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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Katie says
Hi. I dont have an Insta Pot… Can I use a crock pot? or would stove top be better?
Thanks :)
And yes I know I need an InstaPot but No new appliances can come into the house, until Something leaves the kitchen Hahahahaha :)
Mellissa Sevigny says
Stovetop or crockpot would also work Katie – and an Instant Pot is great because it does replace the crock pot. If I had that rule in my kitchen I’d have a lot more cabinet space lol!
Jen says
Ok. This was phenomenal!!!! So easy and so quick. I followed the recipe to a T except I used 2lbs of meat because they were prepackaged. (Did not adjust anything). I used Roa’s marinara Sauce because it is our sugar free go to.
Can’t wait to share with others!!!!
Rebecca says
I didn’t put the flour in. Is this why they are a little mushy? They are really good though.
Mellissa Sevigny says
Yes.
Stephanie says
Hi there, if I make another batch to freeze, how long do I cook frozen ones in the Instapot? 10 minutes as well?
Trevor f says
Trying this right now. But using my own sauce. Love this instapot. Wife thinks im turning into a wuss as i been sharing it on pinterest lol.
I dont care,i love food.
So i used 2 lbs of beefand mushroom sauce and some spice. No saute so i could see the results. 10 minutes was almost enough but a couple were pinkish. So for fun i put it on saute after for 4 mins and it was a nice feroshish boil. They look ugly but were around 185 degrees.
Easy to clean so will keep doing this but will add a saute to the
Theresa says
This was so good and nice that all ingredients are your common one’s in the cabinet. I just got my Instapot and was not sure about the settings but they cooked. I used moose burger and they still were moist. Can not get over the flavor!
Thank you~
Sarah Macías says
I’m making these for dinner, and I thought I set the timer to 10 minutes, but now after reaching pressure it says 30! Should I just take them out when 20 minutes are left?
Mellissa Sevigny says
Sorry I didn’t get this until now Sarah, hope they turned out ok!
Paulina says
So I made this today. It was DELICIOUS! However, I had to destroy the “meatballs” and just make it into “turkey sauce” lmao
The meatballs started sticking to the bottom of the pot while it was coming to pressure and the IP wouldn’t come to pressure. I just put it on saute and heated it through for about 20 minutes then “deglazed” the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. I then cooked it on High Pressure for 8 minutes so it would cook through and I wouldn’t be eating raw turkey.
I used Rao’s Homemade Marinara and each “serving” came to less than a carb per! I also used Parmigiano Reggiano from Costco instead of regular ol’ Parmesan.
I will be making this again but I think next time I will put a thin coating of sauce under the meatballs so they don’t stick!
Thank you so much for this recipe!
Leeann says
Can you freeze these? I’d love to make a batch for my daughter’s lunch box
Rebecca says
Made these this week using 1 lb of ground turkey (meatball ingredients adjusted accordingly), did not brown them, used the easy keto marinara sauce, and they were delicious. I cooked them on high pressure for 6 minutes and then did quick release.
Thanks for this one, I’m sharing it!
Mellissa Sevigny says
So glad you liked them Rebecca, thanks for sharing your method!!