Instant Pot Meatballs
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.
Instant Pot meatballs are the easiest and fastest way to make meatballs and marinara sauce. Perfect for spaghetti night, sandwiches or quick and easy appetizers.
Is there anything yummier than homemade meatballs? Just a few simple ingredients and you have delicious dinner in a rich flavorful sauce that can be served over spaghetti or baked inside of slider buns for some easy meatball sliders.
Traditionally a good Italian meatball can take several hours to make. First you fry them on the stove and then they simmer slowly in sauce until they are perfectly tender.
Our easy recipe uses the Instant Pot to make them in just a fraction of the time while maintaining that slow cooked taste and texture.
Make a big batch and freeze the leftovers for later so you have quick and easy meals at the ready.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
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- Lean Ground Beef – We used O Organic 85% lean 15% fat grass fed ground beef. If you want to skip the red meat you can substitute ground chicken or turkey (check out our baked turkey meatballs).
- Italian Sausage – You can pick either mild or hot varieties.
- Grated cheese – We used a mix of Signature SELECT Parmesan and Romano cheeses for this version. This replaced the usual breadcrumbs so this is a great keto recipe if you choose a low carb sauce to cook them in.
- Herbs and spices – You can find a big variety of fresh herbs in the produce section. Our meatballs incorporate O Organic basil and Italian parsley along with dried spices onion powder, garlic powder, and salt.
- Eggs – Eggs are used as a binder. I always have a dozen O Organic grade a brown eggs in my refrigerator.
- Marinara Sauce – You can choose your favorite variety or make your own at home. I picked up a jar of O Organic Marinara to for mine.
Shop these affordable high-quality products the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons.
I shopped at Safeway, but you can also find all of these high quality items at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons.
Safeway also offers Grocery Delivery and DriveUp & Go™ for convenient ways to shop! I use it weekly now and it couldn’t be easier. I place my order online and then pull up and my groceries are put in my trunk. It’s my FAVORITE way to grocery shop!
New to using an Instant Pot? Make sure you read our beginner’s guide on “How to Use an Instant Pot” to get started!
Instructions
Step 1 – Combine the spices and cheese. In a small bowl, mix the cheeses, basil, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt until well combined.
Step 2 – Make the mixture. In a large bowl, work the sausage and ground beef together until they are well mixed. When the meat is ready, add the cheese mixture from the small bowl and the eggs to the meat.
Work everything together until it is thoroughly mixed.
Step 3 – Form the balls. Use your hands to form large balls from the mixture, approximately 2 ounces each. We were able to get about 22 meatballs. If it helps, you can use a measuring spoon or a scoop to get a consistent size.
Step 4 – Warm Sauce. Pour the sauce + 1/2 cup of water into the inner pot of the Instant Pot and set it to SAUTE. You are just warming the sauce up some before adding the meatballs.
Step 5 – Cook. Once the sauce is warm, add the meatballs to the pot. Unlike in an air fryer, they can touch. You can also carefully stack them, but you should try to stack them as gently to avoid smooshing the ones below.
Lock the lid in place and turn the valve to SEALING. Set to HIGH pressure for 8 minutes. When the timer goes off, press CANCEL and then let it do a natural release for 5 minutes.
Finally, turn the valve to VENTING and release any remaining pressure. Remove the lid and serve the meatballs over pasta, spaghetti squash, or use them in our tasty Meatball Sliders.
How to Freeze Them
You can easily freeze this recipe. Just separate the cooked meatballs from the sauce and let them cool completely. Place them in a freezer safe container and freeze for later use. Freeze the sauce separately.
You could also make our Air Fryer Meatballs recipe and freeze them for later. And if you really want, you can purchase frozen meatballs and cook them in the Instant Pot.
Whichever version you cheese when you are ready to make them add the frozen meatballs (approximately 22) to the Instant Pot along with 32 ounces of sauce and 1/2 cup of water. If you are using the frozen sauce make sure to thaw and heat it before adding it to the pot.
Cook them for 8 minutes on high pressure and do a natural release for 5 minutes.
Looking for More Easy Instant Pot Recipes?
- Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup
- Instant Pot Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes – Pot-in-Pot (PIP) Recipe
- Instant Pot Oatmeal
- Instant Pot Spaghetti Sauce
- Keto Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls
- More Instant Pot recipes…
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Instant Pot Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound Lean Ground Beef
- 1 pound Italian Sausage
- 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
- 1/4 cup Romano Cheese, finely grated
- 2 tablespoons Fresh Basil, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons Fresh Italian Parsley, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons Salt
- 1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
- 1 tablespoon Onion Powder
- 2 Large Eggs
- 32 ounces Marinara Sauce
- ½ cup Water
Instructions
- Mix cheeses, basil, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt in a small bowl.
- In a large bowl place the meat and work it together.
- Add breadcrumb mixture from the small bowl and the eggs to the meat.
- Work everything together until it is thoroughly mixed.
- Form meat into large balls approximately 2 ounces each. We were able to get 22 meatballs.
- Pour the sauce + 1/2 cup of water into the Instant Pot and set it to SAUTE to heat the sauce.
- Once the sauce is warm add the meatballs to the pot. The meatballs can touch and they can stack on one another but try to stack them as gently as possible so the ones on top don’t smoosh into the ones below.
- Lock the lid in place and turn the valve to SEALING. Set to HIGH pressure for 8 minutes.
- When the timer goes off press CANCEL and then let it do a natural release for 5 minutes.
- Turn the valve to VENTING and release the remaining steam then remove the lid and serve your meatballs.
Nutrition
