These Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs and Noodles are an easy one pot meal made in the pressure cooker! Made in 30 minutes or less.
It’s officially fall and I’m craving all the comfort food!
Hearty casseroles, carbs and creamy sauces are all back on the table and no one around here is upset.
These Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs are really the perfect fall meal — it’s a complete meal in one with no other pots required, plus we’re skipping the hard part and using store bought meatballs (so that you can still get a good meal on the table in between running the kids from one activity to the next).
If you do want to make your own meatballs, check out my favorite Homemade Meatball recipe!
This is my second one pot Instant Pot meatballs recipe, the first being these Honey Garlic Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes which we love, but are a little trickier because they require the pot-in-pot pressure cooker method, even though they both cook for exactly the same time.
Meatballs are just one of my favorite meals altogether, regardless of season and sauce and what we’re serving them over.
How to make the best Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs and Noodles:
- Choose good ingredients — this seems like a no-brainer, but really, when we’re using just a few ingredients in a recipe, you need to pick ingredients you enjoy.
- Choose low sodium beef broth — if you use regular broth this recipe will be very salty! Using low sodium sauces lets you control how much salt goes in
- Don’t overcook — pasta in the Instant Pot cooks incredibly fast. Normally, I do short cuts of pasta for 2 minutes but I give this recipe an extra minute to ensure the meatballs are heated through.
- Quick release — for al dente pasta, you don’t want to let your pasta cook any longer once the cook time is up. For this reason, pasta in the Instant Pot is always a quick release, which means you open the valve to release the pressure right away. If you tend to prefer your pasta with a softer texture, you can wait 5 minutes before opening the valve.
Tips for buying great store-bought frozen meatballs:
I know, I know — go ahead and judge.
But store bought frozen meatballs can make me feel like a superhero on those days where I had no dinner plan and the fridge was empty.
They are easily transformed into something amazing like these Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs with just a few ingredients, but you want to make sure you choose good meatballs to begin with.
A lot of store bought frozen meatballs are filled with weird ingredients and filler — you want to check the package for ingredients you can mostly pronounce. The shorter ingredient list the better!
Generally I’ve found with frozen meatballs that the cheapest bag is not what you want to be eating. You might have to spend a little bit more or watch for them on sale (or try Costco or somewhere you can buy a lot at a lower price).
Many stores also have fresh rolled meatballs, which will still require sauteeing in the pressure cooker but it will save you a step.
Tools you’ll need for these Instant Pot meatballs:
- an Instant Pot (I use a 6 quart smart Instant Pot, but this recipe should work fine in all)
- I haven’t used any other brand of electric pressure cooker, so I can’t say how they would function differently
- No other special equipment required — just dump and go!
More Instant Pot Recipes you’ll love:
- Instant Pot Italian Chicken Pasta
- Easy Instant Pot Recipes
- Juicy Instant Pot Chicken Breast
- Garlic Herb Instant Pot Potatoes
- Creamy Italian Instant Pot Chicken Breasts
Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs and Noodles
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef meatballs frozen or thawed
- 2 1/2 cups low sodium beef broth
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups extra broad egg noodles (140g)
- 1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
Instructions
- Place meatballs in the Instant Pot with beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Stir until spices are combined.
- Add noodles, spread into an even layer and press down gently but do not stir — they will not be completely submerged and that is fine.
- Put the lid on, turn the valve to sealing, and select Manual or Pressure Cook for 3 minutes. It will take about 10 minutes for the Instant Pot to come to pressure.
- When the cook time is over, do a quick release and open the valve to release the pressure (for noodles with a softer texture, you can allow the pressure to release naturally for 5 minutes before opening the valve). The noodles may appear dry on top — this is FINE. Stir them into the meatballs.
- Whisk together cream and corn starch and stir into meatballs. Turn the Instant Pot to saute and cook and stir just until sauce has thickened (and at this point, all noodles will be perfect 🙂 )
Nutrition Information
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Brenda says
Love it! Doubled it, used good quality frozen meatballs, went heavy on the garlic, pressure-cooked for 5, then natural release for 5. Turned out perfect. Super easy to make.
