Valentina's Corner
Tender and juicy Instant Pot Meatballs in marinara sauce loaded with so much flavors. Serve the meatballs with spaghetti for an Italian-inspired pasta dinner.
Pair these delicious juicy Meatballs with homemade Breadsticks and a Caesar Salad for a complete meal.
Learn to make the best homemade juicy meatballs in a flavor-packed marinara sauce. All you need to do is shape and throw the meatballs into the instant pot, and dinner is ready.
Unlike in our classic meatball recipe, you don’t need to sauté the meatballs; just shape and add to the marinara sauce and cook – so simple.
Ingredients:
Meatballs – for the meatballs, we use our homemade meatball recipe for fresh meatballs. You can also use frozen meatballs for a busy weeknight dinner.
Marinara sauce – use your favorite jar of canned marinara sauce or our homemade marinara sauce.
If you don’t have an Instant Pot, use our classic homemade Meatball Recipe.
How to Make Meatballs in the Instant Pot:
You can have this simple dinner ready with just a few essential ingredients.
1 – Meatballs: Follow our homemade meatball recipe to combine meat and shape the meatballs.
2 – Marinara sauce: Turn the instant pot to saute mode. Add in the onions and saute. Add in the remaining sauce ingredients and bring up to a simmer. Use an immersion blender to blend the sauce to your preferred consistency.
3 – Cook meatballs: Add meatballs into the sauce and close the instant pot. Seal the lid and cook on high pressure for 6-8 minutes.
4 – Garnish: Finish the meatballs with fresh herbs and parmesan cheese.
Serving Suggestions:
Pasta dinner – These meatballs make the spaghetti and meatballs dinner.
Meatball sub – We use these meatballs to make a saucy meatball sub sandwich.
With a side – Serve these meatballs on top of a plate of homemade mashed potatoes.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS-
You want to use beef with about 90% lean-10% fat content. You can use all beef in this recipe or mix the meat with other meat. One pound of ground beef may be combined with one pound of ground pork, chicken, or turkey with great results.
Yes, add about 8 oz of raw pasta in with the meatballs and continue with instructions.
Yes, the instant pot cooks the meatballs fully!
No, the instant pot will cook instantly and the meatballs will cook through and the sauce keeps them from sticking to each other.
Reheat the meatballs and sauce in the microwave or on the stove-top in a skillet.
Store & Reheat:
Refrigerate: Store these meatballs in the fridge in an airtight container. Meatballs can be safely stored for up to 3 days.
Reheat: Warm up meatballs on a skillet over low-medium heat. Heat until the sauce begins to bubble and the meatballs warm through.
Freeze: Place the cooled meatballs and the sauce in a freezer bag. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat: Let meatballs in sauce thaw in the fridge overnight. Proceed to warm over low-medium heat on a pan. Once reheated, they are ready to serve!
Other Italian-Inspired Dishes:
Instant Pot Meatballs
Ingredients
meatballs –
- our classic meatball recipe
sauce –
- ½ large onion finely chopped
- 3 Tbsp of olive oil
- 1 Tbsp of unsalted butter
- 28 oz of diced tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp of water
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp of salt
- ½ tsp of ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp of fresh basil finely chopped
- ¼ tsp oregano
- ¼ tsp parsley
Instructions
prepare meatballs-
cook sauce and meatballs-
- Turn the instant pot to sauté mode and sauté the chopped onion with oil and butter until the onion is tender. Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the diced tomatoes, water, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and parsley to the instant pot and bring to a simmer.
- With a hand held mixer, puree the sauce to desired texture.
- Add the shaped meatballs to the instant pot.
- Seal and pressure cook for 9 minutes, release pressure and serve.
Notes
- Marinara Sauce– If you want to skip making homemade sauce, just use a 32 oz jar of marinara sauce.
- Add the sauce to the instant pot and add in all the shaped meatballs then cook.