Are The Perfect Topping For Cooked Spaghetti Squash Or Zoodles A Hungry Family Favorite

    This week is all about low carb Instant Pot recipes, and will end with a collection of my favorite keto friendly Instant Pot recipes on Friday. Im traveling in the states right now so hopefully Ill be able to stay on schedule if not I promise to post the rest next week instead!

    Its no secret that I love meatballs, so when I was brainstorming low carb recipes to make using the Instant Pot, this easy keto meatballs and sauce recipe was at the top of the list! Its a variation of the basic meatballs from my popular low carb Meatballs alla Parmigiana recipe, and I was really hoping that cooking them in the Instant Pot would be easy and yield good results.

    Having never used an Instant Pot to make meatballs before, I wasnt sure that they wouldnt just turn to mush, leaving me with meat sauce when I opened it after cooking. So it was with trepidation that I did the first test run, and I was ridiculously excited that they not only held together, but were so much juicier and more tender than my traditional method!

    Usually it takes all day simmering in the sauce for them to get that gorgeous flavor and texture but these meatballs cooked in my Instant Pot in just 10 minutes!

    After cooking the Instant Pot meatballs on low pressure for 10 minutes and releasing the steam, I really did expect to find a meat sauce in there, but the meatballs were fully intact. Be sure to leave space between them though and dont jam them in too tight.

    Read Also: No Poultry Setting On Instant Pot

    What Sauces To Toss Them In

    Easy Instant Pot Turkey Meatballs

    If youre not a fan of BBQ sauce, you can still make these frozen meatballs with almost any sauce of your choice. If you are not sure what else to toss with your Instant Pot meatballs, here is some inspiration:

    • Toss meatballs in a spaghetti sauce. Add the sauce and meatballs to cooked pasta for an easy spaghetti recipe.
    • Orange marmalade or honey garlic sauce will add the perfect sweet flavour to your meatballs.
    • Teriyaki sauce is the perfect sauce to toss your meatballs in if youre looking to make a quick stir fry.
    • Use a creamy sauce to make the perfect Swedish meatball recipe that Ikea cant compare with.

    Also Check: Plain Ham In Instant Pot

    This Is How To Make An Amazing Appetizer Using This Pressure Cooker Frozen Meatballs Method Sweet And Spicy Meatballs Cooked In No Time In Your Instant Pot

    This Instant Pot pressure cooker frozen meatballs appetizer fantastic! Ok so if you have followed The Typical Mom at all you know I am kinda known for my easy Instant Pot recipes.

    Youve gotta make these grape jelly meatballs in your Instant Pot today.

    Talk about a killer, but cheap, appetizer. OR defrost them and throw them into spaghetti for dinner. You can make these in your Ninja Foodi too.

    Lets start with a few basic tips:

    For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have and use for all recipe creations.

    You may have tried these before in your slow cooker, BUT have you made them in just 6 minutes??

    Perfect when company shows up unexpectedly because you can have everything on hand and whip it all together.

    Heres The Skinny All You Got To Do To Make These Tasty Little Balls Of Pleasure For Your Face Hole Is Open The Package Of Ground Meat Roll Them And Place Them Inside The Pressure Cooker Little Seasoning Little Barbecue Sauce And Cook For Five Minutes

    No, you didnt read that wrong, just five minutes!

    Again, you are so welcome mama!

    I typed it all out in a super easy to follow recipe below. If you make them please, tag me , because I want to remember just how delicious they are on the regular. Make room in your dinner rotation because these are going to become a Monday Night Madness staple!

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    Best Instant Potfrozen Meatballs

    I have this love/hate relationship with my local supermarket.It has wonderful cheap prices, wonderful staff and lots of special offers forlocals. They even have good loyalty cards, which not many supermarkets have.

    But what I hate is the lack of choice.

    One of the areas that it lacks choice is with meat. Anythingmade from ground meat is awful, many meats such as oxtail is never available,and my favourite beef shin is only in stock at Christmas.

