Meatballs and Spaghetti in the InstantPot separately

Question

I am pretty much a newbie at pressure cooking.

I've been following this recipe for meatballs and spaghetti, and it comes out great. The thing is that my kids would prefer that the spaghetti is not mixed in with the sauce. So I've been trying to figure out how to make spaghetti and meatballs in the IP at the same time, but not mixed together. I've tried twice now, and both times the meatballs came out raw.

The first time I tried, I had frozen meatballs that were all stuck together. I put them + sauce in a covered round pan on top of the spaghetti (with 3.5 cups of water) and cooked at high pressure for 9 minutes. The meatballs were completely raw and the spaghetti was good (though there was still water left that I had to drain out). I ended up putting the meatballs in again and then they got fully cooked.

The second time I tried, I separated the frozen meatballs so they were all individual. I again put them and the sauce in a covered round pan on top of the spaghetti (with only 2 cups of water). Cooked at high pressure for 9 minutes. At the end of cooking time, I did a natural release. The spaghetti was half raw/half cooked/half stuck to the bottom of the pan. The meatballs were still raw.

Has anyone ever done this before? I can't find any tips online to do this.

Answer 1

I have't done it, so I don't know if this will work, but here's what I would suggest:

Pasta will cook more quickly if you soak it before cooking. (it also allows you to get 'al dente' with gluten-free pasta)

You can then put the pasta in the inner pot, while the meatballs are closer to the heat. But you might have to experiment for just how long to soak the pasta before putting it in the pot, and what temperature water to use in the pot. (you do the soak in room temperature water)

I'd also recommend changing your type of pasta. Strand pasta is notorious for the need to stir to prevent it from clumping together; something like fusilli (spirals) won't contact each other as much, so they won't have as much variation in doneness.