This is the most SOS recipe ever made, and in our family, it has a lovely name: Spaghetti Bites.
The standard name for this dish would be “Instant meatball pasta.” Still, given the resemblance to authentic pasta and meatballs, and the fact that it also reminds me of a large bowl of pasta, plus the fact that I have a two-year-old and a four-year-old at home, it’s hard not to call this dish “Spaghetti bites.”
This whole combination is like a hug in the form of food: small bites of pasta, soft meatballs, and caramelized tomato sauce (almost a little brown at the bottom of the IP). Things can even get a little dazzling when you put some herbed lemon ricotta in it, some fresh garlic in it, and the other good stuff in your pantry—salt, pepper, basil, olive oil—get glittery on top: sweatpants, forks, most bottomless bowl of pasta. Here we go.
Watch How To Make This Recipe
Does it have to be cooked in an instant pot?
Noooo! Cook it like regular pasta, then add it to the sauce and meatballs. You don’t need the recipe, I promise 🙂 but if you want to learn more, you can look in the notes section of the recipe.
I like to use an instant pot to make pasta for a few reasons: the pasta is cooked in tomato sauce, making it a little starchy and thicker, and it almost caramelizes the tomato sauce at the bottom of the pot. The meatballs become super tender with rapid pressure cooking, the pasta cooks well, is elastic without becoming mushy, and only one plate is left to wash the whole process.
What kind of pasta to use for this
As a mom with a food blog in Minnesota, I find spaghetti the most exciting pasta. It is a small tube-like shape, like a miniature macaroni. Even though the pasta shape isn’t round, it sends you straight back to a vintage kitchen with a big bowl of pasta.
I bought the DeLallo brand, but I’ve seen other brands at Kowalski’s and other stores in the Twin Cities. The beauty of DeLallo brand Italian pasta (non-sponsored) is that it has little bumps, which are very cute to chew on when you’re hungry after a long day and have just enjoyed an SOS dinner moment. That’s the detail, you know? Like the extra lines on your fingers. Who knows.
Custom methods
There are a hundred and one. Some ideas only scratch the surface:
- Use homemade or store-bought spicy ketchup, such as arrabbiata.
- Add olives, anchovies, or capers to the tomato sauce to make it more like Italian.
- Mix your sauce with cashews and red peppers to make a red pepper sauce like this.
- You can use store-bought meatballs, sliced chicken sausage, ground beef or sausage, or a can of white beans as a vegetable substitute.
Things you need to know about the “Cream element.”
I call the toppings for this Instant Pot pasta and meatballs the “creamy element”—they can actually be anything; it just makes the whole thing creamy, garlicky, and bright.
As I’ve written, the pasta fresh out of the instant pot is heavy and flavorful—it contrasts with the creamy texture, the bite of fresh garlic, the freshness of the herbs, and the taste of lemon and juice, making it all worth writing a blog post about.
What you can use as a base for the cream element:
- Mascarpone cheese (creamy, buttery, thick, melted)
- Ricotta cheese (more straightforward to find, less melted, but reminiscent of lasagna, which is a good thing)
- Garlic-herb spread cheeses, such as Alouette and Boursin(especially good for SOS moments – the Alouette brand has tiny grains of fresh garlic and a bunch of dried herbs, so I just grated some lemon zest, and it was done)
How to add more vegetables
You can do this in three ways. One is to add the vegetables directly to the dish and then cook them into the sauce. At the beginning of cooking, cut up some vegetables (chopped carrots, peppers, mushrooms, etc.) and add the meatballs and sauce to them. The whole process only cooks for 3 minutes, so you will only run a slight risk of overcooking the vegetables.
The second way is to make my favorite pasta-and-vegetables method and finish by adding some fresh spinach or frozen peas to the pasta.
The third way, and one that I personally would probably do, is to leave the recipe as it is and just add a little vegetable on the side. If we’re talking about a meal here, this is good because it gives you something else that can change the texture, color, etc., on your dinner plate. And that completes it.
If you have more time, I recommend Leeds’ grilled broccoli (that’s great), the family’s favorite Brussels sprouts, or a simple green salad. My daughters love all of them, especially that simple green salad! We’ve been making it, and it’s the perfect super quick salad with some tender greens on the plate and in the belly.
Who knew there was so much to be said for the barest instant pot pasta and meatball recipe? (Or, as we say, spaghetti bites?)
It’s a pocket winner, the definition of actual SOS cooking. Spicy pasta, delicious meatballs, and cream balls on top—dinner is over!
Instant pot pasta: Common problems
Can I do it on the stove?
Absolutely! Cook the pasta as directed. Place the meatballs and sauce in a separate skillet. Add the cooked pasta and mix (you may not need broth). You can go now.
Can I do this in a slow cooker?
We have yet to test it in a slow cooker, but it sounds possible! If you’d like to try it, comment and let us know how it turns out.
How do you make this dish?
Using white beans instead of meatballs is an easy and delicious way!
- Place the meatballs in an instant pot and drizzle with olive oil. Saut for a few minutes to get them a little brown on the outside; they don’t need to be completely defrosted.
- Add pasta, sauce, and chicken stock to this order. Do not stir. Cook under high pressure for 3 minutes.
- Release the steam right away (so your pasta doesn’t overcook and become mushy). Stir well. A small amount of sticking together is normal, but with a few gentle stirrings, it will pop up and blend together perfectly. It’ll be fun at first. If you let it sit for a few minutes, the sauce will be absorbed by the pasta, and it will become less spicy. Both ways are delicious!
- While the pasta is cooking, mix the herb ricotta ingredients.
- Serve the hot pasta in a bowl and top with a layer of ricotta cheese. Mwah!