MS from Iowa says
My family loves these. I add mushrooms and these are a fast and easy, amazing tasting meal!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi! So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for this kind review!
Jason says
Very nice easy instant pot recipe to follow and cook for a hearty meal that probably anyone would like (not too spicy or salty). Would recommend to any beginning instant potters.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Jason! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Courtney says
Whattha? How did I not know about this recipe? This was way too fast to make something this good! I used Trader Joe’s frozen meatballs and followed the recipe to a T. Worked out perfectly! Thank you! This is a must save easy dinner.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Courtney! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Renee says
Did you thaw the meatballs first, or just toss them in frozen?
Carol says
Will add this to my list of fast, easy meal recipes. I made this with large pasta shells…for this kind of heartier short pasta, would recommend increasing the cooking time to 5 minutes. I doubled the half and half/cornstarch mixture to have saucer leftovers. Thank you for this very nice recipe!
Marissa says
Wonderful recipe! My husband and I loved these Swedish meatballs so much! We substituted the noodles for mashed potatoes and it was a hit for sure! We will definitely keep this recipe as a favorite!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Marissa! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Amy says
So yummy even my picky toddler eats it!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Amy! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Mardi Sauve says
So delicious that the entire family ate everything and asked for more!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Mardi! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Deb says
What do you recommend changing the cook time to if using freshly made (uncooked) meatballs?
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Deb! I’ve only tested the recipe as is, so I’m not able to recommend a time. I do know you will need to sear them using the saute function a little before you place them under pressure. If you decide to experiment, I’d love to know how it goes!
James M. says
Wonderful, deliciously easy recipe! Thank you! We loved it!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi James! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Miki R says
Easy and delicious. The kids loved it.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Miki! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Honey says
Thoughts I’d share how mine went. I doubled the recipe. I used Aldi meatballs that are normally not frozen, but mine were. They were not cooked before entering. I used water and bullion cubes to give it that beef broth (that’s what I had on hand). I also subbed Aldis German noodles- WINNER! They taste like grandma’s homemade noodles. I also cooked for 7 minutes, bc of the noodles were thicker and uncooked meatballs. Worked perfectly! I didn’t double the noodles, just used one bag, which is about 4.5 cups. There was very little “extra” sauce at the end. Everything was covered well.
Next time I’ll add a diced onion and mushrooms to give it some veggies.
Gave it a 4 out of 5, bc I felt it was missing something but that could just be me missing my onion. 😅
Denise says
Delicious. I use precooked and frozen meatballs, a 2 lb bag. Instead of salts, like soy and Worcestershire sauces, I added a packet of onion soup mix to sodium free beef broth. It added lots of flavor. I always have a partial package open in the pantry, so I can add a bit more if necessary. I added sour cream to make sauce creamy. It was delicious.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Denise! Glad it worked out!
The Recipe Rebel says
Glad it worked out for you!
Saffron says
This was delicious! I doubled the recipe and used frozen meatballs, also subbing the parsley for thyme. Then after the sauce thickened, I added in some frozen peas and Parmesan cheese. Perfection!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Saffron! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Christine says
This was delicious and so quick! Definitely going in my dinner rotation. I used frozen meatballs from Walmart and didn’t need to up the cook time at all, though next time I will probably do the natural release to get the noodles a touch softer. Also, I only had whole milk on hand and it still came out creamy!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Christine! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Giovanni Crotti says
This was fantastic. I did (pre-cooked) frozen meatballs and upped the time to 5 minutes. I let it naturally release for 5 minutes and then did the rest of the steps. This will definitely be a staple in our household.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Giovanni! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Nicki says
I wanna make more noodles with this, how would I modify the liquids and time? Thank you
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Nicki, I’m not sure, I have only tested the recipe as is. If you decide to experiment, I’d love to know how it turns out!
Kelly B says
Hi, you do not have to add more time for frozen meatballs?
Giovanni Crotti says
I upped the time to 5 minutes instead of 3 and let it naturally release for 5 minutes. The Costco frozen meatballs I had came out perfect.
The Recipe Rebel says
Thanks for the tip!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Kelly! I’ve had lots of feedback about others using frozen meatballs and normally you don’t have to but other users have, so I think it could go either way. Hope you enjoy it!