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Real Food - Real Life

Spaghetti & Meatballs – Instant Pot

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Spaghetti and meatballs - five ingredients!

Let me introduce you to one of my absolute favorite go-to weeknight meals. I always have the ingredients for spaghetti in the pantry, but learning how to make spaghetti and meatballs in the pressure changer is so much simpler than the stovetop. I’ve had a recipe for Pasta and Meat Sauce on my site for a while, but I love incorporating the pasta into the cooking. This recipe is one that I pull out on nights where I really want to order carry-out, but I know it would be quicker to cook at home. If you’re looking for other ideas for quick week-night meals, we also love my recipes for Cheesy Chili Mac and Instant Pot Sloppy Joes.

A couple thoughts on this recipe. I save lots of time and energy by using frozen Italian meatballs from Costco. Find your favorite brand and just go with it. I usually dump in about a pound and a half of meatballs to feed the six of us. That’s thirty-six meatballs – yes, I count them – meatball fights are a real thing at our table. Feel free to adjust the meatball amount to what you need – the cooking time remains the same.

This really does seem to serve the six of us with a few leftovers. We typically add a salad and bread. If you want to use a whole package of spaghetti, you should add an extra cup of water and your sauce will be a bit thinner.

Instant Pot Spagetti & Meatballs

Serving Size:
serves 6
Time:
total time 30 minutes
Difficulty:
easy peasy

Ingredients

  • 1-2 lb frozen meatballs, homemade or frozen from a bag
  • 12 oz uncooked spaghetti noodles
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 32 oz pasta sauce
  • 3 cups water
  • parmesan cheese for serving

Directions

  1. Toss the meatballs into the bottom of your instant pot.
  2. Break the spaghetti noodles in half and scatter over top of the meatballs.
  3. Drizzle the olive oil on top of the spaghetti. Pour in the pasta sauce and water on top of the spaghetti. Add a little extra water if you need to make sure the spaghetti is covered with liquid. Don’t stir!
  4. Place the lid on the pressure cooker and set the time to 8 minutes. When the timer is up, release the pressure using a quick release method. Open the lid, stir, and serve.

Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Chicken

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This is a super easy way to make barbecue chicken for an quick dinner. It’s a nice summer recipe and the pressure cooker has the added advantage of not heating up the kitchen.

With this recipe, you just throw everything into the pressure cooker and let it do its thing. The recipe calls for a natural release of 10 minutes. But if you have other things going on, you can easily let the pot go into the keep warm setting after cooker.

Be sure to use a barbecue sauce that is on the lower end of added sugar. The sugar seems to concentrate in flavor when its under pressure. I used our favorite Trader Joe’s sauce for this post, but you can you anything you have around. Even a homemade sauce, if you have one.

I alway like to serve a vinegar based slaw with barbecue. And of course, a really good bun takes these sandwiches to another level. Making homemade buns takes a little more planning, but I think they are worth it. My recipe makes 12 buns, which gives a few extra to throw in the freezer for a future menu.

Instant Pot Pulled Barbecue Chicken

Serving Size:
6-8
Time:
30 minutes
Difficulty:
Easy

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or chicken thighs
  • 3 T of barbecue seasoning
  • 1/4 cup of chicken broth or water
  • 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

For Serving

  • Extra barbecue sauce
  • Pickles
  • Sandwich buns
  • Coleslaw

Directions

  1. With the insert in the electric pressure cooker, add the chicken to the pot. Add the seasoning and toss the chicken in the seasoning. Add the water and barbecue sauce.
  2. Lock the lid on the pot.
  3. Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes.
  4. Use the natural-release method for 10 minutes, then use the quick release method to bring the pot’s pressure back to normal. 
  5. Unlatch the lid and open the pot, remove the chicken to a cutting board and allow to cool for a few minutes. Use two forks to pull the chicken apart. You can also use a mixer with the dough hook to shred the chicken. Add some of the cooking liquid back to the pulled chicken – just enough to keep it moist. If you like a stronger barbecue flavor, you can toss the cooked, pulled chicken in barbecue sauce to taste. 
  6. Serve on buns with toppings of your choice.
This chicken is just out of the pressure cooker. I’ve started shredding one of the breasts with a fork. Thigh meat will shred even easier.
Shredded barbecue chicken with a vinegar based coleslaw and homemade burger buns.

Irish Stew – Instant Pot

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It’s that time of year again, and maybe it’s time to write down the recipe we call “Irish Stew” around our house. Honestly, I make some sort of version of this stew all winter long. The Guinness is what makes this Irish in our home, I guess. You can sub any other beer into the mix, add mushrooms, add barley, change up the seasonings, use different veggies – you get the idea. The point here is that this is an easy way to make a great tasting stew.

Serve with a salad – if you are that sort. Or make up some homemade biscuits while the stew is cooking – if you are that sort. Can you guess which one I am?

