I am crazy for meatballs. Obviously, it was time to branch out to Instant Pot meatballs, and marry two of my big loves. I made Instant Pot meatballs once, using a recipe out of a cookbook by a well-respected name in cooking, and they were horrible. The recipe called for putting fresh beef meatballs into the Instant Pot with the liquid, and then pressure cooking. So the meatballs were steamed, and rather unappetizing. If you ask me (and you’re here, so I’m going to go ahead and assume you are asking me), there are only two ways to do Instant Pot meatballs but there is a third method that I haven’t tried.
How to make the best Instant Pot Meatballs: Two Ways
1. Precooked, frozen meatballs (store bought or homemade):
If I’m really on the ball, I will buy a big batch of ground beef when it’s on sale and have an epic meatball-making day to stock the freezer. Lately, I have not been on the ball. Enter the store bought frozen meatballs. Honestly, either will do, it’s just a matter of time and personal preference. The recipe below includes full directions for making Instant Pot Meatballs with frozen beef meatballs, so head on down there 😉
2. Homemade, fresh meatballs:
If you are using fresh meatballs (check out this meatballs recipe for my easy homemade version), you need to brown them first. There are a couple ways you can do this. You can turn your Instant Pot to saute, add a bit of oil, and brown the meatballs in your Instant Pot before removing to your pot to continue pressure cooking with sauce. If you do it this way, you will need to scrape the bottom of the Instant Pot well before adding your potatoes or you may get a burn warning. You can also bake your meatballs on a baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, just until browned all the way around, before continuing with the recipe. You don’t need to alter the recipe or cook time if using fresh meatballs that you have browned.
Can I make these Instant Pot meatballs with tomato sauce?
Absolutely you can swap out the sauce in the pot, as long as you’re using the pot in pot method. If you want to cook meatballs right in the Instant Pot and skip the potatoes, you need to be careful because too thick a sauce will not cook properly and result in a burn warning as well.
Variations on these Instant Pot Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes:
To make this recipe gluten free, use gluten-free meatballs and double check all of your ingredient packaging. To make this recipe dairy free, skip the milk and butter in the mashed potatoes and opt for vegan margarine or non dairy milk. You can lighten up this recipe by mashing the potatoes with chicken broth and a bit of margarine, and using turkey or chicken meatballs instead of beef.
Tools you’ll need for this recipe:
I use a 6 quart Instant Pot for this recipe (mine has bluetooth, but I don’t think it’s necessary). An 8 quart should work fine, but you may want to add additional chicken broth to the potatoes because I understand the minimum cooking liquid is higher for the 8 quart Instant Pot. For this reason, you may find you want to drain some before mashing (though not totally necessary). You will also need a pressure cooker safe pot you can place inside the Instant Pot on top of the potatoes. In this recipe, I used my Fat Daddio’s 7″ cake pan with removable bottom, but a regular cake pan will be slightly easier to use because you don’t have to line it with foil first.
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