This Instant Pot Spaghetti Is Easier Than Frozen Pizza, and SO Much Tastier

As a mom with a full-time work schedule, there are plenty of kitchen hacks I rely on to make weekday cooking and cleaning less of a nightmare. I'm addicted to recipe-hunting on Pinterest, always searching for the next tasty, low-maintenance meal to bang out on the nights when I'm in charge of dinner duty. The fewer ingredients, faster cook time, and less dirty cookware I have to wash, the better. If it's healthier and cheaper than ordering a pizza and my toddler happily devours it, that dish becomes a regular in my rotation.

My husband and my son have a soft spot for Italian-American comfort food: pizza, spaghetti, lasagna — you get the picture. And while I genuinely enjoy the process and taste payoff of making fresh pesto, hand-rolling meatballs, and simmering sauces, those activities are filed under a totally different cooking category that my weeknight self can't be bothered with. Survival, not leisurely passion, is my meal-planning mantra.

When I spotted The Salty Marshmallow's recipe for Instant Pot spaghetti, I immediately noticed the high rating (just under five stars) and the 15-minute prep and cook time. That's faster than preparing a frozen pizza when you account for preheating! Naturally, I clicked. The recipe takes only 15 minutes because everything cooks together in the Instant Pot, including the pasta! After sautéing the meat and adding spices, a jar of your go-to marinara sauce, a can of diced tomatoes, and water, you snap a pound of spaghetti in half, lay it across the top, and close the lid. The entire dish is ready in 10 minutes.

The result is fat and juicy strands of spaghetti soaked in pasta sauce. The meat is tender and flavorful. Because the pasta is cooked in the sauce, every bite has the perfect ratio of carby, saucey, meaty goodness. Depending on what you like (and have on hand), you can throw in anything from fresh garlic to mushrooms during the cooking process, then top it with grated Parmesan, red pepper flakes, or fresh herbs. Clean-up is as easy as recycling the diced tomatoes can and marinara sauce jar and cleaning the Instant Pot when you're finished — making it fuss-free in every aspect.

Check out The Salty Marshmallow to try out this delicious and easy recipe for Instant Pot spaghetti!