Irish Stew in the Instant Pot

Serving Size:
6-8
Time:
1 hr 40 min total
Difficulty:
easy

Ingredients

  • 2-3 T olive oil
  • 2 pounds of beef stew meat
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 large onion chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
  • 1 T dried thyme
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • 1 cup of Guinness or other dark beer (or substitute with beef stock)
  • 1 1/2 cups of beef broth
  • 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 1 pound of potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

Directions

  1. With in the insert in your electric pressure cooker, turn on the saute function to medium heat. Add 1 T of olive oil and allow to warm up about one minute. While the oil is warming, season your meat with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 of the the meat to the pressure cooker and allow to brown on one side – 3-4 minutes. Turn the meat and allow to brown on another side. Remove the browned meat to a separate bowl. Repeat with the remaining meat, adding extra oil, if necessary. Remove all of the meat to a separate bowl and rest. You do not need to sear all sides of the meat – this is mainly for color and some flavor. If you are in a real hurry, this step can actually be skipped.
  2. After browning the meat, add another tablespoon of oil and the onions. Allow the onions to cook a couple minutes until they are slightly translucent. Add the thyme and and stir and cook another 30 seconds or so. With the pot still on the saute setting, add about 1/4 cup of the beer and stir the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits that may have stuck to the pan. This step is important and it helps to reduce the chance of getting a “Burn” error later in the cooking process. Turn off the saute setting.
  3. Add the remaining beer and the beef stew to the stew. Lock the lid onto the pot and set the cook time to 45 minutes. Double check that the vent release tab is set to the sealing position. When the cooking time is done, allow to natural release for 10 minutes and then quick release the remaining pressure. Remove the lid.
  4. Add the carrots and potatoes to the pot. Stir and lock the lid back onto the pot. You may need to press down on the lid to close the lid. Double check that the vent release tab is set to the sealing position. Cook at high pressure for 3 minutes. When the cook time is complete, quick release the pressure from the pot, if you are eating right away. You can also allow the pot to go into the keep warm function at this point, and dinner will be ready when you are. If you would like a thicker stew, you can pull a few of the potatoes and carrots out of the pot, mash with a fork, and stir back into the stew.

Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Treats

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peanut butter pumpkin dog treatsWhy shouldn’t the furry members of our family eat as well as the rest of us? We recently added a new dog to our family and we did the standard purchasing of new toys and treats for him. But as I was looking at the fancy, locally made dog treats, I realized that I could make these myself and for a lot cheaper. Plus, no preservatives or anything funny going on here. The pumpkin and peanut butter are healthy for your dog and he’s going to love them.

These are actually pretty easy to make. Don’t be intimidated by rolling them out and using cookie cutters to make cute shapes. They roll out lots easier than people cookies, because they don’t have any fat in them. BUT, if you just can’t do the rolling out, you can roll the dough into a log and slice them to make round cookies. You can also make balls and smoosh them with the palm of your hand. There are lots of options here.

Because of the lack of preservatives, these will only keep on the counter for about 3-5 days. I store mine in a baggie in the freezer and pull them out as we need them.

The recipe is also pretty flexible – only 5 ingredients. You can eliminate the chia seeds or sub them out for flax seeds. You can also sub out the wheat flour, depending on your dog’s needs. My fancy grain-free treats from the store use chickpea and oat flours.

Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Treats
Author: Andrea
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Your dog will love this super easy recipe for doggie treats.
Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup of creamy peanut butter
  • 1 cup of pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 T chia seeds
  • 3 cups of whole wheat flour
Instructions
  1. In a stand mixer, combine the peanut butter and pumpkin puree. Scrape down bowl sides.
  2. Add eggs and beat.
  3. Add chia seeds and 2 1/2 cups of flour. Mix until combined. Add remaining flour by 1/4 cups until the mixture is good for rolling out (forms a nice ball that is not too sticky and doesn’t crumble apart).
  4. Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick, cut with cookie cutter of choice.
  5. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until slightly browned and as crispy as you (or fido) like.

 

Pasta & Meat Sauce – Pressure Cooked

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Pasta & Meat Sauce - Pressure Cooked

Pasta & Meat Sauce – Pressure Cooked

I have to admit, I was a little hesitant to try pressure cooking pasta. But then I spoke with a friend and he gave me a great recipe to get started with. I’ve modified his recipe a little to make it my own and to work for our family. Including prep time, this recipe can be started and onto to the table in about 30 minutes.

I’ve made it in the electric pressure cooker one night when the babysitter was here. I got it going before I left and the cooker went to keep warm mode until she was ready to feed the crew. Its the perfect alternative to feeding them hot dogs again!

The trick to making pasta in your pressure cooker is to stick with bigger noddle like penne or even bow ties. Spaghetti or fettuccini won’t work in the pressure cooker – it will just end up a gloppy mess!

Pasta & Meat Sauce
Recipe Type: Pressure Cooker
Author: Andrea
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Pasta and sauce in under 30 minutes? It’s possible because of the pressure cooker. This is a great weeknight meal.
Ingredients
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 1 lb of hamburger or ground Italian sausage
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 cups of sliced mushrooms, canned or fresh
  • 1 cup of chopped red pepper
  • 28 oz of crushed tomatoes
  • 4 cups of water
  • 1 T Italian seasoning
  • 1/8 t red pepper flakes
  • 16 oz of penne or cavatappi pasta
  • shredded mozzarella cheese (for serving)
Instructions
  1. If using an electric pressure cooker, turn to brown setting. If using a stovetop cooker, preheat pan to medium high heat. Add oil to warm pan. When oil is warm, brown meat. When meat is almost brown, add onion and garlic and saute until onion is translucent and meat is cooked through (no pink remaining). Drain extra fat from pan (I use a paper towel to soak it up).
  2. Add remaining ingredients. Give the pan a stir.
  3. Place lid on cooker, lock lid and bring to high pressure. If using an electric cooker, set for 5 minutes. If using a stovetop cooker, set for 7 minutes.
  4. Let pressure release naturally.
  5. Top with mozzarella cheese and serve.

 

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