Pressure Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs

Right. Sounds fine. But you missed her point. We can all do something nice using three using 3 pans/pots, as you do using the recipe you suggest (one for sauce, one for meatballs, and one for pasta). And I am sure it is delicious. Her whole point, however, was to see if she could do something that people would enjoy using one pot only. If you don't like the result, you can offer an alternative, but you ought to do so using the premise/criterion of this recipe: one pot.

My mother worked full time, yet always put a great dinner on the table for our family. Her secret? A pressure cooker, which enabled her to cut down on precious time needed to cook a variety of foods. Her pretty large beef meatballs cooked in the pressure cooker in canned Sauce Arturo (we're talking '50s and '60s) and were perfect. Thanks for this recipe!

I do use one particular store bought pasta sauce which I simply love. Any particular brand of frozen meat balls which you would suggest? I've never bought frozen meat balls so I am flying blind here. Thanks for any suggestions.

This recipe is ridiculous. Just make spaghetti and meatballs the way Clemenza taught us: “Hey, come over here kid, learn something. You never know, you might have to cook for 20 guys someday. You see, you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; you make sure it doesn’t stick. You get it to a boil; you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs, eh? Add a little bit a wine… and a and a little bit a sugar…

I use Marcella Hazans recipe for sauce in the pressure cooker. 2 cans tomato purée, 1 stick butter, one onion. Salt and pepper. 20 minutes. Best sauce.

Why not brown the meatballs in the instant pot before adding the garlic?

My boyfriend and I both loved this. I appreciate the note that it's "not necessarily faster", but I love the hands-off nature of cooking in a pressure cooker. Two notes: I added a couple of anchovies to the sauce (it added a little bit of extra umami, and I'm pretty sure Melissa Clark would approve being familiar with her tastes). Also, I used Rustichella d'Abruzzo brand spaghetti. It has great texture that absorbs the sauce and really holds up, you never have to worry about overcooking.

As another poster said, the goal of this recipe was faster with an element of homemade taste. That's exactly what I found after making it. The author's emphasis was on eliminating dishes. That's one of the things I appreciated. I broke my spaghetti in half and laid it the pan criss-cross. I used pecorino romano instead of parmesan cheese. Great results. I'm new to the instant pot and this is one of the more adventurous things I've made in it.

MC's instant pot recipes taste delicious, but I have had issues with them going into burn mode (anything with milk for example) and I agree that many of them are not for beginners. It's not you. Cook a few rounds of stews, beans, and soups and you'll get a feel for when there is not enough liquid in the pot. And when it does go into burn mode, add more liquid.

I live in Manhattan in a relatively inexpensive apartment and frequently use an instant pot. The thing takes up literally 2 square feet of counter space...

Rao's sauces are the best. They're a bit pricier than most, but you can stock up during a sale.

My IP spends most of its time on top of the stove; I keep a large wooden cutting board over the burners and the pot on top. Frees counter space.

Made this exactly as written tonight and it was totally delicious. 6 year old twins and adults loved it.

Fourth time out with the InstaPot, still a little nervous, but this recipe worked beautifully. One tweak: I tossed the raw spaghetti with the final T of oil before adding to the pot. Not sure if that accounted for the pasta not sticking together at all.

Hmmmm using jarred sauce needed to add More water to get up to pressure. Anyone else with this issue?