Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs and Noodles

Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 8 minutes
Servings 4 servings

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These Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs and Noodles are an easy one pot meal made in the pressure cooker! Made in 30 minutes or less.

instant pot swedish meatballs and noodles on white plate with fresh parsley

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.

instant pot swedish meatballs in pressure cooker with metal spoon in pot

How to make the best Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs and Noodles:

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
instant pot meatballs on white plate on white background with fork stuck in noodles
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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.

instant pot swedish meatballs with pressure cooker in the background on white plate

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:

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Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs and Noodles

4.96 from 139 votes
These Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs and Noodles are an easy one pot meal made in the pressure cooker! Made in 30 minutes or less.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 3 minutes
Total Time 8 minutes
Cuisine American
Course Main Course
Servings 4 servings
Calories 470cal

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

Calories: 470cal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 117mg | Sodium: 690mg | Potassium: 768mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 125IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 1.8mg
Keywords instant pot meatballs, swedish meatballs

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Meet Ashley

My name is Ashley Fehr and I love creating easy meals my family loves. I also like to do things my way, which means improvising and breaking the rules when necessary. Here you will find creative twists on old favorites and some of my favorite family recipes, passed down from generations!

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Comments

  1. Carrie Roose says

    Just made this for dinner tonight and hubby and I were blown away. It was super fast and absolutely amazing. Hubby had the thought of stirring in just a bit of IKEA lingonberry jam to his bowl. Added a nice bit of sweetness. Will definitely be making this again.

  2. Chaz says

    First time ever using an Instant Pot and made this tonight for dinner. Followed directions exactly as written and I was absolutory amazed how good this turned out! Only thing I did was throw some steamfresh broccoli in the microwave and added it to the dish when everything was done. Super easy and super quick, delicious dinner. Will definitely be trying more of your recipes, thank you!

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

    • 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!

  6. 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 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!

  7. 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.

  8. 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!

  9. 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!

  10. 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 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!

    • 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

      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!

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