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Instant Pot Swedish Meatballs and Noodles

written by Ashley Fehr

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4.96 from 140 votes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 8 minutes
Servings 4 servings

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Last updated on April 18, 2024

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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

written by Ashley Fehr

4.96 from 140 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.
instant pot swedish meatballs and noodles
Review
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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
US Customary – Metric

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. Jessie Owen Payne says

    This is amazing! We had chicken meatballs, so we used chicken broth instead of beef broth, used a can of cream of mushroom soup instead of the half and half, omitted the salt, and increased the garlic and spices. Will definitely make this again!

    Reply

  2. KT says

    This is such a great recipe! My Instapot attempts have been big hits or big misses lately and this was definitely a HIT! My husband and I finished the whole pot off in one sitting, lol! My only one, small, baby complaint was that I personally found it a bit salty, but that was probably the broth I used. Next time I will make sure to get low sodium broth and omit the extra salt, cause I WILL be making this again. Thanks!

    Reply

    • KT says

      Annnnnnnd because I was in such a hurry to make this, I skipped the part you said to make sure to buy low sodium broth! 100% my fault.

      Reply

      • Brooke Kenner says

        Absolutely love this recipe! Grew up on Swedish meatballs and loved going to Swedish fest in Illinois when I was little. This recipe has become a staple at our house, our picky eaters love it and it so easy to make! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!

  3. Brianna says

    Made this tonight and it came out perfect! I’m going to have to double up for next time because now there’s no leftovers.

    Reply

  4. Autumn says

    Just tried this recipe, and let me tell you that it’s definitely becoming a staple in our household now. It takes such little time (and effort), as well as being so adjustable, and most importantly, incredibly delicious and can be very nutritious!

    I made some adjustments that have seemed to work well. I made use of fresh meatballs which were browned first, used 1 can cream of mushroom soup instead of half and half, reduced broth by 1 cup, and added freshly diced onions as well as a variety of frozen veg (mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, peas) into the cream broth – making sure to layer the pasta ontop of the liquid.

    In short, thank you so much for this recipe! truly life altering!

    Reply

  5. Melinda says

    I made this tonight and had high hopes but was kind of disappointed. First, some of the noodles didn’t cook even though I added an extra minute like was recommended to one of the commenters who had the same issue. They weren’t just a little hard, they were still completely dry and “raw”.

    Second, I didn’t have low sodium broth so I used regular and just ommitted the actual salt since you warned that not using low sodium broth would make the dish salty. When I tasted this after mixing in the 1/2 and 1/2, this definitely needed salt so I sprinkled just a bit of coarse salt in.

    Overall, my daughter liked this and she is picky. But neither of us were clamoring for seconds.

    Reply

    • Ashley Fehr says

      Hi Melinda! I’m sorry it wasn’t a favorite! I would see if you can push the noodles down a little further into the broth during the cook time, and that should help. I find that after I stir upon opening, they are all perfectly cooked. Also, if you used a noodle other than egg noodles there’s a chance they would not have been fully cooked.

      Reply

  8. ChrisB says

    Wonderful, easy recipe, but the weight directions were a bit off. I weighed my noodles (don’t ask) and 140 grams was not nearly enough! But easy enough to fix, I just cook two more cups in the microwave. Also, I used regular milk to keep the fat/calories down. Was excellent!

    Reply

  9. Tom B says

    I’ve made this exactly to the directions many times and it always turns out FABULOUS! Thank you for this recipe, it’s a staple in our house these days!

    Wanted to let everyone know that it’s equally easy to make this with white rice instead of noodles using pot-in-pot cooking.

    Simply omit the noodles, put a trivet in the pot, put an oven safe dish on top of the trivet (I used a large ceramic bowl – mine is safe up to 350F) with 1:1 ratio of water and well-rinsed white rice (I did 1.5 cups of each), and cook on manual high pressure for 4 minutes with a 10 minute natural release, followed by a quick release. Thicken the meatballs with the cornstarch/half and half mixture – you may need up to 1 extra tbsp of cornstarch to thicken, as the absence of the pasta means more liquid left in the pot than normal.

    The rice was perfect and fluffy, and the meatballs and sauce were amazing as always!

    Thanks again for this recipe, and best wishes! 🙂

    Reply

  10. Beth says

    My family loves this recipe! It always comes out delicious and is so easy to make.
    Great on days when I need a quick and satisfying meal.

    Reply

      • Nora says

        Thanks! We’ve made this 3 times now & it is a family fave! Sometimes a few noodles don’t cook long enough though. Should I try cooking an extra minute or maybe letting natural release for a few?

      • Ashley Fehr says

        Hi Nora! I’m so glad you like it! Are they a touch dry or are they uncooked? Sometimes the noodles on top can seem a little dry if they haven’t been submerged, but I find that giving it a good stir usually fixes that. If they are uncooked, I would just add one more minute!

  12. Christina says

    Hello! Made this recipe yesterday and everyone loved it! Question, if I were to double this to yield 8 servings would I be able to double your exact measurements and the consistency stay the same? Thanks!

    Reply

  13. Lauren says

    I made this tonight for my husband, 5 year old and 3 year old who are all fussy eaters and it was a game changer!! Everyone, including me, loved it! Thank you so much, fab recipe!

    Reply

  16. Kevin says

    Question – could you use GF oven ready lasagna noodles for this recipe – I don’t have any egg noodles. Maybe break them up and put them in?

    Reply

  17. Kristena says

    I’ve been married for 15 years, and my husband just got more excited about this than anything I have ever made. 15 years.

    Reply

    • Ashley Fehr says

      I wouldn’t leave it on keep warm for very long because the noodles will get mushy. If you are doing just the meatballs, I would cook them in the slow cooker and then cook pasta to serve with.

      Reply

    • Dani says

      Also could I use it with fresh meatballs? Would the cook time be the same? I would just brown the meatballs first then cook correct?

      Reply

      • Ashley Fehr says

        Yes, I would just brown the meatballs (make sure to scrape the bottom well after) and then continue with the recipe. You can use milk or evaporated milk, you just have to be careful because milk can curdle if it gets too hot too quick.

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