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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Vilya says
Just finished making and eating this. I am in love!!! These are the yummiest meatballs ever! I’ve had my IP for almost a year and had never used the low pressure setting, so I was curious to see how they would turn out. Soooo good, that’s how! I ate them over zoodles, and now I am very happy. :)
Mellissa Sevigny says
So glad the recipe turned out for you! I still love this one and make it all the time!
Michelle A says
Here’s to hoping they cook. I’ve never made anything on low pressure before. The timer was going down before the seal was up. I’ve not seen that before, so I don’t know if it’s because it’s set to low pressure? Of course I tried to brown the meatballs on the Sauté function, lol. I had exactly the same result as you did, a mess.
Belle says
I have coconut flour on hand right now and was wondering if I could substitute the almond flour for that. I read that it’s generally 1/4 cup coconut flour +1 egg for almond flour. But that’s generally for baking and was wondering if it would alter the meatballs. If you could help me out I’m really excited to try out this recipe!! Thanks!
Hank Ronan says
Excellent recipe – simple, quick, and very tasty.Gluten-free, the almond flour makes a good binder, so they remain intact throughout the cooking. Very much enjoy these quick and easy meatballs.
Barbara says
These are amazing!! I made them with two pounds of ground turkey, adding a little more of each ingredient. I did brown them slightly in a separate non stick pan, quick to brown and quick to clean. Thank you for a well thought out delicious recipe. It’s my first time on your site, and I am inspired to try more of your recipes!
Emily says
All i had on hand was 99% fat free ground chicken. I was nervous, as ground chicken tends to have a much different texture than ground beef or turkey, but figured I’d atleast try and if all else fails I’ll have a meat sauce. I followed the recipe exactly with my ground chicken, but once I formed my meatballs I decided to stick them in the fridge for an hour in hopes they would firm up and possibly keep their shape while cooking. An hour later they seemed okay (not as firm as I hoped but I was running short on time) so i stuck them in the instant pot with my pasta sauce for 10 minutes. Low and behold , they came out delicious. They maintained their shape, were juicy, and the texture one would expect for a meatball. Will definitely be making these again.
Joan says
It’s ‘Lo and behold’.
Cyndi says
Haha oh jeezzzzzz
Catherine says
Made these tonight and they were SO easy and so yummy! I didn’t brown them, just put on 10 minutes and they were perfect.
Jessica says
YUM! I made these tonight with ground turkey. They held together beautifully yet still had a soft bite, just like a good meatball should. Highly recommend the mentioned sauce recipe as well. Thank you!! They’ll be going in our regular rotation for sure!
Holly says
Can I eliminate the parm to make it dairy free? Will that make them mushy?
Mellissa Sevigny says
Just add a little extra salt Holly so they aren’t bland, but it shouldn’t make them mushy to remove the Parmesan!
Steph says
Well, I botched these up- but it was MY fault. :) I attempted to make it with 2 lbs of lean ground beef (to avoid the oil in the pot). I also forgot to set to Low, and then I let it naturally release while I was cooking my first ever batch of Zoodles! The meat balls were incredibly dried out. Shame on me for not following instructions! If it’s any consolation, both the homemade marinara and the uncooked meatballs smelled HEAVENLY!! I am an advanced Instant Pot user (often ad-libbing with great results) – but, I am VERY new to Keto, so I think there might be a learning curve. ;) I’ll try these again!!
Cindy Snow says
So frustrating. I follwed directions exactly and mine keep burning and won’t pressurize…
Laurie says
I think water needs to be added to this recipe with the sauce. Not enough liquid in the pot will cause it not to pressurize. I would add 1/2 – 1 cup water or broth.
Piper says
I had such issues with this! Kept getting the burn message so it wouldn’t pressurize. I put the meatballs in raw so maybe that was the issue? Idk what the deal is. So sad cuz I was so excited!
Heather says
Mine did this too. I am so upset and frustrated. I tried to sort of list them off the bottom when this kept happening and they all completely disintegrated. I followed the recipe but used fresh grated parm so IDK if I needed to use prepackaged. The meatballs were so wet that I wasn’t sure if they were going t o work. ? Dinner ruined.