Instant Pot Italian Meatballs and Sauce

INSTANT POT ITALIAN MEATBALLS AND SAUCE - Perfect for meatball subs, served over pasta or just as is. 

 This post contains affiliate links.

Over the past several months, my nine year old has developed a love of meatballs.  This is awesome for me because I can make a batch of meatballs and he can eat a few with pasta and then use the leftovers for meatball subs or sometimes I even just plop a few in his thermos for school lunch.

Our schedule lately hasn't really allowed me to make homemade sauce (check out my favorite marinara recipe) and meatballs and I've been relying on some frozen stuff.  I don't really mind doing that but I don't love it either. 

The other night my husband was out and I had to pull double duty getting my daughter one place and my son another and we only had a few minutes for dinner in the middle.  On these busy nights I almost always turn to my Instant Pot.

If you have checked out my recipe for Classic Italian Meatballs you know that I grew up in an Italian household where we never fried or baked the meatballs.  We always just simmered the meatballs in sauce.  So, creating these meatballs in the Instant Pot isn't really a stretch of the imagination for me.  I'm not one for a crunchy coating on a meatball.  I want a meatball that is moist and tender and tastes like my childhood.

For those of you who know the Instant Pot, you also know that the more liquid you have in there, the longer it takes to come to pressure.  So, a little trick I do to manage my time best is get my meatball mix together but not rolled into balls.  I set it aside and get my sauce going.  Once the sauce is going, I go back and form my meatballs.  By the time my meatballs are rolled, it's time to turn off the saute function, put the balls in the sauce and start the pressure.

We used these Instant Pot Meatballs for meatball subs.  According to my son, the best meatball sub he's ever eaten.  Be sure if you're making a sub you use a fresh roll.  A less than stellar roll can really ruin a sub.

To make the meatball sub, I place a slice of cheese in the roll, then add the meatballs (sometimes I have to cut them in half).  I bake them at 375 for 5 minutes.  As soon as they come out of the oven, I sprinkle with fresh parmesan.  Can't beat it!

Printable Recipe Card

Instant Pot Meatballs and Sauce

foodyschmoody

Instant Pot Meatballs and Sauce in a fraction of the time.  Homemade sauce and meatballs, perfect for meatball subs, a quick dinner or to serve over pasta.

No ratings yet

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Ingredients

  

Meatball Ingredients

• ⅔ C seasoned dry breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 2 T fresh chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper fresh cracked
• ½ C shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 lb ground meat mixture I use combo of beef, veal and pork

Sauce Ingredients

• 1 T olive oil
• ¼ C diced sweet onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 ½ C water
• 1 teaspoon dried basil I prefer freeze dried
• 1 teaspoon dry Italian seasoning I prefer freeze dried
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper fresh cracked

Instructions

 

Meatballs

• Place all meatball ingredients except meat in bowl.  Stir together with fork until combined.  Add meat to bowl.  Using hands, mix, just until combined.  Do not over mix or over work with hands.
  
• Shape meatballs into balls. 
  

Sauce

• Set Instant Pot to saute.  Heat oil in Instant Pot.  Add onion and cook, just until softening.  Add garlic and cook 30 sec more.
  
• Pour crushed tomatoes and water into pot with onion and garlic.  Stir salt, pepper, basil and Italian seasoning into mixture.  Allow to cook on saute function for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Turn off saute function.
  
• Place meatballs in sauce.  Cover and seal pot.  Set to manual/high for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes cook time, allow the pressure to release naturally.
  
• Enjoy with pasta, right out of the pot or in a sub/sandwich!
  

Notes

The amount of meatballs varies depending on how large you make your meatballs.  I was able to make 12 rather large meatballs.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Instant Pot Italian Meatballs and Sauce Notes:

• For the sauce I've used freeze dried herbs.  Freeze dried herbs are the closest I've found to fresh herbs when they aren't available.  However, I always use fresh parsley in the meatballs.
• The quality of the crushed tomatoes will greatly effect the quality of your sauce.  Be sure to use a good quality tomato product.

You may find these items helpful when preparing Instant Pot Italian Meatballs and Sauce:

The owner of this website is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com.