Instant Pot Spaghetti

Jul 31, 2025 - 15:58

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Instant Pot Spaghetti in a bowl topped with basil and parmesan.

My Kindergartener Can Make This Recipe – And I Actually, Genuinely Love It

It’s a parenting first!

I love the idea of matching your kid’s age to a number of goal recipes – for example, when you’re 5 years old – you learn how to make 5 recipes. (I got this idea from Nita and Jess at Healthy Happy Eaters – they are wonderful.)

My daughter’s favorite dinner is spaghetti, so I thought making it in the Instant Pot might help it feel more manageable:

it’s one single pot.
no cutting board required.
it has higher sides so there’s less splattering.
no draining of boiling water.

We started making it this way “to help her” but quickly realized… Instant Pot spaghetti is actually kinda special. It’s silky, flavorful, and extra clingy. Makes for an ideal combo with house favorite garlic bread and air fryer broccoli.

These days, when my family requests spaghetti for dinner (made by me, or my daughter), THIS is the spaghetti they are asking for. Some people might be offended by the breaking of the noodles, which you have to do to get them to fit – but in our house we roll with it and the shorter noodles work great for kids.

The ratios are just how I like them: meaty, saucy, so comforting. A home run hit with my kids and my husband every time.

(But I’d make this for myself even if I didn’t have kids!)

Hope you love it! If you love easy dinner recipes – check out this mega page of all my favorites!

Watch How To Make This Recipe

Instant Pot Spaghetti

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Author: Lindsay
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

Description

My whole family loves this Instant Pot Spaghetti! Silky, flavorful, a delightfully clingy. Easy enough for my kids to make it too!

Ingredients

Units

Instant Pot Spaghetti:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground beef (I use 85/15)
1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, onion powder, and Italian seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 24–ounce jar pasta sauce
1 3/4 cups water
1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon (I use the chicken base)
8 ounces spaghetti, broken in half (1/2 pound)

Extras / Toppings:

4 tablespoons butter
Parmesan cheese
parsley or basil
red pepper flakes

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Instructions

Meat: Turn the sauté function on in the Instant Pot. Add oil, ground meat, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, garlic, and salt to the Instant Pot. It should sizzle. Sauté until the meat is browned and cooked through.
Sauce: Add the jar of sauce, the water, and the noodles. Make sure the noodles are tucked underneath the liquid.
Cook: Cover, seal, and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes.
Release Steam: Lay a towel over the vent to avoid splatters; release the steam right away to avoid overcooking the noodles.
Rest: When you open the cover, the noodles will be cooked and it will look very saucy / wet. Use tongs to stir it up and distribute the sauce; let everything rest for 10 minutes. This is important because the noodles will absorb the sauce and everything will cling together just right!
Done! Stir the butter in until melted and a little creamy. Top with Parmesan, serve with house favorite garlic bread to dunk in the sauce, and get a simple green salad on the side. Oooh so good.

Notes

Personally I love making this with Italian sausage! It has more flavor (you can even skip the salt because the sausage itself has a lot of salt in it). So, sausage is my pick – however, my family loves it with the classic ground beef so that’s what I am including in the recipe. 🙂

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Category: Dinner
Method: Instant Pot
Cuisine: Italian