    Therefore, when it comes to buying ground beef to make in my meatballs, I always buy it from Makro or Lidl.

    But as my meatballs are often way too big compared to many peoples, I have used Lidls delicious fresh meatballs today.

    I froze them after purchase, and I am now cooking the meatballs from frozen in the instant pot today.

    But that is the frozen meatballs I use, and you can chooseyour own favourite.

    Also Check: How To Cook Frozen Tamales In Instant Pot

    Tips For Instant Pot Meatballs

    EASY Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs – Dump and Go Recipe
  • Beat Egg: Make sure the egg is beaten before adding it to the meatball mixture.
  • Test Meatballs Seasoning: Its important to test the seasoning of your meatballs mixture by cooking a small piece of it first. Cook it on a pan over medium high heat, adjust the seasoning and repeat this step if necessary before proceeding.
  • For Juicy Meatballs: Meatballs juice will continue to escape into the tomato sauce the longer you cook it, so if you like juicy meatballs, it is best to serve immediately or keep warm for up to 30 minutes.
  • How to Make Ahead & Freeze Meatballs: Cook a bigger patch of pressure cooker meatballs and freeze the cooked meatballs in the freezer for up to 3 months.
  • How to Reheat Frozen Meatballs: Depending on the size of the pressure cooker meatballs, you can pressure cook them frozen with tomato sauce at High Pressure for 8 10 minutes, then Quick Release. Make sure the meatballs internal temperature to be at least 145°F before serving.
  • Have fun & Enjoy these delicious Umami Instant Pot Meatballs!

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    How To Make Instant Pot Italian Meatballs Step By Step

  • Put your steam rack that comes with the pressure cooker, or a steamer basket at the bottom of the pot. Pour your bag of frozen meatballs in the bowl of the Instant Pot.
  • 2. Cover with sauce of choice

    3. Secure lid, seal the vent, and cook meatballs on Manual High Pressure for 5 minutes. Release vent valve when done, and serve.

    Pressure Cooker Meatballs Recipe Tips:

    Dont care for ground beef? Feel free to use ground pork, ground turkey or ground chicken instead.

    I prefer 85% / 15% ground beef for meatballs to avoid dry meatballs. The lower the % of fat in the meat, the less juicy your meatball will be. At 85% you may have a slight grease slick on top of the sauce when its done cooking. You can either stir it back in or dab it with a paper towel to remove. Personal preference.

    Feel free to use any store bought spaghetti sauce or homemade spaghetti sauce recipe.

    Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs This recipe has not yet been tested to cook spaghetti in the Instant Pot at the same time as the meatballs. Keep your eyes out for an Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe soon.

    Also Check: Pressure Cooker Ground Turkey Recipes

    Quick Release Or Natural Release Of Pressure

    For this Instant Pot Spaghetti recipe, youll want to do a quick release of pressure. This will prevent your noodles from getting overcooked. Once cooking time is finished, just flip open the steam valve and wait until all the pressure is released before opening.

    Give the ingredients inside a good stir and top with any parmesan cheese or fresh basil if desired!

    Instant Pot Meatballs Experiment

    Easiest Instant Pot Meatballs

    Weve always made this delicious Meatballs in Tomato Sauce Recipe on the stovetop. So we wanted to see if our Instant Pot Pressure Cooker can do any better!

    Weve cooked 2 batches of Instant Pot Meatballs: one batch with browning in the oven, the other batch without browning.

    Test A Instant Pot Only:

    We pressure cooked the first batch of meatballs in Instant Pot with the easy tomato sauce at High Pressure for 5 minutes, then quick release.

    Results The meatballs have soaked in a lot of the juice and flavors from the tomato sauce, so they were super juicy and moist. However, the flavors and textures were a bit flat compared to the browned version.

    Test B Oven + Instant Pot:

    We pressure cooked the second batch of meatballs in Instant Pot after browning them in the oven.

    Results The flavors and textures were noticeably better than Test A non-browned version.

