Instant Pot Mama Rita's Meatballs - Dump and Go Dinner
4
Servings
13
Ingredients
20
Comments
A well loved family recipe for the best Italian meatball you'll ever eat. Freeze and add them to the Instant Pot for a quick and easy meal in minutes!
4
Servings
13
Ingredients
20
Comments
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground Beef
- 1 teaspoon mince Garlic, Cloves
- ¼ cups dice Onion
- ¼ cups Bread Crumbs
- 2 individual beat Egg
- ½ teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes
- ½ teaspoons Salt
- ¼ teaspoons Black Pepper
- ⅛ cups chop Parsley, Fresh
- ⅛ cups Parmesan Cheese, Shredded
- 2 cups Marinara Sauce
- ½ cups Water
- 2 teaspoons Olive Oil
Containers
Supplies
Cooking Instructions
Freeze For Later Cooking Day Directions
Easy Assembly/Dump and Go
These directions help you cook or prepare this meal PRIOR to being frozen for serving later (see Serving Day Directions when you are ready to prepare it to eat).
Why would I want to freeze this?
- In a large mixing bowl combine raw ground beef, garlic, onion, breadcrumbs, eggs, red pepper, salt, pepper, parsley, and Parmesan. You may need to use your hands to get it thoroughly combined.
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Make From Frozen Serving Day Directions
Prog. Pressure Cooker
These directions help you cook or reheat this meal AFTER it's been frozen for when you are ready to eat it.
- Prep from frozen
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Make It Now Cooking Directions
These directions are for cooking this recipe to serve immediately and NOT to freeze for later.
- **Due to the nature of pressure cooking there is always room for inconsistency. The times given here are based on 4 servings fresh. If you are using more servings you may need to increase your cooking time.**
- In a large mixing bowl combine raw ground beef, garlic, onion, breadcrumbs, eggs, red pepper, salt, pepper, parsley, and Parmesan. You may need to use your hands to get it thoroughly combined.
- Roll meat mixture into balls about 1.5-2 inches in diameter.
- Saute meatballs and oil in batches until browned.
- Add water to the inner pot.
- Arrange meatballs in the inner pot and cover with sauce.
- Lock lid into place and seal steam nozzle.
- Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.
- Natural release pressure for 5 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
- Servings Per Recipe
- 4 Servings
- Serving Size
- about 5 meatballs Amount Per Serving
- Calories
- 373
- Total Fat
- 20g
- Saturated Fat
- 7g
- Trans Fat
- 1g
- Cholesterol
- 192mg
- Sodium
- 976mg
- Total Carbohydrates
- 15g
- Fiber
- 0g
- Sugar
- 6g
- Protein
- 31g
- WW Freestyle
- 10
20 Comments
Join the discussion4 individual beat Egg – what does this mean?
That you should beat them together before you mix them with the other ingredients. Enjoy!
What would you serve with this to round out the meal?
Most of our team serves this recipe with red marinara sauce over spaghetti noodles! A side salad or garlic bread would also be great to add on the side!
It’s still raw after 10min on manual high pressure. I put it in again for another 10. It’s still raw. Any thoughts?
Are you cooking from frozen or from fresh?
I had the same issue as Betty. What are the correct directions for the cook time? By the way we cooked these in the Instant pot from frozen.
So far, these are the correct instructions 🙂 I might recommend thawing them a little bit before sticking them in the IP. Unfortunately, there are so many variables when cooking in the IP (fresh/frozen, the thickness of meat, NPR vs quick release, etc.). We would love to hear how long they do take you to cook as we’re open to updating the recipe if needed!
I just read about a similar failure of this recipe in an IP group. Looking over the recipe, it looks like there’s not enough liquid to prevent scorching and to bring the IP up to pressure. Do you add another liquid to this, or just the sauce? Most spaghetti sauces will burn on their own in the IP.
We’ve updated this recipe to include water! If you make the meatballs, we’d love your feedback – enjoy!
How would I modify if I want to use a combination of 1 lb of ground beef and 1 lb of Italian Sausage?
It would probably require a bit more cooking time. This post might help you determine your best course of action: https://onceamonthmeals.com/blog/series/instant-pot/instant-pot-tips-tricks-201/ Happy cooking!
I have made meatballs only once before in the IP; they were soggy and gross. These meatballs… are probably the best meatballs I’ve ever had! They have great flavor, and a normal meatball texture! Definitely going to add this to my favorites!
Awesome to hear!
When you instructor saute the meatballs, do you mean in the instant pot? If yes, what to do with oil when done sauteing?
Hi! Great question! Yes, you can sauté in your InstantPot! There is a sauté function. For the oil, this recipe is referring to the olive oil used.
Could I increase the liquid and include my noodles in the IP?
If you’re familiar with adapting recipes and cooking pasta in the Instant Pot, then you could definitely try it. As we haven’t tested this ourselves we can’t say for sure. If you decide to try it, please let us know how it goes!
Hi
Thanks for this free resource. I’m new to the IP … I’ve only tried a handful of things to cook.
This doesn’t make sense to me, so please could you clarify? “Add water to the inner pot. Place frozen meatballs into inner pot. Cover with sauce.”
It sounds like the meatballs are booked in the water with the sauce slipped on top. Which is obviously wrong. Do they get stand in a dish on the rack above the water?
Many thanks
Johannah
The meatballs cook in 2 cups of sauce and 1/2 cup water for a total of 2.5 cups of liquid. It does not matter what order you add the meatballs, water and sauce into the pot.