My Mom's Spaghetti — Instant Pot

Still my mom's recipe, just for the Instant Pot.

This recipe was made in my favorite Instant Pot — the one I use every week. If you want yours to turn out just as good, you can grab the same one here.

All nutrition facts are AI generated and approximate.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (85/15 for best results)
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (10 oz) can tomato soup
• 1 Tbs dried minced onion
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1½ cups water
• 8 oz spaghetti noodles

Directions

1. Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode and brown ground beef with seasonings.
2. Turn off Sauté and stir in canned ingredients.
3. Break spaghetti in half and place on top of sauce, but don’t stir.
4. Pour water over spaghetti, but still don’t stir.
5. Set Instant Pot for 8 minutes high pressure.
6. Quick release when cook time completes.
7. Stir spaghetti and break up any that might have stuck together.
8. Enjoy yummy spaghetti goodness.

Notes

• Break the noodles in half: They lie flat across the sauce so they cook evenly under pressure.
• Layer, don’t stir: Rest the spaghetti and water on top of the sauce without stirring to avoid a scorched bottom.
• Tomato soup is the secret: It rounds out the sauce with a gentle sweetness—don’t swap it out.
• Stir right after release: Give it a good stir to separate any noodles that clumped together.
• Leftovers thicken: Loosen reheated portions with a splash of water.

Why This Works

• Browning the beef: Searing the seasoned beef on Sauté builds savory fond that flavors the whole sauce.
• Water on top prevents scorching: Keeping liquid above the noodles and sauce lets the pot reach pressure without burning.
• One-pot noodles: Cooking the spaghetti right in the sauce means it soaks up flavor instead of being boiled and drained separately.
• A trio of tomatoes: Sauce, diced tomatoes, and tomato soup layer acidity, texture, and sweetness for a balanced sauce.