Juicy and tender, these easy low carb meatballs with sauce are made in just a few minutes in your Instant Pot! These keto friendly Instant Pot meatballs are the perfect topping for cooked spaghetti squash or zoodles! A Hungry family favorite!
This week is all about low carb Instant Pot recipes, and will end with a collection of my favorite keto friendly Instant Pot recipes on Friday. I’m traveling in the states right now so hopefully I’ll be able to stay on schedule – if not I promise to post the rest next week instead!
It’s no secret that I love meatballs, so when I was brainstorming low carb recipes to make using the Instant Pot, this easy keto meatballs and sauce recipe was at the top of the list! It’s a variation of the basic meatballs from my popular low carb Meatballs alla Parmigiana recipe, and I was really hoping that cooking them in the Instant Pot would be easy and yield good results.
Having never used an Instant Pot to make meatballs before, I wasn’t sure that they wouldn’t just turn to mush, leaving me with meat sauce when I opened it after cooking. So it was with trepidation that I did the first test run, and I was ridiculously excited that they not only held together, but were so much juicier and more tender than my traditional method!
Usually it takes all day simmering in the sauce for them to get that gorgeous flavor and texture – but these meatballs cooked in my Instant Pot in just 10 minutes!
Typically I would saute my meatballs in olive oil to get a nice brown crust on them and then simmer them in my easy keto marinara sauce for a bit. I considered sautéing that first batch in a nonstick pan and then finishing them in the IP, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the ease of using my Instant Pot to make meatballs.
Because the Instant Pot comes with the saute feature, I tried browning the meatballs in a little olive oil in the stainless insert that comes with it. They stuck like crazy. So after the initial batch was browned and left a lot of meat stuck to the bottom, I just layered the rest of the meatballs in raw and poured the sauce over them.
After cooking the Instant Pot meatballs on low pressure for 10 minutes and releasing the steam, I really did expect to find a meat sauce in there, but the meatballs were fully intact. Be sure to leave space between them though and don’t jam them in too tight.
So you can brown the meatballs first, or not brown them first – the bottom ones that had browned didn’t taste any different than the others. That being said, the bits of browned meat from the process did melt into the sauce, and probably added another layer of flavor to it that cooking all of them raw in it wouldn’t have.
No matter which method you use to make these low carb Instant Pot meatballs, I’m fully confident they will be delicious!
Another point I want to add is that I used the equivalent of 85/15 lean beef and there was definitely an oil slick at the top of the sauce. I spooned some of it off and it wasn’t a problem.
You could probably get away with a leaner beef for this meatball recipe if you want to skip that step – I don’t know if it will make your meatballs less tender or not. I suspect you’ll be fine either way – you can even use ground turkey for these Instant Pot meatballs if you prefer.
If you don’t yet have an Instant Pot and are wondering what all the fuss is about, you can get more information on why I love them over on the IBIH Pantry Recommendations Page! It’s my hand’s down favorite appliance and I have gifted many of them to friends and IBIH readers at my own expense because of it!
Look for more low carb Instant Pot recipes coming soon!
Keto Meatballs in the Instant Pot Recipe Video
How to Make Meatballs in the Instant Pot – Low Carb
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
Description
Juicy and tender, these easy Italian meatballs and sauce are made in just 10 minutes in the Instant Pot! Low Carb and Gluten Free too!
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1.5 lbs ground beef (85/15 or leaner)
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup almond flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried onion flakes
- ¼ tsp dried oregano
- 1/3 cup warm water
To cook the meatballs:
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3 cups easy keto marinara sauce (or any sugar free marinara sauce)
Instructions
- Combine meatball ingredients in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly by hand.
- Form into approximately 15 two inch meatballs.
- Coat the bottom of the Instant Pot insert with the olive oil.
- If you wish to brown them, turn on the saute function and brown on both sides – or brown in a separate nonstick pan first.
- Layer the browned or raw meatballs in the Instant Pot, leaving 1/2 inch of space between them. Don’t press down.
- Pour the marinara sauce evenly over the meatballs.
- Seal the Instant Pot according to the manufacturers instructions.
- Set the Instant Pot to Manual.
- Select low pressure.