    The browned Instant Pot Meatballs were a bit more delicious than the ones we usually make on the stovetop with browning. This is because the Pressure Cooker Meatballs have a bit more juice soaked into the meat and cooks a wee bit faster.

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    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 afterwards, I will add a few tablespoons of tomato paste and that usually does the trick.

    How To Make Instant Pot Spaghetti And Meatballs In 3 Easy Steps

    Step 1. Add frozen meatballs into the bottom of 6 quart Instant Pot.

    Step 2. Break the spaghetti noodles in half and randomly place over the meat. . Pour in the water, then cover with the diced tomatoes. Top with the pasta or âSpaghetti Sauceâ. Then add the spices.

    Step 3. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and lock in place. Cook for 8 minutes on high pressure and then do a manual quick release. Give it a stir and serve.

    Getting dinner on the table and gathering family is important in this ever so busy culture we live in. This one will do it quickly and just imagine only one pot to clean! So go ahead and use chinet or paper plates and bring on the conversation with your loved ones.

    Also Check: Instant Pot Steamed Tamales

    Easiest Instant Pot Meatballs

    These Instant Pot Meatballs are the easiest way to make meatballs EVER. No browning or sautéeing. Just throw them in the sauce uncooked and let the Instant Pot do the rest!Try these Instant Pot Meatballs with some of our favorite side dishes or salads. If its bread you are looking for, you can never go wrong with Hot & Cheesy Garlic Bread, Breadtwists, or our Parmesan Pull Apart bread.

    Storing Freezing + Reheating Tips

    Instant Pot Meatballs and Pasta Sauce

    Freezing Meatballs:You can freeze homemade meatballs uncooked or cooked. Frozen uncooked meatballs can last for 3-4 months and cooked meatballs can last for 2-3 months. Of course, stored in an airtight, freezer-safe container.

    And no need to defrost the meatballs before cooking! Just stick them into the Instant Pot frozen and add a couple of minutes!

    Leftovers:Just store them in the fridge for up to 3-4 days and reheat either in the microwave or on the stovetop in a pot of sauce!

    I hope you enjoy these tasty, tender meatballs and that you will give some of our other meatball recipes a try too!!

    For more meatball recipes, check out:

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    Italian Instant Pot Meatballs And Sauce

    You cant go wrong with classic meatballs in marinara sauce. My favorite way to eat these is bathed in sauce, right out of the bowl. No pasta or bread needed thats how good they are!

    I recommend about 3-4 cups of chunky sauce for a full batch of meatballs maybe a little more if you like a lot of sauce and will be eating them over pasta, and maybe a little less if you plan to serve them as an appetizer.

    If youre going the traditional spaghetti and meatball route, you can heat the sauce on a stove while the meatballs cook or combine everything, reheat, and serve them right out of the Instant Pot.

    Cover and heat everything up on SAUTE LOW and/or the Keep Warm function.

    Sauce Inspiration:

    • Pop open a jar of your favorite store-bought marinara. I personally love Raos which I recently discovered at Costco!
    • Alternatively, you can make your own easy marinara sauce while the meatballs cook with just a handful of simple pantry ingredients.

    Serving suggestions:

    • Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and/or basil and Parmesan cheese and serve with toothpicks for an easy appetizer
    • Put over pasta, top with fresh Parmesan cheese and serve with a side salad
    • Serve over spaghetti squash with sauteed veggies

    Choose Favorite Ingredients For Making Grape Jelly Meatball Appetizers

    Since this is such a simple recipe, its important to choose ingredients with flavors you already like.

    If youre not familiar with a brand of frozen meatballs, you may want to do a test run before serving at a party.

    I prefer the beef meatballs at Sams Club and thought they had a good flavor. I tested this recipe with the turkey meatballs from Costco, but they didnt hold together very well and I didnt like the flavor, so I wouldnt recommend them.

    However, if you have a favorite brand of chicken or turkey meatballs, you can definitely use those!

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    Things You May Need To Make Instant Pot Spaghetti And Meatballs

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