- Set the cook time to 10 minutes.
- Once the timer goes off (it will be longer than 10 minutes total due to preheating time,) turn the valve to vent and allow the steam to dissipate completely.
- Remove the lid and serve the meatballs with sauce over zoodles or spaghetti squash if desired.
- Category: Low Carb Instant Pot Recipe
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 meatballs, 1/2 cup sauce
- Calories: 455
- Fat: 33g
- Carbohydrates: 5g net
- Protein: 34g
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Karissa says
I made these last night and I wanted to share with you how I browned them without too much sticking and breakage of the meatballs. I read on someone else’s blog or something that if you turn the sauté function on with a completely empty pot (no oil or anything) and let it heat until the display says “HOT” then add the oil and food it’ll be nonstick and it was right. I used that technique last night and only had one meatball that stuck enough to break it apart a little. I also let the meat brown until I see it is browning up the sides before I disturb it and that helps a lot as well!
Mellissa Sevigny says
That’s great to know Karissa, thanks for sharing!
Kori Cameron says
How long do you brown? Im new to the Instant Pot thing, do you not seal lid? Oil, meatballs, saute, and just watch to brown and once that is done then lid and seal?
Mellissa Sevigny says
When using the saute function to brown, you leave the lid off – you don’t seal it until you are ready for the pressure cooker part to begin!
Debi says
What do you mean by “Select low pressure” I dont have a way to select a pressure….does that matter?
Mellissa Sevigny says
My instant pot gives me the option for high or low pressure settings – if yours doesn’t give you an option just go with the factory setting and you should be fine.
Ali g says
I have the instant pot lux and it’s 8 inch diameter. I can only fit 8 meatballs if they are not on top of each other. Did you really fit 15 on one later?
Mellissa Sevigny says
It wasn’t one layer, I gently placed them in two layers.
Alison says
Are you psyllium husk instead of almond flour and it tastes just like breadcrumbs
Alison says
Sorry I use Psyllium husk
D says
Making this for the second time in 2 weeks! It’s been a staple for years now, one of my all time favorite recipes, I can’t tolerate jarred sauce anymore. I do use a LOT more sauce (sometimes 3 full recipes ie 3 28oz cans) and 2lbs of meat (other ingredients adjusted accordingly, like extra egg, Parm, almond flour) and fry a pork chop to add more flavor since I use so much sauce. This legit tastes like my Italian grandmas 40 years ago. I end up with 20-24 meatballs. Going to freeze this round in smaller portions, hopefully it will go well!
Mary says
I’m watching nuts right now and wondered if you have ever made your meatballs with ground pork rinds? I make sausage balls with almond meal and really enjoy that recipe, so I think I’d love the meatball recipe you posted. I eat LCHF. Thank you ?
Kat says
Thank you for the Instant Pot instructions – made your Kung Pao Meatball recipe instead (used same time/pressure as above) and it is delicious! Did not bother to brown the meatballs first. So simple!
Marilyn Ketterling says
Melissa, my husband and I are in our 70’s and I have been wanting to get the instant pot! My husband Thinks it’s too big for just the two of us and that it’s no different from my Wolfgang Puck pressure cooker. How can I convince him? I really would like one and is it too big for just the two of us? I’ve been following you for about five years and use your recipes most every day. Thank you
Mellissa Sevigny says
They sell the IP in different sizes Marilyn so you can get the smallest one and I think it would be fine for just the two of you! I don’t know much about the WP pressure cooker and it may work the same – but the IP also works as a slow cooker, has a saute function built in, and does other things too that I haven’t even experimented with. Maybe read him some of the positive reviews on Amazon? If your WP pressure cooker is older then the ease of the IP might win him over. But most of my IP recipes use the pressure cooking function so you can probably use them in you WP if you can’t win your hubby over to the IP!
Margot C says
I have an Instant Pot, I could make this1
Mellissa Sevigny says
You can and you should Margot!!!
Cami Valenzuela says
Yumm.. these look so good. I was just thinking i wantee meatballs this week to. I already have everything too. Thanks for the recipe.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Hope you enjoyed them Cami!!!!
Candis says
Has anyone frozen these? If so, did you increase the cook time? Thanks in advance!